Random system freezing

[townsbg]

I suggest that you remove the drivers for the intel chip to prevent any conflicts.

 

[wither 3]

Even a 300W PSU sounds low. On the other hand, I have a 600 W PSU. When I bought my new MSI graphics card six months ago, it specified a certain voltage and amperage for the PSU. When I mentioned to MSI that the only PSU I could find that met the specs was at least 800 W, they said I was okay. Go figure. So far there hasn't been a problem.

 

[markaz]

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.
Process Lasso - CNET Download.com

Installed it and watched it monitor the processes and then it froze. Restarted and the second I hit the 'Play' button on a YouTube video it froze again. Went ahead and restored the system to pre-Lasso.

 

[markaz]

Even a 300W PSU sounds low. On the other hand, I have a 600 W PSU. When I bought my new MSI graphics card six months ago, it specified a certain voltage and amperage for the PSU. When I mentioned to MSI that the only PSU I could find that met the specs was at least 800 W, they said I was okay. Go figure. So far there hasn't been a problem.

Unfortunately, the HP Slimlines limit the type of PSU you can physically install. The largest wattage I could find that would fit into the space allowed was the 250W that I have. I'm not a gamer so it really wasn't an issue.

I suggest that you remove the drivers for the intel chip to prevent any conflicts.

The on-board graphics is the nVidia chipset. I uninstalled that and the 8400GS graphics card, ran Driver Sweeper to ensure that all nVidia drivers were uninstalled, reinstalled the graphics card with updated drivers from nVidia's website, restarted and launched Firefox. After approx 10 minutes the system froze.

 

[townsbg]

I read in our original post that you where watching a youtube video. Flash player could be messed up. Try uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

 

[markaz]

I think it's all for not. I used Karen's Replicator and took everything off the Vista machine I wanted and need. I then formated the hard drive and reinstalled from the recovery discs I made years ago. I installed Security Essentials first and then downloaded and installed all the updates. After restarting I went to the folder with all the programs I wanted to install and while scrolling, it froze. Nothing on the machine except update and an antivirus. Because the freezing began out of nowhere, I can't help but feel that either one of the CPU cores (although test OK) or one of the updates is causing this.

Any suggestions at this point? If not, I'll just load all the docs, pic, videos, etc. on my 13" laptop, box up the HP Slimline and call it a day. There a reason for the freeze up but I just don't have the knowledge to take care of it and you guys don't have the luxury of having the computer to figure it out. To say I'm frustrated is an understatement because I like Vista so much more than Win 7 (laptop). Anyway, the cupboard is bare on the Vista machine if you have any suggestions.

THANK YOU for all your suggestions to date.

 

[townsbg]

Is this a fresh install or a backup of a previous image? Have you tried a fresh install using the recovery partition? Have you scanned the hard drive and memory?

 

[markaz]

Is this a fresh install or a backup of a previous image? Have you tried a fresh install using the recovery partition? Have you scanned the hard drive and memory?

Recovery Partition apparently corrupt as I could not access it via F11 at startup or via the Recovery manager within Vista. 3 recovery discs made at the time of purchase, so the HD was formatted. One thing I noticed over time is a ton of programs installed ended up having some type of files on the recovery partition. GIMP, Security Essentials, and on and on show up when D:/ is checked in Process Explorer.

I used the Western Digital hard drive utility that tested for bad sectors, etc. For the memory I used memtest86+. After an excruciatingly long testing period both passes with no errors.

 

[richc46]

Test your hard drive. Make sure your hard drive is not near capacity.

 

[markaz]

Capacity: 286 GB
Used: 35.3 GB
Free: 251 GB

 

[markaz]

Just as an FYI, when Windows was updating (SP2) it downloaded the files OK bit I got 2 error codes during the install (Code 2 and Code 80070026) and the machine would proceed no further than attempting to configure stage 3 of 3 but could not accomplish the task. With nothing to lose I chose to recover the system once again back to factory specs. I did so but did it from the Recovery partition. With that done the very first thing I did was uninstall bloatware which included Norton antivirus. I installed Microsoft Security Essentials prior to installing updates and during the initial Quick Scan, THE SYSTEM FROZE!! Nothing installed except the virus/malware program. Now I'm far from being an experts at how things work in a computer, but with the chances of conflicts literally zero, I have to assume that there is a hardware issue that escaped every test done. Any further guesses?

 

[wither 3]

A long time ago I suggested that you could have gotten a bad graphics card. It's not unheard of. The only issue I have with that is you weren't getting any problems in Safe Mode.

The CPU and PSU can also cause similar freezing problems. I'll not harp on the PSU since you're limited there.

Are all the air vents for your system clear (free from dust? Are the fans clean and running?

 

[markaz]

Thanks, wither - While I was installing the new PSU about a month ago I took the opportunity to thoroughly clean the vents and the CPU fan. Because I'm not getting any overheating with the GPU and CPU you just may be right about the CPU itself. Still don't think it's a bad card because when I run the machine with the onboard graphics, it freezes as well. I thinks it's hardware at this point just can't point to one because they've all passed various tests.

Thanks for the help.

 

[richc46]

Did you check event viwer to see cause of freeze?

 

[townsbg]

I have had RivaTuner recommended to me for monitoring GPU temps. You must however be careful with it because it can do a lot more than that. Are you overclocking your GPU? That can cause instability.

 

[wither 3]

It could be the cpu needs to have the thermal paste replaced. For cpu overheating, I don't think it will BSOD. It will either just freeze or shut down your system. Whenever my graphics card overheats, it gives me a BSOD (did it to me about 15 minutes after my last post). I hate making suggestions about things like the cpu because a person may spend money doing things and it may not work.

The other issue with your integrated graphics is that it probably shares memory with the cpu. If you can, you could pull your RAM and reseat it.

 

[markaz]

Did you check event viwer to see cause of freeze?

I've checked the EV ever since this all began here: http://www.vistax64.com/1368042-post1.html. There has never been an error at the time of even one of the freeze-ups.

I have had RivaTuner recommended to me for monitoring GPU temps. You must however be careful with it because it can do a lot more than that. Are you overclocking your GPU? That can cause instability.

SpeedFan is doing a very good job along with Speccy. In both I have never seen even an elevated temp. I re-installed Furmark this morning and it's been running for 40 minutes. @99% load and 54 degs. C. I don't get that the GPU fan is running at only 40% (unless it's part of the Burn-In test.

It could be the cpu needs to have the thermal paste replaced. For cpu overheating, I don't think it will BSOD. It will either just freeze or shut down your system. Whenever my graphics card overheats, it gives me a BSOD (did it to me about 15 minutes after my last post). I hate making suggestions about things like the cpu because a person may spend money doing things and it may not work.

The other issue with your integrated graphics is that it probably shares memory with the cpu. If you can, you could pull your RAM and reseat it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Don't know if you've ever seen the inside of an HP Slimline, but working on one is an experience.
1. When I replaced the PSU I had to remove the HD and the CPU fan. So the thermal paste was replace about a month ago and feel confident I got a good seal.
2. Just to reseat the RAM, the HD and optical would have to be removed. If anything I would add two new sticks after going thru that trouble.

Thanks for the continued help. It is now officially a challenge.

 

[wither 3]

You can always run memtest to see if memory is an issue. It's late so I didn't go through this thread to see if you've done this.

 

[markaz]

No need to apologize as the thread has gotten long. Yes, I ran memtest86+ (for USB) and it ran for 12 hours without identifying one problem. I still find it hard to believe that Furmark ran for an hour, generated some high temps and didn't freeze. As a matter of fact the system ran for over 24 hours yesterday until I was in Firefox and simply clicked on a tab. It then froze.

 

[wither 3]

It just froze without any error messages? Again, I didn't look but does this happen if you use IE? Are there any clues in the Event logs.