Computer crashing


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I have this great rig that I build to future proof a couple years ago, I think it's in my sig - i7 extreme, dual 680's, Samsung Pro 840, 4 TB hard drive storage in RAID. Well lately, my computer has started blue screening on me and rebooting or if I leave it running for a while and come to wake it up it seems to be frozen. I really don't want to have to build a new system because I think what I have will last for some time to come. However, would you guys think that the RAM would be the first thing to check? It seems to be happening a lot when ripping my blu rays for my media center using DVD Fab but that's probably just because I use it a lot so that's where I notice it. I play a lot of Sim City and the other night it must have done it to me 4-5 times within about 15 minutes.

 

EDIT: Now that I think about this I've noticed a couple things lately. After boot I've been getting a message about a USB device malfunctioning. I don't know what it could be because everything is working. I've also noticed that my computer takes longer to boot because it seems stuck halfway through drawing the BIOS logo and then continues to boot. Maybe I should unplug everything USB and see what happens...

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Well, I unplugged all devices and the computer booted so fast I couldn't believe it. I plugged in the mouse, no problem. Keyboard, no problem. Acer touchscreen USB 3 cable, no problem. Bose 5.1 USB cable, very slight pause in BIOS post but nothing like I was having. I might add that this Bose 5.1 (forget what it's called but it's 5.1 with 2 speakers) occasionally makes random loud noises while booting. Could it be the cause of the crashing? I doubt it? I still have a few devices to try, I'll report back for anyone interested.

 

EDIT: just after I typed this, I went to check on my dinner and heard my computer beep and came back and it was rebooting. Could this Bose USB audio really be the culprit?

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It could be. I don't really trust USB speakers to start out with. Can you run without them for awhile, see if things improve?

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If its crashing disable / untick automatically restart. So you can see what the BSOD is saying. Get bluescreenview install / run it what does it say is the cause? Disable the logo in the BIOS, if you mean the logo on the post screen.

 

Then you'll see what its detecting / whats it's  not detecting / having probs with.

 

Also make sure the hdd is the boot disk in the BIOS. On some systems if it's on cd, it'll take longer to boot into windows

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, my computer is randomly blue screening and rebooting. I thought maybe it was the USB speakers so I replaced them with regular speakers. It happened this morning when I wasn't even using the computer so I've been running memtest for several hours and 0 errors so far. All that I have plugged in right now are my keyboard, mouse, and monitor. What else could it be? Is there a test to see if the CPU is going bad?.

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Hi I had a similar problem with my PC... it turned out to be the NVIDIA 320 series drivers causing my PC to freeze and sometimes BSOD me. Have you tried updating or downgrading them. What happened was windows allocated my graphics card an IRQ address which my mainboard uses for the on-board USB ports, so when I changed anything connected to a USB port it froze my PC or BSOD. It only seemed to do it with the 320 series drivers installed, so I reverted back to 314.22... after that all was fine.

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I have 2x mNivida 670 cards in SLI and use GeFore Experience which updates the drivers automatically. I've had this issue no matter what version of drivers I am using. Could it be a bad video card? My i7 Extreme is water cooled so I find it highly unlikely it's a CPU problem. It happens if I'm playing a game or if I'm in another room, I can hear the Windows startup sound from a reboot. The memtest yielded no errors.

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Try testing each card separately... I do know that some games can have issues running SLI, or with Crossfire but I don't think I've come across many issues using them just in Windows itself.

 

I do also recommend you possibly test your RAM... But make sure you test each stick separately as this give the best indication of any memory faults (I know It's a pain to do). Then test with all of your RAM installed...

 

Try http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm as this is the latest version of MemTest86, as MemTest86+ has not been updated in a long while.

 

Also if you wish to properly test your CPU try Prime95 http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/... as this fires loads of Prime numbers at your CPU if your PC crashes using it then it's a CPU issue. When you use it just click I want to stress test my CPU...

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There is one thing I forgot to mention... if your processor is over clocked try turn the over clock down a little. As not all processers are manufactured the same, some will clock higher and some will clock a little lower. Then test with Prime95 as if there an issues with the over clock, it will show up as your PC will either lock up or BSOD.

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Well, I unplugged all devices and the computer booted so fast I couldn't believe it. I plugged in the mouse, no problem. Keyboard, no problem. Acer touchscreen USB 3 cable, no problem. Bose 5.1 USB cable, very slight pause in BIOS post but nothing like I was having. I might add that this Bose 5.1 (forget what it's called but it's 5.1 with 2 speakers) occasionally makes random loud noises while booting. Could it be the cause of the crashing? I doubt it? I still have a few devices to try, I'll report back for anyone interested.

 

EDIT: just after I typed this, I went to check on my dinner and heard my computer beep and came back and it was rebooting. Could this Bose USB audio really be the culprit?

 

could be a USB device.  I had a few iPod docks/speakers connected to my old work PC.  When I turned on the laptop, it would boot to a flashing cursor only until I unplugged the USB dock and restarted the system.  I have seen external hard drives and flash drives cause issues with starting a system while they were plugged in.

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There is one thing I forgot to mention... if your processor is over clocked try turn the over clock down a little. As not all processers are manufactured the same, some will clock higher and some will clock a little lower. Then test with Prime95 as if there an issues with the over clock, it will show up as your PC will either lock up or BSOD.

Hmm, yeah my CPU has been overclocked for all the time I've had it which is like 3 years and it's water cooled. I suppose I could try bumping it down and see if the issue goes away.

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I had 2 blue screens last night while playing SimCity in addition to the computer just crashing when it's sitting idle. I'm going to take out my 2 nVidia 670's and put in a 580 I still have and see if it still crashes. If that solves it, is there a good single card solution out right now that will be on par with SLI 670's without breaking my bank? My 670's can still max out settings in just about game I play.

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Still haven't tested the old video card but I have money one that being the problem. Should I look for a single card solution on par or better than the SLI 670's like the 770? Or is it cheaper to go with a single card like the Titan? I looked at newegg and the Titan is a thousand bucks so that's not happening. Since my 670's handled all my games what should I go for now? maybe dual 770's?

 

EDIT: And for testing purposes, is it sufficient to disable the 670's 1 at a time in device manager or do I need to physically remove them?

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That's worth a shot, thanks!

 

You might also try to change your power plan, advanced settings and disable the USB Suspend features. I have found many systems that have issues with that on Windows 8.

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Played SimCity for a few hours last night and then the sound just started loudly stuttering and the blue screen appeared. I just disabled the USB suspend and will see what happens today. I never though maybe it's the sound card?

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Well, I had disabled USD suspend and was away for a while and came back and the computer was frozen in it's picture shuffle state it goes into after a while. Neither the mouse nor the keyboard would wake it. I hit the reboot button on my computer and at first though it didn't work but after about 2-3 seconds, instead of just rebooting, it shut off the computer and it turned it back on and rebooted. I really mope it's not a mobo problem because not only is my CPU water cooled but it's an i7 Extreme from about 3 years ago (90% sure it's Gulftown) but I'm afraid I wouldn't find a new motherboard that supports that CPU and I paid an arm and a leg for the CPU and mobo to future protect myself. If I somehow ascertain it's the mobo, can I even still by a Gulftown one or do any current boards support the Gulftown? I'm occasionally getting a BIOS error that overclocking failed and I have to go into BIOS. I just select the same presets I had already and it boots up. Either I can't use overclocking or the mobo has an issue. I hope if that is the case, I can still buy a mobo that can use my Golftown CPU and RAM.

 

EDIT: I have the i7 running at 4.25GHz.

 

EDIT #2: I've started seeing pop up windows that I have FREE backup and to click for more information. Of course, I don't click but I scanned with MSE and found nothing and installed Bit Defender trial and found nothing.

 

EDIT #3: Running a FULL scan with Bit Defender and it's found 18 threats so far at about 70% completion. That window with the free backup pops op occasionally too. I wonder if it's time to format and clean install...

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So, Bit Defender found a virus and 18 files infected last night. I cleaned it but I wonder if I should just wipe the boot drive and do a clean install.

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So, Bit Defender found a virus and 18 files infected last night. I cleaned it but I wonder if I should just wipe the boot drive and do a clean install.

 

If my primary machine blue-screened and then some viruses started showing up, I'd say it was time to repave. The blue screens might not be related to the virus, but reinstalling could very well fix the problem anyway.  Could be something as subtle as a corrupt driver.

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Do a clean install and try resetting your BIOS to Fail-Safe or Optimized Defaults. If your overclocking something could be out causing issues. Pretty sure you should be able to get a Socket 1366 motherboard somewhere if needed but hopefully that`s not required...

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Had that free backup window in the middle of my desktop when I booted today so it looks like I'll be clean installing...

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Did a format and reinstall. I always have fun doing it for some reason. Reinstalled the apps and games I use and crashes yet. I haven't gamed since I did the clean install so I have to test that. I did notice on one boot up that it was kind of frozen at the bios logo during post. Still not sure if it's a USB device ir the mobo. I basically just have my keyboard, mouse, USB 3.0 external HD, printer, and USB 3.0 touch monitor. I tried adding one device at a time and wasn't able to nail anything down. I need to research if the Gulftown will work in newer motherboards.

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