Random Program & System Crashes

[wb182]

I got a new system a few months ago and it's been running relatively issue-free; however, in the past week or so I have started getting multiple crashes in Opera. They never were a big deal that affected my system, I just restarted the browser and continued as normal. There didn't seem to be any website specific issues.

I started playing Civ IV some, and that too began crashing randomly (only 1 or 2 times max in a 4-6 hour playing binge). I installed AVG anti-virus and scanned my computer to find nothing, I also ran Trend Micro's web-based cleaner-thing.

Finally I began noticing that my system was rebooting on its own in the middle of the night, and I'd wake up to it in the morning with a windows message that "windows has recently recovered from a serious error blah blah". Now that I think about it, this may have something to do with my scheduled daily virus scan that runs at night.

One of those late-night system-crashes completely f'd up my iTunes so that when I started it up the next day, I got some message about it having to recover my library and all my podcast subscriptions were gone.

Anyhow, the only thing jumping out me is during the BIOS startup, it gives me statistics of my system including temps and stuff. Apparently my system fan isn't running....I assume that's my case fans? It says the CPU & PSU fans are running fine, and I figured that maybe it's just not reading the case fans. But if it's an overheating issue, why would it just startup now after 2-3 months of crash-free use? I'm going to open it up tonight to see what I can see, but I'm not overly savvy with that stuff.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Computers are tremendous dust magnets, especially the fans. Case fans suck in air full of dust, some of which collects on the blades. CPU fans are often running even faster and collect as much or more dust, and they're blowing it hard onto a metal surface where it can collect. PSU fans are trying to pull out all that air which still has a lot of dust in it so they get dirty, and blow the dusty air all over the PSU components. There's also the graphics card fan sucking dust into itself.

It may be that your system has just become overburdened with old dead skin cells (dust). You can either vacuum it out (using a vacuum specifically designed for computers is recommended, so that you don't risk electrostatic shock damage from static on the vacuum wand), or you can just use canned compressed air to blow as much of the dust out as you can. I like to work my way down from the top, giving it time to settle a bit between short bursts. While blowing out fans, hold them still rather than using the air to spin them up to superfast speeds, as that can wear out the bearings quickly. Make sure to give various slots a bit of extra blowing, so dust doesn't settle down in the valleys.

If the system has only recently started giving you the warning about the system fans not running, then a case fan may have died. This reduces airflow in the system and allows heat to build up. If it's always been like that, your case fans may just not have a tachometer wire.

Your video card fan may also have failed, or just be clogged with dust. Take a look at all the fans and see if they seem to be running sluggishly, or maybe stuttering faster and slower.

What does the system say your CPU temp is running immediately after one of these crashes?

 

[wb182]

Thanks for the advice. I see it could be a number of issues and I'll open it up tonight to see if I can get more details.

 

[wb182]

Update: While I didn't get chance to open up my case, I do have my doubts about it being a Heat issue now. For one, the random Opera crashes are never during any sort of high system load. Now, fed up with this I downloaded IE 7.0 beta 3 yesterday, installed it fine and everything. I start the program and it crashes instantly as it loads the webpage.

I'm thinking it has to be some kind of driver issue, rather than heat.

 

[KGB]

What is getting logged in Event Viewer?

 

[wb182]

Originally posted by: KGBMAN
What is getting logged in Event Viewer?

Faulting application itunes.exe, version 6.0.4.2, faulting module itunes.exe, version 6.0.4.2, fault address 0x0003006d.

Faulting application opera.exe, version 9.0.8367.0, faulting module opera.dll, version 9.0.8367.0, fault address 0x000b01be.

Faulting application opera.exe, version 9.0.8367.0, faulting module opera.dll, version 9.0.8367.0, fault address 0x0004fac9.

Faulting application iexplore.exe, version 7.0.5450.4, faulting module mshtml.dll, version 7.0.5450.4, fault address 0x00080d38.

Faulting application civ4warlords.exe, version 2.0.0.0, faulting module civ4warlords.exe, version 2.0.0.0, fault address 0x006051f6.

Fault bucket 314314001.

 

[KGB]

Try testing your RAM using Memtest86.

 

[wb182]

Test 3, Pass 1, Failing Address 00027267850 - 626.4MB, Good 02020202, Bad 02420202, Err-bits 004000, Count 183, Chan 1.

My memory's screwed? Remind me to save warranty/receipt/boxes etc in the future.....got these less than 3 months ago.