help! my pc keeps on freezing

[pilmania]

my computer has been acting up since last month. it sometimes freezes when i play warcraft3 and yesterday for the first time, it froze when i was just surfing theweb. however, if i leave window open, it doesn't seem to happen. i thought it might have something to do with temp, so i let the asus probe to log the temp so when it freezes again, i can restart the computer and check the temp. it was 68 degrees (cpu) when the comp got frozen. the temp stays 62 degrees when the window is left open.

I did memtest, no errors found, ran dual prime95, no errors for 9 hours, put the videocard under load using ati tool but it also seems fine with the gpu temp staying under 65 degrees and cpu temp staying under 62 degrees and checked the hdd with all the test option available on seagate hdd diagnosis tool and no serious errors were found except for file structure error (it said it can be fixed by using windows scandisk but scandisk didn't detect any problems) which led me to format and reinstall the windows. All the test was done with window closed.

What could be the cause? Could it be my psu (modstream 450W)? I noticed that under load, the 12V rail drops to as low as 11.65V and the back of the psu gets pretty hot.

 

[Slugbait]

Yes, it could be your PSU. I had a VERY similar problem just a couple of months ago: the system would just lock up for no apparent reason, even just surfing the web. It was doing it once or twice a day. It was a very clean system, and my P4EE was running much cooler than your CPU. Last month the machine wouldn't power up. Assuming the fuse blew, I opened my Enermax 465...and found that the caps had blown. I picked up a Fortron, and haven't had a single lockup since.

Even well-regarded PSUs can die. I assume the lockups on my machine was a hint that my Enermax was about to buy the farm.

 

[AristoV300]

Are you overclocking your system?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

What's in your rig? Your PSU only puts out 26A on the +12V rail, which is kinda low. 11.65V is pretty low too, but unless you're using a multimeter, it might not be too accurate. The PSU is the most likely problem though.

 

[TriggerHappy101]

68C is pretty hot.

What CPU do you have?

For referance - the threshold for the AMD 3700+ is 70c

 

[pilmania]

thanks guys for your inputs...

here's my setup:

P4 660 3.6GHz
Asus P5AD2-E Premium
Samsung PC4300 DDR2 512MB X 2
ATI Radeon X800 Pro
Seagate 7200.7 200GB S-ATA 7200RPM
Fujitsu 60GB S-ATA 5400RPM 2.5" HDD
Pioneer 108 DVDRW
OCZ Modstream 450W

Nothing is overclocked.

 

[gtjr]

try putting arctic silver 5 in your cpu , maybe thats a prescott one thats why its hot

if it wont work try using zalman 9500 or the arctic cooling frezzer heatsink\ fans

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Ugh, those Prescotts take a lot to keep cool. You're going to need some good aftermarket cooling. That's probably the problem. My Athlon 64 idles at 23C and loads at 38C.

 

[pilmania]

umm I already have XP-90...

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: TriggerHappy101
68C is pretty hot.

What CPU do you have?

For referance - the threshold for the AMD 3700+ is 70c

I agree 68 is waay to hot IMHO and if the CPU is that hot the case is air in general is probably to hot. I would clean all fans and also put some new thermal grease on the CPU.

Ausm

 

[AMCRambler]

Yeah probably a heat issue with the cpu. I had a friend with a p4 system that kept freezing up on him. Took it all apart and tried swapping memory modules disconnecting extra drives etc. Finally got down to reseating the cpu found that one of the four heatsink clips on the cpu cooler had snapped and the dumb thing was over heating. Sitting at the bios screen health monitor I could see the temps drop immediately when I held the heatsink down with my hand. Maybe the same thing has happened here. Double check that heat sink mounting is snug and perhaps apply some fresh thermal paste after cleaning off the old stuff.

 

[pilmania]

My case has 2 X 80MM fans in front and 1 X 80MM fan in the back and also my psu has 120MM fan to pull out hot air. and I clean my case with dust buster thing pretty often.

Hmm... ok, I will try re-seating the heatsink and see what happens. I didn't think 68 degrees was too hot because I heard prescott cpus are known to get very hot. If the heatsink was not seated properly, then the heatsink will not get hot, right? when i touch the heatsink under full load, this thing is pretty hot to touch.

Oh, and which way should the heatsink to be seated? I mean which direction should the heatpipes face? or does it even matter?

 

[markkleb]

Heat rises...

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Heat seems like the most likely problem. 68C is pretty hot, even for a Prescott. Was it always this hot?

 

[pilmania]

it was actually hotter before when i had zalman 7700. back then the cpu reached as high as 78 degrees under full load. but don't asus boards report the temp around 10 degrees higher than other boards?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Did it lock up or restart when the temps were that high?

 

[pilmania]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Did it lock up or restart when the temps were that high?

the hdd led came on (not blinking but solid) and the sound from last second of game was playing over and over and over with some high pitched noise so yah, it locked up.

 

[pilmania]

one more thing, i highly doubt it's the high temp causing it to freeze because it once froze when i was just surfing the web and the temp was around 45 degrees.


re: I thought I mentioned this in my original post but I just realized I didn't.


re:re: oh wait! I did! lol.

 

[markkleb]

The heat may have damaged the cpuy already...

 

[pilmania]

Originally posted by: markkleb
The heat may have damaged the cpuy already...

hmm.. but it ran dual prime95 and memtest86 for 9+ hours without any errors. you still think there's a chance of cpu being faulty? i kinda wish it's the cpu since i love intel's warranty. It's so quick and no hassle at all!

 

[gtjr]

what is the the cpu usage at idle?