Computer crash problem. Help!

M

Maximvs

New Member
Hello! I just activated an account here to seek help.

My computer crashes, sometimes, and I'd like to fix it, but more importantly, which part requires fixing? Here are the symptoms :

1 - I never get a blue screen or automatic shutdown, only a straight freeze of the screen which requires me to reboot my computer with the button on it.

2 - rarely, the button won't work and I will have to switch my power supply off then on to start it again.

3 - extremely rarely, my motherboard integrated networking card will not work and I have to unplug my electric cord completely before opening my computer to fix this ( the back switch off on isn't enough to solve it, weird huh? )

4 - My computer extremely rarely crash when playing a game, even those working my graph card at full capacity. The crashes occur more often than not when surfing the internet, especially those u tube videos and websites with tons of flash-like small videos and stuff. Doing plenty of stuff at the same time also increases the chances of getting a crash, like listening to music while converting a video while surfing the net )

5 - My computer seems to crash a bit more when my main hard drive is getting full, yet a complete format with a fresh windows vista instalation does not solve the problem.

6 - My computer just can't keep the time correctly. Once out of three I restart my comp and it's usually 8 or so hours behind. My time setting is in the correct timezone.

Anyone here has any idea where I should be looking for the problem? Should I start with a ram test, or my hard drive? Please help!
 
First of all, give us a list of your system specs and we can go from there. Motherboard, cpu, memory, video card, make and model of power supply, etc...
 
AH hm, ok!

Motherboard : Asus P5n-T Deluxe
Processor : Intel Core(tm)2 Quad CPU Q8550 2.83 GHz
Graph card : Nvidia GeForce GTX 460
Power supply : Corsair 1000 Watt something ( about 250 over what my comp consumes )
Ram cards : 4g ram, forgot the brand, need to open my comp to check out cuz it's not written anywhere in my windows !

The comp is about 5 years old. I've changed the thermal paste once and I know crashes are not due to overheating. At least I think so. Crashes are weird. I can spend a whole 12 hours straight without crash or it can crash 5 even 8 times during the same period. Also I'm running Vista.
 
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Without getting bluescreens its gonna be hard to tell whats going on. However, you can check event viewer for any entries that might help determine what is going on. Right click on computer, click on manage, click on event viewer on left, click on windows logs. You will need to look under system or application to find what you are looking for. You will need to look for time and day the system froze up to compare what messages you get. Have you ran a diagnostic on your hard drive to make sure its good?
 
Under system :
Error ( level ), The previous system shutdown at 9:45:36 PM on 12/7/2014 was unexpected ( date and time ), EventLog ( source ), 6008 (event ID), none ( task category )

I searched the application tab, but nothing interesting showed up at the same time. There s about a 25 min gap for the last application before the crash and it's nothing important ( some google update thing gupdate ).

No I haven't checked my harddrive. Do you have any software suggestion?
 
Confirm

no overclocking.
RAM is set correctly (including voltage) in BIOS.
Windows is updated.
Motherboard and chipset drivers are updated
 
I can confirm all but the ram I will check this out and reply tomorrow when I can thank you all for answering!
 
Yeah the basics should come first. A lot of issues like this can be traced to incorrect RAM settings IMO. Also conduct a checkdisk.
 
Ok sorry I had some stuff to do. Now back to this problem !

Diskcheck gave no errors. I'm about to run a memtest86 thing. Now here s the info I've gathered so far :

This is my motherboard : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131231

I have 2 ram cards and they are properly inserted in the right sockets. Here's what written on them :

PC2 8500 5-5-5 @ 2.2 V 2 Gig each.
PN OCZ2RPR10664GK

In my BIOS I found this information under FBS and Memory config :

FBS - Memory clock mode : Auto
FBS - Memory ratio : Auto
FBS - ( QDR ), MHz : Auto
FBS - actual ( QDR ), MHz : 1333.3
Mem ( DDR ), MHz : Auto
Mem actual ( DDR ), MHz : 800.0

And also somewhere else aobut the voltage --- Memory voltage : auto

Now, I got myself this CPU-Z program to check what s on my computer, and here is something odd. The program states that :

--- Under SPD Tab ---
- Memory slot selection ( for slot 1 and 3, the same ) :
Max Bandwidth : PC2 - 6400 ( 400 MHz )
Manufacturer : OCZ
Part Number : OCZ2RPR10662G
Correction : None
SPD Ext : EPP 1.0

The timing table below has 4 columns :
JEDEC 1 with 266 MHz, 1.8 V and other stuff
JEDEC 2 with 333 MHz, 1.8 v and other stuff
JEDEC 3 with 400 MHz, 1.8 v and other stuff
EPP 1 with 533 MHz, 2.1 v and other stuff

--- Under Memory Tab ---
- Timings
DRAM Frequency : 400.0 MHz ( the digit varies by a +0.1 margin sometimes )
FSB: DRAM : 5 : 6
CL : 5.0 clocks
tRCD : 5 clocks
tRP : 5 clocks
tRAS : 15 clocks
tRC : 24 clocks
CR : 2T

Why is my mem card a PC2 8500 with a name that ends with 4GK when my software detects a PC2 6400 with 400 MHz and ends with 2G ? Is that the problem? I thought my card had 800 or 1333.3 or 1066 MHz too ( I cant even tell lul ) ? Also my motherboard book has a recommended list of ram cards and no OCZ type is listed on it.
 
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Your memory sticks are ddr2 1066. The bios is only reporting ddr2 800 speed. You will need to manually set the speed in the bios. You will also need to increase memory voltage to 2.1-2.2 as thats the voltage they run at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289

This is most likely what is causing your crashing issue. I would also get a new cmos battery for your motherboard if your system time is not correct. It's usually a cr2032 battery. I've circled the cmos battery location for your motherboard in the following image.

 
Well, zero crash since, it seems to be solved! Thank you all that helped. I suppose auto settings aren't always good.

Just one quick question out of curiosity, my mem card is 2.2 V, yet my bios only allows 2.19 or 2.21 V, funny that, what should I pick?
 
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