Getting random lockups that require a hard shutdown, sometimes as many as 2 or three per hour. Seems to happen more when the PC is freshly booted after being off all night.

A few weeks ago these also happened alongside bluescreens with various errors, some gfx related, others with s standard 'driver ILQ not less than xxxx' message. These seem to have stopped now though.

I've run disk checks, looked as MS performance and diags tool info (Win7) swapped gfx cards around in their SLI setup but still having issues.

Anyone care to offer advice on further diagnosis or if this sounds like a specific issue? I have a hunch that either one of my gfx cards or the HD is on its way out.

Cheers

Hiya mate i would be more inclined to look at your PSU or RAM tbh, PSU`s that are on there way out can cause some pretty funky errors before they give up the ghost.

Has the computer never turned on when the power button is pressed?
Do the lockups happen when the comp is under heavy load?

Thats some of the things for a psu problem, RAM can be a tricky one to test for u can get ram burn testers free from online:

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

you could also try prime 95 stress test that will put your mem and cpu under strain and show up any errors n stuff, best to run prime for a couple of hours tho, i would also download some graphics benchs aswell like ungines 3d heaven or something, then use something like GPU-Z to monitor your graphics cards for heat and power draw n such.

Hopefully using a combination of those will help you pin down the problem as random lockups can be a bitch to nail down sometimes.

Gary

clean it and make sure none of the fans are full of manky shizzle.

Unlikely tbh given your lack of hair and bald kitties!

M

My money's on the memory being the culprit. Had similar symptoms with a newly built PC a few years ago now.

You could try temporarily running with one stick or t'other, alternating to see if any particular memory stick is faulty. If you have more than 2 sticks then have fun swapping them around.

Cheers guys. Should have mentioned that I swapped out the RAM a few months ago. I've also cleaned and hoovered inside the case, fans etc not so long ago. Hadn't considered the PSU, but never had any problems powering up.

I will swap round the ram modules and do some of the testing you mention above. Load doesn't seem to be an issue as it's just as likely to lock up when surfing as it is when gaming. I've also had it do it when the PC is just idle.

serious note - it's the PSU. I'd put cash on it tbh. Every time I have had random lock ups / crashes and funky graphics shizzle, it's been the PSU starting to fail and not providing enough power to keep all the fans running at the right speeds under load.

M

OK, PSU replaced and still seeing similar problems but not quite as frequently. Any other ideas?

ze fanz on ze graphicz card yo!

M

I think you're just trying to see how much money you can get me to spend I'll end up buying a whole new PC in component form.

Well he did say he'd put cash on it being the PSU, you should've taken him up on it

Have you tested the RAM yet? I got a very similar message when I bought a new PC from Mesh back in 2001. I had to go to a shop to get it tested (i.e. a 3rd party) and they accepted the return of the whole PC but not before I had proved it to myself by running the PC with each RAM module on its own until I foudn the one that kept locking up.

I haven't messed with memory testing tools for a while so you'd have to get some advice.

I'm getting similar lockups - hard drive goes into spaz mode.

For me it seems to be linked to my carbonite back-up program. It especially happens after i've d/l a shit load of stuff for it to back-up.

It resolves itself when it's caught up.

Could be carbonite if you use it.

Cheers Trig. I actually traced it to a faulty RAM stick (after spending the best part of £100 on Si's PSU advice ) Shouldn't have assumed that new RAM was fine.

You should know better than to listen to SI tbh

101 of interweb surfing