PC Crashing!

[emJay]

Hey guys.

My PC crashes randomly on average once an hour (some times every few minutes, or it can go for a few hours)

I am running the 7600 x64 .16385 build (i think that's what it's called)

My specs are as follows:
Q6600 2.40ghz overclocked to 3.31ghz
nVidia 9800GX2
2 x Corsair XMS2 2gb DDR2 RAM
Asus P5Q-E motherboard
2 hard drives

I started to think it was the graphics card causing the problem because when i play call of duty 4, it some times will just stop responding but i can still hear the sound going on in the background.
I've tried running the RAM in different slots but the crashes still occur.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-Matt

 

[chev65]

First I would try using different drivers for your GX2, the new Win7 drivers make problems for many. Try using the older vista drivers instead. If that doesn't change anything try the next step below.

For this type of random crashing on a previously stable system bumping up the North bridge voltage a tad has worked for me and many others running Win7. For some reason Win7 seems to place a greater load on the chipset compared to Vista.

Reference here. http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/14477-contast-bsods-3.html#post162766

 

[TGSoldier]

Whats the BSOD error you get?

 

[emJay]

Well to be honest, I've never got a bluescreen error as such. When it crashes it just completely locks up. Sometimes the sound just resonates in the back ground and the screen will go black. Other times it will just hold the same image as when it froze and the sound will continue (this is what lead me to believe it's a GFX problem)

The reason I said it was a bluescreen error is that the one time it did crash and actually restart, windows said it was a bluescreen, despite not actually having shown a bsod.

I had tried the old WDDM 1.1 drivers from a few months back but still encountered the crashing.

 

[alecsio]

i too have x64 win 7 and it happened to me too but for 2-3 times and no it s ok. try uninstalling the drivers in safe mode and let windows install it s own drivers and see what happens.

 

[TGSoldier]

Right click on My computer

Go to properties

Click Advanced system settings

Go to Advanced

Settings under Startup and Recovery

Untick "Automatically Restart" under system failure


This should produce you with the BSOD errors then you can pass them on and we can help more from there

 

[usasma]

Check the Action Center for errors that have been reported.
Navigate to the C:\Windows\Minidump folder, zip up the contents and post the .zip file in your next post.

 

[emJay]

Okay, well thanks for all the input guys, here's what I've learned so far:

Graphics: I ran FurMark (suggested by Overclockers UK - the company whom I bought the PC from) and it monitored a temperature increase from 70degrees to 112 degrees C. This is a pretty huge increase but the computer did not crash or anything while under this test.

Memory: I ran Memtest86 on each stick of RAM and both gave good readings.

I've looked for a dump file but I think that because it doesnt switch off or even bluescreen, a dump file wasn't created.

 

[usasma]

If a dump file isn't in the above location, check C:\Windows for a file named MEMORY.DMP

You can also check the Windows Error Reporting for errors (Go to Start and type "wercon" (without the quotes) and press Enter).

You can also check msinfo32 for errors in that report.

 

[emJay]

Well.. I think i've sorted it. It wasn't a component error...

Basically, cleaned our my computer. It was so clogged with dust that I think it was crashing from overheating. Seems to be running smoothly now, at lower temperature too!