Constant computer crashes (Dell XPS 630i)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
hayek2002

hayek2002

Commendable
Jan 1, 2017
33
0
1,540
Hello,

For the past year my PC has been crashing and I just can't take it anymore.
Before you ask, no warranty. This is an old PC.
Anyways lets get to it. I have an old dell XPS 630i gaming desktop and it turns off at random intervals. Never at a set time. Could be during gaming, idle, even just browsing the web or streaming videos. The most interesting thing is when it shuts off the led lights on the desktop stay on, the fans still run, and audio still plays. If I have a Skype call on in the background it will run on for a good 1 minute before completely stopping (Fans and lights still on). I once left a YouTube video running after it randomly shut down and the audio continued even though I had no control over anything. When the video ended I could not start a new video (assuming I was even clicking a video because the screen stops displaying) (Fans and lights still on) and I just don't know what to do. I'm not sure if the parts in my pc are what the desktop originally came with because I bought it off of someone used.
Here are the parts:

CPU: Intel core 2 quad (Q6600) @ 2.4 Ghz
Motherboard: Dell OPP150
RAM: 8gb ddr2 (4x2 gb) (2 sticks from mushkin and 2 sticks from kingston)
Hard Drive: Seagate barracuda 7200 500gb
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 430
Case: Standard Dell XPS 630i case
PSU: Dell H750E-01 (750 watts I think)

Attached here is probably everything you need to see in terms of hardware

http://imgur.com/a/HrXPK

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I really hope someone can resolve my issue as it has been PLAGUING me for the past year.

Hayek2002.
 
Solution
T
I still have a few Q6600 systems running, but they are getting old and you do not want to spend a lot of money getting them right.

Temps are fine. The stand alone bootable test was mostly to verify your copy of windows, not to test the memory. If the stand-alone test never fails and windows fails then maybe a fresh windows image might help. If you are on win10 and do not care about the content of your disk then I'd download a win10 boot image and try it.

I don't know how to isolate what is happening. If my PC I'd install a new power supply, and if that did not help I'd suspect the MB, but would not spend the money to replace. Instead I'd get a refurb i5 or i7 from 4th gen or later. That will cost $200-$400, then I'd install...
Sort by date Sort by votes
T

tsnor

Splendid
Nov 20, 2008
3,702
2
24,965
Download a stand-alone memory test. (bootable memory test). Set it looping testing memory and run it overnight.

No fails: suspect your copy of windows should be refreshed with a clean install. Your HW seems to be working ok.

Reported memory failures. Good, Now you can swap out dimms one at a time until you find the bad dimm.

Fails, no reported errors. At least you know its a hardware problem and not software. Could literally be any part of your PC so unless you have a spare parts bin it might be time to just get a newer refubished i5 system.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
hayek2002

hayek2002

Commendable
Jan 1, 2017
33
0
1,540


Had some compatibility issues with the test so I tried to troubleshoot, did not work. In the end I just swapped out all the dimms one by one and yet the problem persists.

Temps never exceed 80c even under heavy load (CPU and GPU)

One day it never turned off at all, some days it turns off every 10-20 mins. Most days it turns off every 3hrs or so. There are always the random ones though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
T

tsnor

Splendid
Nov 20, 2008
3,702
2
24,965
I still have a few Q6600 systems running, but they are getting old and you do not want to spend a lot of money getting them right.

Temps are fine. The stand alone bootable test was mostly to verify your copy of windows, not to test the memory. If the stand-alone test never fails and windows fails then maybe a fresh windows image might help. If you are on win10 and do not care about the content of your disk then I'd download a win10 boot image and try it.

I don't know how to isolate what is happening. If my PC I'd install a new power supply, and if that did not help I'd suspect the MB, but would not spend the money to replace. Instead I'd get a refurb i5 or i7 from 4th gen or later. That will cost $200-$400, then I'd install the new power supply i bought to keep the q6600 running, then I'd install a $150 video card.

The only really weak part of your current system is the video card. As you can see a $120 GTX 1050 is 700% faster, which is huge. http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-vs-Nvidia-GeForce-GT-430/3650vsm7745
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
W

william p

Splendid
Sep 22, 2010
3,788
100
30,340
There was an issue with bad capacitors back then. Look at all the plastic wrapped caps and see if any of them are bulged on top or discolored down in the grooves. the caps are suppposed to bulge and leak instead of exploding. if you have the Bad cap disease new caps are cheap, and a TV repair shop can swap them out for you.
BTW I don't know what overclock settings Dell gives you on the XPS, but Throttlestop software and a Core2Extreme got my Dell E520 as high as 4 GHz. CPUZ is in my sig.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
hayek2002

hayek2002

Commendable
Jan 1, 2017
33
0
1,540


Thanks! I'll be sure to check that out.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom