Why is my newly built computer freezing up?

[johnney5]

Hey all.

As this is my first ever self built computer, I can safely say that I'm not 100% confident about it. Despite this, I believed my pc turned out great until it started freezing shortly after it was built only 1 month ago. To date it has had about 3 freeze-ups, 1 automatic reboot, and 1 blue screen of death.

Windows 7 Ultimate is the OS. The processor is AMD Phenom II Six Core, 4 GB RAM. I'm using a CPU cooler along with a case fan and it blows cool air all the time. Hard drive space shouldn't be an issue here, however I do have a second hard drive hooked up which seems to make a clicking sound somewhat often (and is 9 years old!). I have to take a second look at my bios settings to see if i can disable it (as the pc boots to ide first, i get a "no boot device available" message when I unplug the old hdd).

Also, I've heard about the software "memtest"... But will it work with my 4GB of memory? Any help is appreciated.

 

[corkyg]

Freeze ups are more often than not, the result of a memory conflict. That, in turn, is often the result of some software directing a sub-routine to use a memory address that is already in use.

This can be confirmed by running in Safe Mode. That is, without app drivers running in background. If the freeze ups disappear, then you can begin the process of fault isolation by using MSCONFIG/STARTUP and unchecking all but essential functions. Then add them back gradually with reboot until you find the offender.

 

[alkemyst]

Definitely scan ram on a cold boot (machine off overnight) and once things are heated up.

I have been seeing more and more DOA ram sticks lately than ever before.

My father's machine would test fine once warmed up...however; on a cold boot it would have hundreds of memory errors (memtest).

 

[VirtualLarry]

My father's machine would test fine once warmed up...however; on a cold boot it would have hundreds of memory errors (memtest).

What brand? OCZ, or Gskill, or something else?

 

[alkemyst]

No specific brand...my dad had Geil and that was the last one.

Their RMA process is fast and painless though.

 

[sandorski]

Disassemble!



[someone had to say it[/]

Srsly though, the old HD seems a likely culprit here. Run a scandisk on it.

 

[johnney5]

corkyg that is a good point. Could it have anything to do with x86 and x64 compatibility?

I'll pull that old IDE hard drive out and run memtest and see how it goes.

Thanks for the help. :thumbsup: