Guranteed lock up after load up

[Supergoal]

My System,

Windows 7
Core i5
Geforce 460 GTX
4gb ram


Until today my 2 week old PC was running fine with no lock ups.

This morning however, I was playing Crysis for a couple of hours when during the game it suddenly froze and a constant looping sound played.

I manually rebooted the PC only to find since the in game crash, my PC now randomly locks up and then becomes totally unresponsive. Not even Ctl Alt Del can bring up the task manager.

I can load up the desktop, I can do things as normal but sooner rather than later it will lock up and then I have to manual boot. Even idling on the desktop will eventually lock up the system within a few minutes.

I know it could be a million things all possibly happening. The first thing I need to work out is, is it software or hardware related.

Any help please...

 

[cmcghee358]

Check your temperatures, check your RAM timings in BIOS, RAM voltage is the manufacturer specifications.

What brand, wattage is your PSU?

Is Crysis a legit copy or an illegal download? Nothing more annoying than trying to help someone troubleshoot a lockup on an illegal game thats corrupted.

 

[Supergoal]

I think temps are fine. I'm using a legit copy of the game from Steam.

It baffles me how it had been playing the game fine for a couple of weeks since I bought it, only for it to know self destruct my system.

Surely stuff like RAM timings and voltages and PSU power would have become an issue long before 2 weeks of play. Or not?

 

[cmcghee358]

There can be whats known as a memory leak. Check your RAM timings in BIOS and voltage.

And PSU problems can manifest themselves at different times depending on system stress.

If your PSU is adequate, and your timings/voltages are correct. Next step is to run memtest a few times and see if you have a bad stick of RAM

 

[Supergoal]

O.K.
I've actually got the PC in question running now on the desktop. (I'm using a different PC to use these forums)

Just fiddling about now, I've noticed something odd. Just by trying to open a few folders, programs, the PC is taking a long time to open them on occasion, and as it looks like it's about to lock up, it eventually opens the folders or programs.

Like a tipping point, if I were to open a lot of folders or a heavy program it would lock up completely.

 

[cmcghee358]

Still waiting on memory and PSU information

 

[Hard Line]

taking a long time just to open a folder cries out hard drive tbh but I would follow cmcghee358's advice after which we will look into other things upon verification

 

[Supergoal]

I checked the memory, cpu and gpu temperatures which seem fine and my PSU is a 600 watt supply.

I got so annoyed I re-installed the OS and it now seems to be fine. Ran some games like Crysis, surfed the web, listened to some music etc. Really weird for it to be fine now...

Some points;

After an in-game hang / crash having to manually reboot the PC is the sign of hardware or software failure?

If it was the GFX card, wouldn't there be artifacts on screen?
If it was the PSU, wouldn't I get random reboots?
If it was the CPU, wouldn't I get blue screens of death?

Which leaves the Hard disk and the RAM
I'm using a 64gb solid state drive. It's not full, but from what you have said it could be a disk error.
What software could I use to check it?

I'm using the PC in question right now to make this message, which would have been impossible before, but without an explanation as to why an in-game hang caused the problem of locks ups I won't be ready for it next time...

 

[Hard Line]

when i suggested a problem with the hard drive i was referring to a traditional hard drive. if the games or apps you are using are on a magnetic hard drive or your page file is on said hard drive, I would suggest checking the smart status and running a chkdsk.

As for ssd drive, I would verify that it is aligned properly as I know that can cause performance problems. I do not have such drive so i am hoping someone with more knowledge in that area can chime in and help. however if you are using stuff on the magnetic drive and it locks up or slows down like that, it could be a sign there is a problem with it. What brand is your power supply? if it is a generic cheap make and model that could very well be causing your problem. list make and model with amps on the 12v rail and how many rails it has. that will help us help you

 

[Supergoal]

I think it's a generic power supply. The guy in the store I bought it from said it would be fine for using the core i5 and 460 gtx. I'll dig out the packaging and see what it says about model and amps etc.

This could be a related problem or not, but when I go to switch on the PC it sometimes won't power up until after several flicks of the PSU's power On Off switch.
Once it does power up it seems fine with no cutting out.

 

[Supergoal]

OK, looks like the same problem.

I was using the PC fine, until just now it started to crash when using firefox. I then was able to shut it down through the START menu and then re booted. Only to find that it won't load past the Windows Logo. I tried safe mode and that too won't boot. I tried the system repair tool, but that also crashes when trying to fix the problem. WTF..

I'm very close to throwing the dame thing out the window...

 

[tju2an]

According to what my experience and knowledge covers, this seem to be a HDD issue. Have you tried another HDD or SDD in order to leave out a faulty HDD problem?

 

[Supergoal]

According to what my experience and knowledge covers, this seem to be a HDD issue. Have you tried another HDD or SDD in order to leave out a faulty HDD problem?

I've just this moment finished installing the OS for the 4th time. This time on the secondary standard HDD.

The SSD I had been using is now acting as my second drive. I haven't deleted the OS on that one yet, I definitely want to work out if it is the culprit or not, but with it not even booting from the logo screen I'm not sure what I can do to check it.

 

[tju2an]

What if a RAM stick have died? Are you able to run a memtest just to exclude a failing RAM stick as cause the problem? Also try to run your system without a raid configuration, just with a HDD you know work with other systems.

Memtest86+ is downloadable for free at their website: http://www.memtest.org/

 

[Supergoal]

I've pretty much exhausted what I can physically do to check hardware.

I'm starting to think it's something to do with the internet browsers.

For a start, whenever it it freezes and locks up it always seems to be mostly when I was using firefox.
I've stopped using firefox just to see if it made a difference.
Explorer also laggs and stutters and freezes at random points, but never locks up completely that I can't even Ctl Alt Del.

I've still no idea why this would happen... But it's somehow conflicting with the SSD and memory.