Freezing pc

[Munkyman]

I've got a problem with my pc and i need a bit of advice. Everytime i run an application such as a game that needs the pc to work, it freezes after a while. Normally it's after a couple of hours but the past couple of days it's been less than 30mins from when i start the app to it freezing.

I've tried running the app from the moment i boot up and i've tried running the app after leaving the pc idling for a few hours. It doesn't seem to make a difference.

I've been checking the temps as well, cpu stays at about 40c as does the mobo chip under load. The gfx card maxes out at about 85-90c under load.

I've had this problem for a while but it's got a lot worse over the past few days.

Heres the full specs of the pc:

Asus A8N-sli deluxe
AMD 4200+ dual core s939
1.5gb generic ram
XFX 6800GT
SB Audigy 1
Seagate Baracuda 200gb sata hd
samsung dvd-writer
All running off a Tagan 480 uo-1 psu

The majority of the components are getting up to 3 years old bar the cpu. Thats less than 6 months old

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

 

[Munkyman]

Yep, i've got 3 sticks in there. They third was put in on saturday to try and solve the issue. It hasn't worked though.

I'll give memtest a go, see what happens.

edit: Actually, when i do a reboot by hitting reset, it locks up at the winxp logo screen. If i turn it off and unplug it from the wall for a minute or 2, it boots back up fine.

 

[Munkyman]

Ok, i've just finished doing the memtest. No errors have been reported. Is there any possibility the gfx card or some software is causing the lock up? Temps seem normal so i don't think it's that.

 

[Munkyman]

I tried doing a defrag at the weekend but all it did was lock the pc up. I made sure i'd stopped all the programs i could from running. Stuff like the antivirus and anything else that ran in the background.

 

[Munkyman]

I'm running xp The tagan psu should have enough juice to run my system but saying that, the problems did start soon after i'd put the 4200+ x2 in. There was a 3000+ winchester in there before.

Theres a molex connector on my mobo thats normally only used when sli is being used. I've never needed it before, i'm wondering if i might be needing it now with the 4200.

 

[Munkyman]

it says in the manual for your mobo that you only to connect that plug if you re running sli

Yeah, it does. The cpu i'm running though wasn't around when the mobo was manufactured, didn't come until 2 years later iirc. Although i wouldn't have thought it would make any difference

Try to run chkdsk or some other HDD diagnostic program, you might have bad sectors on disk and when system is trying to write/use them it might lock up.
I had a similiar problem with my old laptop, after running chkdsk and locating the bad sectors its running fine. Tho u may wish to replace that hdd if thats the case. I only use that laptop for surfing so i dont care if it fails as i have no data on it.

Just run chkdsk, it didn't come up with any bad sectors or any errors at all.

 

[Munkyman]

I think it is. I only did a complete re-format 6 months ago. Before that it ran fine for 2 years without any trouble.

I'll give it a go and give it a test afterwards. If it doesn't work then i might wipe the hd and start from fresh

 

[Munkyman]

I've already done that I had to take the graphics card out to put the third stick of ram in at the weekend. I check everything once a month anyway.

 

[Munkyman]

I've just re-installed windows onto an old 40gig ide drive i had lying around. I've installed a couple of things like msn messenger and mediaplayer on it but thats it. Everything else is being run from my 200gig sata drive, web browsers, email program, all my media, that kind of thing. It's still bootable as well, it's just not set to.

I've had no lock-ups or anything since i've done that. Could my 200gig be borked or is it just windows being awkward?

 

[Munkyman]

What did it look like when it locked up in games?

It might not be the same issue, but I also had a 6800gt with similar temps (80-95 deg) and I found that in XP (not Vista) the PC would crash whenever I tried to play any game, especially in high resolutions. The whole screen would turn purple and I'd have to reboot. This seems to be a pretty common problem after a quick search. I fitted a Zalman cooler to the graphics card last week and now get temps of 40-55 degrees and it hasn't locked up since.

It would just completely freeze, no funny colours or anything. Everything would just stop, including anything i had playing on media player.

^^ agree with bayo000

sounds like could be xp playing up.

Also, do you have the AMD dual core optimizer driver installed? This may well fix the stability problem.

Yep, i had a good search on forums and things before i installed the cpu just so i'd get it right.

I've managed to sort of fix it now anyway. I had a 40gb ide drive lying around so i've installed xp on that and set it as the bootable drive. It's solved all the problems now. The 200gb sata is being used as a 2nd drive cos it's still got all my media and stuff on it. It's still a bootable drive as well as i haven't deleted xp or anything off it. I will get round to formatting it and starting from fresh but not until i can get everything backed up.

 

[Munkyman]

Sorry for the tongue, it was only meant in jest . I think you're right about it being software, i was convinced for ages that it was my gfx card. Now i'm booting off a different hd, it all seems fine.