Rant : PC crash and reboot
Apr 22, 2010 at 1:54 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 42

Jubei

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Every time my PC passes the 2 year old mark, problems begin to emerge. Recently, my PC crashes for no reason at all (well, no reason I can locate). Browsing with either FF or Chrome, have TweetDeck and Foobar running, that's all. (Sure, I have other stuff like Avast running in the background). Then suddenly, crash and auto-reboot.

This morning, with just Chrome and KeePass running, as I opened a new tab, the entire PC crashed and rebooted. Dammit.

I suspected an old hard disk at first - the one that contains all my MP3s. But the system is on another hard disk and the PC still crashed this morning.

I really hate this as it is not easy to locate the problem at all.

Probably time to install new hard disks and maybe upgrade to Win 7 in the process?
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 1:59 AM Post #2 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jubei /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Every time my PC passes the 2 year old mark, problems begin to emerge. Recently, my PC crashes for no reason at all (well, no reason I can locate). Browsing with either FF or Chrome, have TweetDeck and Foobar running, that's all. (Sure, I have other stuff like Avast running in the background). Then suddenly, crash and auto-reboot.

This morning, with just Chrome and KeePass running, as I opened a new tab, the entire PC crashed and rebooted. Dammit.

I suspected an old hard disk at first - the one that contains all my MP3s. But the system is on another hard disk and the PC still crashed this morning.

I really hate this as it is not easy to locate the problem at all.

Probably time to install new hard disks and maybe upgrade to Win 7 in the process?



New hard disk won't help with a crash if it's software-related.
To begin with, a disk check seems to be the obvious first step. Then use a cleaner (I suggest CCleaner to begin with), and finally you could make a defragmentation. Should help.

Good luck.
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 2:03 AM Post #3 of 42
If none of the above works, when was the last time you reinstalled the os??? That's a good way to fix the problem in my opinion. It's pretty straight forward. You could do a clean install of Windows 7 if you must upgrade now.
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 2:06 AM Post #4 of 42
Lots of things could be at fault. 1st you need to isolate whether the problem is software or hardware and the only way is to apply exhaustive search algorithm meaning exhaust every possible tests you can come up w/. This includes LinX max ram size 20 runs, p95 at least 8-hour continuous run, OCCT GPU, PSU tests, Furmark, and run windows memory diagnostic, check the integrity of system files, memtest86+ etc. That's how I troubleshoot my problems and I know exactly what the source is should a problem arise.
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 2:10 AM Post #5 of 42
Do you get a BSOD? Can you get the error code or error message and post it?

Get a spare USB stick out and do this. One or two full tests of Memtest86+ will be enough to at least temporarily eliminate the RAM as an issue. Did you install any new drivers for anything recently?
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 2:17 AM Post #6 of 42
As stated by some..

Download Prime95 and run a torture test. This can help you isolate CPU/Memory problems. If failing, try and rule out memory by downloading and running Memtest86 (at least 10 passes). If this passes, then CPU could be at fault.

If system fails both Prime95 and Memtest86 then suspect either bad motherboard capacitors or power supply. You'll know bad capacitors right away because the tops of the little cans will be bulged or leaking. Caps look ok? Try a different power supply.

If it was your hard drive or an application at fault I would look for major slow downs or freezes, not complete system restarts. However, a bad driver or on-board device could be failing. Go into system BIOS and disable all on-board devices. See if the system is stable at this point.

This is all a process of elimination really. Whatever is left must be the problem.

My money is on a hardware failure of some sort.

Good luck!

P.S. Make sure your case and CPU Heatsink is clean of all dust particles. These nasty little things can cause all sorts of problems. Overheating, short circuits, etc...
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 2:41 AM Post #8 of 42
Yeah I was going to suggest what Zorander said. If you never clean the insides of your PC, 2 years is enough time for quite some dust to build up, clogging fans, raising temperatures to auto-shut-off -> reboot levels. Are you monitoring your CPU/GPU temperatures with a program like RealTemp?

Also, hardware connections may have loosened from the vibrations fans etc. cause. Check if all hardware is still connected properly.
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 2:57 AM Post #9 of 42
Thanks for all the advice.

Have ruled out temperatures as they are all around 40C (using Speedfan).

Part of the problem is that sometimes (like this morning) the system crashed and rebooted (no BSOD) immediately after I powered on the PC, launched Chrome and opened 2 tabs.

Other days, the PC can run for 12 hours + without any issues.

Think I will do Prime95 and Memtest86 first.
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 3:14 AM Post #10 of 42
I am thinking it could be bad ram...That's usually the first thing I look at if the blue screen is showing up.

How many sticks do you have?

Take out all except one if you have multiple sticks and test each one. Also do some mem test for a few hours and see what shows up.

Have you done any overclocking recently or in the past +6 months? It could be possibly that it is unstable if you did some overclocking. (Even if you did overclocks long time ago, they can become unstable overtime.)
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 3:24 AM Post #11 of 42
Try updating your drivers too. I had a similar problem on my previous system. It kept crashing for no apparent reason even when utterly idle. Memtest gave a clean bill of health to the RAMs and temperatures were at a cool 30C idle and 55C load. I upgraded to the latest Catalyst driver and ran a Chkdsk scan on the Windows partition. Next thing I know the crash completely went away. Inexplicable but a good thing nonetheless.

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jubei /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Thanks for all the advice.

Have ruled out temperatures as they are all around 40C (using Speedfan).

Part of the problem is that sometimes (like this morning) the system crashed and rebooted (no BSOD) immediately after I powered on the PC, launched Chrome and opened 2 tabs.

Other days, the PC can run for 12 hours + without any issues.

Think I will do Prime95 and Memtest86 first.



 
Apr 22, 2010 at 6:13 AM Post #13 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by beamthegreat /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Get a Mac, people!!!


No


very_evil_smiley.gif
 
Apr 22, 2010 at 8:32 AM Post #15 of 42
Quote:

Originally Posted by beamthegreat /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Get a Mac, people!!!


Hear, hear...
tongue_smile.gif
 

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