# 1 Year Later and Random Freezes AGAIN



## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Hi,

I'm back again... I've had this problem for years now and I can't find a fix on this! So, I would like to continue where I left off:

Original thread (Please read): http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f299/bsod-and-random-freezing-in-windows-7-a-491692.html

The only different thing this time is that I haven't got any Blue Screens of Death yet. I recently made a thread on another website as well, but they weren’t able to fix or find the problem... Please look at the link below because it would probably answer a lot of your questions.

Please read: Computer keeps freezing and crashing!!!



> · OS - Windows 7 Ultimate
> · x64
> · What was original installed OS on system? - Windows Vista
> · Retail
> ...


Recently, I've been connecting my external hard drive a lot that causes my system to freeze I believe, where before I use to have another drive where I could use for storage. I took my other hard drive out because I thought that was the cause.

It comes down to the motherboard or graphics card? I also just bought 4GB of RAM from Crucial and buying some thermal paste to reseat and apply onto my CPU just to see if that is the cause of the freezes. The reason why was because I searched up the company where I originally bought my computer and heard they’re a very terrible company (Cube247). I stumbled upon their YouTube channel with a comment saying:



> sillychicken599 (3 weeks ago)
> Terrible Company. My dad bought a computer for £1500 off them and it bluescreens constantly. We phoned technical support and they had us running all sorts of utilities. None of them were helpful. I sorted the computer out myself by reseating the cpu and removing half of the memory. Horrible service


I messaged the guy and he also told me to try reseating and apply fresh thermal paste onto CPU to fix the freezes?

Thanks,
Andy.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

freezing is usually down to heat, failing power supply or faulty ram.

download memtest86 burn to disk and with one stick of ram installed run memtets from boot for several passes then swap slots then run again for several passes then swap sticks and repeat the process.

Also if you can go into the bios and post your temperatures and voltages.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Hmm... I done this before with 9 hours of testing which all passed. I'll only do a quick memtest because I just ordered fresh RAM which should arrive in a few days.

Be right back, I'll post temperatures and voltages.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

> CPU Termpature: 50c
> 
> CPU FAN Speed: 2014 RPM
> System1 FAN Speed: 2319 RPM
> ...


Couldn't find the other components temperatures so I ran Speccy.



> CPU: 41 °C
> Motherboard: 44 °C
> Graphics: 49°C
> Hard Drive: 41°C


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yup, just ran memtest86+ and tested one stick at a time swapping slots. All passed...


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

your hard drive is very hot is this a laptop?


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

No, it's a desktop.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

well its too hot for a hard drive in a desktop.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Any advice?


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

do you ever clean out dust from the fans inside the pc? if not get some compressed air and blow out any dust.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

The first thing I wold do is run testing utility from hard drive maker on the hard drive. I would bet it needs replacing and that is what I find most commonly causes freezes.
Tell us the brand of hard drive and we'll show you the utility to use.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

greenbrucelee said:


> do you ever clean out dust from the fans inside the pc? if not get some compressed air and blow out any dust.


Yeah, I clean out the fans every 3-4 months using compressed air can to blow out the dust and a hoover to suck it up.




Rich-M said:


> The first thing I wold do is run testing utility from hard drive maker on the hard drive. I would bet it needs replacing and that is what I find most commonly causes freezes.
> Tell us the brand of hard drive and we'll show you the utility to use.


Yeah, when I first had freezes I ran hard drive diagnostic utilities and on my Western Digital 320GB hard drive and the tests all passed. To make sure that the freezes wouldn't occur, I bought another Western Digital 640GB hard drive and freezes is still happening.

I'm running the diagnostic test on both my hard drives now, will post the results in a few mins.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yup, hard drives passed..


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Well the unfortunate truth is a hard drive can test fine and not be fine and memtest can pass all the sticks of ram and they are still bad or incompatible so this is where it gets tough.
By any chance do you have another video card to try? Psu? I mean the psu you have is certainly acceptable but maybe it is bad. When we talk about ram causing freezes, well ram in a video card can do that too. Beyond this we only have the motherboard left and personally, I have never had a bad Biostar board and it's what I build most with.
BTW where do you get the freezes? Internet? Ms Word?


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm afraid I don't have another video card to try out with. I know it isn't the PSU or hard drive because I bought new ones and I still get freezes. I usually get freezes browsing the internet and it would freeze my whole desktop. Most of the time it won't allow me to shut down the computer with the cursor spinning icon, and if I keep clicking the close button or anything else it would crash and restart my computer. 

Sometimes when the freezes goes away and I'm able to click shutdown it would take forever. One time I was able to shut down the computer safely and it would say shutting down Windows and I left it for an hour before it would successfully shut down..


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Maybe we should be looking at ethernet card, cable or modem.
I seldom use the ethernet cards built into motherboards on my own systems because I not better response with pci cards and I need 10/1000 cards anyway for my networking.
BTW I note you have onboard video on that board so you could remove the pci-x card and try it with the onboard video to rule the video card out.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I remember trying to run onboard video and I can't remember if bumped into any freezes. I'm not freezing at the moment because I usually freeze when I connect my external hard drive and leave it connected for more than an hour or so.

I will try this out tomorrow because I should be getting my new RAM. I'll try recreate the freezes with my new RAM installed and if I freeze, I'll try running onboard video.

Thanks for the help, will report back soon..


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

OK we'll hang out and wait to hear from you.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi all

Just to see --

For your external hard drive (which I'm assuming is a USB 2.0 hard drive [and not a flash memory "pen drive"]) - try connecting/disconnecting it only when the PC is powered off. 

Let us know if it still freezes regardless of this change.

If I have some time later, I'll have a look over at the MSKB pages ... I can't remember if there as a hotfix for USB issues re: connecting/disconnecting.

Best of luck
. . . Gary


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again


I mentioned I'd check on Win7 USB hotfixes. A notable recent one had to do with the installation of Service Pack 1 for Windows 7. The trouble was with the SP1 installer - it wouldn't update the USB drivers, but would act as if it did. Various sorts of system misbehavior could result. I think one of the observed issues was cpu-usage spikes. I imagine if things went to 100% long enough, we could call that a freeze or lockup.

I believe Microsoft's update KB2529073 is supposed to fix this issue. The date on the download for it's Win7 64-bit version on the MS download site is for May 9th, 2011 [quite recent]. You can check in Control Panel - Programs & Features & see if you have that update already (might have to checkmark the "show updates" option box). Here's a link to the direct download --- Download details: Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2529073)

Your system might not be affected by this at all, but it's something you can rule out.

Best of luck!
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I have Service Pack 1 installed and yeah I couldn't find that update, so I went ahead and installed it. I have my new RAM installed and I'm trying to recreate the freezes.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

We'll hope for the best.
__________
By the way, it doesn't sound like the lockups/freezes are producing any blue screens or minidumps this time (?)

If you are getting any data in either blue screen errors or minidumps, go ahead and attach the info just like before (the instructions are in a sticky thread for this forum if you've forgotten the details). Then the techs can inspect them for you.
__________

Best of luck,
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Nope, no blue screens yet. If I get one any time soon, will post the logs asap.

Thanks for the help!


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Damn, I just got my Arctic Silver 5 Paste and Articlean Cleaner. I cleaned off and removed all of the old thermal paste and applied fresh thermal paste evenly onto my CPU. Upon booting my computer I saw the CPU hitting 70C just loading up my desktop! I don't know what temperature it usually is, but 70C is kinda high for just loading Windows? Imagine playing any games. At the moment it has cooled down though to around 45C. Is this normal? I swear my CPU is now hotter than before..

Also, no freezes yet...

Wow, I just loaded a game and it hit 90C after 20 seconds.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Nevermind, I reapplied the thermal paste to very very thin layer and made sure the CPU fan was mounted tight! On start up it's about 32C and playing games 42C now, phew much better!

About the freezes, I need to spend a couple more days before I can say it's completely gone.

Thanks.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

yeah too much paste locks in the heat and doesn't allow it to dissapate, too little paste lets the cpu overheat.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

That's right, nice to see it proven by example as well!


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

HAHAHA, I wiped and cleaned the old thermal paste from my GPU and applied too little paste after. On start up it was around 40C and playing games was 80C. But now it's around 35C on start up and playing games 39C, wow this is my first time applying thermal paste on anything and I never knew how much it decreases the temperatures!

Now to decrease the temperature on the motherboard and hard drives, do you think I could just buy a bigger case and add more fans? At the moment, the power cable from the PSU it laying on top of the hard drive and the case is very small. That's why the hard drive and motherboard is hot and lack of air.. Can't do any good cable management in a small case.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

AndymanSE8 said:


> HAHAHA, I wiped and cleaned the old thermal paste from my GPU and applied too little paste after. On start up it was around 40C and playing games was 80C. But now it's around 35C on start up and playing games 39C, wow this is my first time applying thermal paste on anything and I never knew how much it decreases the temperatures!
> 
> Now to decrease the temperature on the motherboard and hard drives, do you think I could just buy a bigger case and add more fans? At the moment, the power cable from the PSU it laying on top of the hard drive and the case is very small. That's why the hard drive and motherboard is hot and lack of air.. Can't do any good cable management in a small case.


get some cable ties to try and get the cable managment sorted or if you know anyone with a lazer chizel and a stead hand get them to put some areas where you can put the cables behine the motherboard but thats not very likely or you could buy a new case.

Add some new fans if possible.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yup, I'm back and I'm getting the freezes.. Only after I play games! The funny thing is the freezes only occur on the next system restart..


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

are you allowing the system to shut down properly? sounds like some processes may still be active or are having trouble starting when you restart the pc.


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## vertigoelectric (Aug 19, 2005)

It sounds like your scenario is a little different, but I know it doesn't hurt to bring this up.

I dealt with random system freezes for a long, long time. I considered all possible hardware issues and overheating possibilities. I ran countless hard drive and RAM tests and even tried new hard drives.

After all this, I finally discovered that it was the software PC Security that was causing it. I stopped using PC security months ago and haven't had a single problem since.

A real shame, too, because other than that it was really great software.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

vertigoelectric said:


> It sounds like your scenario is a little different, but I know it doesn't hurt to bring this up.
> 
> I dealt with random system freezes for a long, long time. I considered all possible hardware issues and overheating possibilities. I ran countless hard drive and RAM tests and even tried new hard drives.
> 
> ...





> Other than that, it was really great software?


Judge Antivirus software the same way we do other software. How does it do it's job, which is catch and repel virus and then how does it perform as software. If it fails in either mode, it isn't "great software"!


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Good point though this could be caused by poor Antivirus program or the vestiges of more than one Antivirus program.


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## vertigoelectric (Aug 19, 2005)

When I experienced this problem, I was leaning toward software being the cause and not hardware, because after a fresh new Windows installation, everything would run perfectly without any freezes. I tried going through and reinstalling my drivers and software one by one, restarting, and seeing if it would freeze, but to do this effectively would be so tedious and could take several days.

As far as my comment about PC Security being great software... it really is. It lets me lock and unlock folders quickly and on-the-fly and functioned perfectly in that respect. It's just that strange problem with the freezing that I can't live with.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

> When I experienced this problem, I was leaning toward software being the cause and not hardware, because after a fresh new Windows installation, everything would run perfectly without any freezes.


Not if the hard drive is on it's way out or the ram is incompatible or faulty.


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## vertigoelectric (Aug 19, 2005)

Rich-M said:


> Not if the hard drive is on it's way out or the ram is incompatible or faulty.


That's why I said "leaning toward", not "concluded".


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

OK I won't quibble...


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Reformatted computer several times with Windows XP, Vista and 7 both 32 bit and 64 bit, plus with partition Linux.
Bought a new PSU.
Bought a new HDD.
Bought new RAM.
Bought thermal paste and applied.
Reseated CPU and graphics card.
Used CCleaner to clean registry files and temps.
Used Defraggler to defragment hard drive.
Use Tuneup Utilities to keep system optimized.
Use to use AVG then NOD32 now avast!.
I use COMODO Firewall.

When I scan my computer I use Spybot Search and Destroy, avast!, Malwarebytes and Super Anti-spyware. At the moment I only have COMODO Firewall up and avast!

Lucky I was able to type this up, I'm freezing I keep freezing..


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Took me about 45 mins to restart my computer because everything was freezing up. When I tried to restart it said:



> This program is preventing Windows from restarting
> AMD:CC-AEMCapturingWindow


And once that was gone this came up:



> This program is preventing Windows from restarting (waiting for) explorer.exe
> playing logoff sound...


As you guys are talking about anti virus software making your system slow down. I went into safe mode it got stuck at


> Loaded: \Windows\System32\DRIVERS\CLASSPNP.SYS
> Please wait...


 for about 10 minutes until it successfully got into safe mode.

I went ahead and uninstalled Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes and Super Anti-Spyware, and it hasn't froze yet...


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Wow running reg cleaners and utility cleaners alone could have caused this and a lot more, if it stays fixed you are really lucky, if not you will have to reformat at the very minimum to correct the dame all those programs did.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wow you sure? I have been using these softwares for years, but I have these installed on 3 other computers and no problems found. CCleaner is a recommended software though to clean invalid registries and temp files. I'll uninstall Tuneup Utilities.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Some reading for you:
miekiemoes' Blog: Registry Cleaners and System Tweaking Tools

Why I don’t use registry cleaners | Ed Bott's Windows Expertise


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

CCleaner's reg cleaner is not aggressive at all. It does not deep clean the registry and that is what causes the problems. I still don't recommend that you use it though as it still can cause app. crashes.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Hmm still getting freezes. I'm going to uninstall CCleaner.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

When you ran CCleaner's reg cleaner it gives the option to backup the registry first. Did you do that?


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Nope, I had freezes before I even ran CCleaner. I remember one time I reformatted my computer and I had no programs installed whatsoever and I still had random freezes.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

What about "Tuneup Utilities" you mentioned earlier. Did it freeze before you used that?


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again


Sounds like things have taken a turn for the worse. Can you have another look at the power outputs and post the voltages reported? I was re-reading the thread, and I thought the 5v reading was a little low. 

If you still aren't getting error messages (blue screens) or showing any minidumps in the C:\Windows\Minidumps folder - that would seem to point more to hardware.

At one point you mentioned a Linux partition. If you have a Linux partition, try installing a native-Linux game (I think Wolfenstein is free, and should provide enough stress for a basic test of the hardware --- Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for Linux ---). You could also try booting from a Linux Live DVD --- and try running as intensive a mix of programs/games all at once to stress the system.

If the PC still freezes in Linux, that would seem to strengthen the case for a hardware issue. 

Sorry to hear it's been dragging on and on --- many of the components in your system are well-regarded, it's a shame you aren't having much luck with them yet.

Best of luck
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Rich-M said:


> What about "Tuneup Utilities" you mentioned earlier. Did it freeze before you used that?


Yup, freezed before installing any programs.




OldGrayGary said:


> Hi again
> 
> 
> Sounds like things have taken a turn for the worse. Can you have another look at the power outputs and post the voltages reported? I was re-reading the thread, and I thought the 5v reading was a little low.
> ...


I haven't gotten any blue screens just freezes and system restarting. I was in safe mode and it froze and the computer restarted itself. Kept saying disk read error ctrl + alt + del to restart. I had to ctrl + alt + del about 20 times before system startup repair came up, and even windows startup repair would of froze as well. One time I installed Ubuntu, I'll reinstall that again and see if it still freezes.

Once the error message desk read error has occurred appeared, many people recommended to buy a new hard drive as it was "failing". So I did and now its happening again..


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm happy to say and confused to say that I'm running Ubuntu 11.04 and installing, updating, browsing the web with ease! No freezes or lock up. All I need to do now is playing some games and stress test the system under Ubuntu.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

*Voltages*
CPU Vcore 1.248V
Chipset Voltage 1.28V
+3.30V 3.328V
+5.00v 4.838V
12.0V 12.032V
FSB Voltage 1.344V
Memory Voltage 1.856V
5V (SB) 5.008V


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Hmm.. I'm not freezing in Windows as well.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

That sounds like hard drive bad sectors then.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

No, because I bought a new hard drive and still got freezes and ran repairs on bad sectors.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

run chkdsk /f because it sounds like bad hard drive sectors to me too. Just because its a new drive doesn't mean its ok.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I run this almost all the time and nothing seems wrong. The reason why it gets bad hard drive sectors in the first place is because when my computer freezes and the computer restarts, it creates bad sectors on the drive.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again all


I'm curious to see your 5v readings over a week. On the first page of this thread, it shows a 3.44v reading - much too low. Today's reading of 4.83v is much better - but still doesn't tell us if the output is consistent or not. I imagine the Corsair has a good warranty, since they are a very respected brand = should your supply prove faulty, they'll likely replace it at no cost. (Many power supplies have three-year warranties).

Seems to me that the newer generation of hard drives isn't quite a robust yet as some of the older models. The failure rate, especially of the 500mb to terabyte-plus range drives, seems noticeably higher than the basic 160gb to 320gb drives of a few years ago. If you see bad sectors, let the manufacturer's utility have a go at fixing things first (if you run the "extended" tests, those diagnostics usually offer to attempt to repair the errors they find -- often by marking the bad sectors as unusable = so that Windows never sees them or tries to use them). Once the manufacturer's utility has "spared out" the bad sectors, then you can let the Windows Check Disk utilities look at repairing any file system trouble.
________________

If you do have any underlying hardware issues, they will of course over time cause havoc on the software side of things - which can lead to serious head-scratching tangles (looking for software causes to hardware faults is a guaranteed Tylenol usage promoter).

Hang in there - once things are right, the PC should be a good performer. 
. . . Gary


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## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

vertigoelectric said:


> As far as my comment about PC Security being great software... it really is. It lets me lock and unlock folders quickly and on-the-fly and functioned perfectly in that respect. ...


What PC Security do you have?

The "locked" folders/ files - who 'owns' them, i.e., does the System have access? See if any mention of *0xc0000005* exception codes in - 

Reliability Monitor - 
START | type *perfmon /rel*

Event Viewer -
START | type *eventvwr.msc* | Custom Views | Administrative Events

I agree with Gary -- lack of minidumps & more points to hardware.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

`


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

last minute note

It's getting late here, but I thought I'd add a little note before retiring. If your motherboard still has the original Bios, another thing that can sometimes help is an updated version. I only saw two versions for your board, the original and an update from February 1,2010. The updated version is available at Biostar's website --- BIOSTAR :: G31-M7 TE :: BIOS
____________

I also (finally) read the thread you had on another forum, and it did seem that you had less trouble with the 32-bit operating systems. It might be that your hardware just doesn't have very good 64-bit drivers (wouldn't be the first time). If the hardware proves to be Ok after all, drivers would seem to be our next suspects.

Good night -
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

OldGrayGary said:


> Hi again all
> 
> 
> I'm curious to see your 5v readings over a week. On the first page of this thread, it shows a 3.44v reading - much too low. Today's reading of 4.83v is much better - but still doesn't tell us if the output is consistent or not. I imagine the Corsair has a good warranty, since they are a very respected brand = should your supply prove faulty, they'll likely replace it at no cost. (Many power supplies have three-year warranties).
> ...


With my first hard drive I ran an extended diagonstic test which all passed, but I was still getting freezes and disk read error. So then I decided to ditch that hard drive and bought a new one, and now it's happening all over again. 



OldGrayGary said:


> last minute note
> 
> It's getting late here, but I thought I'd add a little note before retiring. If your motherboard still has the original Bios, another thing that can sometimes help is an updated version. I only saw two versions for your board, the original and an update from February 1,2010. The updated version is available at Biostar's website --- BIOSTAR :: G31-M7 TE :: BIOS
> ____________
> ...


I have the latest updated bios for about a year now. I also thought it was a 64 bit problem, so then I reformatted to a 32 bit and straight away it froze. This was frustrating because I had to basically downgrade to 32 bit and it still froze, so then I reformatted to 64 bit again. :upset:


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

jcgriff2 said:


> What PC Security do you have?
> 
> The "locked" folders/ files - who 'owns' them, i.e., does the System have access? See if any mention of *0xc0000005* exception codes in -
> 
> ...


I got quite a few critical events and warnings in Reliability Monitor.
In the Event Viewer it won't allow me to open I get an error



> Event Viewer cannot open the event log or custom view. Verify that the event log service is running or query is too long. The specify query is invalid. (15001)


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again


Just as the error message mentioned, have a look in on your Windows 7 Services, and see if the "Windows Event Log" service is running. Its startup type should be set to "Automatic" so that it can keep track of things. 

Windows Event Log doesn't have any dependencies (doesn't need other services to run), but there are a few other services that depend on it:
Message Queuing
Message Queuing Triggers
Net.Msmq Listener Adapter
Task Scheduler
Windows Event Collector

If you want to check out the various recommendations for Windows 7 services, BlackViper has been providing information on those for quite a few years now --- Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations | Black Viper's Website | www.blackviper.com --- He's reasonable and thorough. 

Any patterns so far in the Critical errors?

I find that lack-of-patterns provides me with a good strong headache & need for another cup of coffee and a chocolate.
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Windows Event Collector and Windows Error Reporting were set to manual for some reason. I had to change it to Automatic and I can't really see a definite pattern.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again


Sorry I'm so long in replying ... I've been experiencing a little local repair marathon. I'm not sure what's been worse -- the 64bit systems with blue screens or the folks with rogue antivirus scams (there's a recent variation that changes file associations & also hides files by changing their properties ... then scams the users for "the professional product" they say will fix it all [they're fixed all right... with a nice horde of malware -- usually including a rootkit. Augh!]. Labor intensive, & sleep-depriving.
_____________

At any rate ... I was thinking that since your new hard drive is likely still under warranty, why not take advantage of that warranty & return it for an exchange. It wouldn't be the first time that a brand-new drive came up lame -- especially lately: reliability has been more touch-and-go than most of us are used to. Since you've been getting drive errors, it can't hurt to try yet another drive.

It should be free to try (many hard drive warranties are good for three years).

Should another new drive start coming up with errors, we have to wonder again about things like the motherboard & double-check the memory & power supply.

Hope things turn around for your system soon.
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm thinking about buying a new hard drive anyways, maybe 1TB. If I freeze again then I will know the hard drive isn't the problem.

Will post back updates.

Quick question, is there any compatibility issues connecting the 1TB hard drive to my motherboard? Seagate says "The Fastest Desktop Drive on the Planet Seagate® Barracuda® 7200.12 Drive" http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/whitepaper/the_fastest_desktop_drive_on_planet.pdf

I might be getting the Seagate® Barracuda® 7200.12 1TB Drive, but getting confused with two products that are similar. Could you tell me the difference?

Seagate ST31000524AS 3.5 inch Barracuda 1TB GB 7200rpm SATA Drive with 32MB Buffer: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1 TB Hard Drive, SATA, 7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

The manufacture code for 7200.12 is ST31000524AS. Which means both of the hard drive are the same, they both have same hard drive space, same speed, 32MB cache and through SATA except named differently..

If that still doesn't fix the problem I'll have to look into the power supply again since I've just bought two new 2GB sticks and it still freezes. When the freezes first occurred, I bought the 650W Corsair power supply ASAP and was still getting the freezes, and the same goes for the hard drive. The only thing I haven't replaced that could be causing the freezes, is the motherboard and graphics card.

Thanks for all the help so far!


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

If you gave me a Seagate or Samsung hard drive I would not use it!


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Well I had two Western Digital hard drives which both has bad sectors, errors and freezes? So I thought I'd try another brand.

Any suggestions?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Then I would be looking at psu or board that caused the bad hard drive. I build as part of my living and have never had a bad WD hard drive. Using a Seagate or Samsung hard drive to me, I consider as screwing the customer. Every Seagate I used was either dead in the box, or never lasted more than 2 years since sata drives have been made. 12 Samsungs in the builds I sold did not make it 6 months.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

I agree with Rich-M I have never encountered a bad WD hard drive in 1o years or so. Most likely something else caused it to be damaged.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Oh right, last time I bought a new Corsair PSU and Western Digital hard drive and my hard drive still gets bad sectors and freezes on them. So it has to do with the motherboard, but someone said earlier in the thread that BIOSTAR motherboard are reliable and that they had never had any issues with them.

The motherboard and graphics card has not been replaced yet.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

I said it as I love Biostar boards and though I have never had a bad one, that doesn't mean it isn't possible but more likely I bet on the Psu anyway.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

But straight after I bought a fresh 650W Corsair I was still getting freezes, and the freezes made my computer restart and left bad sectors on my hard drives.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Check your Motherboard for bad caps.

Badcaps.net - Badcaps Home


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wow, that's a very useful site. I'm not at home at the moment, should be back Thursday or Friday so expect an update in a few days.

I lol'd at this:



> How did this happen?
> The reason this problem exists is because of a large-scale industrial espionage foul-up. Some companies decided to steal an electrolyte formula from another competitor. Little be known to them, the stolen formula was incomplete and flawed. They didn't discover this until it was too late and they had manufactured and distributed literally MILLIONS of these flawed capacitors. It was way too late for any kind of recall, and even today, these crappy components are being used in new boards. As I mentioned before, I believe this problem runs much deeper than simply an industrial espionage screw-up, as that incident was exposed years ago, and the problem still exists today. Nowadays, it just boils down to corporate bean counters cutting corners to save money by using shoddy components.


All motherboards should have lifetime warranty for that kind of BS.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

It is sad indeed, but they did learn from it. They now use Solid tantalum capacitors which are far superior. There's not much else your problem could be other than a bad cap or something else motherboard related.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Just checked the motherboard for any bad capacitors and non found. I froze again in Windows and had to turn off the computer by the power button. I'm in Ubuntu at the moment and haven't froze yet, I'm going to reformat my computer and make sure not to use any registry cleaners and utilities.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Those Reg cleaners and other utilities usually do more harm than good. I would suggest that you wipe the drive back to factory status as formatting really does not wipe the hard drive.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yup, definitely got to do with OS. I can't even boot in Windows! Keeps saying "Disk drive error Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" several times now and I boot into Ubuntu perfectly fine, and both operating systems is on the same hard drive!

So how do you wipe the drive back to factory status? All I know is reformat and reinstall Windows.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

You can download this: [email protected] Kill Disk Hard Drive Eraser. Low Level Format. burn it to disk and boot off the disk. It will zero the hard drive thus wiping everything including the master boot record. Formatting alone does not wipe the mbr where as zeroing the drive does.

Edit: zeroing the drive will also erase Ubuntu. You can allways reinstall that though.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Once I wipe and erase everything, all I need to do is boot off my Windows disk and install as usual?


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Yes, but it will erase Ubuntu if it's installed on the same drive.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

No problem, I'll reinstall again. Useful to have a secondary OS to check for these type of problems.

Thanks a lot Amd Man! You've been great help!!! Will post back back if the problem still persists.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Your welcome, anytime! Good luck with everything. A freash install is much easier than playing around with this and that.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Says Only one pass zeros erase method is supported for free version. Have to buy a commercial version to unlock more methods.

Will One pass zeros be okay? Taking 2 hours to erase.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Yes it will. The more passes it makes means the better all old files are deleted.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Do you think I should continue or cancel?


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Continue and do the one pass. When you boot off the windows disk it will format before the install continues.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Okay, have to wait for two hours, hopefully this and the formatting n installing Windows will fix all this!

I've had this problem for two years and the cause of the freezes could be CCleaner or TuneUp, because I've been using them ever since I got this computer.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

It should as Ubuntu was running without error, so somehow your key windows files got corrupted.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Make sure that all your drivers are installed after the windows installation. You can check that by going to the device manager.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Been about an hour and its still on the same percentage 10%. The timer is stuck at 2:05.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Your drive must have bad sectors then. Download the bootable diagnostic tool from your hd's manufcature, burn to disk and run the tests.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yeah it must of. I could'nt exit I had to turn off by the power button. I will run the diagonstic tool asap. Its 2am here, gotta get some sleep.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Do that cause random shutdowns will cause bad sectors. Hopefully the diagnostic tools can properly mark them and then you should be able to use the drive.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

For some reason I'm unable to run any tests on my hard drive, I keep getting error code:



> COMMAND ERROR
> ERROR/STATUS CODE: 0132


It also says the same thing for write zeros to drive option..



> 103	Write Fault Error	A Write command during the test has failed to complete. This may be due to a media or read/write error. It may also be due to a defective connection. Retest after checking the connections. Replace the drive if the error repeats.	Re-Test Drive


It was working fine running Ubuntu, the last thing I done to the hard drive was Active KillDisk Utility.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

I would say that your hard drive is toast. Random shut downs/restarts can and will kill a hard drive if it happens frequently.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

No my hard drive still works, I was able to install and run Windows 7. I've run the diagonstic tool to fix the bad sectors, but unable to write zeros onto the hard drive. I get error code:



> 115	ICRC Error	Ultra DMA CRC error. Data sent between the host computer and the drive has been corrupted. If the system cannot properly handle a drive running a specific Ultra ATA rate such as ATA100, the data may become corrupted. To run in ATA 66 and ATA100 rates, an Ultra ATA 80 -conductor cable must be used. Check cabling & retest. May need to run DLGUDMA to set the drive to a slower speed or replace the IDE cable. You may also want to reroute your IDE cable away from sources of electronic bus noise such as your CPU, Power Supply, etc.	Re-Test Drive


I'm going to go ahead and reinstall Windows without installing any registry cleaners etc and check if I freeze. If I do, I'll buy a new hard drive.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Sounds like what it is saying is you are using the wrong ide cable on it. Newer ide drives(if there is such a thing) used 80 pin wire cables which are different from the earlier 40 pin wire cables used say on cd drive even today. If thjis is an original ide drive, it is time to buy new anyway frankly.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm using SATA, and guess what? I'm FREEZING. I ran 2 hours of error checking and it came back clean! With a fresh install of Windows 7 and only Google Chrome installed, I was freezing up trying to load this site just now and trying to download some drivers.

The funny fact is I freeze all the time on Windows even though it's a fresh install and never on Ubuntu.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

have you installed the motherboard drivers after the fresh install?


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yes, updated all of my drivers. No signs of freezes after that, but it's always like that.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yeah.. I still get freezes.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I freeze so much I can't boot into Windows, it just freezes on starting Windows and when I try start up repair and boot into safe mode.. I also tried running the Windows recovery disc and it still froze. Also froze on trying to install Ubuntu.

Might as well say the drive is dead, but if I am going to buy another hard drive how do I know if it's going to happen like before? I bought this Western Digital 640GB because my 320GB kept getting disk errors and freezes, and now it's happening with my 640.. I spent over £200 on trying to fix this computer and it looks like I might have to spend more to fix this.

At the moment I'm running off PCLinuxOS from the CD!


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

Have you tried using the chipset driver from Biostar?

BIOSTAR :: G31-M7 TE :: Driver


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yup, I went to the official Intel website and done a driver scan. Had to update my lan and chipset driver.


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## Amd_Man (Jan 27, 2009)

I allways use the chipset driver from the mobo manufactures site as it is written for that mobo.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Finally got into Windows and installed the mobo chipset driver!


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Now, I'm off to bed and wait and see if I get any freezes tomorrow!


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi all


Since several hard drives have had trouble in the system, and you've already replaced the power supply: if you want to put a $52 spot bet on a quick-fix, you could try swapping out the motherboard for the $52 Gigagbyte GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard -- it has free shipping over at NewEgg. 

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
______________

Does the hard drive constantly report errors each time you run the diagnostics - and then you have to let the utility "fix" the bad sectors? If you re-run the full diagnostics right after the sector repair, do you once again see bad sectors? If it finds errors, says their fixed, and them finds more on the next run, let us know.

I'll guess you've already tried a few different SATA cables during the troubleshooting?

Have the voltages reported in the Bios looked good consistently? If you have a friend with a power-supply tester, that would test it out a bit more - just to make sure the Corsair is living up to their high standards.
______________

If even Linux is freezing up, when Linux is installed onto a hard drive, something in the data path is corrupting things. Seems like you tested the memory several times earlier. Things left are bios settings (especially timings), power readings, sata cables, and the controllers on the motherboard (hence the Gigabyte idea above). Intel cpus rarely fail unless subjected to fairly severe insults (extreme heat, voltage) - but the UBCD does include some chip stressing benchmarks that can check on that angle too (though I'd consider that a lower-percentage danger).
_______________

Sure hope this works out for you soon. It's been a long battle.
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Every time I run diagnostics it always passes and finds nothing. I did 2 hours of extended test yesterday through DOS and everything was fine, all passed. Another 2 hours last night and all passed again.

I also tried using different SATA cables and ports as well and removed secondary hard drive, but computer still freezes. As for the BIOS voltages, I don't know what are good values for the computer. So far when Windows freezes and I quickly restart to boot into Linux, Linux hasn't froze yet.

Is this motherboard better than my motherboard at the moment? There isn't a newegg for the UK, but I can buy from Amazon.

Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L Motherboard Intel Core 2 Extreme Socket 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Gigabit Ethernet: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

why not post the voltages and we can tell you.

the important voltages are 12v, 3.3 and 5v they should be no more no less than 10% of those figures.

that is a good board have a look on Overclockers UK or Scan.co.uk: Computer Hardware I dont think you have a hard drive problem its either psu, ram, or mobo


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Here are my voltages from earlier:



> CPU Vcore : 1.264V
> Chipset Voltage: 1.280V
> +3.30V: 3.328V
> +5.00V: 3.344V
> ...





> CPU Vcore 1.248V
> Chipset Voltage 1.28V
> +3.30V 3.328V
> +5.00v 4.838V
> ...


Just now:


> CPU Vcore 1.264V
> Chipset Voltage 1.264V
> +3.30V 3.344V
> +5.00V 4.838V
> ...


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again all


Thank you for posting the voltage readings. The oddest number, of course, was the first one you received for the 5v output. It might have just been a typo? 

Why not keep monitoring the readings, and see if the 5v ever dips lower than 4.84v. Just to be sure.
___________

As you reinstall Windows onto the hard drive, why not also reinstall Ubuntu (onto a separate partition, of course). I think you've run the computer this way before. If Ubuntu flawlessly runs office programs, networking monitors, multiuser online games, multimedia programs, etc. without any hiccups - yet Windows still freezes up = that does seem to bedevil the other signs that keep pushing us to look harder at the hardware. What makes software testing so difficult with your system is that lack of minidumps to examine.
__________

I'm curious to see how this comes out.
. . . Gary


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

if your 5v is flucuating then there is a short somewhere and this will be the reason hard drives are failing. Out of curiosity have you have any issues with dvd drives?


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I kept an eye on the +5.00V and it varies, no lower than 4.811 and no higher than 4.865.



> CPU Vcore 1.248V
> Chipset Voltage 1.280V
> +3.30V 3.328V
> +5.00V 4.811-4.865V
> ...


I've reinstalled Ubuntu yesterday and will use it when Windows keeps freezing or unable to boot into Windows.




greenbrucelee said:


> if your 5v is flucuating then there is a short somewhere and this will be the reason hard drives are failing. Out of curiosity have you have any issues with dvd drives?


All of the voltage numbers keep fluctuating up and down, is this normal? While I'm looking at it and writing it down, they keep changing and I just write what I see.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

the voltages should be stable. is your motherboard on standoffs before being screwed into the case?

if not then your mobo is shorting on the case.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yes, the motherboard is on standoffs.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

I would rma the board and psu. seems to me that something isn't right and its to do with power wether its the power being recieved or the power being used.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I give up, I think I'm just going to build my own computer. The company where I bought my crap computer has gone bust. They got enough bad reviews and shut down their website.

I will create a new thread soon on building a new Gaming PC. I go back to university in September studying my second year in Games & Multimedia, so I'll need a powerful PC to design and play games.

Thank you to everyone who helped out! I really appreciate the time and effort you guys did to try and sort out this problem!

-Andy.


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

greenbrucelee said:


> I would rma the board and psu. seems to me that something isn't right and its to do with power wether its the power being recieved or the power being used.


Will all the parts of my current computer be compatible with this motherboard?

ASUS P7P55D-E LX - P55 Express - Socket 1156 - PCI-E 2.0 - DDR3 2200(OC) - CrossFire - USB 3.0 - SATA 6Gb/s - SATA RAID - ATX: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I think my computer kept freezing because the hard drive was getting bad sectors, and for it to get that I think it was over heating! My computer on idle use to reach temperatures around 40 Celsius sometimes over 50! Around 60 when Gaming.. I got a new case now and so there is more airflow and a fan directly blowing into the hard drives and they're at the moment idle 27 Celsius.


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## OldGrayGary (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi again


Sorry I'm so late in replying. You'd asked about the Asus board's compatibility with your current parts. Your current Intel cpu is a socket 775, while the newer Asus board has the newer socket 1156. But of course if you wished to, you could purchase a new cpu. I don't remember the specs on your current memory modules, but the Asus board has 4 DDR3 slots.
_______________

It would be nice if your new case helps with overheating issues - that's one less issue to worry about. Even nicer if the system stability is so much better that it proves itself crash-free.

Best of luck!
. . . Gary


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## AndymanSE8 (Apr 5, 2009)

I'm upgrading to:



> Case: Cooler Master Elite 430
> Case Fans: Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000 Fan 2x
> Motherboard: Gigabyte SKT-1155 P67A-UD3-B3
> CPU: Intel Sandybridge i7-2600 Core i7
> ...


All components should be compatible?


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