Random 'stops'

rnorman345 · 04 Jul 2015

Sorry guys this is not really BSOD, blue would be pleasant ITC and is going to be long (but not quite as long as this problem has lasted) !
My tower (Thermaltake) runs W7 32 bit Pro SP1 and is quite old; we moved in April and it was set up in between leaving PF and before being set up here at MB. There were no problems before nor in the interim location. BTW I took the opportunity of it being apart to clean the base as well as I could without opening the box.
Suddenly a few weeks ago the machine stopped just went off as if the power had been switched off! This has now occurred more times than I can remember and continues, with various methods of recovery having to be used. I will avoid writing that ‘book’.

No new software (other than MS and some other – mainly Adobe – updates) and the only other bad thing is that, before this started, one of my USB memory sticks died and I am not sure whether that was in the TT or the Dell laptop.
I have now:-
Run AV inc boot sector and system clean (I use Avast and GrimeFighter – another book I will avoid); tested the RAM (memtest86 5.01), the discs (SeaTools), read the stories about the MS KB that was worse than virus, replaced my (perfectly good) PS2 keyboard and mouse with USB versions, I even suspected my APC UPS until the failure when plugged directly into the mains; my software is up to date and all devices acknowledge that they have the latest drivers, even MS Teredo Tunnelling reports that its’ drivers are up to date whilst still displaying the yellow exclamation mark! None of the logs show anything significant and the only thing that is left is to test the PSU and quite frankly if that is going to be done I might as well rebuild the machine with a new PSU, board, RAM, maybe discs and of course that says upgrade Windows (to 8 or 10?) and at least ONE new touch screen!
I forgot to mention that during all this I got the message ‘NOT GENUINE’ etc!
Has anyone got any ideas or suggestions please?
Many thanks

ICIT2LOL · 04 Jul 2015

Hello and welcome Norman mate for starter sI don't like add on tune up stuff - plenty of apps to dot hat safely. Now if you haven't already run these in safe mode

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html< if necessary include the /f and /r in the command line as per Option2
if no go then these
http://www.superantispyware.com/

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

ADW download from bleeping computerdelete any rubbish found with the malware scans

(If you are runningKaspersky security it might rant about ADW just ignore to or disable Kasperskyfor the duration of the ADW scan)

Being an older machine read my ditty and report back what you find

Using HW Info
PART A:
You can test the volts on the PSU with HW Info HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download <download the right bit version and close the right hand window select Sensorsand scroll down to the power section where you will see what the volts aredoing see my pic. Now the section you want will be labelled - fpr example Asusboards usually have "Nuvoton" and Gigabyte boards "ITE" inany case the section you want will have Vbatt or VBAT in it (dead give away)
The original right hand window shows the machine running and is handy for thatbut for looking at the components in some detail close it and use the main lefthand side panel
FOR OTHER COMPONENTS
PART B:
Open each small square with + in it on the section the components are in andthen click on the individual component/s (it will highlight in blue) - in theright hand side will appear all sorts of details including brands speeds andother essential info that particular device. See pic for example.

Now the volts must be within 5% +/- of the required value see this
Voltage Rails - Power Supply 101: AReference Of Specifications You can of coursemeasure them with a digitalmultimeter - use the black lead to any black cable on the 24 pin pug to theboard and the red lead to the colours - for the volts colours see this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_...unit_(computer) scroll to the bottom it will show you the set up of that plug,now the GPU plug or any other power lead use the same principle black is alwaysground / negative.

NB as said PART B: can give you VERY detailed info on components