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XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when running a game!?!?!
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 |
#2
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XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when running a game!?!?!
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:51:19 -0700, TMX
wrote: 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 CTLALTDEL 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. |
#3
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XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when running a game!?!?!
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? 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 CTLALTDEL 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. 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. Thanks again for your help, you dont realise how annoying this has been! |
#4
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XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when runninga game!?!?!
TMX wrote:
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. |
#5
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XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when running a game!?!?!
On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:47:43 -0700, TMX
wrote: 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 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 freezes can you CTLALTDEL 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. 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. 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! 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. |
#6
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XP Pro - Random Freezes / Crashes - only stable when runninga game!?!?!
TMX wrote:
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 |
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