• Random Computer Crashes/Freeze-Ups.
    3 replies, posted
Hey there. So my computer likes to freeze up and become unresponsive at random times, but mainly during hardware acceleration. I have tried Many thing to figure out what the problem is, but with no luck. I will try and provide as much information as possible. I have spoken to a few other people about this, with no clear reason why it does this. [U] What actually happens: [/U]Well, The computer freezes up entirely, It does not blue screen, beep or give any indication of an error. The Image freezes on the screen at the current frame, and the computer does not receive any input from the cursor or keyboard. Going to the task manager is not an option. The sound also "loops", or some times just stops. Most of the time it is just a loud "ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR". I simply cannot do anything after it happens, except do a "hard boot" and hold the power switch and start it back up again. After booting windows back up, there is no sign of there being an issue, and nothing in the event log, All the event log says is that windows was not shut down properly. So there must be something still running in Windows. [U]When it happens:[/U] This has happened at so many times, during hardware acceleration or not. These are some of the things i was doing at times it crashed: Copying files and listening to YouTube. Playing Minecraft and listening to YouTube. Playing World Of Warcraft (It happens a lot when I used to play WoW) Playing Just Cause 2, Facebook on the other monitor. Browsing Facepunch and listening to YouTube. After an auto save in Empire Earth It appears to happen a lot when I'm on YouTube, Even when I have un-selected the "Enable Hardware Acceleration" Option. It also seems to happen when loading new content in a video game. Like changing zones in WoW. It still continues today with other programs, other than WoW, Which I do not play anymore. It has happened twice today. Originally It would crash 3-4 times a day. Recently after I have done a few things to attempt to fix the problem, it crashes 4-5 a month. [B]NOTE: [I]This started happening after an upgrade to my computer; I had got a new motherboard, 2 more RAM slots of the same model, A new Processor and a SSD.[/I] [/B] What I have done Ran Memtest on the RAM. Removed the two newer slots of RAM. Changed the Voltage of the RAM to 1.5v and used a recommended latency. Put Windows on another SSD, a new one, since i though the problem was the SSD. Because I kept getting a notification that the SDD had been disconnected. I don't have the software that told me that now, so i have no idea. Connected the SSD do a different SATA port. Re-installed windows, same copy that worked on my other build. Ran Windows off a normal hard drive. Updated graphics card drivers, and for most other things. Turned of AA, in the Catalyst Control Panel. Put Google Chrome on a separate hard drive to the operating system. Checked if everything is plugged in properly. Turned off Window's Aero theme. Checked if all fans are working. Removed all useless background crap like webcam software etc. Under-clocked the GPU. [U] Stuff about my system: [/U] All temperatures are fine in my computer, whilst playing games, these are the numbers: CPU: around 40*C GPU: around 60-70*C Hard Drives: around 40*C Mobo: around 40*C Idle, is not much different. My specs: Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme3 Chipset: Intel X79 Processor: Intel Core i7 3820 RAM: 8GB DDR3 - G.Kill Ripjaw 2x 4GB (tried them in both channels) SSD (system disk) - Patriot Pyro 120gb SSD PSU: 675w Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6900 series (6950 I think) PCI-Express (2GB Memory) This was custom made. [U] Other Strange Things About My Computer: [/U] For some reason, Window's Explorer picks up everything in my DVD ROM as an audio disk, even when there is nothing in it. I usually have to put a disk in a couple times to get it to show up in Windows explorer properly. iTunes also seems to pick it up as a music disk, with a few tracks on it, tracks that go for a few hours. A little "buzz" that is high pitched can be heard from my graphics card, when rendering things with OpenGL. Such as the Minecraft menu, and a program I had made with SDL. I personally believe the issue could be something to do with there not being enough power from the PSU to the Hardrive, causing it to stop. Mainly because when games are loading data from the hard drive, is when it is most likely to cause my computer to freeze. And that removing two slots of RAM, has caused my system to be become a lot more stable, I'm guessing because it's drawing less power? Thank you for reading and helping me out, this is starting to bum me out really bad. Let me know if i'm missing any important information.
Well you ruled out about everything but your GFX card itself. I think you should look for the problems there. Try another card for a while or try this card in another PC.
I agree with Drumdevil, you should try with a different graphics card. Worth to note, also try running the games from your SSD (or another drive).
Well as I don't have an extra graphics card around, however i will try running the games off the SSD
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