Windows Vista: Vista freezing at odd times
Vista freezing at odd times
by tbonehauer - 6/12/09 8:46 AMOK here's a stumper, first of all, specs.
DFI LanPartyDK 790FX
AMD Athlon X2 5800+ Black Edition AM2+
2GB OCZ PC6400 Reaper DDR2
GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3
Raidmax RX730SS 730Watt PSU
Vista Home Premium 32-bit
This is my parents computer that is fairly new but ran for a couple of months without any problems and just started freezing lately. I am home from school for a few days and I am trying everything that I can think of to fix this thing! It freezes when my mom is using printshop, it freezes while my dad is playing solitaire, it freezes sometimes during youtube videos.
Here is what I have tried
MemTest 86+ for 12 hours with no errors.
Removed PCI cards (Audigy4 and a Firewire card)
Switched graphics card to a GeForce 8600GTS 512MB GDDR3
Reinstalled Vista
Installed Windows 7 RC to their secondary drive
After each step I still get random freezing...please help!!!!
Since Windows 7 RC does it too.
by R. Proffitt
- 6/12/09 10:29 AM
In reply to: Vista freezing at odd times by tbonehauer
I'm thinking hardware. Tell me about your research into the BIOS version and how to set the voltage to that RAM properly.
bob
Permanent or Temporary
by Jimmy Greystone - 6/12/09 10:30 AM In reply to: Vista freezing at odd times by tbonehauerIs the freezing permanent or temporary? Do you have to shut the system off to make it usable again, or does it resume on its own after a short time?
BIOS Update
by tbonehauer - 6/12/09 1:15 PM In reply to: Vista freezing at odd times by tbonehauerThe freeze is permanent, I have to do power off the system and reboot to make it usable.
As far as BIOS is concerned, a)I've never flashed a BIOS and I am hoping to avoid that. b)I checked the RAM timings and voltages, the voltage was low so i bumped it up to 2.1 which is what is printed on the side of the RAM, the timings were auto set at 5-5-5-15 so i changed them to 4-4-4-15 which is also printed on the RAM.
It may just be that I'm nervous about nothing with the BIOS flash, let me know the best way to check BIOS version and make CERTAIN that i get the right upgrade, that is the part that confuses me, as far as I can find out, the motherboard is the DFI LanPartyDK 790FX, but all of the DFI bios updates have like 4 different models of the 790FX, and i don't want to install the wrong one and make the board unusable.
Thanks!
"the voltage was low so i bumped it up to 2.1 which is what
by R. Proffitt - 6/12/09 6:33 PM
In reply to: BIOS Update by tbonehauer
"the voltage was low so i bumped it up to 2.1 which is what is printed on the side of the RAM,"
Good moves. The timing is one I might have left alone since the old setting was slower and I tend to make one change at a time.
Don't flash the BIOS except when we have no choice.
Bob
Wow
by tbonehauer - 6/12/09 7:11 PM In reply to: "the voltage was low so i bumped it up to 2.1 which is what by R. Proffitt
So i moved the GeForce 7600GT to a different PCI slot, just sort of on a hunch, and the pc has been on and working just fine for about 8 hours now which is great!
it is a LITTLE on the sluggish side, you think maybe i should set the ram back to 5-5-5-15?
ok...
by tbonehauer - 6/19/09 7:23 PM In reply to: (NT) Worth trying. by R. Proffitt
so i just talked to my parents and since i have been in colorado their computer has frozen twice. my mother said that twice it has booted up at the wrong resolution (800x600)
I sent her a link to update her video card drivers...but other than that im at a loss of what to do.
Seems like a newish machine.
by R. Proffitt - 6/20/09 5:30 AM
In reply to: ok... by tbonehauer
Can you deal with it's maker to have them fix it?
If self-built then you start the process of changing parts.
Again, since more than one OS locks up it's likely to be hardware related or even design related. For example I found one machine where they put a quad core 1000 Watt system in a mini-case. It didn't run for very long until it locked up.
Bob
hardware
by tbonehauer - 6/21/09 9:33 PM In reply to: Seems like a newish machine. by R. Proffitt
based on the specs any idea of where to start replacing hardware? it seems like the power supply should be giving out enough juice, im just worried its a motherboard thing and i don't want to replace a bunch of parts and find out its some setting on the motherboard or something like that. heard of any dfi boards having problems with ocz memory?
design
by tbonehauer - 6/21/09 9:37 PM In reply to: Seems like a newish machine. by R. Proffitt
not sure what you mean by design, as far as the case...its in an antec three-hundred but the desk its in has a compartment for the pc with a door. i drilled a bunch of holes in the door to help get some air in, and it doesn't seem to be overheating, air coming out of all the exhaust fans is cool, unfortunately, speedfan and any other temp monitoring software ive tried has given odd readings, like 15 degrees F core temp, obviously thats not correct.
it just seems odd that suddenly, after many months of smooth operation that it would just start locking up like that, but like i said, i've tested the memory, its clearly not a hard drive issue, i wouldn't really suspect the cpu, but i suppose it could be having problems, checked the graphics card and all the pci cards, and i don't think that it is overheating at all....so where would you recommend i start?
design.
by R. Proffitt - 6/22/09 7:38 AM
In reply to: design by tbonehauer
Since parts age and fail the rough part of this story is to find out what is giving the machine grief. If it wasn't for the fact that both Vista and 7 were having the issue then I would be writing about an OS reload.
Then again you might have a printer, usb or other item that is giving the OS fits. I start with removing what I can do without.
Bob
USB issue
by tbonehauer - 6/30/09 7:16 PM In reply to: Vista freezing at odd times by tbonehauerOk, so this is on my personal computer, I am having an issue with the USB keyboard. It works fine in windows, but it doesn't turn on until windows loads, meaning I cannot access the BIOS. I plugged a PS/2 keyboard in to my motherboard and tried rebooting with the USB Keyboard Support option enabled and disabled...it was enabled by default. I have also double-checked all of the motherboard jumpers to make sure that the board is supplying power to the USB slots.
DFI LanParty nForce4 Ultra-D
I HAVE A MACHINE LIKE THAT!
by R. Proffitt - 7/1/09 5:54 AM
In reply to: USB issue by tbonehauer
For that machine (some "ICEBOX"?) I found that the BIOS settings for USB KEYBOARD and MOUSE support only worked if I had it set EXACTLY as follows:
USB Keyboard - Enabled.
USB Mouse - Disabled.
USB 2.0/1.1 support = Enabled.
Your magic combo may differ but you tell me why it mattered.
Bob
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