Why is my computer locking up?

[MBrown]

I dont understand why my pc is locking up. I leave it on overnight and when I get up work on my pc go way and then when I come back its locked up. I put my cpu back at 2.2ghz and its still doing to same thing. This is really gettin on my nerves. Could it be my video card? its oced to 456/1.15. my rig is in my sig.

 

[Markbnj]

Well, I think in this case I would back off the vid card o/c, see if it goes away; then back off the processor o/c; then start on components one at a time.

Also, anything showing up in event viewer?

 

[MBrown]

I already did back off the processor oc and it still locked up. I put it back to stock speeds. I'll try backing off the video card oc and see how that goes. It def shouldnt be the power supply because I have a neopower 480w. At least I dont think it would be a power supply problem. And what do you mean by even viewer? The task manager?

 

[MBrown]

I just put it at the eVGA card stock speeds since they all have the same cooling. I'll see how that goes

 

[DaNorthface]

try things like using AGP 4x or 2x, raising timing on the ram, unplug tv tuners and other pci cards, etc

 

[MBrown]

Originally posted by: DaNorthface
try things like using AGP 4x or 2x, raising timing on the ram, unplug tv tuners and other pci cards, etc

Every thing is stock I dont have agp or a tv turner and I dont have any other pci cards other than my PCI express video card...and guess what. It still locked up. This is pissing me off. Could it be windows? I dont know.

 

[McGeyser]

Have you run memtest86 recently?

 

[MBrown]

no but thats a good idea. how can ram go bad like that though?

 

[Megatomic]

There are many ways RAM can go bad just like that. It's an electronic component and thus subject to many forms of failure.

 

[Duvie]

He meant "event viewer"...It will log if it is was a software failure or if anything was running when it failed....

Culd be a memory issue, though I would expect a BSOD and not a hard lock.....Hard locks IMO have usually shown to be power issues....Power issues are not always PSU...the board could have a bad power regulator....The oc'd core on that vid crad may need you to notch the vagp up to 1.55-1.6v.....

 

[ocforums]

Up the voltage to the chip a tad see if that helps and what ram timings are you running ? I have seen people with this issue solve it by also increasing the voltage to the ram 1 step over stock as the board may under power the ram a tad . .

 

[MBrown]

Hmm. I decided to view the lock up again. It seems to only lock up after my harddrive stops. I mean after the screen saver is done and the screen goes black after awhile. It locks up when the pc is just iidleing. So I booted into linux and left it on over night and in the morning it was fine. It hadnt locked up. So I dont know if that means its a windows problem now but like you said if it was a software problem it would show up as something wrong when I booted it up again. I'll try and do something with the vagp I am assuming thats the voltage for the agp and that there would be the same thing for a pci express.

 

[MBrown]

Originally posted by: ocforums
Up the voltage to the chip a tad see if that helps and what ram timings are you running ? I have seen people with this issue solve it by also increasing the voltage to the ram 1 step over stock as the board may under power the ram a tad . .

Im just running at stock timings right now. Its what the mb auto configures Everything is stock as far as clocks goes at the moment.

Also im not totally sure what the vagp was. I didnt see anything similar in my bios so I decided to increase that just a tab. What happened was my windows boot screen didnt like it. It went from black to white to white red and green, and then windows loaded up and everything was fine. I dont understand whats going when everything is stock and everything is on what the motherboard auto configures. It should at least work fine then.

 

[Beef Taco]

Have you run any anti-virus or spyware programs?

 

[MBrown]

^are you asking if I have scaned my pc for viruses? no I havent but thats a good idea

 

[MBrown]

You know what? Im starting to think that my motherboard is crapping out on me becuase sign #1: like 5 months ago after my 3 reinstall of xp pro service pack 1 it would not install and get locked up. I had to take it to the shop and the only way to load windows on it was to load a copy of xp with sp2 already on it. I still havent figured out why that is. sign #2: This thing could never overclock right. I dont know if it was the cpu, but im pretty sure my mb had a lot to do with it. And now it DOT wont even boot windows on sergent which is ONLY A 3% OVERCLOCK!!! I used to be able to bring it up to the 7% DOT which is captain I believe. What do you guys think?

 

[MBrown]

 

[Zap]

Let's look at the locking problem first because if it locks at stock, you aren't gonna overclock much. Start with putting all speeds back to default. For good measure, also clear the CMOS using the jumper. Then, go to power options and set "turn off HDD" "Turn off monitor" etc. to "never." Now see if it locks.

 

[Jeff7181]

What temperature is it running at?

 

[MBrown]

about 35c at idle. Everything is stock right now. No overcloking at all.

 

[MBrown]

Originally posted by: Zap
Let's look at the locking problem first because if it locks at stock, you aren't gonna overclock much. Start with putting all speeds back to default. For good measure, also clear the CMOS using the jumper. Then, go to power options and set "turn off HDD" "Turn off monitor" etc. to "never." Now see if it locks.

Well it only locks when the hdd and monitor turn off so that is the problem most likely. So if its the problem turning those off isnt going to fix the problem it would only be going around it.
But after I raised my NF4 voltage It hasnt locked up yet. Ill let it go for a few more days and see how it goes.

 

[Zap]

The point was to try narrowing down the problem.

 

[2kfire]

Originally posted by: MBrown
Hmm. I decided to view the lock up again. It seems to only lock up after my harddrive stops. I mean after the screen saver is done and the screen goes black after awhile. It locks up when the pc is just iidleing. So I booted into linux and left it on over night and in the morning it was fine. It hadnt locked up. So I dont know if that means its a windows problem now but like you said if it was a software problem it would show up as something wrong when I booted it up again. I'll try and do something with the vagp I am assuming thats the voltage for the agp and that there would be the same thing for a pci express.

Sounds like a driver problem. My computer would do the same whenever I tried to put it in stand by. I had recently installed some burning program and it would lockup the P-ATA driver, so my comp wouldn't standby. I uninstalled it and now everything's fine. Try un-installing programs you don't use, update your drivers, and if you haven't done a virus scan, maybe it could be that. Good luck!

 

[MBrown]

Hasnt locked up yet. Day2

^I wasnt trying to think of something that could have caused this. Im thinking it could be openoffice. It was the Open Office 2 rc.