New computer freezes dead at random times

jamief

New Member
Just got a brand new computer.. But as with everything I buy nothing goes smoothly. Yes, it is faulty.. Freezes dead at different times! Longest its lasted is around 50 minutes. I'm pretty sure its a hardware problem as I have reloaded Windows XP. I have called the company I bought it from, and I am left in a massive que, was on the phone last night for over an hour and didn't get seen to, its ridiculous!

Does anyone know of any diagnosis or system logging tool I could use when would pin-point the peice of hardware causing this problem?

Thank You,
Jamie
 
did you have blue screens when installing XP?
a likely culprit is poor memory, look for memtest to test you memory.
if you are not able to turn your pc back on straight after it crashes without isolating the power at the socket then you may find that you have a faulty psu or motherboard
 
Sorry, I don't think I gave enough information..

When it crashes completely, nothing works at all, Mouse freezes, Screen freezes (example is that the moving emoticons on msn dont move) Plus the keyboard doesnt work at all (No ctrl + alt + del) Nothing..
I can still hear the fan going, Just at a normal rate. To restart, I hold in the power buttonf or 10 seconds, then boot up, and its back to normal, Absolutally fine.. Then 5-50mins later its frozen again.
I am almost certain its a hardware problem as I have reloaded windows on a clean install.
I can predict whats going to happen when I send back to the supplier, They will say it allw works fine (because they wont wait long enough) send it back, still the same problem.

Any ideas?
Are there any programs to figure out the culprit?
Thank you,
Jamie
 
does it happen when running idle? if so try starting your system in safe mode, if it still happens it may be down to a crappy driver on your system
 
age123 said:
try taking some hardware out and keep adding them in and if you pc frezze u know its that

Thank you for your advice, but I don't think I will do that as I do not want to void the warranty, because if the worst comes to the worst I will have to send it back.

Lee, Yes it does sometimes freeze when the system is idle, While I was typing this reply it froze and I just restarted. In your opinion, what do you think the problem could be? Have you ever heard of this problem. I will try to go on safe mode now, see how long it lasts.

Thank You,
Jamie
 
ive seen it before, if it still does it in safe mode it could be any component in the system. most likely motherboard or psu. im not sure how other components would create a problem like this without manifesting itself in an obvious way first

[edit] you also might want to check in your bios for temps too, its unlikely but possible that your system is overheating
 
Let's see if it is related or not to the CPU temperature: install Motherboard monitor, set it to display temperatures in the taskbar and see what values are there when the computer freezes.
 
jamief said:
Just got a brand new computer.. But as with everything I buy nothing goes smoothly. Yes, it is faulty.. Freezes dead at different times! Longest its lasted is around 50 minutes. I'm pretty sure its a hardware problem as I have reloaded Windows XP. I have called the company I bought it from, and I am left in a massive que, was on the phone last night for over an hour and didn't get seen to, its ridiculous!

Does anyone know of any diagnosis or system logging tool I could use when would pin-point the peice of hardware causing this problem?

Thank You,
Jamie

i actually had this exact problem recently on a gigabyte motherboard. a bio update fixed it. if not it could be a bad mobo.
 
alanuofm said:
i actually had this exact problem recently on a gigabyte motherboard. a bio update fixed it. if not it could be a bad mobo.

How would I do a bio update? I'm a kinda novice.

Its very strange, It lasted a whole 2 hours on Safe Mode, 1 hour idle and 1 hour playing pinball =oP So I don't quite get it, would a bio update effect safemode?

Thank you,
Jamie
 
so your system has run longer than its ever done before with now problems?

i think you should see if you can get hold of all of the latest drivers you can for your system and see what happens
 
Hairy_Lee said:
so your system has run longer than its ever done before with now problems?

i think you should see if you can get hold of all of the latest drivers you can for your system and see what happens

Yep, Thats the longest its been up for, its really strange.

My motherboard is the ASUS P5GD1-VM and is not supported on the motherboard monitor software, although I chose the P5A and it seems to be monitoring it ok. The temperature on the CPU is 34-35C before and after freezing, so I don't think its an over-heating issue.

Where do I go from here?
Thank You,
Jamie
 
if you can try and update all of the drivers on your system it might point to another if the problem still occurs.
 
Hairy_Lee said:
if you can try and update all of the drivers on your system it might point to another if the problem still occurs.

Ok, Will go driver hunting now =o) Will keep you posted!
 
jamief said:
Yep, Thats the longest its been up for, its really strange.

My motherboard is the ASUS P5GD1-VM and is not supported on the motherboard monitor software, although I chose the P5A and it seems to be monitoring it ok. The temperature on the CPU is 34-35C before and after freezing, so I don't think its an over-heating issue.

Where do I go from here?
Thank You,
Jamie

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx

that should provide everything you need to flash your bios. make sure you look at the left side for more info.
 
alanuofm said:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx

that should provide everything you need to flash your bios. make sure you look at the left side for more info.

Thank you, But before I try this, would is still be a BIOS problem even if it worked fine on safemode for 2 hours? Doesn't safemode use BIOS? Plus, Why would the company I bought the computer from leave me with a BIOS version they know is incompatible with my machine?

Thank You,
Jamie
 
jamief said:
Just got a brand new computer.. But as with everything I buy nothing goes smoothly. Yes, it is faulty.. Freezes dead at different times! Longest its lasted is around 50 minutes. I'm pretty sure its a hardware problem as I have reloaded Windows XP. I have called the company I bought it from, and I am left in a massive que, was on the phone last night for over an hour and didn't get seen to, its ridiculous!

Does anyone know of any diagnosis or system logging tool I could use when would pin-point the peice of hardware causing this problem?

Thank You,
Jamie


i remember seeing on newegg a diagnostics tool that you plug into your PCI slot and it tells you whats wrong, cant find it at this moment though.
 
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