# [SOLVED] Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.



## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

First off, sorry if I have picked the wrong section to post this.

Hi,

I have an Acer Aspire M3641. it is two months outside of warranty. The current problems started before the warranty ended but were not severe so I didn't take it that seriously.

Back then, my PC would have the odd Blue Screen of Death...the odd complete shut down...and the odd reboot...for no reason at all. The reason, I did not take these issues seriously was because, after, I'd get to use the PC for a considerable amount of time with no issues.

The other day, the PC shut down for no reason. Complete shut down. It really makes no difference what I am doing at the time (i.e. what software I am using). After turning it back on, it shut down again a little later.

After that, it started freezing (waited a considerable amount of time to see if it would unfreeze but it didn't), which required rebooting, frequent blue screens of death and shut downs followed (shuts downs not as much...but they do happen). No particular order - it's a game of Russian Roulette as to which of the three nasties I'll get when I turn the machine on (usually freezing is most common).

I have switched hard drives and still get the problem.

I have removed one RAM stick and still get the problem (have yet to switch the RAM stick to see if the other one is faulty).

Last night I installed Hot CPU Test (lite). It's a six hour test but due to the unstable nature of my PC, the PC freezes or shut downs after about 10-20 minutes of testing (have run two tests).

However, before shutting down or freezing in the last test, I saved part of the log file and these errors were reported...

Error:CPU 2: Checksums do not match; Matrix1 = -28115503932.883533, Matrix2 = -28115503932.883739 

Minidump file saved at C:\Program Files\Hot CPU Tester Pro 4 LE\\HCTDec03-072814.dmp

File Exception error:All or part of the path is invalid:CPU 0: an unnamed file contains an invalid path.

File Exception error:All or part of the path is invalid:CPU 3: an unnamed file contains an invalid path.

File Exception error:All or part of the path is invalid:CPU 2: an unnamed file contains an invalid path.

File Exception error:All or part of the path is invalid:CPU 1: an unnamed file contains an invalid path. 

I saw these errors in the first test.

Does these seem like a CPU, PSU or motherboard issue?

Is it possible to rule any of them out?

I do not wish to buy one and then realise it might of been the other two. 

Should I just buy another computer???? :sigh:

Thanks


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## Tosinv (Dec 1, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hello

Can you please let us know the specs of the the rig. Also you might considering checking the Temperature of the CPU, to make sure its not over heating. It generally happens due to overheat when one core on the CPU reaches high temperature and the other core is crawling.....

Please use HWMonitor at http://www.cpuid.com/ to determine the temperatures and Everest down loadable at http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Everest-Home-Edition.shtml and check your rigs info.....

thx


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Thanks for the reply.

I will test these out tonight and report back (I assume the tools will produce a log that I can then post on here).

Regards

R.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

What are the Error Codes on the BSOD?


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hi,

I wrote it down somewhere and have now misplaced the note...go figure. :sigh:

There has actually been more than one BSOD error but the most common one has the words, "A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor".

Is that of any use or do you need the actual long number that appears on the screen?

R.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Tosinv,

Hi there - sorry had some personal issues that led me to putting the PC issues on hold.

I have installed the two things you suggested.

With regard to, "Can you please let us know the specs of the the rig", what report is it that you want me to produce via Everest?

There is a Wizard report and quick report option.

Incidentally - it has been a few days since I have turned on my PC...and so far...seems to be running smoothly. Not a hint of a problem.

Please find attached a HWMonitor report. All okay?

Thanks for your assistance.


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## Tosinv (Dec 1, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hi
You can run a Report Summary and Click next when the wizard comes up and choose System Summary only and save it to a txt or html format. Also try running MEMTEST located at http://www.memtest.org/ and share the results.
Thanks


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hi Tosinv,

I had a planned message I was going to send you with regard to the latest developments with my PC but something serious has happened after I ran the MEMTEST.

I left the PC running overnight and this is what happened:

It appears the PC froze. I'm not sure how long the test was supposed to last but when I woke up in the morning none of the options could be selected.

I wrote the following information down before shutting the PC down:

Pass: 54%
Test: 13%
Test #6: Moving inversions, 32 bit pattern
Testing 176k – 1,792m 1,791m

Wall time: 3:06:17
Cached: 1,791m
RsvdMem: 200k
MemMap: e820
Cache: On
ECC: Off
Test: Std
Pass: 6
Errors: 2,334
ECC Errors: 0

*After rebooting the machine, I am now not getting a display on my monitor.* I tried several times and nothing. I tried several hours later and nothing. I replaced the 2gb ram with a 1gb ram stick and still nothing. :upset:

Has my PC been killed off after this test???? :4-dontkno

Just for your information, all the other tests that you asked me for are saved on that machine so I cannot send you the results. :sigh:

However, please take note of what I was going to say to you before I ran the MemTest...

As I was saying, I had not touched the PC for a couple of days due to family matters that I had to attend to.

When turning on the machine for the first time in two days, I got a good 40 minutes use out of it – no problems at all. Previously it would freeze, BSOD or shut down within 10-15 minutes. At 40 minutes I decided to run the Hot CPU tester again (third attempt in all).

Previous attempts saw the machine freeze or shut down at around 10 minutes.

This time I got to 20 minutes with no issues. I then decided to leave the PC for a bit. Came back 30 minutes later and my screen had gone black, with four vertical (dashed) lines that would change colour between different shades of yellow and orange and also thickness.

I took this to be part of the test (first time I had seen this). Since it was a six hour test, I went to bed. Woke up in the morning (8 hours later) and the screen was still like that. I decided to shut the PC down.

When turning it back on, the normal issues returned. A reboot, freezing, a shut down and also a freeze at the Vista Windows loading stage which bought back the vertical lines issue (the images of the lines were not as solid as they had been before and I could still see a faded image of the Vista logo at the windows load up stage).

I guess all this shutting down has completely knocked the stuffing out of my PC :sigh:


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

PC Specs?
Prebuilt- Brand Name & Model Number
Custom Build- Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Tyree,

As explained to Tosinv, I am no longer able to acess my PC as there is no display on my monitor. The machine does not even now show me the bios loading up page.

All the tests he asked me to run (incl. one that reports on the specs) are on that machine and I am unable to attach them to these posts.

However, the PC model is an Acer Aspire M3641 bought in September 2008.

This is the tech specification page on Acer's website:

http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/productv...&ctx1g.c2att92=242&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=52687406

I also managed to attach the HWMonitor report in a post to Tosinv earlier in the thread. I can't recall if that provided any spec info.

R.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Tosinv,

I have restored the display on my computer.

I'm not sure what happened - I checked all the connections in the machine even though they have not been touched and I've got it working. I guess (hopefully) a connection got loose or something.

Anyways, please find attached the rest of the results from the reuested tests:

Everest Report

Another HWMonitor test result...right after the PC froze and had to be shut down: HWMonitor-right-after-freeze

The Memtest results are in another (earlier) post to you...in case you have not seen it.

Thanks for your continued help.


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## Tosinv (Dec 1, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

So After Running Memtest the computer hung up and wont start and then you opened up the case and reinstalled rams. Still no vain and then fiddling with cables bring brought it to life.

I am doubting its your RAM. Can you run Memtest, do not run it for whole night and share the results. Also were you able to see the power supply details. There should be a sticker on it mentioning the details....

Thanks


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

that report doesn't really say alot all we need is the motherboard name and how much ram etc and the psu make but since it's an acer can you post the model number so we can get the specs outselves.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

greenbruceless,

The PC is an Aspire M3641:

http://www.acer.co.uk/acer/productv...&ctx1g.c2att92=242&ctx1.att21k=1&CRC=52687406

With regard to the motherboard, I will get the details for you tonight.

Tosinv,

Weren't those the results of the Memtest test that I sent to you in an earlier post? If not, I am reluctant to run the test again, as the PC keeps freezing. None of the tests I run ever get to their ends.

Will send you the power supply details tonight.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

The specs list Nvidia graphics and Nvidia chipset so it is highly probable it's an Nivida Mobo.
Have you installed a dedicated graphics card or are you using the onboard graphics?
I would be suspicious of the PSU on an OEM PC that is two yrs. old.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

what he said ^


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hi all,

Here are the details requested:

The sticker on the PSU says...

Manufacturer: Delta Electronics Inc
Model: DPS - 250AB-22D
Mfg Date: 2008/05/08

I am not sure what is meant by "I would be suspicious of the PSU on an OEM PC that is two yrs. old." Why, are they that unreliable?

With regard to the motherboard, it would appear I have an onboard graphics card. I don't see see a dedicated graphics card and I didn't install one.

Having looked at the Device Manager, under display adapters, I see...

NVIDIA GeForce 7100 / NVIDIA nForce 630i

The only thing I can see on the motherboard is N1996.

There are also two sets of numbers and letters - serial numbers maybe?

According to Belarc Advisor, my PC has the following:

Main Circuit Board
Board: ACER MCP73PV NVIDIA MCP7 

So...final verdict? Change the PSU? :4-dontkno


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

I just did a Google on the Belrac information and this would appear to be my motherboard...

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&prod_no=1595#


Only difference I can see...is that mine does not say MSI.


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## Tosinv (Dec 1, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Thats an Nvidia chipset you got. I think your PSU is all gone or maybe the motherboard as well because of it. Can you borrow a PSU for some time and make sure its not the motherboard or Ram.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Unfortunately not. I don't know anyone that has spare parts that I can use for testing purposes.

I'm going to take it to a repair shop that charges £15 to take a look. However, I need to find out whether they will just give me their best guess or actually replace the parts and test them out.

If interested, I'll post the findings, should I get one...and close this thread. :sigh:


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

OEM means from the manufacturer and those power supplies tend to take something with them when they die and they usually die quite quickly when pushed a bit.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Not sure if anyone is still interested but I was supposed to take the PC into the repair shop today. However, last night I 

turned the PC on for the first time in around 5 days and got a good 2 hours use out of it.

No sign of any trouble.

I switched the PC off myself and went to bed.

This morning I ran the Hot CPU Tester and the 6 hour test actually got to the end. Passed nearly everything. There were 

some error notices with regard to the CPU's that I don't understand. Please find the report attached.

In all, the PC had been on about 8 hours today without issue.

At that point, I decided to open up my Acronis True Image software and guess what happend?

PC froze!

I shut the PC down and rebooted.

It wasn't long before I got a BSOD...

"A clock interrupt was not received on the secondary processor within the allocted time interval."

The PC then shut down before I got to note down the error code.

Since then, I have turned the PC on. After logging into Windows, I left the machine and went to do something else.

When I returned, another BSOD...

"The system encountered an uncorrectable error."

*** STOP: 0x00000124 (0x0000000000, 0X85c05028, 0XB2000040, 0X00000800)

Just as I was about to post this, my PC rebooted and then hung on the Vista Windows load up page (just before the logo 

appears). Good job I was writing this in Notepad!.

Does any of this mean anything more precisely?

In the last two weeks my PC has gone mental, my vacuum cleaner has packed up and today my all in one printer kicked the bucket. 

Could it be that I'm just jinxed? :sigh:


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

have a read here

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...r/thread/b0ea0fa5-2784-47c5-858e-2e40a0473d8a

upgrade the psu

http://prices.cnet.co.uk/0,39100483,51321698,00.htm


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Just an update on how things are working out.

PSU was changed. All the same problems were still present.

All things attached to the machine have been changed (e.g. monitor). All the same problems were still present.

A test run by the PC repair shop has raised an issue about the RAM in the CPU. My own tests flagged a CPU issue (I didn't understand what it was or meant but now, I guess backs up what the repair shop has found) and one of the blue screen of death notices I got had something to do with the CPU.

The PC repair guy is trying to get hold of another CPU to see if the error he got from his test is raised again.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

let us know the result


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hi all...latest news....

The PC repair shop held on to my PC over the Christmas and New Year break...but could not get hold of another CPU to test it with. So I just picked it up...and have ordered a new CPU...not knowing if this is the cause of my problems.

When I got the PC home, I found a copy of the PC Diag Pro tool in my DVD drive.

I thought I would try it out.

I ran a CPU test...everything passed.

I ran a memory test...and the PC shut down. I don't know at what point because I was away from the machine.

I ran the memory test again...and again...the PC shut down. It shut down during the last test, "Idempotent test". All previous memory tests were passed.

I ran the memory test once again...just the "Idempotent test"...and once again, the PC shut down.

Having looked at the manual for this software, it says this:

Memory Idempotent Test

This test checks if a memory bit affects any other bit in the memory. It is a very long test because every time a bit is modified in the memory, it will check the whole available memory for other modified bits.

If this test fails: Some bit OTHER than the one being changed is being affected by the change. A memory chip or module is defective, or timing is too tight. Replace it. Also, try faster memory chips.

Okay...so what does that mean? One or both of my RAM sticks are the cause of my problems? Should I cancel the CPU purchase?

Thanks for any assistance...and happy new year to all.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

cancel the cpu

run memtest on the ram 1 stick at a time

http://www.memtest.org/


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

I think I am going to start to cry...

I just did the Idempotent test again...and it reached the end (without the PC shutting down) and passed.

I give up...this fault is just so inconsistent.

As for memtest, I will run it. However, I have done it before, leaving the PC on overnight. When I woke up, the test had not finished, the screen had forzen and there were apparently lots of errors.

I wrote the incomplete results down somewhere - I'll look for it.

Thanks


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Actually, I posted by memtest findings in a post on Dec 6...

I left the PC running overnight and this is what happened:

It appears the PC froze. I'm not sure how long the test was supposed to last but when I woke up in the morning none of the options could be selected.

I wrote the following information down before shutting the PC down:

Pass: 54%
Test: 13%
Test #6: Moving inversions, 32 bit pattern
Testing 176k – 1,792m 1,791m

Wall time: 317
Cached: 1,791m
RsvdMem: 200k
MemMap: e820
Cache: On
ECC: Off
Test: Std
Pass: 6
Errors: 2,334
ECC Errors: 0


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

any error on memtest means your ram is damaged. This will be your problem as I told when you tested it earlier.

you must test one stick at a time to determine if its just one or all of the sticks.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Hi,

I'm looking into getting some RAM sticks from my brother.

I have tested my sticks separately, and the problems (freezes, shut downs, reboots and BSOD's) occurred when both were the only ones in use.

The memtest I ran (results above) were produced when I only had the 2bg stick in use.

Right now, the memtest has been running for just over 2 hours, with both my RAM sticks in the machine - I am currently at round 4 of testing. The previous 3 rounds produced no errors.

Further to the successful Idempotent test I ran this morning, I ran another successful one...so I have no idea what last nights shut downs were about.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

if you recieve no errors with both sticks then there is something else going on. Possibly a psu issue.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

get a multimeter and test the psu for the correct voltages.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

I have used a replacement PSU...and got the same issues (

I'm letting the memtest go on for a few more rounds...and see if anything happens.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

what was the replacement psu? you were using a crap one before, what make is this one.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

This is what it says on the PSU that I used...

heatpipe cool fanless 350W pfc, thermaltake

It's more powerful than the one I currently have.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

My PC just shut down during round 4 of the memtest. I didn't get a chance to see if any errors had been noted...though as I said earlier, the previous 3 rounds were error free.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

by round 3 do you mean it had done tests 1-10 then 1-10 then 1-3 before shutting down or do you mean it got to 3 then shut down.

did memtest just stop or did the pc shutt of. I think you have two issues here ram and possibly that the last psu has damaged the motherboard.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

By round 4, I meant, tests 1-10 had completed three times with no errors.

The computer shut down (no freeze….just shut down) during the fourth round. I think it had got to about test 4.

So, my RAM might be faulty...I will need to get hold of my brother's RAM tonight.

As for the PSU, I am currently using the original one, after the replacement produced the same results.

Also, I am currently running HotCPU tester again because I was told I was supposed to run it as administrator (previously, I had run it with a user account that had administrator privileges).

It has been 42 minutes so far and I notice an error I never got before...

Error:CPU 3: Checksums do not match: Matrix 1 does not equal Matrix 2 (I removed the numbers)

A google search has suggested this most likely means my CPU is bad, however, there is a chance that a defective motherboard or memory could cause the miscalculation.

Hmmm...

Sounds like I need to buy a new motherboard...possibly PSU...maybe RAM and a new CPU.

New PC anyone? :4-dontkno


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

sounds like the cpu is overheating not bad though.

A bad cpu is extremely rare, infact you have more chance of being hit by lightning.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

How can I be sure the PSU is faulty? Can a PSU be faulty but not overheat?

Also, how can I check to see if the motherboard is faulty? From my understanding, it seems that if it is faulty, all other components might give off faulty readings during diagnostic tests.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

Okay...so I've bit the bullet. I'm off tomorrow morning to buy a new motherboard and PSU.

I was just monitoring SpeedFan (PC had been on for 15 minutes with nothing else running). The temperatures were low with the arrows downwards and the PC just shut down.

I've spent too much time on this and am getting no where. Not sure if I would be better off with just buying a brand new base unit...but...well, there you go.

Thanks for everyone's assistance.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

you swap one underpowered cpu for another one and decide it's not the psu

thermaltake make some quality psu's

they also make some that are not,it depends on the model

you need to borrow a quality 550w or better for a pcie system

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

do not believe speedfan. As the name suggests speedfand is for measuring the speed of the fans. You should be using core temp or real temp or the BIOS.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

greenbrucelee/dia

Okay, thanks for the input. I read your latest posts after I went out and bought a replacement motherboard and PSU.

Here's what I got.

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=3024

PSU:

Trust - 570w

Since installation of these parts, the PC has been on for over an hour without any of the issues arising. However, it is still way too soon to be excited.

I have just finished reinstalling Vista - I'll leave it on overnight and see what happens.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

that is a crap psu, you were informed of what make and model of psu to get.

The psu is the most important component in your pc and should never be skimped on. You get a crap make then you risk problems occuring with your system.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

did you not bother reading the psu link

you may as well saved yourself the bother and just put a match to the money buying this

Trust - 570w


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

I guess I'll have to live with the chosen PSU for now. As I consolation, should (when) I ever experience such problems again, I'll know what's up and I won't be wasting six-eight weeks of my life again. However, as said in my earlier post, "I read your latest posts after I went out and bought a replacement motherboard and PSU", so there was no need to take the tone that was taken.

In any case, thanks for your time and advice. It has been appreciated.

PC is still going fine. )


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*



riz-man said:


> I guess I'll have to live with the chosen PSU for now. As I consolation, should (when) I ever experience such problems again, I'll know what's up and I won't be wasting six-eight weeks of my life again. However, as said in my earlier post, "I read your latest posts after I went out and bought a replacement motherboard and PSU", so there was no need to take the tone that was taken.
> 
> In any case, thanks for your time and advice. It has been appreciated.
> 
> PC is still going fine. )


yes but the fact is the Power supply is the most important component in a pc, it outweighs the importance of the cpu, graphics card and everything else.

I used to test power supplies for living so let me just say this. When you start getting problems (and you will although it may not be for some time) the first thing you should suspect is the psu you have just bought.

And to answer your question. Yes a psu can be faulty and not overheat. When power supplies fail they can cause all sorts of problems which appear not to be related to the power supply. This can show up in many forms such as a file taking a long time to access from the hard drive, error messages in Windows, blue screens, ram appears to be faulty but isn't.

With a quality psu then there is less likleyhood of getting things like this and you will just get no power but with low quality power supplies you can get all sorts of problems and it can be very hard to diagnose.


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## riz-man (Dec 3, 2009)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

greenbrucelee,

I have truly appreciated what I've learnt from this episode and perhaps "wasting six-eight weeks of my life" was the wrong way to describe it.

I have certainly come to appreciate how a faulty PSU can have a drastic impact on the rest of the PC, more so because, throughout all my google searching, I never quite found someone who experienced the multitude of issues I seemed to be dealing with (and I am sure someone will appreciate this particular thread in the future):

random shut downs
random reboots
freezes
at least two types of BSOD

Much of the above happened in both Windows and whilst in the BIOS.

These problems apparently didn't happen when tests were carried out at the PC repair shop and I didn't get these errors when I took the machine to my brother's house on two different occasions.

Everything was so very random.

I suppose had I taken more interest in understanding PSU's and done so earlier, I'd have also noted that my Evesham, P4 PC, bought in 2001 (and is still going strong today), was using a 250W PSU. In 2008, I then buy an Acer machine with an Intel quad inside it that also uses a 250W PSU. Alarm bells, I guess, would have gone off. 

Funnily enough, my brother bought his HP PC (from a different store) at the same time as me and has been having slightly similar (but way less drastic) issues. He used the other PSU unit that I tried and found that he didn't have one problem once that was installed. So he also bought a replacement PSU for himself yesterday. If you think I got a "crap" one, you'll love what he got - Trust 370W (he originally had a 300w PSU – don’t know about the other features).

Anywayz, lessons have been learnt and as I said before, thank you for everyone’s time and effort.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

*Re: Computer Freezes, suffers a Blue Screen of Death or Shuts down completely.*

no problem.

Just be aware and maybe make your brother aware that Trust PSUs are about as useful as a chocolate tea pot. It might be an idea to get some money saved for a decent make to replacxe the trust when it dies. Personally I would replace it anyway as soon as I could.


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