Computer Issssues

[Imperium]

Well basically my computer has decided that it'd be fun if it randomly either:
a) froze
b) reset itself

I have no real idea why it has decided that this would be a good course of action to take, so I was wondering whether anyone might have any insight to the matter.

[AF]

When your computer has a blue screen of death is it set to show it or the default automatically reboot without giving any clues?

[SwiftSpear]

Give more information. Computers are devices with billions of working parts and hundreds of component interactions. It's not a toaster. I have no idea what you mean when you say "froze". There are 50 different ways a computer can freeze, and all of them mean something totally different.

[Final]

Hard to know whats wrong....
But the most common cause of that is overheating.

Heres a Few very simple things that may help...

1:Take the Sides off and use an Airduster/Hoover to blow the dust off the fans, and then cable Tie the PSU cables neatly to help with the Airflow.

2:Back up the files you wish to keep and Format the system, and reinstall whichever OS you use. Or just give the machine a Spring clean (AKA Remove background applications you dont need). Basically just take the strain of your processor, so it cools down

3:Buy a better Heatsync or Casefan.

Also Check If the Capacitors on your motherboard are Bulging out at the top. If so this means your Motherboard will soon go "POP". So replace it.

[SwiftSpear]

I recommend not spending money on replacement parts until you have figured out what is wrong.

[edit] unless the capacitor bulge thing is happening, that's pretty definitive. Although it's very unlikely also.

[Final]

agreed.

[rattle]

I'd check for overheating first, then update drivers (GPU, chipset, sound etc.) as it can be any component unless you get a BSOD with an error code.

[Imperium]

Righto, well, basically when I say it freezes I mean that I can no longer use the mouse or keyboard, nothing happens. Things that are loading freeze at whatever point they were at, videos that are playing stop at that point. Pretty much it's like looking at a screen shot, which isn't the most fun in the whole world.

Overheating was basically the only thing I could think of that was wrong with it, but it's pretty clean on the inside so I don't really think it's that. But then it might be.

As for the capacitors, as long as I'm looking at the right thing they seem to be okay as far as I can tell so I don't think that's the problem. It's got to the point now that I turn on my computer and I can't even log in because it freezes before I am able to enter my password, which kinda hampers my ability to update drivers. I thought I'd post a photo of my motherboard, no idea if it'll be useful or not, but seemed like the only thing I could do. So here it is: Woo.



So err, yeah. Hopefully some of that jumble of letters above will give you more insight?

[Argh]

Have you started up and gone to your BIOS (usually by hitting the DELETE key, on most systems, but sometimes one of the F keys), and checking your machine's reported temperatures and power supply? A problem like that is usually heat, power-related, or it could be bad memory. Before testing your RAM and stuff, though, I'd rule out power and heat problems- either one can trash your whole machine, whereas bad RAM can just trash your OS. Given the lockups, I'd say it's even money whether it's heat or electrical problems. Your machine looks really clean inside, so if it's heat, it was a bad installation of the heatsink, or you don't have enough fans- I don't see a fan drawing heat outside the box there, other than the power supply fan, which is not adequate.

[Imperium]

Well I checked the cpu temp and apparently it's running at 40C which does seem pretty high.

[Peet]

Well I checked the cpu temp and apparently it's running at 40C which does seem pretty high.

40 is fine.

[SwiftSpear]

It's a little high... But peet for example, the insane overclocker, idles his at 70c, so you should survive no problem at 40.

Sounds like either bad memory, bad mobo, or bad proccy... with a likelyhood leaning to memory or proccy.

You can run a ram test off a boot disk. Might as well try to eliminate that as a problem.

[AF]

Your operating system please?

[Peet]

It's a little high... But peet for example, the insane overclocker, idles his at 70c, so you should survive no problem at 40.

No with the new heatsink I max out at 40 :)

Seriously though, 40 is fine on every modern consumer-range cpu in existence.

You can run a ram test off a boot disk. Might as well try to eliminate that as a problem.

Yes, this.

[Forboding Angel]

It could very well be ram, but I doubt it because there are 3 mem sticks. Generally just starting up windows won't generate errors badly with ram (just random program errors) that is 3 sticked like that, unless the ram is just hardcore toast.

My immediate guess is OS related. Most likely drivers, in particular vid drivers.

When starting up, hit F8, choose safe mode with networking, and see if it does the same thing.

If it doesn't, it's prolly drivers. If it does, run a ram test via bootdisk.

Also If it does, you could also test by sticking your windows cd in the drive and booting from it, if it's a ram problem it should crap all over itself during the initial phases (but it might not, so testing ram would be a really good idea).

[Imperium]

Well the problem has been persisting, if it helps to know two of the sticks of RAM are new having only been bought in January. I ran it in safe mode and the same problem happened. Due to my OS (XP Pro) being slightly illegal I don't actually have a disc so I'm pretty sure I can't test the RAM. Am not really sure what else to try really, it's a pretty annoying problem!

[Peet]

Burn this iso to disk and boot from it.

[Forboding Angel]

TO quote a friend: "Windows...... They still sell that?"

[Imperium]

Well, errr, my computer has become even more fucked. Now when I try to load it up it doesn't load up, and if I try to load in safe mode with networking it gets to this point and stops:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\drivers\mup.sys

As I, possibly, previously mentioned XP isn't particularly legit so I can use the disc to help matters. If anyone has had this before or knows anything about it help would be very appreciated!

[Forboding Angel]

I know you're trying to be helpful, but no discussion about piracy, period - moderator