hangs overnight

Hello,

I suspect this is being caused by a hardware problem; however, software is also definitely worth looking into, as the problem does not occur in Safe Mode.

I see your Broadcom Ethernet drivers are rather old:

Code:

5/28/2009 6:57:35 PM   C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\b57nd60a.sys

Install these updated ones: Broadcom.com - Ethernet NIC NetXtreme Server Driver Downloads

Could you run driver verifier? See this guide: Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable

Hopefully that will flag any bad third-party drivers, resulting in a BSOD. If that happens, upload another jcgriff2 report.

If we diagnose this as a hardware problem, Dell should be able to replace the bad part, or the whole system, as it is within the 1-year base warranty period that Dell provides.

Driver Verifier runs in the background, silently testing each driver for stability problems. If it comes across a bad driver, the computer with have a BSOD, which we can then analyze for clues.

After you enable Driver Verifier, keep using the computer normally (but saving your work often!). If, after enabling driver verifier, your computer doesn't crash for 48 hours, go ahead and disable it.

It seems this is being caused by bad hardware, honestly.

Have you run Prime95 yet? If not, run the "Blend" and "Small FFTs" tests, as described here: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...t-prime95.html

Also, have you enabled Driver Verifier yet? Please do so, if you haven't already.

Final question: have you contacted your higher-ups about this issue yet? Has any diagnostic work been done by anyone else, or did you post here first thing?

The only log we could find from Driver Verifier would be a crash dump file, which does not exist. If Verifier finds an error, it will cause a BSOD; the dump file from which will be picked up by the jcgriff2 program. Apparently you have had no BSODs yet, which makes it sound like drivers are not at fault here.

What makes me think it's related to hardware? Well for one, you have very few errors in your event logs, which I would expect to see plenty of if software is the cause. You have a few errors, yes, but I can't imagine they are at all related to your real problem, the hanging.

Now that I know Driver Verifier has been running, without causing a BSOD, I can use that to blame hardware.

That "hardware error...system halted" message you posted earlier is a good indication hardware is the cause.

The fact that it took several tries to get into Windows and the fact that Safe Mode works fine are somewhat confusing to me. Problems that don't exist in safe mode are usually caused by software.

Also, if this is caused by hardware, why doesn't it happen while you are using it actively? Perhaps that could be explained by a power management feature, such as Intel Speedstep or something else.

As a first step, try updating the BIOS. I see it is dated 4/12/2010; not old, but not the most recent either. The BIOS can be found here: Drivers & Downloads

I don't suppose you have a floppy drive on that thing; if so, that would be the easiest method of updating the BIOS. If not, you'll have to use Linux. Now be warned, I have never updated a BIOS this way, so I can only give my first suggestion. If that doesn't work, have a play around.

If you use Linux, I suggest that you create an Ubuntu Live CD: Download | Ubuntu

Boot from the CD, select "Try Ubuntu...", and then run the BIOS file from there.

I strongly recommend you get clearance from your boss before you do this. Flashing the BIOS is one of the riskier procedures you can do, as a failed update can leave the computer as a brick on your desk, requiring a replacement BIOS chip.

See if updating the BIOS alone does the trick; if not, post back here, and we'll go from there.