Hardware, or software issue?

[KMK0420]

Here's a weird problem - i don't know if this will be a hardware or software issue...i'm leaning towards a hardware issue...

Running Win XP, SP3.
Quad Core, ASUS P5 series motherboard

either an EVGA or XFX (cant remember) 8800GTX.

so, recently, during movies or games, my computer would lock up, and occasionally shut down. sometimes it would just lock up, and stay that way until i held power button in for 10 seconds for a hard shutdown, but most of the time would shut down on its own.

i checked system/event viewer - NO errors what-so-ever for systems or applications. none at all.

first thing i did - cleaned pc out. dusted out the fans, heatsinks, etc. clean as i could get it. second thing was i ran a registry clean with ccleaner, updated video drivers and i SEEMED to be okay..

but, nope. it did it again - it randomly chooses when it wants to freeze, and shut down - various games cause it, some don't, etc.

ANOTHER thing, when i go to start>shutdown; the PC never shuts down. i can't open anything, i can't ctrl+alt+del as i get a "Computer is shutting down" error preventing me from opening anything. I've given it 10+ minutes and it doesn't shut down.

Now recently i had a malware infection (3 weeks ago) but i used combofix and malwarebytes to get rid of it, which worked. but ALL of a sudden (pc scanned and IS clean) my games/movies are freezing, and pc will NOT shut down with the shutdown command.

I figured a heat issue on my video card, my 8800 GTX idles @ 70-80 (is this normal?) if heat on my video card is the issue, could it be causing the OS not to shut down also? with no event logs/system/application errors to go by, i have no idea what else to try. it sounds like faulty hardware, either power or video card related.

Note: I did have my 8800 GTX replaced for artifacting. I don't know if this series of cards has known issues, but why would my system be unresponsive with shutting down?


Lost. ANY input anyone on what to check?

 

[leSLIe]

want to be 100% sure?
reformat & reinstall (good thing to do after a malware attack)
if the problem continues, it's a hardware problem, mobo or psu

 

[KMK0420]

want to be 100% sure?
reformat & reinstall (good thing to do after a malware attack)
if the problem continues, it's a hardware problem, mobo or psu

i know, i'm attempting to avoid that at all costs if necessary...i want to exhaust all options first...i heard USB power management may be an issue, so i'm going to turn that off in the device manager / usb root hubs. other than that, no idea what to check. concerned about temps on video card, but i can't see how that causes my pc not to shut down properly.

 

[leSLIe]

i know, i'm attempting to avoid that at all costs if necessary...i want to exhaust all options first...i heard USB power management may be an issue, so i'm going to turn that off in the device manager / usb root hubs. other than that, no idea what to check. concerned about temps on video card, but i can't see how that causes my pc not to shut down properly.

there are just too many variables in your PC after the malware attack, considering it was cleaned properly

 

[KMK0420]

there are just too many variables in your PC after the malware attack, considering it was cleaned properly

weird part is for the past 3 weeks, pc has functioned fine. i know immediately when i'm infected and i take the right steps to fix...just odd that malware would rear its head 3 weeks after the fact...never seen that happen.

edit: on that same note, why does -everything- function fine aside from freezing when the video is the main process, or when i go to shutdown? in my exp. with malware, malware affects a lot of things and nothing else aside from those 2 things are happening - i gotta say its probably video card/power supply/mobo, i just wanted to see if there was any other advice on things to try

 

[KMK0420]

Problem possibly solved:

Recently installed CS4.

A quick google search indicates Flash Player 10 may be the source of my shutdown problem, not to mention with flash videos/games locking up/freezing pc. Will be uninstalling entire suite, will post back if it fixes issue.