1 year old PC crashing. Right here.

armour87

Ok its 15 months old id say now and having a nightmare with it.

It basically just keeps freezing either

1 Running programs
2 Running multiple programs
3 Running nothing

Freezing all the time.

Specs-
Intel Pentium 2,6GHz & 2,7GHz
XP
1 GB RAM
140 GB HD
nVidia GeForce 256MB
19' Flat Monitor
1280 x 960 resolution

Im far from an expert but I get a feeling that the display settings may have something to do with it or am I wrong?

Just be running the usual programs and some games.

Firefox
iTunes
Messenger
Frostwire
A Video to iPod converter

And Games wise its Halo 1, Half Life 2, FM 2008.

Suggestions por favor

Ruu_Old

Checking the RAM would be the first thing I'd do. Try running memtest and also maybe get Speedfan to make sure nothing is overheating.

teetotaller

Hi - I know it doesn't sound well for computer maniacs, but what I'd do is

get a spare Hdd , move all my data, files, porn and other stuff onto it and than format c: on computer, install new windows programs, drivers etc.

u can always keep save files from games and after re installation simply copy it to required place.


sometimes it takes ages to find why your computer is slow and new installation might be quicker




BTW
sorry for my english and hello - it is my first post here on boards.ie

armour87

Cheers for the posts thus far, at college at the mo so il try memtest and speedfan when i get home.

As for the reinstallation idea, i only recently had the thing formatted, which leads me to beleive its a hardware issue.

Cheers.

And teetotaller, hello and welcome.

teetotaller

if u had your hdd formatted - it make no sense to fromat it again than.

other idea I have is to go to graphic settings and change quality to perfomance

do u have any antivirus software ? like mc afee? it use a lot of memory.

there are many programs to check processor temp. Ruu mentioned important thing - check it. !!
does your computer freeze just after u switch it on ? or maybe it happens just after u stop playing game ?

hottstuff

Sounds like you may have either a processor , motherboard or memory failure.

armour87

I cant seem to find a pattern of when and why it freezes. It just seems to happen at random but always happens during Halo games.

Hottstuff, what can i do if this is the case?

hottstuff

armour87 wrote: »

I cant seem to find a pattern of when and why it freezes. It just seems to happen at random but always happens during Halo games.

Hottstuff, what can i do if this is the case?

Have you ctrl+alt+delete it before hand to see what process is using what %?

TBH if it was the processor it wouldn't be intermittant.
Memory maybe , have you any other memory to try on it?
Have you also tried system mechanic which has a lot of hardware diagnostic tools?

Open it up and check all parts for dust/blockages etc.

Auvers

I agree with Ruu get memtest & Speedfan as it does sound like an overheating problem, it could be simple as a build up of dust around the CPU HSF.

subway

15 monhts old?
any chance its still in warranty?

when it crashes, do you get a bluescreen?
if so, enabling dump file and check it out,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316450

do you get any errors messages at all?

armour87

Not in warranty

No bluescreen on crash, just freezes.
No error messages either.

Just ran SpeedFan. Most notable temp was the core @ 53C

Comp usage around 10% running a few tabs on firefox.

Goes 2 90% + when running Videora iPod video converter though.

Cant get memtest going.

Il give it a bit of a dusting, anxious about opening her up though.
Il try system mechanic now 2.

Ta.

hottstuff

armour87 wrote: »

Not in warranty

No bluescreen on crash, just freezes.
No error messages either.

Just ran SpeedFan. Most notable temp was the core @ 53C

Comp usage around 10% running a few tabs on firefox.

Goes 2 90% + when running Videora iPod video converter though.

Cant get memtest going.

Il give it a bit of a dusting, anxious about opening her up though.
Il try system mechanic now 2.

Ta.

Ouch your deffo getting processor occupancy then.
System mechnic will give you plenty of info about whats going on.

armour87

D/l that from soptpedia at the min

hottstuff

Are you only noticing this when running videora/video conversion?
These can take up a lot of processing power especially if you have less than 2gb ram

armour87

Nope, the CPU usage goes off the chart for no good reason at times.
Ive no idea.
Think I need more RAM?
Never mind the fact the processor might be dead

Ouijaboard

Most probably related to video drivers, make sure you have correct video drivers, if you updated video drivers when you last formatted then try the nvidia driver cleaner and attempt to install drivers a few steps down from the latest to find a stable version.

also rather than reformat tray and use system restore to go back to a config from a few weeks ago. It might be something as simple as a buggy codec. Cant believe the amount of people that are suggesting that the problem is related to cpu or mainboard, while you cant rule them out its easier to start with the most obvious cause of freezes in pcs, the video card or its drivers. You said it happens most often with playing halo, try reinstall or check that the current ver drivers are compatible or have known issues with the game.

Also make sure you have the latest versions of adaware and spybot, and a decent virus scanner and give them a run.

Auvers

cougar1 wrote: »

Most probably related to video drivers, make sure you have correct video drivers, if you updated video drivers when you last formatted then try the nvidia driver cleaner and attempt to install drivers a few steps down from the latest to find a stable version.

also rather than reformat tray and use system restore to go back to a config from a few weeks ago. It might be something as simple as a buggy codec. Cant believe the amount of people that are suggesting that the problem is related to cpu or mainboard, while you cant rule them out its easier to start with the most obvious cause of freezes in pcs, the video card or its drivers. You said it happens most often with playing halo, try reinstall or check that the current ver drivers are compatible or have known issues with the game.

Also make sure you have the latest versions of adaware and spybot, and a decent virus scanner and give them a run.

I suggested its hardware related because it happens when its either

1 Running programs
2 Running multiple programs
3 Running nothing

so that leads me to believe its not GFX drivers.

armour87

Damn you Auvers i was hoping it was simply the drivers!

Anyhou, just ran system mechanic (great program, thanks hottstuff)
Freed up alot of stuff. Il try rolling back the drivers now 2.

Worryingly - Core temp now at 58/59/60C!

Auvers, is there a good chance this is simply dust related?
We recently build a new house, and u no how it is, half the rooms aint even finished and the house is quite dusty.

Ouijaboard

So many programs even just mem resident progs can cause driver trouble, he hasnt explained(at least i didnt see it) that when it crashes while doing nothing is it after a fresh boot without loading any programs, or is it while back on the desktop after playing 3 hrs of halo. Big difference.

It could be overheating or ram as you suggested, you would more often get stop errors or random shutdowns in these cases tho. As I said you can rule anything out. He's using some ipod video converter, now i'm not sure what that is but sounds like something suspicious considering the amount of free resources it takes up when its running.

Also video acceleration has to be a consideration as so many progs, web pages, even just the icons on the desktop or mouse pointer shadows use some from of video accel. Hard to know, best place to start is by listing every piece of software installed since the machine was formatted or at least since the 'last known good' configuration.

armour87

I said I cant get any pattern of the crashes at all.

Id be lucky 2 get 3 minutes of Halo.

As for the GFX drivers, is it now just a case of hit and miss until I find a stable one IF thats the problem?

leeroybrown

I would suggest that until you manage to run a burn in test on the memory with Memtest86+ or similar there is no point in investigating anything else. You need to rule out a problem with memory before other tests will be valid. Note that memory test failures can be caused by bad CPUs, bad boards and bad PSUs as well as the memory itself.

You should be able to download a bootable CD image of Memtest86+ from it's homepage or get it on a diagnostic CD such as Ultimate Boot CD.

Ouijaboard

Freezing is always a tricky thing to narrow down, it has just been my experience that it's roughly 70% of the time its video related(either video software/hardware). Next the main memory, and after that the cpu, Cpu's rarely fail and you would most likely have serious stop errors if it was happening. Its definiely worth checking if the fan on the cpu is spinning correctly, has the noise from it increased lately.
The growing number of spyware/adware that pollute pcs these days are a big problem.
The fact that you are not getting more than a few minutes of halo sounds serious. Check event viewer in control panel....administrative tools...computer management to see if there are any particular events that are being flagged at the same time the pc is freezing, u can check this on a restart.

Mr. Presentable

OP, with all due respect to other posters, you say you are reluctant to open the case, my suggestion is that you do precisely that. Open and clear it of dust - it sounds to me like a heat problem. There's really not much to fear in there so long as you don't go poking your finger into things without grounding yourself first.

hottstuff

armour87 can you list the programs that are running when you do a ctrl+alt+delete ?
I understand you have a fresh install but just in case.
Also what programs did sys mechanic find and remove?
Did you run the memory utility for clearing cache etc?

armour87

aawserice.exe
alg.exe
csrss.exe
ctfmon.exe
explorer.exe
firefox.exe
ioloDMVSvc.exe
jusched.exe
lsass.exe
nvsvc32.exe
PDVDServ.exe
realsched.exe
rundll32.exe x2
services.exe
smss.exe
SMSystemAnalyze.exe
soundman.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe x6
System
System Idle Process
VTTimer.exe
wdfmgr.exe
winlogon.exe
wscntfy.exe

I've tried everything now bar rolling back drivers (I installed most recent, 12/11/07) and memtest, i will run memtest when Im not here.

I did everything Sys Mec recommended and also cleared cache.

I havent took it apart yet and dusted it because I dont know how 2 earth my badself!

I think its possibly a video issue now so I guess Il have to install old nVidia drivers right?

Big Thank you 2 everyone so far btw

cuppa

yea id say your heatsink needs a good dusting

I usually use cotton buds and a hoover.

Ouijaboard

The process list looks 'clean' enough, did the event viewer in control panel happen to throw up any exclamation marks or warnings?
If you are going to reinstall nvidia drivers, make sure you use something like the free 'driver cleaner pro' (search on google) to remove the current one as rolling back drivers or installing drivers over the current isnt such a good idea.
Did you update any drivers or install any different drivers than the ones you used you had in the system before the reformat?

If you are going to take the side off the pc, just earth yourself by placing your hands on any solid metal part of the case before you touch anything....you dont even have to put your hands inside the case unless the cpu fan is full of dust, it may well need a clean...you wont kill yerself

Also try memtest, also run chkdsk.exe on the hard disk just to check if theres any bad sectors that it might be freezing on.

armour87

The only drivers I would have installed would be the ones I've been prompted to do so by nVidia.

I wasnt afraid of electrocution. The PC probably was tho!

Il check for older drivers now, then give Halo another go. If that doesnt work il get my duster out

hottstuff

You should be checking out the inside of the case completely before using it again , you never know how bad it may be.

armour87

Just gave it a good dust down and also rollbacked video drivers to last year,

Ive done everything recommended so far except for memtest, it seems like u need 2 run memtest for a really long time to get any results correct?

There was quite a lot of dust but not as much as I was expecting.

Massive difference in core temp now
Highest I seen was 60 but it stays around 45 - 50 now

armour87

Now crashed twice running memtest - is this an indicator of a RAM problem or still more likely video related?

wtf people?!

Ouijaboard

Hi armour, sorry to hear the probs are still going, is memtest giving you any error messages, there should be a log with it have a look at it and post it here. Did you have a look at 'event viewer' in control panel to see if theres any messages that occur at or just before the time of the crashes?

leeroybrown

How were you running memtest. Did you boot off a CD/USB/Floppy or did you run it in Windows? I presume you mean that it hung as opposed to gave error messages when you say that it crashed.

armour87

Hi Cougar. No error messages in memtest as the system just freezes before hand.

Just checked event viewer and you are right, a whole pile of errors under the application tab (1,847 to be exact!) under the source nview_info

leeroybrown

Post up a few of the nview_info error messages. The fact that it is nview_info does point to some kind of Graphics issue.

Ad this stage unfortunately diagnosing these issues generally comes down to removing/swapping parts and re-testing which isn't always easy if you don't have spares lying around.

Ouijaboard

Does memtest now have a windows version so it does, you really need to do that test on a loop in pure dos mode, so make such you run it from a bootable cd or a usb key if you dont have a floppy.

Also at this stage I would download something like hirens bootcd or ultimate boot cd as has been suggested earlier and set the the boot mode to cd and start running as many of the diagnostics on there, theres alot of them but worth running them all even the harddisk drive tools, theres also memtest built in plus version video ram checkers

What sort of pc are you using? you said the specs earlier but is it a home built or a make?

further to your last post (which i didnt see) yeah post up a few nview errors just copy and past, they might all be same thing....

Ouijaboard

yeah leroy is right about the swapping parts business, its coming down to this at this stage....do you know any body with spare ram that would fit your pc or spare video cards lying around?

Ouijaboard

to post up the nview error messages just double click the event and copy the description into a post here. It may or may not be related to your ongoing issues, some of these look serious but many can be minor issues. Worth checking tho...

armour87

Running Memtest straight off windows. It wasnt a memtest error, but the usual freeze crash i've been experiencing.

Its an iQon PC which i asked the dealer to give me a 256 graphics card for games at the time.
I think he cocked up the installation of it, it just never seemed right but I'd find that hard 2 explain.

Here are a few of the errors in event viewer.

The description for Event ID ( 1 ) in Source ( nview_info ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: NVIEW : Explorer: Shared heap exhausted or damaged, process ID 50c, total alloc:3f7c0...
.

Actually, there all the same.

leeroybrown

armour87 wrote: »

Running Memtest straight off windows. It wasnt a memtest error, but the usual freeze crash i've been experiencing.

It's pointless doing it that way. Booting it off external media allows you to test your memory without all the usual driver, software and hardware issues you can get with Windows running.

Based on that message it sounds like a driver issue or a failing graphics card. If I were you I'd try to get my hands on an ancient old card that someone has lying around for testing/emergencies and test your PC with that.

layke

hottstuff wrote: »

Ouch your deffo getting processor occupancy then.
System mechnic will give you plenty of info about whats going on.

Video editing will always take up oodles of Ram and CPU usage.
There is nothing unusual about that. Tbh mate, before you start fiddling with hardware and all that lark upgrade all your drivers from the vendors website.

If your processor is clogged up with crap (or say the fan is not working) all Intel chips throttle the power to stop them overheating. This can lead to slow load times, freezes and low FPS rates while in game. I have a nice simple program here that will help you rule that out in 2 seconds.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/CPU-Tweak/ThrottleWatch.shtml

Tbh I would be looking more at ram then anything else, it's the number one cause of Freezes without BSOD. As data is calculated dodgy ram can produce weird results. Results which leave the PC hanging in a kind of WTF state. Also over time as temp files (amongst others) are written to and calculated wrong your PC can eventually become unusuable.

cuppa wrote: »

yea id say your heatsink needs a good dusting

I usually use cotton buds and a hoover.

NEVER USE A HOOVER ON YOUR PC. Well do, if you like static elec on your chips that is.

leeroybrown

Another point worth noting here is that disabling NView (assuming that it's still possible) might be worthwhile given that it is giving all these errors. There's always an outside possibility that it is causing problems.

armour87

Ran Throttlewatch, CPU running between 5 + 15%, normal right?

Whats the best way to run this memtest then?

Would nView be highlighted in event viewer even if it were still a RAM issue?

layke

Or to rule it all out. Boot to safe mode and work away for an hour or two.

If you don't crash... tells you a lot doesn't it?

armour87

leeroybrown wrote: »

disabling NView

how?

leeroybrown

armour87 wrote: »

how?

I don't use Windows so I'm not sure where it is at the moment but you used to be able to disable it by opening the nView Properties and clicking a 'Disable' button on one of the tabs.

I'd be surprised if it had any effect but it's worth a shot.

Ouijaboard

Not too sure about the nview error off hand will have a look in a bit as i've to do a few things dont like the look of the 'Shared heap exhausted or damaged'
part of it, seems as if its trying to access a portion of video memory that is corrupt or incomplete.

Try the reinstall driver thing again and make sure you use driver cleaner pro
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745
and reboot your pc before installing the new driver.
as rolling back or installing over drivers can cause nightmares especially with nvidia drivers.
In the meantime as well can you post the exact name of the video card you have in your system, i.e you will find the name in control panel...system properties....device manager....display properties

boot safe mode by pressing F8 key just after rebooting the system (hold it down) you will get a choice of options, choose safe mode

disable nview by rightclicking on the nview properties icon on the taskbar and set it to disabled

MarkR

If you download an ubuntu cd you can boot off that and run memtest without any possible software problems. Just download the iso and burn the image to cd.

leeroybrown

MarkR wrote: »

If you download an ubuntu cd you can boot off that and run memtest without any possible software problems. Just download the iso and burn the image to cd.

The Memtest86+ site has a small pre-built downloadable ISO and diagnostic CDs like UBCD also provide it (and a lot of other useful tools) in a lot smaller download.

armour87

Card is GeForce 6200 256mb

Ive disabled nView now so il c how get on without it

Cheers.

layke

armour87 wrote: »

Ran Throttlewatch, CPU running between 5 + 15%, normal right?

Whats the best way to run this memtest then?

Would nView be highlighted in event viewer even if it were still a RAM issue?

As long as there's nothing in the red, you're fine. I wouldn't worry about usage, CPU's burst to 100% all the time. It's only a prob if it stays there.

Best way to run memtest is from a dos boot floppy. That way your PC only loads memtest up and nothing else.

Useless info bit :: As far as I know memtest is loaded into the base memory (64k) and not the ram meaning it's pretty much clear for a full test.