computer "randomly" freezing..

I have been having a similar problem, I am getting a ton of Disk Errors (Error 51) but it only really happens when I am playing a game. I am running the WD Data Lifeguard Diagonistics now so hopefully that will help. I am running a WD2500JD on a DFI LANParty nForce2 Ultra (Rev A) with GEIL Ultra 3200 Memory, a Radeon 9800 Pro, and an Athlon XP 2600+ Barton. I just got the 250gig SATA hard drive two weeks ago and the disk errors didn't become noticable until last weekend.

I realized I had my Audigy2 ZS Plat, 9800 Pro, and WD2500JD all on one line of power connectors so I re-did that as well as changed the SATA cable and I am still getting disk errors. There goes the theroy that it's not getting enough power. (I am using a 480watt Thermaltake powersupply btw).
 
If it happens when you're playing a game when it happens you might want to try reinstalling Windows with some clean video card drivers. Thermaltake isn't noted for making the best power supplys though so you might want to try another one. I had BSOD a while back that was caused by remenants of old video card drivers.
 
Where does he keep this computer? Bad airflow->heat issues->PSU power issues/memory errors/processor issues
 
I really can't reproduce his problem at all...
I only went on WoW for about an hour. Maybe I'll get one of my friends who plays WoW to play it on his computer because it is boring running in circles.

and it's not heat related, the temps on everything are very good. Barely any hot air coming from back of PSU.
 
Same here, my computer sits on the floor by my desk and I have a case that does a good job with Airflow. I'm going to reformat (including a Kill-Disk) tomorrow and see if the error comes back.
 
Good Luck with the reformat, It is always a good idea to download the latest drivers before you reformat unless you have another free computer, just a recommendation.
 
Yeah I tried to reinstall but it locked up... :( I sent an RMA request to WD, but I really hope I don't need it. I am going to run Memtest and stuff tomorrow and see if I can narrow down the problem.
 
I am having very similar problems. It happens only when gaming, and it sometimes seems to happen when I alt tab.

Here's my setup:
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra
Opteron 148 @ 2625MHz
256mb eVGA 7800GT N517-AX @ stock speeds
2x1gb Corsair XMS @ auto speeds, which is 3-4-4-9 =/
WD 250gb 16mb cache HDD
450w Fortron PSU

Basically, I'll just be going along, not doing anything particularly intensive, when the computer locks up. If I let it sit long enough, it'll unfreeze as if nothing happened, but sometimes I get impatient and hit reset. After it reboots, everything is fine.

I haven't looked at the event viewer (dont know how) so I cant offer any help from that aspect, but I have noticed that we are all using eVGA 7800GTs, 2x1gb of ram, and BinaryCleric and I are using similar hard drives.
 
omg same problem... i almost pissed myself reading this.

ABIT IC7 MAX3
2.8C intel
1g corsair XMS
9800xt ati
120g WD
Audigy 2ZS
480W Thermaltake Butterfly

my computer is ~2 years old, no new hardware or drivers and it just started doing this garbage. it has happened 3 times in total throughout a span of about 2 weeks. twice during WoW and once during cs 1.6. i do have some Code 51 errors about my D drive at the last time i remember it happening. It hasn't done it in a while, but now my computer is going really slow. it will take it almost 2 minutes to load up windows... i just sit there looking at the blue bar going back and forth wondering what the hell is going on. desktop is slow too. I ran 3d mark and during some tests i noticed that my fps had periodic studders in it, kind of pulsating. happens in CS too. in my case since my computer has no new parts or anything... what would a system restore do? what if i put it back to say, january 13th or something? im not sure what sys restores do since i've never had to do one.
 
Okay, who here is using SATA hard drives and who is using IDE? This just started for me when I switched over from IDE to SATA.

Also, is everyone here using a Western Digital Hard Drive?
 
ChingChang said:
and it's not heat related, the temps on everything are very good. Barely any hot air coming from back of PSU.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about where you are keeping it. I'm talking about where your customer keeps it. If you are not able to reproduce the problem it could be because you put the tower where it could get proper airflow. If your customer kept it under a desk with the back up against a wall it might not get adequate airflow and get hot, causing the issues.
 
Okay, after a fresh format I am still getting Disk errors. Any ideas?

Update: Did a BIOS Flash because I realized my BIOS date was January of 2003, so far my system feels a bit quicker. I will let everyone know if it helped any.
 
Just tossing up ideas here.

1. Faulty wiring causing lower than nominal power supply might be a possibility. I can't run any graphics intensive games while I've got my air conditioner running simply because the wiring in my room can't handle even that much of a draw. :(

2. Definitely sounds like something related to the surroundings. What type of monitor is he using at his home? Old CRT's generate a good bit of magnetic interference as they age. Also the heat issue is a good idea. Does the kid know how the airflow is setup so as not to obstruct it?

3. There is always the possibility of a driver issue. I take it nothing shows up as conflicting in the Device Manager?

4. Last shot in the dark: Double-check the DVD-Writer's jumper settings and whether it's in Primary or Secondary IDE. It's not likely this would cause an error, but aside from environmental factors at this kid's home, it's all I can think of.
 
With me the wiring isn't a problem. my computer has been plugged into the same socket for 2yrs. :rolleyes:

Heat isn't a problem seeing as my CPU and vid card are running at what they did when i first got them. (CPU ~31 idle, 40 load --- vid card 60 idle, 66 load)

i updated my video drivers, but rolled back because they were terrible. I could try a BIOS update, but like i said before... why would my computer just start doing this when there hasn't been a new part / driver in it for months.
 
This sounds kinda dumb, but at work I had a computer freezing every day multiple times, and it continued to get worse. We tried everything to fix it until I finally got to the last logical component to change, The CD drive. Runs like a charm now. If you haven't tried it yet, remove all compenents you don't need to get into windows and run the program that is crashing it.
 
OKay, here is what I did.

Re-Flashed BIOS
Re-Loaded the CMOS and set it to load Optimized Defaults
Set it to Boot from SCSI (SATA I guess)
Reformated

No more Error 51s. (for now. :rolleyes: )
 
keep us posted in a couple of days to a week please. i'd like to make sure it works before i format :(

i have got no freezes in a couple days... its so random.
 
Figures, as soon as I go to post that I will keep you all informed my computer does it again. This is insane, wtf is going on here...
 
Update: I played through Half-Life 2: Lost Coast without any lockups when I set everything as low as it could go. Usually it locks up less than 5 minutes into the game. Does this give anyone a clue as to what could be going on?
 
:( happened twice to me so far. . . no errors in eventvwr.msc either. the first time it froze, came back then froze again. i waited about 40 seconds and a blue screen poppped up. just a plain blue screen no text or anything on it. im sad.
 
For all you guys that are having a similar problem... have you been able to reproduce the problem? what do you do to get it to freeze up?

I just reformatted the machine, did a low level format. I dunno if it will help, but hopefully that BSOD won't show up...
 
Hmmmm...mine does it...but not when im playing games or anything...i can be playing COD 2 or NFS MW at MAX settings for hours without any locking up...

Happens only when im playing videos on WMP... :confused: and that also is random...it'll lock up at a point for a certain episode...but next day i play it again its fine...

:confused:
 
Revert to the 7x.xx nvidia driver and see the light. Had the same problem, and help some people fix it in another thread here. Search for locking up. It seems like a common problem that nvidia isn't doing anything about.
 
ahm... im using ati. anyways... just got another blue screen with no text on it. this time it froze for 10 sec, unfroze for 15sec, froze for 35sec and then blue screen/sound high pitched squeal in my ears. everytime it freezes i hear a sort of click sound. the same sound i hear when I shut down my computer. this is so frustrating.
 
does the click sound like hissing? cause that's what you hear when a hard drive powers down.
 
it might be my HD. Right after i got done making that post it froze on my desktop... its never done that before. then i tried to restart and it went to my splash screen and then started to load and said "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

:( v_v im on my old computer atm.
 
I had the Blue Screen with no text thing just happen to me while playing CS:Source. I am running every hard drive diagnostic I can think of, I don't even care about fixing this problem I just want it solved...

moussaka, what is the model number on your hard drive?
 
MDL : WD1200JB-00FUA0

haha, DATE : 30 OCT 2003

anyways, is that what you're asking?
 
i got an old 60-80g HD laying around so im gonna nuke it and stick in my computer and put windows etc.. on it and see if anything results. probably won't be tomarrow though i have a math test to study for.
 
well... i bought a new hard drive and i have been playing games all weekend without problems. If i dont post in this thread again you know its been fixed, i will post to let you know if it happens again though... it will be a sad day if it does.
 
I found out my motherboard (DFI LANParty nForce2 Ultra Revision A) has alot of known SATA problems so I bought an IDE drive. No problems yet.
 
I shipped the comp back. I couldn't find anything wrong with it after a week. I reformatted though, but I don't know if that will help.
 
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