Pc suddenly Freeze - no warning - error message - no idea!?

[mackenzie_kanalje]

For some reason my pc (homebuild system) freezes from time to time, without warning or error message it just freezes the screen and stops working!

Theres no telling when it will do it, its not in any particular program or anything!

It didnt do it the first couple of month but now (without any hardware changes) it does!

Any ideas?

 

[idejason]

How old is the build? , And please post your PC's specs.

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

between 4-6 months - cant quite remember...

Specs
XFX 780i Motherboard
Coolermaster Auqagate Max watercooling (for CPU)
Core2Quad Q8200 4MB 2,33ghz (OC'ed to 3.0ghz)
8GB Corsair XMS2 Dominator RAM
2x Raptor 36GB 10.000rpm HDD's (RAID 0 - for windows)
2x WD Caviar Green 1000GB 7200rpm HDD's (RAID 1 – for everything else)
Samsung SyncMaster T240HD (1920x1200)

Tri-SLi:
1xEVGA GTX260 SSC (675/1453/1151)
2xASUS GTX260 (575/1242/999 - OC'ed 675/1453/1151)

OS
Windows 7 (Beta build 7100)

 

[MadAdmiral]

Have you checked how hot your system is running? What case is holding all of that? What's your PSU?

My two guesses would be an overheating issue (hence the first 2 questions) and an underpowered PSU (the third question). Using 3 cards, 4 HDDs, watercooling, and overclocking will be a massive amount of power being drawn. It doesn't help that most of that is last generation tech (BTW, if it's 6 months old, you really didn't get your money's worth...). In addition to the large power requirement, all of that will generate a lot of heat.

 

[capt_taco]

8GB Corsair XMS2 Dominator RAM

There's your most likely problem. Most RAM of that particular brand is listed as "extreme" or "gaming" memory, and depending on what variation of it you have, it can take anywhere from 1.8V-2.1V. For DDR2 memory, you'll likely have to set the voltage manually in the BIOS if it's anything other than 1.8V, or else you can get (drum roll) ... random freezing with no error message.

Power issues would be my second guess -- that setup is going to use a LOT of power at peak load, and I could see that overwhelming many a power supply. But if that was the issue, you'd expect it to happen more often under load, like in the middle of the game, and never when the system is at idle. So .. MAYBE on that one.

If it was overheating, most likely you'd see your system shut itself off entirely and go to a black screen, not just freeze in place. So I don't think that's the issue.

 

[branflakes71]

I'd run Memtest on it to see if there are any memory errors.

Check the Event Log in Windows to see if anything is showing up around the time of the freeze...may not be, but could point to a problem.

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

Have you checked how hot your system is running? What case is holding all of that? What's your PSU?

My two guesses would be an overheating issue (hence the first 2 questions) and an underpowered PSU (the third question). Using 3 cards, 4 HDDs, watercooling, and overclocking will be a massive amount of power being drawn. It doesn't help that most of that is last generation tech (BTW, if it's 6 months old, you really didn't get your money's worth...). In addition to the large power requirement, all of that will generate a lot of heat.

It runs quite hot yes - but only when gaming, and normally when its an overheat issue the screen starts flickering or create wierd pixels and stuff - as a warning...

Also when i game i alway crank up all fans on the graphic cards to max just in case...

I have also checked around on similar systems how hot they run - and mine is more or less the same as theirs...

The case is a ZALMAN GS1000...

PSU is a Corsair TX850w...

There's your most likely problem. Most RAM of that particular brand is listed as "extreme" or "gaming" memory, and depending on what variation of it you have, it can take anywhere from 1.8V-2.1V. For DDR2 memory, you'll likely have to set the voltage manually in the BIOS if it's anything other than 1.8V, or else you can get (drum roll) ... random freezing with no error message.

Power issues would be my second guess -- that setup is going to use a LOT of power at peak load, and I could see that overwhelming many a power supply. But if that was the issue, you'd expect it to happen more often under load, like in the middle of the game, and never when the system is at idle. So .. MAYBE on that one.

If it was overheating, most likely you'd see your system shut itself off entirely and go to a black screen, not just freeze in place. So I don't think that's the issue.

Just checked the RAM voltage - 1.850 (if i checked the right one - theres like 6 different things that controls voltage in the RAM setup)...

Also its set to AUTO - so id suppose it should be able to change if needed...

I'd run Memtest on it to see if there are any memory errors.

Check the Event Log in Windows to see if anything is showing up around the time of the freeze...may not be, but could point to a problem.

Im gonna keep an eye on the logs but for now i dont think its logged anything...

Also i have scheduled a memory test...

UPDATE:
For one time now it didnt just completely freeze, it like went into slow motion while i was watching an online episode of Futurama, everything slowed down, picture and sound and the pc didnt respond to any key commands or anything...

Memory diag found no problems...

 

[capt_taco]

Just checked the RAM voltage - 1.850 (if i checked the right one - theres like 6 different things that controls voltage in the RAM setup)...

Also its set to AUTO - so id suppose it should be able to change if needed...

Do you mean you checked the RAM voltage in the BIOS? Or looked up the specs of your RAM? You need to do both -- look up the manufacturer specs for your RAM, and compare it to what the BIOS is currently supplying. Just looking in the BIOS alone won't tell you if anything's wrong unless you know what the specific model of RAM is supposed to be getting in the first place.

1.85 does sound like you're looking in the right place in the BIOS.

Anyway, if it turns out your RAM takes a different voltage, like 1.9V or 2.0V, you'll need to set it manually. Also, since you're apparently using four sticks, you may need to bump it up an extra 0.05V-0.1V above that. Often times, RAM needs a little more juice when all four slots are filled, so that's another thing to look out for.

Even if your memory's specs DO say 1.8V and it's running at 1.85V (and apparently getting enough power), it may be a good idea to set the voltage manually in the BIOS anyway. Autodetect features sometimes work and sometimes don't ... and sometimes look like they're autodetecting correctly when they're really not. Especially when four sticks are involved -- the motherboard doesn't always know how to compensate for that extra little bit of voltage that's needed in that situation.

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

through Corsairs webpage i found out the RAM was tested on a voltage setting of 2.1 - also CPU-Z tells me my RAMs EPP is 2.1 but the JEDEC#1 and JEDEC#2 (whatever the heck that is!) says 1.8...

Should i just try and set it to 2.1 - could it just fry my RAM right away or should i get somekind of warning if its incorrect voltage?

Also i noticed that the pc doesnt freeze when im hardcore gaming (meaning using alot of pc power) but rather when i do something that doesnt require much power like watching online tv and such...!

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Capt_taco is giving you some good advice. Which EXACT RAM kit do you have? If the Corsair website says they're rated for 2.1v then you should manually set them to 2.1v in the BIOS. You should also manually set the RAM speed and timings to their rated specs in the BIOS.

I don't know what memory test you ran, but it wasn't Memtest86+ if you "scheduled" it. You download Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org and burn the ISO image to a CD. You then boot from the CD and let the test run overnight.

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

i have manually set RAM voltage settings to Corsairs tested settings - and for now it seems that did the trick!

Thanks for all the help

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

well apparently not!

event log (or event viewer or whatever) now has an error (critical one!) around the time of crash it says:

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Log name: System
Source power: Kernel-Power
Event ID: 41
Level: Critical
User: System
OpCode: Info
Logged: 26-01-2010 11:58:30
Task Category: (63)
Keywords: (2)

Advanced says:
- System

- Provider

[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}

EventID 41

Version 2

Level 1

Task 63

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2010-01-26T10:58:30.549600000Z

EventRecordID 9476

Correlation

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8

Channel System

Computer JohnDoe-PC

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-18


- EventData

BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0

anyone know what that means?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I don't see any mention of setting the RAM speed or timings. You only mention setting the voltage. I also don't see that you've run Memtest86+ overnight yet, so you still can't rule out the RAM.

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

oh yeah sorry also the speed and timings has been manually set...

have not run the memtest yet - will do tonight...

 

[mackenzie_kanalje]

i know its some time since i wrote, but somehow it seems to work now, it doesnt crash anymore, so thanks for your help

 

[Guest]

i know its some time since i wrote, but somehow it seems to work now, it doesnt crash anymore, so thanks for your help

What did you do to fix the problem?