hi,
yesterday my computer started freezing. It seems to be getting worse, it started with windows just not coming out of sleep (s3, I think) on Vista. It did that twice over the whole day, but now I sometimes can't get through the post. I went in to look at the temps in BIOS and it froze before I could get to that part of the menu. I don't get any errors, but when it does boot all the way into the OS, it seems to have corrupted some stuff -- my purchased firewall and anti-virus says it's loaded, but I'm getting a popup from Vista saying I have the built-in ones disabled.
This computer has worked fine for months, I think there was a new Vista patch that I applied on Friday, but I haven't done anything with the hardware since November (replaced the CPU cooler). When the OS does boot, it says my temps are all around 21C (which is basically ambient in the room).
I left it unplugged overnight (shutdown at the UPS) and it worked for about 20 mins this morning. I couldn't find any errors or messages other than the firewall/virus message. When it freezes up, the lights all stay on, the screen doesn't change, the fans all keep running, etc. I disconnected everything and checked the connections inside the case and everything looks good there. Nothing really felt hot, but I thought maybe the PSU was a little warm for no longer than it had been running.
Case: Antec P150 with 430W Neo
Mainboard: Gigabyte 965P-DS3 rev 3.3 (F12 bios)
RAM: g.skill 2x1GB PC6400 5-5-5-15
CPU: E6600 Conroe dual-core
cooler: coolermaster hyper212
Video: evga 8800GTS 320MB (latest whql drivers, 158, I think)
sata pioneer dvd-rw & sata 320GB seagate 7200.10 verticle something
OS: Vista home premium 32-bit
firewall: MS Onecare2.0
nothing is overclocked, the gigabyte CIA2 is disabled. I think I have the energy saving stuff all turned on, so I have noticed that just browsing the internet shows I'm at 1.6Ghz instead of 2.4Ghz on the CPU. I also discovered the sleep mode and have been using that so it shuts down the fans, graphics, etc after 20 mins. That was how I determined this issue was going on, I walked by the room and heard the fans running long after I knew no one had been using the computer. When I tried to wake it, I got nothing, I rebooted, and it worked fine. It's gotten progressively worse now that I can cold-boot and not get past the POST (it looks as if it's stopping on detecting the hard drive, as I get the header, but it doesn't show either of the SATA devices).
I'm not sure what else to test or where to start looking to replace something. I don't have any spare parts laying around to really try different components. It seems just as likely to me that the powersupply is having issues since it seemed pretty warm, or that I maybe I've hurt the CPU with the big new cooler installed in November, or even the weight of the cooler in the verticle case has flexed the mainboard and caused it to be the issue. Could it just be the harddrive seizing up or could the RAM go bad? Any ideas on where to start?
Thanks,
Scott
[edit: change title, add some more details]
yesterday my computer started freezing. It seems to be getting worse, it started with windows just not coming out of sleep (s3, I think) on Vista. It did that twice over the whole day, but now I sometimes can't get through the post. I went in to look at the temps in BIOS and it froze before I could get to that part of the menu. I don't get any errors, but when it does boot all the way into the OS, it seems to have corrupted some stuff -- my purchased firewall and anti-virus says it's loaded, but I'm getting a popup from Vista saying I have the built-in ones disabled.
This computer has worked fine for months, I think there was a new Vista patch that I applied on Friday, but I haven't done anything with the hardware since November (replaced the CPU cooler). When the OS does boot, it says my temps are all around 21C (which is basically ambient in the room).
I left it unplugged overnight (shutdown at the UPS) and it worked for about 20 mins this morning. I couldn't find any errors or messages other than the firewall/virus message. When it freezes up, the lights all stay on, the screen doesn't change, the fans all keep running, etc. I disconnected everything and checked the connections inside the case and everything looks good there. Nothing really felt hot, but I thought maybe the PSU was a little warm for no longer than it had been running.
Case: Antec P150 with 430W Neo
Mainboard: Gigabyte 965P-DS3 rev 3.3 (F12 bios)
RAM: g.skill 2x1GB PC6400 5-5-5-15
CPU: E6600 Conroe dual-core
cooler: coolermaster hyper212
Video: evga 8800GTS 320MB (latest whql drivers, 158, I think)
sata pioneer dvd-rw & sata 320GB seagate 7200.10 verticle something
OS: Vista home premium 32-bit
firewall: MS Onecare2.0
nothing is overclocked, the gigabyte CIA2 is disabled. I think I have the energy saving stuff all turned on, so I have noticed that just browsing the internet shows I'm at 1.6Ghz instead of 2.4Ghz on the CPU. I also discovered the sleep mode and have been using that so it shuts down the fans, graphics, etc after 20 mins. That was how I determined this issue was going on, I walked by the room and heard the fans running long after I knew no one had been using the computer. When I tried to wake it, I got nothing, I rebooted, and it worked fine. It's gotten progressively worse now that I can cold-boot and not get past the POST (it looks as if it's stopping on detecting the hard drive, as I get the header, but it doesn't show either of the SATA devices).
I'm not sure what else to test or where to start looking to replace something. I don't have any spare parts laying around to really try different components. It seems just as likely to me that the powersupply is having issues since it seemed pretty warm, or that I maybe I've hurt the CPU with the big new cooler installed in November, or even the weight of the cooler in the verticle case has flexed the mainboard and caused it to be the issue. Could it just be the harddrive seizing up or could the RAM go bad? Any ideas on where to start?
Thanks,
Scott
[edit: change title, add some more details]
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