Vista - Graphics freezing my system?

**alexdagr8est** · 08-10-2009

So my problem starts about 2 months after building my PC.
Put XP pro 32-bit on it updated it to SP3, working fine. Added my sound card just AFTER this problem first appeared. So my screen Froze, Ctrl Alt Del didn’t work mouse wont move, I try to move my mouse with both my mice and my keyboards (they both have touchpads) still nothing. If audio is playing at the time it loops the last 1/2 second over and over, I never get a “BSOD” (Blue Screen Of Death). I thought this sucks, it is a new PC I’ll hard restart it and then check the event log. Nothing irregular in the event log, so I ignored it. Since this time, this has occurred most nights esp when I play a game, when Im listening to music or on a streaming website i.e Youtube (But this does happen at any other time as well).
I did all the normal things, rolled back drivers, individually and then even did a complete format of my harddrive and reinstalled XP again when the problem kept reoccurring. I then started to try to diagnose in many different ways. Running Chkdsk for my HDD, Prime 95 (CPU stress test), Memtest (RAM), Riva Tuner (to under-clock my GPU in case it was a temperature problem) in all my performance logs, the temps for my RAM, GPU, CPU, Chipset have never been a problem. So everything seems perfect. Yet this problem keeps occurring.
I installed the Windows 7 RC, hoping that a new OS would fix this, but all the drivers for this were in beta so when the problem persisted my instincts told me that it was a hardware problem and not a beta driver problem.
So I then updated my BIOS, turned into a Nazi updating all my drivers and firmware. No change. I eventually got my hands on one of my client’s Vista Ultimate DVD’s, So I installed Vista Ultimate 32-bit onto my 2nd hard drive. Still no change. Ran the various diagnostics again. Event log says my system is perfect. But when I hard reboot now in Vista after the freeze, the clock gets reset to 2003, and as this happens nightly this was and is becoming a real drag (Vista does not auto update when your system clock is out of sync by 6 years I found, and wont update from any of the time servers if your are that far out of time, so you have to manually reset to prevent from getting more errors).
So then came the Hardware problem solving, I’d taken my rig apart and had put it back together a few times by this point, so I have been quite patient yet quite frustrated. My girlfriend ordered me an air compressor can from work (work paid for it, great girl) and I sprayed the thin layers of dust away from every individual component. I have been seeking support from XFX for a month or 2 (my motherboard company) and they said they cant help. But I don’t think it is my motherboard, for many reasons, this thread has gone on too long so I wont get into it. I started trying to diagnose by taking out certain components, and seeing if my PC would still freeze when I booted up (I disabled the associated drivers in the device manager) so far I have only done this with my sound card as I don’t have any spare components to swap. So perhaps I’ll buy and build a really low budget PC and swap and diagnose problems that way. But I do want a quick fix for this problem. I have run my PC with the lowest part no’s available (1 keyboard, 1 mouse, 1 stick of ram, 1 monitor {I normally have 2 – one 24in the other 22in [run via my DVI ports to my VGA]}, 1 HDD, my graphics card) issue still occurs.
This problem definitely occurs more often with the sound card in, so I went and sought support from creative, they suggested that I remove the card, startup, uninstall all drivers and associated software, shutdown, install the card again and when I log in and the windows installation of device drivers comes up, cancel and install with my original CD. I’m thinking of doing this with my sound card and then again with my graphics card.
At the moment I’m thinking its either my graphics card, my sound card or my PSU. I think it’s an extremely small chance that its my PSU, for good measure I’m going to buy a UPS. But more likely it’s my graphics card with a combination of my sound card. I have read most forums on this problem and it seems that this could be anything. But I’m leaning towards my graphics card. Any fix would be a God-send.
Absolutely ANY suggestions are welcome and if you know any other good applications to diagnose, problems you have had and solved with the exact same issue etc. are extremely desired. I have provided as much information as I think I can provide for this issue, but if you have any other questions to help me I’ll certainly answer if you can help me solve my problem.

**kword88** · 08-11-2009

you might try re-flashing the BIOS. if this is a new build, the clock shouldnt reset all the way back to 2003, unless its an older motherboard or the wrong BIOS.

**alexdagr8est** · 08-11-2009

alright, I'll give it a go, I did update the bios at one point, and there was an error. but this was many months after I first experienced my problem. I dont care too much about that though. I need help dealing with the system freeze

08-10-2009	#1 (permalink)
alexdagr8est Vista Ultimate 64-bit 218 posts	Graphics freezing my system? So my problem starts about 2 months after building my PC. Put XP pro 32-bit on it updated it to SP3, working fine. Added my sound card just AFTER this problem first appeared. So my screen Froze, Ctrl Alt Del didn’t work mouse wont move, I try to move my mouse with both my mice and my keyboards (they both have touchpads) still nothing. If audio is playing at the time it loops the last 1/2 second over and over, I never get a “BSOD” (Blue Screen Of Death). I thought this sucks, it is a new PC I’ll hard restart it and then check the event log. Nothing irregular in the event log, so I ignored it. Since this time, this has occurred most nights esp when I play a game, when Im listening to music or on a streaming website i.e Youtube (But this does happen at any other time as well). I did all the normal things, rolled back drivers, individually and then even did a complete format of my harddrive and reinstalled XP again when the problem kept reoccurring. I then started to try to diagnose in many different ways. Running Chkdsk for my HDD, Prime 95 (CPU stress test), Memtest (RAM), Riva Tuner (to under-clock my GPU in case it was a temperature problem) in all my performance logs, the temps for my RAM, GPU, CPU, Chipset have never been a problem. So everything seems perfect. Yet this problem keeps occurring. I installed the Windows 7 RC, hoping that a new OS would fix this, but all the drivers for this were in beta so when the problem persisted my instincts told me that it was a hardware problem and not a beta driver problem. So I then updated my BIOS, turned into a Nazi updating all my drivers and firmware. No change. I eventually got my hands on one of my client’s Vista Ultimate DVD’s, So I installed Vista Ultimate 32-bit onto my 2nd hard drive. Still no change. Ran the various diagnostics again. Event log says my system is perfect. But when I hard reboot now in Vista after the freeze, the clock gets reset to 2003, and as this happens nightly this was and is becoming a real drag (Vista does not auto update when your system clock is out of sync by 6 years I found, and wont update from any of the time servers if your are that far out of time, so you have to manually reset to prevent from getting more errors). So then came the Hardware problem solving, I’d taken my rig apart and had put it back together a few times by this point, so I have been quite patient yet quite frustrated. My girlfriend ordered me an air compressor can from work (work paid for it, great girl) and I sprayed the thin layers of dust away from every individual component. I have been seeking support from XFX for a month or 2 (my motherboard company) and they said they cant help. But I don’t think it is my motherboard, for many reasons, this thread has gone on too long so I wont get into it. I started trying to diagnose by taking out certain components, and seeing if my PC would still freeze when I booted up (I disabled the associated drivers in the device manager) so far I have only done this with my sound card as I don’t have any spare components to swap. So perhaps I’ll buy and build a really low budget PC and swap and diagnose problems that way. But I do want a quick fix for this problem. I have run my PC with the lowest part no’s available (1 keyboard, 1 mouse, 1 stick of ram, 1 monitor {I normally have 2 – one 24in the other 22in [run via my DVI ports to my VGA]}, 1 HDD, my graphics card) issue still occurs. This problem definitely occurs more often with the sound card in, so I went and sought support from creative, they suggested that I remove the card, startup, uninstall all drivers and associated software, shutdown, install the card again and when I log in and the windows installation of device drivers comes up, cancel and install with my original CD. I’m thinking of doing this with my sound card and then again with my graphics card. At the moment I’m thinking its either my graphics card, my sound card or my PSU. I think it’s an extremely small chance that its my PSU, for good measure I’m going to buy a UPS. But more likely it’s my graphics card with a combination of my sound card. I have read most forums on this problem and it seems that this could be anything. But I’m leaning towards my graphics card. Any fix would be a God-send. Absolutely ANY suggestions are welcome and if you know any other good applications to diagnose, problems you have had and solved with the exact same issue etc. are extremely desired. I have provided as much information as I think I can provide for this issue, but if you have any other questions to help me I’ll certainly answer if you can help me solve my problem.
My System Specs

08-11-2009	#2 (permalink)
kword88 vista ultimate 32bit,64bit,Seven Ultimate 64bit 331 posts	Re: Graphics freezing my system? you might try re-flashing the BIOS. if this is a new build, the clock shouldnt reset all the way back to 2003, unless its an older motherboard or the wrong BIOS.
My System Specs

08-11-2009	#3 (permalink)
alexdagr8est Vista Ultimate 64-bit 218 posts	Re: Graphics freezing my system? alright, I'll give it a go, I did update the bios at one point, and there was an error. but this was many months after I first experienced my problem. I dont care too much about that though. I need help dealing with the system freeze
My System Specs

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