Random system freezing

Vista Home Premium

Onboard video died so I replaced with a PCI Express card with nVidia 8600 GS. Things were well for 2 days then while watching a YouTube video everything froze....cursor, keyboard, etc. Have to manually shut down and restart. Now it is freezing at random times, even when scrolling a Word doc. I have no idea other than potential driver conflict.

I've run Marwarebytes, Hijackthis, Spybot, chkdsk and sfc /scannow and the results of all were negative.

My computer is a Slimline so the Sparkle card I got I made sure had a fan. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

I can't find a Sparkle Geforce 8600 GS. Everything is GTS or GT.

Where did you get the card?

My apologies wither 3. Typo on my part. It should have read GeForce 8400GS. It can be found here: GeForce 8400GS 512M D3 L | Sparkle Computer :: Innovative Graphics Card. I purchased it from Newegg.com.

Since last post I ran Vista in Safe Mode for a bit and the system didn't freeze. While in Safe Mode I uninstalled all nVidia drivers including the onboard driver. Ran DLL Sweeper and deleted all remants of nVidia dll's. I reinstalled from the CD and only installed the graphics display driver and left out 3D, audio and other driver.

Restarted and the system froze while scrolling the My Documents folder and nothing else running. Nothing shows in the Event Viewer.

It could be that you got a bad card from NewEgg.

Try reinstalling all your motherboard drivers.

Will do. Thanks, wither 3.

FYI, I've been running in Safe Mode with Networking for the past 24 hours and no freezes.

I could be wrong but I don't think the manufacturer's graphics card drivers are installed in safe mode. I'm assuming that you downloaded the latest driver from NVIDIA when you installed the graphics card.

Since you don't have crashes in Safe Mode, it seems your integrated graphics are working properly so I don't think that reinstalling the mobo drivers or flashing the BIOS would be of benefit.

I installed the most up-to-date nVidia drivers and things seemed fine for 24 hrs than froze again this morning. The integrated graphics looks like this when the system freezes: http://www.vistax64.com/graphic-cards/296235-onboard-video-going.html thus the reason for getting the new card. Aren't the VGA drivers used in Safe Mode independent of the integrated graphics?

Ran System File Checker again and said there were corrupted files that could not be repaired. Probably best to put up with it and buy a new computer for as much as I don't want to.

Your onboard grapics uses VGA. Your onboard graphics is also what allows the use of the PCIe slot.

One thing you could do is download HWMonitor and watch the temperatures of the CPU and the 8400. If the CPU overheats, it can cause the same problem, except that it will normally just BSOD or shutdown the system.

I had two 8800's in SLI and one, then the other, fried because the software did not increase the fan speed to match load. NVIDIA had a piece of software for that but I don't know if it's still available.

I use SpeedFan which displays the temps for the GPU and CPU and automatically adjust the associated fan speeds. One thing I don't quite fully get is your comment " Your onboard graphics is also what allows the use of the PCIe slot". If the onboard graphics is in fact damaged due to heat, etc., then will the display be affected that comes from a card in the PCIe slot?

Usually the onboard chipset isn't very much affected by heat. Based on the specifications for the chipset, it is somehow tied into the PCIe slot.


I wonder if SpeedFan is causing this problem.

wither 3 said:

Usually the onboard chipset isn't very much affected by heat. Based on the specifications for the chipset, it is somehow tied into the PCIe slot.


I wonder if SpeedFan is causing this problem.

Click to expand...

I installed SpeedFan after the video/freezing problems began so that I could monitor the various temps inside the little box.

I ran sfc /scannow three times this morning and am attaching the log of the third run. In all candor, I have no idea what I'm looking at other than certain items could not be repaired. If there there is one or multiple items that appear in the log that warrant a full system recovery, let me know. I've already backed up the folders/files I want to keep, so if formatting is necessary I'm ready to go.

OK, you challenged me by putting this link in our other thread, now I must do what I can. See if these hints help

Here are my solutions to freezing, and an excellent article, which I hope is of some help
Go to search type device manager and look for any yellow warning markers
Download and run malwarebytes, a full scan after you update
Run antivirus scan
Check memory with memtest86
Make sure that you are not over heating.
Try in safe mode; report back if it works properly.
Try a clean boot
Make sure PSU is working properly
If overclocking, restore to original
Test hard drive at company website.
Test in safe mode, does it still happen?
Try with clean boot..
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
http://malwarebytes.org/
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic...ing-memtest86/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Troublesho...blems&id=39981

Since you work in safe mode, I think that a clean boot ( I typed that in bold) is the place to start.

richc46 said:

OK, you challenged me by putting this link in our other thread, now I must do what I can. See if these hints help

Click to expand...

I thought it was subtle. :D

Im putting you on buddy. Im glad that you let me know that you were still having problems.

The fact that you work in safe mode shows that the problem is due to a conflict. The clean boot should tell us just where the conflict is.

I hadn't fortotten about my problem, I was just unaware that between full scans with Malwarebytes and Mircorsoft Essentials would take 9 hours, membtest86+ at 7 hours and still going strong and running Vista waiting to see if a freeze would take place after a clean boot that a corn crop would grow to maturity!! So heres' the results for far:

1. No 'errors' in Device Manager
2. No viruses, trojan horses or worms
3. Memtest86+ still running after7 hours and still going. Errors so far, zero.
4. I have SpeedFan running in the SysTray and there has been no overheating of the GPU or CPU. All other sensors normal.
5. Ran in both Safe Mode and Sage Mode with Networking and no freezes.
6. Started with a "clean boot" and after 5 hours the system froze while scrolling in a forum.
7. Brand new 250W PSU and it is working well. FYI: While shopping for a new PCIe card the vast majorit7 recommend 350W or greater. I settled for a 300W card after being told the card should work fine on 250W. The only hiccup I've found is that the HP splash screen loads like a closing window shade. It does not appear all at once.
8. I have never overclocked any device.
9. Ran the HD utlility from Seagate and no bad sectors, etc.

After the memtest86+ finishes its run I'll again perform a clean boot and report.

Did you uninstall the old drivers? Have you disabled on-board graphics in the BIOS?

townsbg said:

Did you uninstall the old drivers? Have you disabled on-board graphics in the BIOS?

Click to expand...

Which old drivers are you referring to? The onboard? No. I disabled them in BIOS.

The intel drivers for the on-board graphics.

I have not uninstalled them, townsbg.

OK, Rich - I have completed all the tasks and the hardware passes all tests, there is not freezing while in Safe Mode, but the system does freeze after a 'clean boot'. It occurred twice.

This is what you do
MAKE A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT NOW.
Then download and try Lasso. About 75% of members report success, the others want it removed.
Restore is the best way to remove this software.
http://download.cnet.com/Process-Lasso/3000-2094_4-10823362.html