Soldato
Hello,
Right well basically the situation is my main computer has started to freeze up quite often, never in games, just in windows. What normally happens is I'm either starting to install a programme or opening a programme, I normally think the computer is taking longer than normal to do something. But then I click the mouse a few times and I hear a single bleep from the case speaker and the mouse pointer stops moving as well, so I have to reboot. It works fine then until the next freeze and games seem unaffected, although admittedly I’ve only been playing the one (Vice City). This has happened doing pretty much everything, from typing a URL in IE to installing some spyware scanner software. It doesn't seem to be any particular programme or process that does it, just windows based. There were no error codes or anything in the windows log and the voltage didn’t go low or anything (according to Asus Probe) during the freeze.
Computer Specifications:
AMD 3500+ Winchester (Socket 939)
Asus A8N-E
BFG 7800GT OC
G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit
Antec NeoPower 480
Creative Audigy 2
2 x Western Digital WD800JD’s in Mirror Raid
Windows XP SP2
Nothing is overclocked, all at stock settings etc.
Now when this first happened I tried all the normal things in the following rough order, obviously some of them wouldn't have sorted the problem but I was trying to cover all the bases:
Defrag
Windows Update
Check Temps (all fine)
Check Voltage (all solid, +12v=12.096, +5v=4.945, 3.3v=3.36 and they rarely move from those numbers)
Memtest (5 passes)
Prime and OCCT tests (all fine, the pc didn’t freeze or reboot)
3DMark2006 ran several times one after another
Scan of both hard drives using WD’s own diagnostic Software
Reseating of both the graphics card and memory, along with the power connectors to the motherboard
BIOS Updated to the latest version
Clear BIOS with CMOS battery and re enter settings
I also had a few BSOD Nvidia errors so I uninstalled the graphics drivers, cleaned with driver cleaner in safe mode and reinstalled the latest ones. That solved the BSOD errors but not the freezing problem.
I also did the above with the Nvidia chipset drivers, which didn’t solve anything.
I was running out of things to do so I finally bit the bullet (as the saying goes) and reinstalled Windows. Not something I enjoy doing (who does) but I gave it a shot, that was a few days ago and everything was fine until today. I had a few freezes while upgrading Azureus (a bit torrent client), these freeze ups were the same as the ones I experienced before. Now I read on the G.Skill website that the tests they do to ensure the memory isn’t faulty were done using 2.6v to 2.75v memory voltage. So I increased the voltage hoping that would sort it out, I’m pretty sure it was on Auto before at 2.5v but it didn’t solve the problem.
I then decided to remove one of the memory modules, regardless of what memtest said I still thought it could be memory. So with one left and the voltage at stock this time, I started the computer and it froze up again, this time starting the Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers demo. The demo didn’t even open fully, just a small black section of the screen on the windows desktop. So I rebooted, switched the modules round and it seems to be alright, I switched it back to the module that caused the freeze up and it seems fine as well. I then had another freeze on both modules when starting the FSWTH demo, so I'm thinking it might not be the memory after all, I think it's unlikely that both are faulty. Not sure what else to do, any suggestions?
I also have a few questions:
has memtest ever passed faulty modules before for anyone?
Has anyone has any similar experiences to mine, with the computer freezing up and emitting a single bleep after you click the mouse a few times?
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance and apologies for the long post, just letting people know what I’ve tried.
Regards,
Mark
Right well basically the situation is my main computer has started to freeze up quite often, never in games, just in windows. What normally happens is I'm either starting to install a programme or opening a programme, I normally think the computer is taking longer than normal to do something. But then I click the mouse a few times and I hear a single bleep from the case speaker and the mouse pointer stops moving as well, so I have to reboot. It works fine then until the next freeze and games seem unaffected, although admittedly I’ve only been playing the one (Vice City). This has happened doing pretty much everything, from typing a URL in IE to installing some spyware scanner software. It doesn't seem to be any particular programme or process that does it, just windows based. There were no error codes or anything in the windows log and the voltage didn’t go low or anything (according to Asus Probe) during the freeze.
Computer Specifications:
AMD 3500+ Winchester (Socket 939)
Asus A8N-E
BFG 7800GT OC
G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit
Antec NeoPower 480
Creative Audigy 2
2 x Western Digital WD800JD’s in Mirror Raid
Windows XP SP2
Nothing is overclocked, all at stock settings etc.
Now when this first happened I tried all the normal things in the following rough order, obviously some of them wouldn't have sorted the problem but I was trying to cover all the bases:
Defrag
Windows Update
Check Temps (all fine)
Check Voltage (all solid, +12v=12.096, +5v=4.945, 3.3v=3.36 and they rarely move from those numbers)
Memtest (5 passes)
Prime and OCCT tests (all fine, the pc didn’t freeze or reboot)
3DMark2006 ran several times one after another
Scan of both hard drives using WD’s own diagnostic Software
Reseating of both the graphics card and memory, along with the power connectors to the motherboard
BIOS Updated to the latest version
Clear BIOS with CMOS battery and re enter settings
I also had a few BSOD Nvidia errors so I uninstalled the graphics drivers, cleaned with driver cleaner in safe mode and reinstalled the latest ones. That solved the BSOD errors but not the freezing problem.
I also did the above with the Nvidia chipset drivers, which didn’t solve anything.
I was running out of things to do so I finally bit the bullet (as the saying goes) and reinstalled Windows. Not something I enjoy doing (who does) but I gave it a shot, that was a few days ago and everything was fine until today. I had a few freezes while upgrading Azureus (a bit torrent client), these freeze ups were the same as the ones I experienced before. Now I read on the G.Skill website that the tests they do to ensure the memory isn’t faulty were done using 2.6v to 2.75v memory voltage. So I increased the voltage hoping that would sort it out, I’m pretty sure it was on Auto before at 2.5v but it didn’t solve the problem.
I then decided to remove one of the memory modules, regardless of what memtest said I still thought it could be memory. So with one left and the voltage at stock this time, I started the computer and it froze up again, this time starting the Full Spectrum Warrior Ten Hammers demo. The demo didn’t even open fully, just a small black section of the screen on the windows desktop. So I rebooted, switched the modules round and it seems to be alright, I switched it back to the module that caused the freeze up and it seems fine as well. I then had another freeze on both modules when starting the FSWTH demo, so I'm thinking it might not be the memory after all, I think it's unlikely that both are faulty. Not sure what else to do, any suggestions?
I also have a few questions:
has memtest ever passed faulty modules before for anyone?
Has anyone has any similar experiences to mine, with the computer freezing up and emitting a single bleep after you click the mouse a few times?
Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance and apologies for the long post, just letting people know what I’ve tried.
Regards,
Mark
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