Freezing

[Nick_Black]

my computer freezes for absolutly no reason... as far as I can tell. it seems that the longer my computer has gone without bieng turnes fully off the more likely to freeze. but the temps alway's around the 40-50'C range. and it's definatly not becouse of load. I'm fearing that it might be the RAM (again....) but I wanna make shure it's not anything else.

I'm running XP pro. SP2
Pentium D 2.8 GHz
1GB RAM (single channel)

and If you want any more info just ask.

any thought as to why my computers freezing please don't hesitate to speek up.

[Daruvian]

Need more info than that... What sort of things are you usually doing when it locks up? Try to keep track of things like what you have running, whether you just tried to open a certain file... Did you do a virus scan? If you have any extra RAM or some old RAM laying around... Swap it out for a bit and give it a shot... Hmmm... Hasn't been on during any recent storms or anything??? Everything clean in there, including the PSU???

[a.Bird]

Perhaps try bumping the voltage down on the memory through BIOS or directing more airflow to your cards to reduce heat.

[agnat]

Ususally freezing is a result of faulty software, mostly drivers. Too much heat causes it to shut off or restart usually. The temps you are experiencing are a little high, but not enough to worry too much about.
My recommendation is to ensure you have the latest drivers and patches for everything, including having the latest bios for your mobo.
If you have all that, then check your device manager to ensure there are no problems with any peripherals.

Hope this helps,

Agnat

[Eclecticos]

Ive switched CPU coolers and had computers lock up simply because of the switch.
I could here chanting from the onboard Speaker "I want the zalman, bolt on the zalman" Lol :D

Try Resetting your bios to factory defaults. That works for me 90% of the time.

[Eclecticos]

Remember the CPU Cooler in most cases does not come heat treated.
When I hook up a new one I always let the computer sit in the bios and monitor the temperature. . you know let the heat spread throughout.
For a hour or so. Before stressing it. Kind of like breaking in a new car or something.

Also make sure you have an exhaust fan hooked up!

And like Agnat says.. . See if its freezing when you attempt to access a device. .as it may have conflicts.

Were not talking about that caulk PC now are we? :D

[slytherock]

It just freeze or you get the blue screen of death?
If it just reeze, I agree that it's probably a software issue. Check your registries, your drivers and recent installed programs.
If you get the blue screen of death, it's probably heat related, do you oc?

[Nick_Black]

slytherock: a full freeze, no overclock (acatually an underclock, becouse I want the fan speeds down...)


-ecK: I'll try "breaking in" the heatsink, never done that before Thxs :D (can't do any harm) Lmao :p no it's not the caulk PC :p don't have any time for it becouse My band is trying to push out our first real album, and also my school marks arent the greatest right now..:rolleyes:

agnat: Thxs, I've already got all the latest Drivers and updatesand I'm %100 shure it's not a heet issue.

a.Bird: already done

Daruvian: happens during anything, browsing, msn, recording, virus scans, screen saver. but I do bielieve there is some bad sectors on my storage drive, but it freezes even without that HDD in... anyway's, yeah I think I've got a 256MB ram stick kiking around somewhere.. I could use it to test it.. way to little to actually use.


Thanks evrybody for replying :D:D:D:D

[Redundant]

Have you tried using Disk Check on your HDD; if you think you have bad sectors then run that overnight. (check the box to try to fix problems too)
If you think you have RAM problems, use Memtest86 (I think that's the program) overnight.

You say it's not a heat issue but your temps are in the 40* - 50* C range; that's pretty hot; I think processors start dieing at like 55* C.

[progbuddy]

Try switching the RAM to the other slot. Worked for me :).

Also, do run MemTest86, try onboard graphics, graphics with video card, etc. Make sure NO contacts on your 775 socket are bent or broken, and do an all-out hardware inspection (clean dust, thermal paste, the works ;)).

[simon275]

Sounds like dodge power to me. If you can try swapping the PSU out with another one. Also is your PSU getting really hot?

More ventilation is always good.

[Fear.Sin]

I would try logging into safe mode and see if the problem continues. If it does not continue in safe mode then do a clean boot and slowly add in applications until you get the error again then uninstall the program that is causing the issue.

Use MSCONFIG and disable all startup programs and services (remember to check the *hide microsoft* box before disabiling. Slow check the applications to see if it is one of the programs on the system.

Otherwise I would try system restore to a point when you know the computer was not experiancing any problems.

Chances are it is software like they said and I seriously doubt it is a hardware issue. If the problem persists into safe mode then try a sfc /scannow check in the run command box to check all your windows files. If everything is okay then you might want to look into hardware issues.

Hope this helps if you are still having problems. Let us know how it is going for you.

[Nick_Black]

Thanks Evrybody for the Help so far, I've scanned my RAM, no problems (19:00 Hrs straight) and now, judging by when it freezes, I'm %70 shure It's MSN. because every time I don't open msn it hasn't frozen, it so far only seems to freeze if it's logged in.

again thanks for all the help so fat

+ REP to evrybody.

does anybody know if MSN has coused problems before (I have tried a few diffrent versions.... and both of them it freezes on...)

EDIT: Redundant, 40-50'C is hot? damn, My old PC usto run around 60'C (yes Celcius, not farenhiet) oh well, I already have a new heatsink coming in, that should impove things, thanks for the info!)

[progbuddy]

40-50 Celsius is average temperature for a processor on a stock heatsink. 60 C is getting really hot. I just though about it. Maybe one of your drives doesn't have power to it. I know this because it also happened to me. I plugged in the IDE cable, forgetting the power cable. The drive showed up, but when anything tried to access it, the whole computer froze.

[Nick_Black]

all drives have power, but that made me think of something, I checked the power voltages in the BIOS and I noticed my 12v rail was only running at apox 11.2v. evrything else is comfortably abouve the given voltages, could this be a problem? (oh and MSN is not the problem)

[Nick_Black]

uh oh... I was trying to fix my computer (switching ram slots, scanning hdd's.) and after it froze for like, the 3rd time, i decided to reset my bios to optimal preformace... I start up and.. BSOD'd!!!! stop : 0x0000007B (something or other..) and yeah... I did a bit of re-search on it.. but it's the same mobo I used to install XP... *starts crying* why... WHY!!!! *sniff sniff...*

EDIT: ok, pfew, I fixed it, it was booting of the wrong HDD... lol my bad :p