Unbelievable Instability

[scottcly]

Hi,

After I built my first PC that I respected and thought was a performance PC (At the time) I was introduced to my first experience of instability – freezing.
It freezes during Virus scans, youtube, facebook access...yet goes alright sometimes even under heavy load like dvd converting software (yet it does freeze during this software as well).

I have tried different drivers – no success
I have tried Windows XP, Vista and 7 – no sucess

I don't believe it is software/driver problems.

The nature of the freezing is that I can log on to facebook or youtube and i guarantee it will freeze within 30mins (I do not use codec packs).

Another problem is browsing the internet generally the computer restarts automatically or turns off.

I can be doing a virus scan and it restarts or freezes

My specs are:

Gygabyte GA-73PVM-S2H all in one motherboard (I use built in sound only)
Intel Quadcore Q6600 2.4Ghz
2GB Patriot Memory I think it runs at 1.9v and my mobo only supports 1.8v
Western Digital Green 1GB
Western Digital Green 640GB
nVidia 8600GT graphics
D-link DWA-510 wireless PCI card
Windows 7 Ultimate
Codegen PSU 530Watts 1x12V rail(18A)

idle temperatures
CPU = 43 degrees
GPU = 49 degrees

Stability test temps:
CPU: 50-60 degrees
GPU 60 degrees

From my feeling it's the PSU due to the low 18A 12v rail as the computer does turn off at times. But the unexplained freezes makes me think it's the motherboard or memory or graphics card.

Maybe the PSU has killed all my parts from the beginning and it's all slowly dieing?

I have gone through 2 replacement hard drives in the past year...but did tests to show no bad sectors.

It froze twice in this whirlpool forunm so had to retype this in notepad and save it every minute then copy n paste it.

I am lost, please help?

 

[dndhatcher]

Memory can cause problems like this, as can a power supply that is not providing enough power. Easiest thing to do is get (borrow if possible) a decent larger PSU and see if that resolves the problem or not.

If the computer was working fine for months and suddenly started these problems then spyware/viruses would be a likely suspect also.

Run memtest to see if your memory is stable. You indicated your motherboard cant power the memory to spec so you may have to force your memory to slower timings to make it stable.

 

[capt_taco]

2GB Patriot Memory I think it runs at 1.9v and my mobo only supports 1.8v

That's probably your problem right there. Insuficient RAM voltage is the leading cause of random freezing like that. Running memtest may or may not catch it, because there's nothing actually physically wrong with the memory.

This should be easy to fix. Virtually every motherboard has a setting in the BIOS where you can adjust the RAM voltage manually. In my experience, only boards made by Intel will give you problems trying to set the voltage manually. Double-check the specs of your RAM and set the voltage yourself. See if that helps.

 

[daship]

PSU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[scottcly]

Thanks dndhatcher - I will buy a new PSU - Seasonic this weekend and see how i go.

It has been unstable from day one, but during the initial days the computer was only freezing when i do intensive codec convertions.

I had 2x2GB patriots but had to give my GF one chip as i had to get her a new motherboard which only supported DDR2 and its a gigabyte AM3 motherboard which only has 1.8v power on it as well.

I ran memtest - no issues whatsoever.

Spyware i doubt it as i formatted many times and used various types of windows platforms but still get the same results.

Anyway my virus scans only last like half way most of the time before it freezes, but the times i did run avast or avg in the past its been fine no threats detected.

Any other suggestions?

 

[scottcly]

Thanks capt_taco. I can't change the voltage requirement would you believe in this motherboard...nor on my gf's computer which has the same brand of motherboard except its an AM3 chipset - however - with the same module in her computer as mine hers never freezes...rock solid pc...its a bit enbarrassing since her brother built her computer and i claim to be better at computers then my computer turns out to be the dud...hahaha ego has a price i suppose.

the only settings i can modify are the CAS latency which i have reduce to 5-5-5-14-23 or something similar....i had to hit ctrl+f1 just to access those settings let alone changing the voltage which for the new gigabyte motherboards seems to be fixed. Weird isn't it? Does anyone know why that is?

Anyway i was on a budget on this time around - i would have never chosen gigabyte...i like ASUS the best....but anyway im stuck with that for now.

I did memtest but no errors were found i did memtest 4.00 in msdos environment passed no issues