Another freeze/lockup newbie problem

[Russell4815162342]

Hi every1, I'm new 2 these forums and need help frm some clever minds bcoz I'm not 2 good with pc's.

Basically iv been getting total system freezes when booting in win vista, whereby nothin responds not even cntrl alt del or keyboard etc. The time always varies sumtime cud b few mins other time I think it's resolved n freezes in 45 mins. I know it's not bad RAM coz I tried the previous 2gb one b4 my currnt 4th upgrade, but I'm yet to do a memtest of it(altho unsure how) It's not a heat issue with CPU(quad 9505) or gpu(msi 5770).


Tried uninstallin all drivers / reinstall thinking mite b
vid issues
It did it once also in the BIOS (but I can run it fine in safe mode - why is this the case?
It started I think After my new HDD, I anted to upgrade to Sata coz I used to hav IDE so I got a 500gbwestern digital, and new sata optical.

I'm certain it is the hdd as the problem started pretty much after but not right away. Do need to change sumthing In bios or could the way I connect the setup of hdd and DVD to my motherboard ports cause such a thing? or flash it (altho i do not want to since I know it has froze before in bios)

Could any of u guys giv me any steps toward resolving this it is so frustrating (understandably since it's nigh impossible to be certain of the cause) but any help wud greatly be appreciated.
I must affirm I am not so computer lierate but are there any scans or tools thy may show hard drive errors and if I find nothing suggestin hdd fault wat can I do after to systematically figure the source of the problem, Thank You guys!

 

[Scanlia]

Well, it seems like its a HDD problem, check in your bios for what your HDD is set on, RAID, or IDE, etc. Try booting from a different HDD, or from your memory stick or something.

 

[Russell4815162342]

Hi scanlia.

Shows how much of a rookie I am when I dont fully understand RAID. I only have the one HDD tho with 500GB capacity.

I tried my old IDE hard drive and it worked fine for hours (where the freezing problem typically happens within 30 mins, could be 10 mins or 20.) Booting from the drive with the freezing problem seemed to be problem free when I kept my old IDE in and booted vista to the new drive, but I got SATA bcoz I dont want the ribbon cable clogging the PC.

Here are two screens tht relate to the HDD.

Standard CMOS features

Integrated Peripherals section

Could thes settings be the cause somehow. In the On chip SATA mode thier are these optionsDisabled) (Auto) - which is the one used, (Combined), (Enchanced) and (Non-Combined.) Thing is I dont hav the knowledge to play around with such settings. Could my motherboard simply need flashing, or should I do a fresh install see if the problem persists altho im worried it could even freeze during that, if its done it in the BIOS once, but may not do it ever again thats why I cannot be sure.

Same feeling once I log in to Vista, jst when I think it may not be freezing again I leave it idle for a while come back and long behold its froze.

 

[Scanlia]

If it's a Hard drive problem, it couldn't freeze in the BIOS. Try doing a CMOS reset, or just returning BIOS settings to default. Maybe Try installing Windows 7, it shouldn't really freeze during installation because it's running off the cd when you install.

I would really try using a different hard drive, maybe just an old hard drive laying around somewhere. Please post results so I can help you further...

 

[Russell4815162342]

thanks again scanlia, i will try the easy options first , then Win7 if required.