Windows 7 is locking up

[Badfish54]

I did my first build back in the beginning of March and I have had no problems till 4/29/12. I had an update waiting for me and I initiated it. It kept asking for me to reboot afterwards but I was in the middle of something and then decided to leave. After a couple of hours when I came back, I moved the mouse and I got the wonderful blue screen telling me of a memory dump.

After that when I would start win7 normally it would take much longer to pull up the start up icons, and some of the desktop files would show the unknown program icon. Then I would click on a file and it would give me the processing blue circle. Then I would click on the task bar and the same thing. Eventually this would all stop working and my desktop picture would go white. I had to force restart (ctrl+alt+del did not work either). I was able to successfully start in safe mode with no problems. I did a restore point before the update and I still had problems.

I contacted microsoft support and they led me through and we undid all my startup programs and services and my system was working great. After 4 days of things working great my computer started to act up again with it freezing up when in windows, as well as when I would login into win7 I would get stuck on the welcome screen with the blue circle just spinning and spinning. I turned off all the services and startups again (I had turned some on to get Steam and my antivirus, Avast, going again) and now my computer is working.

Anyone able to provide me with some help?? I don't know a lot about computer but give me a day and some good instructions and I will be a quick learner.

My build is:
Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0

Thank you

 

[sonomaguy17]

I did my first build back in the beginning of March and I have had no problems till 4/29/12. I had an update waiting for me and I initiated it. It kept asking for me to reboot afterwards but I was in the middle of something and then decided to leave. After a couple of hours when I came back, I moved the mouse and I got the wonderful blue screen telling me of a memory dump.

After that when I would start win7 normally it would take much longer to pull up the start up icons, and some of the desktop files would show the unknown program icon. Then I would click on a file and it would give me the processing blue circle. Then I would click on the task bar and the same thing. Eventually this would all stop working and my desktop picture would go white. I had to force restart (ctrl+alt+del did not work either). I was able to successfully start in safe mode with no problems. I did a restore point before the update and I still had problems.

I contacted microsoft support and they led me through and we undid all my startup programs and services and my system was working great. After 4 days of things working great my computer started to act up again with it freezing up when in windows, as well as when I would login into win7 I would get stuck on the welcome screen with the blue circle just spinning and spinning. I turned off all the services and startups again (I had turned some on to get Steam and my antivirus, Avast, going again) and now my computer is working.

Anyone able to provide me with some help?? I don't know a lot about computer but give me a day and some good instructions and I will be a quick learner.

My build is:
Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
WD Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0

Thank you

Hey there Badfish54!

First thing is first.... whenever I go about hooking up new hardware, it is always a good idea to run some tests on it. I would like for you to goto the following websites to download some diagnostic tools. One will be for your RAM, the other will be for your hard drive:

Memory:

Memtest86:
http://memtest86.com/download.html#R40a

You can either download the ISO file, or the floppy. Whichever you prefer. If you are running Windows 7 it should have a utility built into it that will allow you to burn ISO images to a CD or DVD


Hard Drive:

Data Lifeguard Diagnostics:
http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD5000AAKX+&x=0&y=0

You can either download this and run it straight from the GUI, (click the "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows" URL), or as you would for the memory test, download the CD which comes in an ISO or ZIP format.


Considering the issues you are having, I'd recommend burning both tools to a CD/DVD and testing your hardware. Let's make sure that nothing in that aspect is wrong before we go forward and troubleshoot the software.

Follow up with your findings whenever you can

 

[Badfish54]

Sorry it took me awhile to get back. Power went out and then ran full diagnostics on RAM and my HD and it all came back clean with no errors at all.

Thank you for the assistance so far. What should I do next??

 

[J_E_D_70]

Have you reinstalled windows from scratch or a very clean backup?

 

[smorizio]

the new x68 and z77 are real tight on ram that you use is on the mb qual list.

 

[sonomaguy17]

Sorry it took me awhile to get back. Power went out and then ran full diagnostics on RAM and my HD and it all came back clean with no errors at all.

Thank you for the assistance so far. What should I do next??

Hey Badfish54. It's no problem at all. I apologize for my delay too but hey, it's Sunday. It happens

Alright so the RAM and HDD are running ok. Next I would like for you to perform a torture test on your CPU using the following utility. I am unclear as to whether or not you are using 32-bit or 64-bit windows, but as your current configuration shows you have 8GBs of RAM, I am going to assume that it is 64-bit. In either case, here is the tool. Both versions, 32-bit and 64-bit are listed on here:

Prime95
http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

Typically, if the CPU is functioning properly, you should be able to stress test the CPU without it failing. Also, you can open this program more than once. For testing CPUs with multiple cores, I like to run a stress test for each core available in your system. Since your system is utilizing a quad core processor, I'd try opening the instance 4 times and let the system run for at least 24-48 hours. I know it is a grueling process, but typically speaking, if it can handle the load, then we have factored out the main hardware components.

Also, please monitor the temperatures in your system. You can do so using speedfan:

Speedfan:
http://www.almico.com/speedfan446.exe

Keep track of the CPU temperature. The lower, the better

Please follow up on your results for this. Thank you!

 

[sonomaguy17]

BTW.... when you run the Prime95 program, once you extract the program to a specific location on your desktop, after you run and close out the program, a "Results.txt" file is created. Please upload any failures that you encounter should the system shutdown for any reason. Thanks!

 

[dodger46]

Have you reinstalled windows from scratch or a very clean backup?

That's what I would recommend. You could spend more hours trying to chase some obscure Windows problem than it would take to do a clean install and never find the problem. Looks to me as though the Update screwed up somewhere.... Meanwhile stress tests will do no harm! At least prove your hardware...

 

[Badfish54]

Sorry it has taken me awhile to get back to you. Work has been a killer. I have yet to test my CPU cores. I plan on doing that, however I was wondering about my windows. I do have win7 home premium 64bit. I also have office 2007. Its old but it gets things done. I am out of product ids for the office and want to know how I would go about getting a new one before I do a full reinstall. Also, would I have to get a new id key for my windows?

Thank you

 

[dodger46]

By product IDs I take it you mean Licence keys? The ones you are using on your current install are valid for re-installation. To obtain them you could use Belarc Advisor
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Also if you have a lot of data to back up but have plenty space on you HDD you could create a new partition and clean install Windows there. Once installed simply transfer data from your original partition, and once satisfied you have everything, format the partition from your new installation and use it for backup.
http://download.cnet.com/EaseUS-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html

 

[Badfish54]

I got through all the checks and everything has passed. Took me awhile since my temps did go through the roof if I did them all at once (good thing I stayed home the entire time).

So what should I do now?

 

[dodger46]

I got through all the checks and everything has passed. Took me awhile since my temps did go through the roof if I did them all at once (good thing I stayed home the entire time).

So what should I do now?

Temps through the roof? How high? Almost certainly the root cause of your probs... were they all high, or just one in particular...??

 

[Badfish54]

they got to about 95c. That was when i was doing the hardest stress test and was using all 4 cores. That number was reached after 10 minutes of testing. Once I did each core individually, the temp was a lot better. Got no higher than 61. My temperatures have never gotten over 62 through heavy gaming and watching hulu at the same time.

 

[dodger46]

Not conclusive, but even stretched your CPU shouldn't hit 95....perhaps consider upgrading your cooler, and make sure you do a good job with quality thermal paste. Then if you still have problems it's the clean install I guess...

 

[Badfish54]

I was going to look into getting a new cooler for it. I am just using the stock cooler now with the paste that comes with it. However job problems right now will prevent me from getting those upgrades.

I have been using my PC lately with no problems. Each day adding new services and startups. I think I have narrowed it down to either my iTunes services, or my logitech g15 keyboard.

 

[dodger46]

Aye, the stock fan not well liked, nor any of the fans with the push pins to lock it in place. Any of these take your fancy
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm
Did your machine just improve without re-installing?

 

[Badfish54]

Yeah. I went through msconfig and unchecked all services and startups that were not microsoft. I was able to use my computer with no problems. I then went to it each day and added more and more services and startups back. Things were great until I added apple and logitech gaming keyboard services and startups. Now I have turned those all off, however I am having no problems with the following apple systems running:
Apple Mobile Device.

 

[dodger46]

Perhaps re-install the suspect items in case there was a glitch on initial install...

 

[Badfish54]

Thank you for all the help. I did a reinstall of windows, and have been installing each item one at a time, making sure its the only program running. Things are all better now. I do appreciate all the assistance you gave.

 

[dodger46]

You're welcome...

 

[Badfish54]

Best answer selected by Badfish54.

 

[dodger46]

Thanks!