W764b - Completely random freezes

[Lepertum]

Ever since I got this new computer, it freezes up at random. Everything just stops: mouse pointer doesn't move anymore, video freezes,.. it's like I made a screenshot and am viewing it in fullscreen..

The first crash I can remember is when I was installing World of Warcraft, I didn't think much of it at that time. Currently, these crashes happen more often and what annoys me the most, at completely irregular times. They have happened to me when I:

- Started up my system and I got to the desktop
- Started up my system and left it idle for a few minutes
- Was browsing the web using Opera
- Was editing video using Sony Vegas (Crashes seem to happen a lot while using this program, but they are still irregular)
- Chatting with friends on Xfire
- Starting up WoW
- Been playing WoW for a few hours
- ..

I don't get a warning or anything, my computer can be running smooth and just lock up 2 secs later. Something that also is worth mentioning, is the fact that sometimes I hear a weird sound coming from my speakers when it happens, this may be caused by the fact that it freezes while playing some sort of media file, I'm not sure. It doesn't happen all the time tho.

I don't seem to find anything in even log tho I'm not an expert in that area.
I don't get any type of error message whatsoever, which made it hard for me to look for a solution. usually I figure this stuff out based on error codes and stuff but no luck now.

I looked around on this forum a bit but no freeze problem seemed the same like mine so I decided to make a new post. Hopefully someone can help me fix this.

Thnx in advance.

 

[Tews]

Hi and welcome to seven forums!!

Please enter event viewer in your search bar:ar:enter:ar:application logs and look for critical errors... take a screenshot with your snipping tool and post the screenshot to your next post....

 

[Lepertum]

Thank you for a quick reply

My system is set in Dutch, but i assume things look more or less the same.
I believe this is what you need. The times do seem to be the same times as when the crashes happened.

No idea what Kernel-Power is tho, hopefully you can tell me

 

[Tews]

Has your machine given you a BSOD ... navigate to c:/windows/minidump and check for a .dmp file..if you have one, zip it up and upload it as an attachment to your next post for analysis...

 

[Lepertum]

I've never had a single BSOD and there is no folder named minidump in my c:/windows directory, not even as a hidden file.

Since it completely freezes I don't think my computer has the time to even display a BSOD.

 

[Tews]

Check to make sure that you are not overheating your Graphic card... same with your CPU... freezing is almost always a heat issue... download GPUZ and CPUZ to check the temperatures and let us know what they are... Of course its always good to make sure that all of your fans are working properly and free of dust...

 

[zigzag3143]

As Tews has said you need to go into event viewer.'

type eventvwr in search. Goto the windows logs>application tab. You want to look for errors (they have red in the left column) that say app hang, app crash, etc. when you find them use the snipping tool (type snipping in search) to make a screen shot and the attachment icon (shaped like a paper clip) to attach it for upload.

Also note the event ID and soucre codes. If they are event ID 1000 and source 100 you have a problem with DEP.


Let us know see pics

pKen J+

EDIT: Duh. with the event ID 41 it is a stepping level mismatch. A bios update would fix it

EDIT: see here http://windowsitpro.com/article/art...event-id-41-in-the-system-event-log-mean.html

 

[Tews]

Already posted Ken... 41 (63) for event id/source code...

 

[Lepertum]

My computer is brand new so I assume fans are in a clean condition and as far as I can tell they are working as intended.

If it is idd an overheating issue, I find it weird that i freezes immediately after startup, it shouldn't even have the time to get overheated at that point.

I added all files that might be useful.

 

[Tews]

As Ken has stated in his edited post, check for an updated BIOS and install...

Thanks Ken..

 

[Lepertum]

Sounds easy but it looks like it can be complicated to update the BIOS, I currently downloaded a .rom file from the asus website (see pic). How do I go from here? I looked up some guides but they aren't to easy to follow imo.

EDIT: Nm, I found a guide on the asus website that explained it in a simple way, much better than the ones on different sites that went on for pages.. lets hope the problem is fixed now, will report if it has or not

 

[Lepertum]

Sadly enough updating the BIOS hasnt fixed the problem, in fact, it only made it worse..

Atm my computer only boots up half of the time, it first gave an error about expressgate, which I disabled in BIOS to solve it. It then finally started again and I resumed my usual things, hoping it was fixed. After 10 or 15 minutes my system crashed again, same way it did as described in my original post.

Ofc I had to hard reset my system again, it started and locked at the loading screen, I did another hard reset and ran system repair. Everything works again, but I'm still expecting it to crash sooner or later.

I'm afraid that all this hard resetting is damaging my system, startup used to be alot faster at first and fans seemed to make less noise aswell. If it's not BIOS, what else could be the problem?

 

[spysmily1]

I was just wondering if you ever solved this problem. I am having the same problem, random freezes just like yours with no indication of why. The only difference is I have experienced this with xp and 7. It actually got worse with updating the bios just like you.

 

[Lepertum]

Yes it's solved, turns out it was one of my ram sticks was broken. They replaced them under garantee and i haven't had a crash since. I Hope it is as simple for you, gl anyway .

 

[spysmily1]

I have an Asus m4a79t deluxe motherboard and am a little concerned it might be the motherboard. I also think it might be the memory or power supply but don't have the means to switch components because I don't have extra ones laying around.

I've run memtest to verify if my memory is having problems but it seems to run fine. How did you come to realize the memory was broken? I just don't want to buy more memory if that's not the problem. I'm glad to hear your problem was solved and thanks for replying back.

 

[masterjoe88]

i have EXACT same problem... maybe my RAM is bad too.. but do not want to risk of buying it. i did buy a RAM that was very very cheap.... >.>; 2G

 

[Lepertum]

Because I couldn't find a solution I just did my computer back to the shop and asked them to look at it. He was only a month old so whatever the problem was, it was most likely caused by something during assembly. They found out what the prob was, not sure how they did it tho, they didn't tell me.

 

[spysmily1]

It was a bad bios flash. Asus has the latest bios version as 2402 but it doesn't do anything for my motherboard. I flashed it with the prior one that was 2304, I believe, and it seems to have fixed my problem. This bios did have something that it fixed/added to my motherboard. My motherboard was m4a79t deluxe btw.