XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when running a game!?!?!

[TMX]

Hi i have been having this porblem for some time now and its been
driving me crazy. My machine wos working fine for ages, then suddenly
my system froze whilst on the desktop. Rebooted and it was fine for a
while, and then it froze again randomly. Its gradually got worse to
the point where it crashes nearly every time i first turn ont he
computer, and it gets to the kernal load phase and it freezes. The
second time i go in i can usually get to the windows desktop, but if
i
leave her idle for any amount of time she will freeze on me, nothing
responds, i just have to reboot.

Heres the weird part, aslong as i'm playing a game it doesnt freeze,
ever, so its got to the point where i have to load into windows,
quickly run up a game to run the the background whilst i do other
things which is ridiculous!!!


As soon as i close the game, give it 5-10 mins the machine will
freeze
again, i have tried all sorts of things, reformatted my machine
multiple times which has phased out the possiblity that its a windows
issue.


Ive updated all my drivers, my hardware hasnt changed since before
this started happening, but i have tried the graphics card in another
machine and its fine. Same with the PSU. I am currently running a RAM
testing tool to check for errors which ahs been running for the past
night and day.


Has anyone has this problem, or can shed some light on this as you
can
imagine, its slightly annoying!!


Thankyou


TMX

 

[kony]

Hi i have been having this porblem for some time now and its been
driving me crazy. My machine wos working fine for ages, then suddenly
my system froze whilst on the desktop. Rebooted and it was fine for a
while, and then it froze again randomly. Its gradually got worse to
the point where it crashes nearly every time i first turn ont he
computer, and it gets to the kernal load phase and it freezes. The
second time i go in i can usually get to the windows desktop, but if
i
leave her idle for any amount of time she will freeze on me, nothing
responds, i just have to reboot.

It'd be good to start out with a concise description of all
major parts in the system including makes and models.

Run memtest86+ for a few hours to check for memory errors.
Inspect the motherboard to see if there is anything loose,
any vented capacitors, or any fan failures.

Check the PSU voltages with a multimeter if you have one.

Heres the weird part, aslong as i'm playing a game it doesnt freeze,
ever, so its got to the point where i have to load into windows,
quickly run up a game to run the the background whilst i do other
things which is ridiculous!!!

Yes that's wierd, it almost sounds like you have a poor
generic PSU that is letting one of the rails drop too low
until the gaming puts enough load on the other rail to raise
the weaker rail's voltage.

As soon as i close the game, give it 5-10 mins the machine will
freeze
again, i have tried all sorts of things, reformatted my machine
multiple times which has phased out the possiblity that its a windows
issue.

When it freezes can you <CTL><ALT><DEL> to reset, or do you
need to press the case power button, or do you need to
switch it off at the PSU or unplug it?

Ive updated all my drivers, my hardware hasnt changed since before
this started happening, but i have tried the graphics card in another
machine and its fine. Same with the PSU.

That a PSU can run a different system, is not necessarily
evidence it is still acceptible for this system, especially
if it's gradually degrading. You might unplug the PSU from
AC for a few minutes then open it up and inspect it... most
likely a vented capacitor but if it's dusty inside this is a
good opportunity to clean it out (need not be perfectly
clean).

I am currently running a RAM
testing tool to check for errors which ahs been running for the past
night and day.


Has anyone has this problem, or can shed some light on this as you
can
imagine, its slightly annoying!!

More than slightly, depending on the age of the system it
might be time to upgrade everything if all else fails.

 

[TMX]

Hi thanks for your help, heres my findings

It'd be good to start out with a concise description of all
major parts in the system including makes and models.

Ok heres my spec:

CPU: P4 3.4 HT
Motherboard: ASUS IC7 MAX3
HD 1: Raptor 76GB
HD 2: Maxtor 40GB
Geforce 7600GS
1.5GB Kingston DDR2 400mhz RAM
Creative 5.1 Soundblaster Soundcard

Run memtest86+ for a few hours to check for memory errors.
Inspect the motherboard to see if there is anything loose,
any vented capacitors, or any fan failures.

I ran Memtest86+ overnight and returned no errors.

Check the PSU voltages with a multimeter if you have one.

I dont have a multimeter unfortunately The power supply was a 500W
when i bought her, but i know they loose power over time? She must be
atleast 2 years old now?

Yes that's wierd, it almost sounds like you have a poor
generic PSU that is letting one of the rails drop too low
until the gaming puts enough load on the other rail to raise
the weaker rail's voltage.




When it freezes can you <CTL><ALT><DEL> to reset, or do you
need to press the case power button, or do you need to
switch it off at the PSU or unplug it?

When it crashes i have to press the power button and turn it back on
again. CTRL ALT DEL doesnt respond. Havent had to unplug it.

That a PSU can run a different system, is not necessarily
evidence it is still acceptible for this system, especially
if it's gradually degrading. You might unplug the PSU from
AC for a few minutes then open it up and inspect it... most
likely a vented capacitor but if it's dusty inside this is a
good opportunity to clean it out (need not be perfectly
clean).



More than slightly, depending on the age of the system it
might be time to upgrade everything if all else fails.

Thanks again for your help, you dont realise how annoying this has
been!

 

[Grinder]

Thanks again for your help, you dont realise how annoying this has
been!

Listen to what kony suggests (unless he tries to sell you frequent flier
miles,) but allow me to make one quick interjection:

Reduce your system to a minimum configuration. Drop any devices or
cards that you don't absolutely need to get the system to stand up.
Since your lock-ups come so quickly, you should be able to easily see if
those devices are necessary for the effect.

I was having difficulty with a Win 2000 system locking up on startup,
and it turned out to be a USB scanner. That sounds like much less of a
problem than you're experiencing, but maybe it'll be something as
peripheral.

 

[kony]

Hi thanks for your help, heres my findings


Ok heres my spec:

CPU: P4 3.4 HT
Motherboard: ASUS IC7 MAX3
HD 1: Raptor 76GB
HD 2: Maxtor 40GB
Geforce 7600GS
1.5GB Kingston DDR2 400mhz RAM
Creative 5.1 Soundblaster Soundcard

Thanks but I also meant the PSU.

I dont have a multimeter unfortunately The power supply was a 500W
when i bought her, but i know they loose power over time? She must be
atleast 2 years old now?

A decent 500W will last significantly longer than 2 years.
Not all are decent and some can't even output 500W when new
regardless of what the label claims.

When it crashes i have to press the power button and turn it back on
again. CTRL ALT DEL doesnt respond. Havent had to unplug it.

You might check Windows' Event Viewer.
You left it running the memory test for a fair amount of
time and no freezing, so it seems more likely an OS (or
related, like drivers) problem, but the power consumption
sitting idle at the desktop is lower on 12V rail than during
gaming or the memory test so the PSU power quality is still
a possible cause.

Thanks again for your help, you dont realise how annoying this has
been!

I wouldn't upgrade above system just yet unless you find it
too slow for your uses, it's still faster than the average
joe has.

 

[Splork]

Hi thanks for your help, heres my findings


Ok heres my spec:

CPU: P4 3.4 HT
Motherboard: ASUS IC7 MAX3
HD 1: Raptor 76GB
HD 2: Maxtor 40GB
Geforce 7600GS
1.5GB Kingston DDR2 400mhz RAM
Creative 5.1 Soundblaster Soundcard

I ran Memtest86+ overnight and returned no errors.

I dont have a multimeter unfortunately The power supply was a 500W
when i bought her, but i know they loose power over time? She must be
atleast 2 years old now?
When it crashes i have to press the power button and turn it back on
again. CTRL ALT DEL doesnt respond. Havent had to unplug it.


Thanks again for your help, you dont realise how annoying this has
been!

Only Abit makes the IC7 series right?? Am I incorrect??
I have one running my 3.0 northwood cpu at 3.7Ghz but lowered
it to 3.5 for the summer heat. I am slightly familiar with
it's failure modes in unstable conditions. I can run memtest
86+ for days but have it fail running Netscape and other
programs due to memory/CPU Datapath problems (dropping or
adding a bit.

Abit IC7 takes DDR not DDR2. another mis-type??


Very adjustable mobo.

Strange that a game keeps it from locking up. Usually the
reverse. Since you are not overclocking it I would not suspect
the cpu.

Still, and even after your successful memory test, I think it
is memory related. Take out the 2 256mb pieces and see if it
changes the results. If not try the other way around, looking
for a contrasting state.

Using adjustments, bring up the memory voltage to 2.7. Kind of
a standard move for this board I've heard. If this is Kingston
Value-RAM that might be the problem. I have heard that there
are too loose specs. I would focus on memory.

Run Gold memory test and doc memory as well.

A very small chance of it being related to the video board.
Another tweak here might be upping the AGP voltage a tenth of a
volt.

Smaller chance for the PS.

My 2 cents

 

[Paul]

Hi i have been having this porblem for some time now and its been
driving me crazy. My machine wos working fine for ages, then suddenly
my system froze whilst on the desktop. Rebooted and it was fine for a
while, and then it froze again randomly. Its gradually got worse to
the point where it crashes nearly every time i first turn ont he
computer, and it gets to the kernal load phase and it freezes. The
second time i go in i can usually get to the windows desktop, but if
i leave her idle for any amount of time she will freeze on me, nothing
responds, i just have to reboot.

Heres the weird part, aslong as i'm playing a game it doesnt freeze,
ever, so its got to the point where i have to load into windows,
quickly run up a game to run the the background whilst i do other
things which is ridiculous!!!


As soon as i close the game, give it 5-10 mins the machine will
freeze again, i have tried all sorts of things, reformatted my machine
multiple times which has phased out the possiblity that its a windows
issue.


Ive updated all my drivers, my hardware hasnt changed since before
this started happening, but i have tried the graphics card in another
machine and its fine. Same with the PSU. I am currently running a RAM
testing tool to check for errors which ahs been running for the past
night and day.


Has anyone has this problem, or can shed some light on this as you
can imagine, its slightly annoying!!


Thankyou


TMX

I wonder if this is related to a Power Management setting ? If the
computer is idle for ten minutes, perhaps some hardware is being
put into a lower power state. And that is when the problem happens.
Maybe you could try adjusting the Power Management features for
all the hardware, such that the machine stays in a high power
state, with all hardware ready to go. In other words, no
"sleeping on the job".

That would be a workaround, rather than solving the problem.

In my OS, there is a Control Panel called Power Options. I think
"Always On" is the high power policy. The various policies
get mentioned here.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318682/en-us

Peripherals also can have power policies. USB and NICs sometimes
have settings. My USB2 root hub, in Device Manager, has the option
"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" as an
option. Maybe the freeze is happening, when one of those events
takes place. The box is not checked on my USB2 Root Hub, which
means it cannot sleep.

Just a guess,
Paul