New Build - Vista freezes while streaming (and randomly)

Greetings, I have looked around at forums and even posted this issue on other forums, but nobody seems to want to help me at all. I hope this forum is more kind and helpful :D

I have an issue wherein Vista (Ultimate 64-bit) Will freeze up completely forcing me to reset / reboot. This has occurred a few days after I put the computer together and installed all the software. It does not happen reliably.

The first two times it happened, I was using Firefox in a window, in front of a video game (in windowed mode). This does not happen every time I do that, and has not happened from doing that in about a week.

The problem recently resurfaced in a more reliable fashion while using the Play-On media server software to stream Hulu to my Xbox. The computer froze after about 5 minutes of doing this, and then after about 8 minutes of doing this. I re-installed the most recent network driver, and tried switching ethernet ports. Next time it happened after about 10 minutes, twice in a row. So this is a very reliable circumstance to cause the freeze.

If I'm not using Play On media server, I can use the computer for hours and hours and not have a problem - other than power management refusing to recognize my input devices when it goes into sleep mode thus requiring me to turn off sleep mode - but that's a separate issue. There was the two other times in the past 2 weeks where I didn't have Play On installed at all and the freeze occurring, but like I said it hasn't happened without trying to stream to xbox for about a week and a half, but those occurences are still something to consider.

This does not happen during heavy processing load, such as full screen graphics intensive games, when I would expect the processor to potentially overheat. So I don't think heat is an issue. This also potentially rules out memory problems. Although I have not tried memtest, if my computer can run games while burning CDs and be fine, yet crash wile running nothing but this media server, I don't see how it could be memory related, but then again I'm a noob. I've re-installed the network drivers from Asus' website, and tried both ethernet ports.

I should also add that I have not flashed / updated the BIOS. This is something that I have not done before, and am somewhat afraid to do because of all the posts here and elsewhere citing problems after doing it. I've got all my software installed and files transferred, and I'd very much prefer not to have to wipe it all and start over if something goes wrong with the update. So if possible I'd like to fix this problem without flashing BIOS. It may be that updating bios is vitally important though... you tell me super users.

I hope some genius can help me, because it is really infuriating to have built myself a new box and have this mysterious interruption on a random basis. I'm savvy enough to put a computer together, but with recent configure options such as manually setting voltages for memory, there can be things I've forgotten or left out. Here's my computer info:

ASUS Rampge Formula LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo e8500 Wolfdale 3.16 GHz LGA 775 64W Dual - Core Processor
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) ] x 2 (8gb)
Corsair 750W ATX12V Power Supply
EVGA 896-P3-1267-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Hopefully I've provided the forum with enough information to get me started on the right track to fixing this monster.

Thank you!
- Alex

Well you know i had the same problem with the same OS, and the same fixes (sort of) I never actually fixed it, but it jsut stopped.... So if you wait it out, it might fix itself like it did me.

I too looked all over the internet (and asked here) and never got it really fixed. So my advice is just to wait it out...

Sorry.
~Lordbob

Hi ironrex, welcome to the board.

It is hard to pinpoint the problem because it could be anything. There may a couple of things you can try first beside the brilliant suggestion from Master Lordbob. Lol

Well, first, as in software, check off all the start up applications and recheck one at a time to see which one might have been causing the problem.:D

As for hardware, check your SATA cables to make sure it is secure by disconnect and reconnect, shake and tug on the connection at the HDD. Replace it with after market one asap. The high frequency vibration of the HDD causes intermittently connection break down if the connecter is not in good quality. Loosen SATA cable is a know cause of problem as such.

Good luck and post back.

Bruce

Hey Pro's, thanks for the replies. Here is my update from what I did last night before I saw your post.

First I burned memtest onto a cd and booted from it, it took about an hour to analyze all 8 gig of ram, but eventually it passes and said I have no memory errors.

Next I considered the sound drivers, as the packaged soundcard with my mobo is known to have driver issues. I haven't heard of it crashing the system, just not working, but it works for me. So I disabled the card in the bios actually, and then went I went into windows the audio device wasn't even there, and I couldn't find a driver to turn off. So I haven't tried leaving it enabled from bios and finding the driver and disabling it, but disabling the device did not solve the problem.

Next I flashed the bios to the newest version. I was pleased to not have any surprise issues after doing this, but the issue in question was not resolved.

As lordbob suggested the problem seems to have gone away completely when doing anything except trying to stream using PlayOn to my xbox. So I know how to make this problem happen, and it hasn't just happened unexpectedly for almost 2 weeks.

I will check out the SATA connection, I only have one for my one HDD, and it is an after market cable that has clips, although I couldn't hear them click when I installed them. Due to the nature of my invocation of the issue, I would be surprised to see the HDD crash my system when I'm just streaming from a server, not even using the hard drive as far as I know. Nothing to the tune of downloading files or running a game.

Let me know if you have other ideas, otherwise I'll try that tonight. Thank you for your help!

Yeah, see i told you. Lol.

Yeah it may be best to just not use that...

~Lordbob

I just spent a good deal of coin and put together a new, sweet machine. I'm not comfortable with anything that can completely crash it. Especially something I could do on my old p.o.s. computer with no problem. I'm going to keep working on it.

Yeah I know how that feels. Mine still does stupid stuff like that sometimes. You either put up with it (it doesnt happen very often at all for me anymore) or you really try and fix it. I looked into the same problem, and found nothing. Good luck, and let us know what you find!

~Lordbob

i started having the same problems after i got off a deployment, i formated and reinstalled windows on my computer so i only have virous protection, steam and the ps3 media server on my computerand i keeps crashing when it detects the ps3. i tried using older versons of the program and the media server built into vista and had the same problem the only time i can get it to work is when i disable all nonvital processes in the task manager. i checked the ram the harddrives the all the cables and there fine. also another strange thing is that im having the same problem when i try to watch the movies over the network on another computer in the house through windows explorer so the only time it works is when im watching it locally or if i can find the right process to disable.