So Whats Wrong With My Computer

DeChache

DeChache

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
Messages
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I've been fighting with my system for the last couple months. First I was getting random reboots that went away on there own still don't know what was causing that. After that I started having major performance issues then eventually I couldn't boot into windows at all if my hard drive was recognized. Just because of over all battyness I concluded that my motherboard was bad and I replaced that and all was well. Now my computer is back at it again and I am stumped. It will just randomly hard lock. The CPU passed a 8 hour Orthos test. The temps are fine. The hard drives pass seatools diags. The only real hitch has been it locked up last night when I was running Memtest no errors just hard locked after about 4 hours. My gut is telling me the hard drives are bad but it could be the PSU or the RAM. So what do you guys think I can go into anything you need in more detail this is just an overview. I want some opinions before I go RMAing stuff.

This is getting really annoying I just want my computer to work.

System
Opty 170
Abit AT8 32X
2 gigs Gskill DDR 400
2 Seagate 7200.10 320Gig hard drives
Sony DVD Burner
Corsair HX520
EVGA 8800GTS
 
maybe the ram is bad or its not gettinng enough power? Are you able to test the ram on another system?
 
hossdaddy said:
maybe the ram is bad or its not gettinng enough power? Are you able to test the ram on another system?
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I can't test the RAM in another system. All the other computers I have either use SDRAM or DDR2.

Could the PSU be flaky and not giving constant power be causing random hard locks.
 
hossdaddy said:
maybe... you should be able to get both tested at a local pc shop.
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Yeah but that requires spending money I don't have and out here in nowhere Iowa theres not much in the way for PC shops. The one here thinks limewire in completely legal and that dual core AMD is inferior to a P!!! I think I'll pass.(Yeah for ignorance)

Grrr. Stupid computers maybe its just time to retire the Opty and build new.
 
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Well OS drive passed now checking the Storage Drive.
 
Run Memtest again but this time, run it on each stick of RAM separately. There has been occasions where the good memory will cover up for the bad memory in my experience. Also, try different slots as well.
 
Ok both drives passed and I was quite pleased to find out that it didn't lock up overnight but I'm guessing a 3 meg ISO doesn't use that much RAM if that is the reason.

Danny Bui said:
Run Memtest again but this time, run it on each stick of RAM separately. There has been occasions where the good memory will cover up for the bad memory in my experience. Also, try different slots as well.
Click to expand...

When I get home tonight I'll pull a stick of ram and fire up memtest and see what happens. Could that be the reason that the computer locked up while running memtest but didn't throw any errors?

This could get to be a long drawn out process I only really have time to fire up these tests before I go to bed. Hopefully if its the ram I pull the right stick and it errors the first night.

On a side note any body done a RMA with Gskill before how are they on the service side of things.
 
I am pretty sure if you test each stick for an hour that should be enough.
 
Well 4 hours and 10 passes on the first stick and no problems. Think I'll let it run overnight and see what happens. Last set of ram I had go bad took ~12 hours to throw an error.
 
Well it locked up again in memtest but this time it took 13 hours but no errors. Well I guess time to check the other stick. Though it only completed about 4 more passes in the 8 hours I was asleep it was at about 10 when I went to bed bu when I got up it had only done 4 more passes and had locked up.
 
Ok neither stick threw an error but the machine did lock up after a few hours. Could the ram be causing that or is it something else. I'm going to put in a spare hard drive tonight and see what happens. Iono I may break out my spare PSU to if it comes to that. This is really starting to baffle me.
 
hossdaddy said:
I hate to suggest this but re-installing the os? Defrag hd?
Click to expand...

Windows Linux Linux Live Disk. Bootable Disk Doesn't seem to matter it will eventually lock up. It has nothing to do with software.
 
Why is it that its always the last thing you would ever think that could be wrong that is what is wrong.

I'm still testing but I'm pretty sure my PSU is the culprit of about 2 months worth of headaches. I've been trying different combinations of hardware and everything I tried yeilded the same results hard locks after a few hours. But I started to noticed that more hardware I removed or replaced with lower power parts the longer the computer would run with out problems. So I dug out a 400 watt Antec smartpower 2.0(a crappy supply i know but it was only used for about 2 months and it serves its purpose as a backup) and the temps have gone back down to where they should be and the computer is the most stable it has been in a while.

If somebody can double check my logic I'd be grateful I'll know in the morning because right now my record for stability is 15 hours and if it can run all night and half of tomorrow while im at work it will be almost 24 hours and at that point I'm going to call it stable and RMA the good PSU.
 
I have had PS in the pat that caused the same behavior. Sounds like you may have nailed it. Run with Prime , Seti or some sort of stressing program for a couple of days and see what happens.

Good Luck.
 
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