System instability

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: robisbell
get "The Ultimate Boot CD" and have it run memtest86+ for 6 hours and report back the results, and then run the appropriate Hard Drive manufacturer diagnostics and report those results as well.

I think since it's crashed on IE and Firefox, and Video, it may be graphics related but I'll need to see some other tests.
what video playback do you use?

It crashes when these apps open because the cpu heats up from the processing. at idle the processor is stable but once an app opens it shoots up another 5-10 degrees.

noticed this trend yesterday when i was having overheating issues while overclocking my cpu.

OP, as suggested earlier, underclock your cpu a bit. also, you may want to look into reseating your hsf and using some arctic silver or arctic cooler mx-2.

Good luck!

I would be inclined to agree, but 19 out of the 20 that its crashed have been when I'm using Firefox (more specifically, every crash has been when I've I clicked a link) and the one time when firefox wasn't active, I can't promise that it wasn't running in the background. I ran the disk checks last night and no problems. I've removed Firefox from my quicklaunch and am sticking to IE7 for the time being with Speedfan running on my second monitor. Next time I reboot I'll try underclocking the CPU a bit.

It seems a bit odd because for the first few months I had the machine I had no real problems. Maybe the connection between the HS and fan has been compromised.

Thanks again, I'll keep you guys informed!

 

[robisbell]

okay, what you can try is completely unintsalling FF, run "CCleaner" completely using both options on multiple passes till no errors are reported and then reinstalling FF.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: robisbell
okay, what you can try is completely unintsalling FF, run "CCleaner" completely using both options on multiple passes till no errors are reported and then reinstalling FF.

ah heck, I had IE7 crash today. My CPU temperature was only 41C.

 

[dclive]

By "crash" you mean "hang", right? The OS is unreasponsive, the mouse won't move? If so, that's hardware. You can test that by plugging in another hard drive, slapping an OS (and nothing else - no drivers, so use Vista) on it, and seeing if you can repro the problems if you want, but this sounds like hardware so far.

 

[robisbell]

how did the HDD test go, Slyadams?

we've eliminated the Ram, next is the HDD, then the video. if they all pass then it's got to be the motherboard.

 

[oynaz]

Originally posted by: robisbell
how did the HDD test go, Slyadams?

we've eliminated the Ram, next is the HDD, then the video. if they all pass then it's got to be the motherboard.

I agree, with a small disclaimer. I have seen Memtest86 give a false negative before, ie the test passed even with bad memory. Thus, the RAM might be bad, even if unlikely.

 

[robisbell]

never had that happen, that's a surprise to hear that.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: robisbell
never had that happen, that's a surprise to hear that.

Sorry, I meant to mention that I did the Western Digitial scans from TUBD and it was clean. When this first starting happening I suspected the HDD, so actually put another in at that point. This means I'm getting the same hangs with two different HDDs, which would probably mean the HDD is eliminated.

So video, sound or mobo?

Actually, I've had two other thoughts:

1) In speed fan there is an Aux temperature sensor (not sure if its a real sensor, a dummy one or a data cell being read that isn't actually holding a tempertature) that usually reads >90C. Asus's own PC Probe doesn't display this Aux value. Not sure if its real or not.

2) The reason I thought that it was originally the HDD is because it used to make a horrible grinding noise. However, after replacing, I realised that it wasn't the HDD, it was the fan on the GPU rubbing slightly against its casing. However, my GPU temperature doesn't go above 47C, so I wouldn't have thought that was a problem?

 

[robisbell]

I'd then say the Motherboard.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: robisbell
I'd then say the Motherboard.

Seems a reasonable bet. Bit of a ah heck because its hardly the easiest part to test and replace. This is my work machine so can't really take it offline for a few days to wait for a replacement.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: robisbell
I'd then say the Motherboard.

Right, had another crash. Was listening to an mp3 and downloading skins for the VLAN player. I had clicked on the bar in IE7 that says 'Allow this file download' and the system froze with repeating sound. The following were seen in Speedfan and Asus PCProbe:

VCore: 1.22V
+3.3: 3.26V
+5: 4.91
+12: 12.04V

CPU: 41C
Core0: 19C
Core1: 18C
Motherboard: 32C
Mysterious Aux reading: 94C
HDD0: 37C
HDD1: 37C

I'm wondering if the problem is the motherboard, then surely the crashes would be quite 'unpredictable'? My crashes ALWAYS happen when browsing the Web. The ONLY other thing I can think of is that I used the TCP/IP hack to increase my allowed number of half open connections. I will restore the original and see what happens.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: oynaz

Originally posted by: robisbell
how did the HDD test go, Slyadams?

we've eliminated the Ram, next is the HDD, then the video. if they all pass then it's got to be the motherboard.

I agree, with a small disclaimer. I have seen Memtest86 give a false negative before, ie the test passed even with bad memory. Thus, the RAM might be bad, even if unlikely.

That's called a false positive

Well to the OP,
Have you tried safe mode and working from there?
I have a instinct to think it's driver problem. I know you've reinstall windows and updated drivers. The problem is just too strange.

If motherboard is at fault, it would have run memtest without error.
Perhaps you can try running Prime95 torture test for 8 hours too.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX

Originally posted by: oynaz

Originally posted by: robisbell
how did the HDD test go, Slyadams?

we've eliminated the Ram, next is the HDD, then the video. if they all pass then it's got to be the motherboard.

I agree, with a small disclaimer. I have seen Memtest86 give a false negative before, ie the test passed even with bad memory. Thus, the RAM might be bad, even if unlikely.

That's called a false positive

Well to the OP,
Have you tried safe mode and working from there?
I have a instinct to think it's driver problem. I know you've reinstall windows and updated drivers. The problem is just too strange.

If motherboard is at fault, it would have run memtest without error.
Perhaps you can try running Prime95 torture test for 8 hours too.

Uninstalling the TCP/IP fix didn't help as it froze yesterday. Twice.

I will run the torture test overnight tonight. I assume there is no risk with doing this? i.e. if it causes a problem, then sitting in the frozen state for 7 hours won't harm anything?

EDIT: GRRRRRR, Another bloody freeze. Happening every day now. Wasn't watching a vid or listening to anything. Just browsing the f**king web.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: slyadams

(Speedfan also has an Aux temperature of 108C, but I suspect this is a bogus reading?)

Can you tell us what this is? it may not be a bogus reading after all. check your chipset hsf to see if that is overheating. is it just a heatsink? or is there active cooling? if active cooling then check to make sure the fan is actually spinning.

if that turns out ok,

you may want to bring every setting in your bios back to original spec. to rule out any minor changes you might have made to the bios. (it's easy to forget that you made a voltage change to your ram, i should know. lol)

it does seem like a motherboard issue now as well.

if at all possible, bring your machine down to the bare necessities,, cpu, 1 stick of ram, video card and your os drive. disconnect everything else. then boot again into safe mode (with networking) and try to replicate the issue.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

(Speedfan also has an Aux temperature of 108C, but I suspect this is a bogus reading?)

Can you tell us what this is? it may not be a bogus reading after all. check your chipset hsf to see if that is overheating. is it just a heatsink? or is there active cooling? if active cooling then check to make sure the fan is actually spinning.

if that turns out ok,

you may want to bring every setting in your bios back to original spec. to rule out any minor changes you might have made to the bios. (it's easy to forget that you made a voltage change to your ram, i should know. lol)

it does seem like a motherboard issue now as well.

if at all possible, bring your machine down to the bare necessities,, cpu, 1 stick of ram, video card and your os drive. disconnect everything else. then boot again into safe mode (with networking) and try to replicate the issue.

I will do a BIOS factory reset, but I'm 99% sure I've changed nothing in there but boot ordering. Its tricky to do lots of debugging because its my work machine.

I have no idea what the Aux temperature is. I've touched the heatsink before and its not that hot really.

Can anyone set my mind at rest regarding running Prime95 overnight?

It does seem like a motherboard issue. However, the freeze seems to always occur when browsing the web.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

(Speedfan also has an Aux temperature of 108C, but I suspect this is a bogus reading?)

Can you tell us what this is? it may not be a bogus reading after all. check your chipset hsf to see if that is overheating. is it just a heatsink? or is there active cooling? if active cooling then check to make sure the fan is actually spinning.

if that turns out ok,

you may want to bring every setting in your bios back to original spec. to rule out any minor changes you might have made to the bios. (it's easy to forget that you made a voltage change to your ram, i should know. lol)

it does seem like a motherboard issue now as well.

if at all possible, bring your machine down to the bare necessities,, cpu, 1 stick of ram, video card and your os drive. disconnect everything else. then boot again into safe mode (with networking) and try to replicate the issue.

I will do a BIOS factory reset, but I'm 99% sure I've changed nothing in there but boot ordering. Its tricky to do lots of debugging because its my work machine.

I have no idea what the Aux temperature is. I've touched the heatsink before and its not that hot really.

Can anyone set my mind at rest regarding running Prime95 overnight?

It does seem like a motherboard issue. However, the freeze seems to always occur when browsing the web.

you touched both the chipset and cpu hsf's?
also, is your nic port directly connected to your motherboard? or is it a seperate card? can you try using a different drivers for the nic alone if possible? or even a whole new nic altogether if you have one lying around.

You know, come to think of it, have you done a full on virus scan/spyware scan? I didn't see it mentioned at all in the post.

we automatically assumed hardware, but you state it only happened when you go on the web.

btw, since this is a work machine, don't you have an IT department? or are "you" the "IT" department? hehe

after that i don't know what else it could be.

good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

(Speedfan also has an Aux temperature of 108C, but I suspect this is a bogus reading?)

Can you tell us what this is? it may not be a bogus reading after all. check your chipset hsf to see if that is overheating. is it just a heatsink? or is there active cooling? if active cooling then check to make sure the fan is actually spinning.

if that turns out ok,

you may want to bring every setting in your bios back to original spec. to rule out any minor changes you might have made to the bios. (it's easy to forget that you made a voltage change to your ram, i should know. lol)

it does seem like a motherboard issue now as well.

if at all possible, bring your machine down to the bare necessities,, cpu, 1 stick of ram, video card and your os drive. disconnect everything else. then boot again into safe mode (with networking) and try to replicate the issue.

I will do a BIOS factory reset, but I'm 99% sure I've changed nothing in there but boot ordering. Its tricky to do lots of debugging because its my work machine.

I have no idea what the Aux temperature is. I've touched the heatsink before and its not that hot really.

Can anyone set my mind at rest regarding running Prime95 overnight?

It does seem like a motherboard issue. However, the freeze seems to always occur when browsing the web.

you touched both the chipset and cpu hsf's?
also, is your nic port directly connected to your motherboard? or is it a seperate card? can you try using a different drivers for the nic alone if possible? or even a whole new nic altogether if you have one lying around.

You know, come to think of it, have you done a full on virus scan/spyware scan? I didn't see it mentioned at all in the post.

we automatically assumed hardware, but you state it only happened when you go on the web.

btw, since this is a work machine, don't you have an IT department? or are "you" the "IT" department? hehe

after that i don't know what else it could be.

good luck and let us know what you find out.

I have done full virus and spyware checks. This problem has also occured on either side of a fresh windows installation. I will do a complete virus and spyware scan overnight and report back.

We're a small company, don't really have an IT department. In fact, we are an IT consultancy and I'm lead developer. This problem has us all a bit stuck. A problem that looks for all the world like a hardware problem, but would a hardware problem occur at such a specific point?

Can anyone confirm there would be no danger in leaving my machine in a frozen state?

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

(Speedfan also has an Aux temperature of 108C, but I suspect this is a bogus reading?)

Can you tell us what this is? it may not be a bogus reading after all. check your chipset hsf to see if that is overheating. is it just a heatsink? or is there active cooling? if active cooling then check to make sure the fan is actually spinning.

if that turns out ok,

you may want to bring every setting in your bios back to original spec. to rule out any minor changes you might have made to the bios. (it's easy to forget that you made a voltage change to your ram, i should know. lol)

it does seem like a motherboard issue now as well.

if at all possible, bring your machine down to the bare necessities,, cpu, 1 stick of ram, video card and your os drive. disconnect everything else. then boot again into safe mode (with networking) and try to replicate the issue.

I will do a BIOS factory reset, but I'm 99% sure I've changed nothing in there but boot ordering. Its tricky to do lots of debugging because its my work machine.

I have no idea what the Aux temperature is. I've touched the heatsink before and its not that hot really.

Can anyone set my mind at rest regarding running Prime95 overnight?

It does seem like a motherboard issue. However, the freeze seems to always occur when browsing the web.

you touched both the chipset and cpu hsf's?
also, is your nic port directly connected to your motherboard? or is it a seperate card? can you try using a different drivers for the nic alone if possible? or even a whole new nic altogether if you have one lying around.

You know, come to think of it, have you done a full on virus scan/spyware scan? I didn't see it mentioned at all in the post.

we automatically assumed hardware, but you state it only happened when you go on the web.

btw, since this is a work machine, don't you have an IT department? or are "you" the "IT" department? hehe

after that i don't know what else it could be.

good luck and let us know what you find out.

I have done full virus and spyware checks. This problem has also occured on either side of a fresh windows installation. I will do a complete virus and spyware scan overnight and report back.

We're a small company, don't really have an IT department. In fact, we are an IT consultancy and I'm lead developer. This problem has us all a bit stuck. A problem that looks for all the world like a hardware problem, but would a hardware problem occur at such a specific point?

Can anyone confirm there would be no danger in leaving my machine in a frozen state?

My last thought then is this. Disable the nic(s) on your computer. (how ever many you've got.) and install a new/spare nic card. (make sure you have the drivers ready since you might not be able to go to the web.) I can only think that there's something wrong with that onboard nic/PCI nic you're using if it solely happens when you go to the web. if that's not the case and you still have issues, then like everyone else said, rma the motherboard. but i'd just like to rule out that nic.

good luck!

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: rasczak

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas

Originally posted by: slyadams

(Speedfan also has an Aux temperature of 108C, but I suspect this is a bogus reading?)

Can you tell us what this is? it may not be a bogus reading after all. check your chipset hsf to see if that is overheating. is it just a heatsink? or is there active cooling? if active cooling then check to make sure the fan is actually spinning.

if that turns out ok,

you may want to bring every setting in your bios back to original spec. to rule out any minor changes you might have made to the bios. (it's easy to forget that you made a voltage change to your ram, i should know. lol)

it does seem like a motherboard issue now as well.

if at all possible, bring your machine down to the bare necessities,, cpu, 1 stick of ram, video card and your os drive. disconnect everything else. then boot again into safe mode (with networking) and try to replicate the issue.

I will do a BIOS factory reset, but I'm 99% sure I've changed nothing in there but boot ordering. Its tricky to do lots of debugging because its my work machine.

I have no idea what the Aux temperature is. I've touched the heatsink before and its not that hot really.

Can anyone set my mind at rest regarding running Prime95 overnight?

It does seem like a motherboard issue. However, the freeze seems to always occur when browsing the web.

you touched both the chipset and cpu hsf's?
also, is your nic port directly connected to your motherboard? or is it a seperate card? can you try using a different drivers for the nic alone if possible? or even a whole new nic altogether if you have one lying around.

You know, come to think of it, have you done a full on virus scan/spyware scan? I didn't see it mentioned at all in the post.

we automatically assumed hardware, but you state it only happened when you go on the web.

btw, since this is a work machine, don't you have an IT department? or are "you" the "IT" department? hehe

after that i don't know what else it could be.

good luck and let us know what you find out.

I have done full virus and spyware checks. This problem has also occured on either side of a fresh windows installation. I will do a complete virus and spyware scan overnight and report back.

We're a small company, don't really have an IT department. In fact, we are an IT consultancy and I'm lead developer. This problem has us all a bit stuck. A problem that looks for all the world like a hardware problem, but would a hardware problem occur at such a specific point?

Can anyone confirm there would be no danger in leaving my machine in a frozen state?

My last thought then is this. Disable the nic(s) on your computer. (how ever many you've got.) and install a new/spare nic card. (make sure you have the drivers ready since you might not be able to go to the web.) I can only think that there's something wrong with that onboard nic/PCI nic you're using if it solely happens when you go to the web. if that's not the case and you still have issues, then like everyone else said, rma the motherboard. but i'd just like to rule out that nic.

good luck!

I'll do this. However, this is my work machine and is almost constantly accessing the internet, so if the NIC was dodgy I'd have thought I'd get more problems?

Thanks again!

 

[imported_slyadams]

OK chaps, quick update.

Found an 8400GS laying around that I've put it. I think I've discovered what the "Core" temperature that Speefan is reporting as 60C (even though the two individual CPU cores are both 18C) is actually the GPU core. Is 60C OK for an 8400GS? There's not much I can do to improve it as its a passively cooled card.

 

[imported_slyadams]

OK, since putting the new card in, no freezes. The new GPU sits around the 65C-70C mark though.

 

[robisbell]

that's great! glad it's fixed.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Still no freezes.

Does anyone have any comments on my GPU temperature being around 70C consistently?

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: slyadams
Still no freezes.

Does anyone have any comments on my GPU temperature being around 70C consistently?

Crap, spoke to soon. Had another freeze. However, I've had one in maybe 4 or 5 days.

Weird, same symptom, but less frequent.

 

[imported_slyadams]

Originally posted by: slyadams

Originally posted by: slyadams
Still no freezes.

Does anyone have any comments on my GPU temperature being around 70C consistently?

Crap, spoke to soon. Had another freeze. However, I've had one in maybe 4 or 5 days.

Weird, same symptom, but less frequent.

Hey chaps, sorry to dig this old one out. I've not changed my computer since the last post, but it has started freezing more regularly again. I've taken to opening up Core Temp and Speedfan again, currently temps are:

CPU: 49C
Core0: 28C
Core1: 27C
System: 41C
Aux (still don't know what this is): 100C
HDD0: 40C
HDD1: 42C
GPU: 59C

The crashes ONLY happen when I am clicking on links in web browsers (opera, IE and firefox).

I am prepared to buy replacement bits to fix it, but need to try and narrow it down. Its had a new GFX card and new HDD, so I'm thinking of buying an all in one motherboard so that, essentially, the sound, gfx and NIC are all replaced too (its only a work machine, multi-media performance not important).

However, could it also be the PSU?