Computer freezes/lockups

[BrotherPhatt]

Starting today, my computer has been hanging upon starting any of the games I play, or more specifically once I log in. I just installed the trial of Warhammer Online 2 days ago, and it had been working fine along with everything else, but last night I shut down my computer, and ever since I started it this morning, every game on my computer has been hanging and eventually freezes to the point where I have to force shut down my computer. I have tried every single thing I could think of today, barring a reformat. Right now I don't know if there is anything else to try besides that, but I would really rather not. I have run a RAM test, I've run Check Disk, just to see, I've run Ad-aware, my virus scanner, and an online scanner just in case. I have also run a registry cleaner, and now I have run dry of ideas. I have a hunch this could be hardware related, because sometimes I hear a pop noise from the computer when the game hangs, and sometimes multiple times before I shut it down. I believe the noise is coming from the PSU, because it is the same noise I hear when I shut down my comp, but the PSU is fairly new (a few months). Any ideas would be appreciated, although I'm thinking I might have to replace the PSU.

Here are my system Specs:
Core 2 Duo e6600 2.4GHz
Dell Mobo (unknown)
XFX Nvidia Geforce 9800gtx+
2 GBs RAM
Dell SP2309W
Creative X-Fi sound blaster card
BFG 650W PSU

 

[mpilchfamily]

If the noise is comeing from teh PSU then replace it ASAP.

 

[BrotherPhatt]

Well I have a 3 yr. warranty, so hopefully they see fit to replace it....

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: BrotherPhatt
Well I have a 3 yr. warranty, so hopefully they see fit to replace it....

Assuming there's a problem with it anyways, but yeah, if you hear noises coming from anywhere near the PSU best option would be to leave the system off at all times until it's been replaced/checked up on, a faulty PSU can easily take an entire system down with it, hence people adamantly suggest spending the extra money on the PSU to make sure it won't kill your whole system at once.

 

[BrotherPhatt]

Well, everything runs perfectly fine and I don't hear anything until I start playing any game, which made me wonder if it was the mobo drawing power incorrectly from the PSU when the gfx card needed it or something. Dell in true fashion won't let people look at detailed info in the BIOS, so I have no way of checking voltages while under load, so I don't have a way to know for sure. Right now I feel like scrapping everything but the gfx card, the HDD, and the cd/dvd drives and starting over.