Computer Hard Lock-Up And Driver Problems

[angry12345]

Greetings

I am having a problem with my system locking up once every 4 hours or so. When it locks up, the screen freezes with whatever I am doing, and the only way to get out is to reboot the computer with the power button. I am trying to find out why. First the computer when originally purchased 23 months ago from Cyberpower:

CPU: (Quad-Core)Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 1333FSB 12MB L2 Cache 64-bit
HDD: Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i SLI Mainboard FSB1333 DDR2 3 x PCIe x16 SATA RAID w/ USB2.0,IEEE1394,&7.1Audio [+6]
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK: Killer K1 10/100/1000 Gigabit High Speed Online Gaming PCI Network Interface Card [+150]
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 2 [-4]
POWERSUPPLY: 800 Watts Power Supplies (NZXT PP800 Performance Power ATX 2.0 Power - Quad SLI Ready)
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 16X PCI Express (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Since that time, I have gone from XP to Windows 7 64-bit, and I have stopped using the K1 card as I had to go wireless internet


a. all temperatures are well below specifications in the system. Components are all at about 55% of what they are capable of withstanding, and the interior is quite clean and not cluttered.

b. I have ran Prime95 and Memtest86+ and show no memory problems

c. Of course, no sign of malware nor viruses.

d. I have ran the computer with all start-up items turned off to see if I could find some sort of comflict. Computer still would lock up while using Firefox or while playing WoW

e. Power supply is 800W, and should be enough juice I think...

f. Drivers - could be a culprit.

While I know how to locate and install video drivers, I am not so sure on other drivers. Wheni upgraded to windows 7 somebody had tole me I needed
"sound max - version 6.10.2.6585 - dated 5/21/09"

"marvell61xx - version1.2.0.7100 - dated 8/6/09 - storage controller driver"
do i really need that? or do those drivers come in windows 7 or something. I have them now, but they seem old too

also noticed another oddity driver "marvell miniport - driver" no clue on where or date or anything on that

I had checked Asus for drivers, but apparantly they never put out any mobo drivers for windows 7 64 bit for that mobo. I am guessing I need to go to nvidia to get the mobo drivers, but I am not sure how to uninstall the nforce drivers to install the new ones. I do not see them on the uninstall program area. If i am not mistaken, are you not supposed to NEVER install nvidia drivers over a previous nvidia driver?

So what is the next step I need to take? or go about fixing this all.

 

[Cornholio]

What are your voltages? Do they change a lot?

I am having the same problem too
A fix I have found that works for me (Only if u have voltage issue):
GO to power management settings, turn on ECONOMIZER plan, go to advanced settings, and got to processor power management. Where it says maximum processor usage (or something like that) set it to 99. Also, try the new 260.89 Nvidia drivers and do a clean install
fixed a Sh*tload of probs for me.

 

[Shaun o]

May i ask exactly what brand of PSU is in your Cyberpower built pc.
I only ask because i have a feeling if its not a good well known brand.
Its likely to be the cause.

 

[COLGeek]

May i ask exactly what brand of PSU is in your Cyberpower built pc.
I only ask because i have a feeling if its not a good well known brand.
Its likely to be the cause.

+1 to Shaun O. You are describing a PSU that is failing. When they get hot, they get less efficient and have to work harder. When they work harder, they generate more heat. More heat is bad for failing components.

 

[angry12345]

May i ask exactly what brand of PSU is in your Cyberpower built pc.
I only ask because i have a feeling if its not a good well known brand.
Its likely to be the cause.

It is a NZXT Performance Power 800 watt power supply. Thought I had heard it was a fairly good one, and rated at over 100k hours.

I should point out that the computer NEVER turns off when it has this issue, and I NEVER get a blue screen. Just whatever is on the screen at that moment freezes like a screenshot. It also DOES NOT happen more frequently the longer the computer is on. It might happen within 20 minutes of being on or not happen for 4 hours.

It also appears to ONLY happen when Windows is up. For instance, I can run memtest forever and a day and never have a problem. I have only experienced it in WoW and using Firefox. It has been an ongoing problem for 15 months and has happened about 73 times in WoW and about 3 times in Firefox.

Is it possible I do not have enough power? I think i do, but who knows.

If it is voltage problems, how do I check that out? I have had power go out while computer is on.

Also any input on what drivers I should get would be great.

 

[COLGeek]

Have you looked in your Event Viewer to see what is failing in Windows before it locks up? Also, are your video drivers current?

 

[angry12345]

Have you looked in your Event Viewer to see what is failing in Windows before it locks up? Also, are your video drivers current?

Yup.. looked in the event viewer. It shows nothing failing. The only thing that pops up is once it is restarted, showing the improper shutdown. I was showing on occasion a warning for crash dump logs not being made, but fixed that. Apparantly Advanced System Care when it optimizes takes your little checkmark off the create log deal.

As far as drivers, part of why I am asking. This has been going on for 15 months, so there has been a nice assortment of drivers that this has been happening with, including two different operating systems Windows XP 32 bit and Windows 7 64 bit.

I change out the video drivers when they come out. Now, I do not currently run my computer in SLI mode because so many things I run are not SLI compatible.


The other drivers I am not so sure even on how to do it. As mentioned in first post

"While I know how to locate and install video drivers, I am not so sure on other drivers. When i upgraded to windows 7 somebody had tole me I needed
"sound max - version 6.10.2.6585 - dated 5/21/09"

"marvell61xx - version1.2.0.7100 - dated 8/6/09 - storage controller driver"
do i really need that? or do those drivers come in windows 7 or something. I have them now, but they seem old too

also noticed another oddity driver "marvell miniport - driver" no clue on where or date or anything on that

I had checked Asus for drivers, but apparantly they never put out any mobo drivers for windows 7 64 bit for that mobo. I am guessing I need to go to nvidia to get the mobo drivers, but I am not sure how to uninstall the nforce drivers to install the new ones. I do not see them on the uninstall program area. If i am not mistaken, are you not supposed to NEVER install nvidia drivers over a previous nvidia driver? "

Some of those appeared a bit old, so I could definitely see that being a culprit. I just do not know how to go find the right sound drivers, cannot figure out how to properly uninstall previous mobo to properly install new mobo drivers, and no clue what other drivers I should be looking for besides headphone drivers, etc.

I really had no clue about Marvell drivers or Attk drivers. I am not sure if I possibly have two different drivers installed for same purpose..

Is NZXT 800PP a decent power supply? I remember you asking that.

 

[imakuzim]

same problem here for almost 2 years already. I'm guessing its not with the PSU coz it chooses which game it crash. In my case, it crashes with WoW, Left for Dead, Dragonica and other games which I already forgot. I am trouble shooting the root atm. I tried pulling 1 stick of ram and changing the socket it is placed. Suprisingly it solved the crashes with Left for Dead.

I think the culprit is somewhere with the driver. Either video or chipset driver. I am about to reformat and install fresh and latest drivers. I'll keep you updated if it solved anything. Btw, I'm also using an nForce chipset.

 

[das_stig]

Quad Core + 780i = Trouble, more post about random freezing and lockups than you can count, chipset just doesn't like them.

 

[COLGeek]

Do you have the latest BIOS version for your mobo installed? Also, if you removed one of your GPUs, does the system operate with greater stability? Last (for now), are your chipset drivers up to date?

 

[angry12345]

Do you have the latest BIOS version for your mobo installed? Also, if you removed one of your GPUs, does the system operate with greater stability? Last (for now), are your chipset drivers up to date?

When it comes to motherboards and bios/drivers.. im a bit clueless. is there a difference between chipset and bios?

its a Asus P5N-T... i couldnt find anything from Asus as far as updates on anything, but maybe i wasnt looking for right thing?

as far as from nvidia 780i, if i recall i installed the latest driver, by installing it right over the previous driver, then i recall nvidia recommending older one as better.. go figure.. i might be imagining that honestly. should i be installing a chipset drivers on top of previous ones or uninstalling previous ones first? and if so how do i uninstall. (also for future reference, with nvidia video drivers im reading that you should install over old ones now on nvidia site, is that true?)

i guess ill try and remove a gpu and see if that helps. i have sli turned off so i guess its kind of pointless having another power hog in there.

just a random thought, remember i only know enough about computers to get myself into trouble, could it be possible that something with my surge protector/power strip be stoping enough power to system?

its hard to see how unstable it is because the problem some days doesnt happen at all, but if i am playing world of warcraft, 90% of the time it happens once every 4 hours.

 

[angry12345]

oook..

something strange happened last night..

there are newer mobo bios out there apparently.. none for windows 7 64 bit, but some for vista 64 bit. i originally got he rig with xp 32 bit.. so maybe i should try the vista 64 bit? should i get nvidia nforce drivers for windows 7 64 bit?

so last night i ran Prime95 again. Started at about 11 pm. I check it at 11 am to see whats going on. Turn on monitor, but monitor is acting like its still asleep, nothing coming up (the computer itself is still running). I move my mouse and tap on keyboard, nothing. Mouse and keyboard are USB, so i unplug them and plug them back in. The lights on the mouse before are not showing now.. in other words is the mouse not getting power?

Reboot the system.. log in

1. First go to Prime 95 Test results:
- everything passed, but the log stops at 7:05 am.

2. Go to Event Viewer
- Notice at 11:44 pm Adobe Air - "Activation Context Generation Failed"
- 10:07 am - Previous system shutdown at 6:38 am was unexpected
- notice that the times do not match up, and that the system was still running when I got up in morning. 10:07 is when i rebooted
- 10:06 am - System rebooted without cleanly shutting down
- notice that this even at 10:06 came AFTER the one at 10:07 in the log
- 10:07 am - Audit events have been dropped by the transport

3. Checked system temperatures
- all in good range

Anyone have ideas?


Also to note:

I downloaded 3DMark Vantage. Apparently, you at least now, have to buy a copy in order to try more than once, and if your using trial you must be connected to the internet, which in diagnostic mode i cannot (wireless usb).

As a result, I ran it in selective start up mode (which is normally what I use on computer)

http://service.futuremark.com/home.action?resultId=2636049&resultType=19

Everything ran, and everything rated middle of the road. the highest any core temperature got was 56 degrees Celsius. All cores were in the range of 50 to 56. when I checked my gpus on speedfan, they were about 61 degrees

 

[Plumble]

I was having a similar problem. I run a 9800 GX2 (not too dissimilar) and Windows 7 64bit. I also use two displays.

I found that a combination of either IE and media centre, IE and Media player or media player and media centre were causing causing a driver issue if using both displays. The issue was causing a problem with the Multi-GPU setiings. The quick solution was to disable SLI but I fixed it by updating my codecs.

Try some experimentation as to determine if any particular functions are causing the problem.

What applications are you normally running when it occurs?

 

[angry12345]

normally just world of warcraft and ventrilo when it happend about 90% of time.

i think its a problem with motherboard.. im reading P5N-T Deluxe is a crappy board that has that problem now.

of course now i reset my bios to default and messed up something cause its saying fan speed too low

 

[COLGeek]

BIOS updates and drivers are 2 different things. BIOS updates modify the programming that the motherboard uses to "talk" to on-board devices and peripherals. The BIOS updates themselves are OS independent, but the particular tool used to program (a.k.a. flash) the BIOS can be OS dependent.

Driver updates are OS dependent and change far more often than BIOS updates.

It appears that the most recent BIOS for your system is 1702. If you don't have that version, you should use the BIOS utility and instructions found on the Asus website to update. Not a big deal and easy to do.

This is definitely not a power strip problem. Also you should go over to nvidia.com and download and install both your video and chipset drivers. Links follow:

Video: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-260.89-whql-driver.html

Chipset: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_win7_64bit_15.53.html

Install chipset first, restart, then video drivers, restart again.

 

[angry12345]

BIOS updates and drivers are 2 different things. BIOS updates modify the programming that the motherboard uses to "talk" to on-board devices and peripherals. The BIOS updates themselves are OS independent, but the particular tool used to program (a.k.a. flash) the BIOS can be OS dependent.

Driver updates are OS dependent and change far more often than BIOS updates.

It appears that the most recent BIOS for your system is 1702. If you don't have that version, you should use the BIOS utility and instructions found on the Asus website to update. Not a big deal and easy to do.

This is definitely not a power strip problem. Also you should go over to nvidia.com and download and install both your video and chipset drivers. Links follow:

Video: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-260.89-whql-driver.html

Chipset: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_win7_64bit_15.53.html

Install chipset first, restart, then video drivers, restart again.

do i need to uninstall old chipset drivers? if so, how?

they do not show on my uninstall like the vid drivers do

 

[COLGeek]

You really don't have to uninstall the previous version before hand. Many do recommend it, but it isn't usually required.

The installer will take care of the uninstall in most cases.

 

[angry12345]

You really don't have to uninstall the previous version before hand. Many do recommend it, but it isn't usually required.

The installer will take care of the uninstall in most cases.

ok ill just put in the nforce drivers, i saw on nvidia site they recommend putting over now.. but im guessing they were talking about vid drivers in that instance

since i updated my bios, i had no freezes today which was a first in a long time..

the one downside is when i boot up i get a message saying the fan is failing or speed is too low..

i dont see it moving, but system not overheating

 

[COLGeek]

The fan settings can be adjusted in your BIOS. Likely in the Power Management (or something like that) section.

 

[angry12345]

The fan settings can be adjusted in your BIOS. Likely in the Power Management (or something like that) section.

yea i tried all of that.. doesnt affect the cpu fan at all. also tried the manual setting knob on the V1. that didnt work.

i notice that they have the optional asus fan in the system which the asus manual says to not install into the system unless your using a passive CPU fan. Im guessing passive means not moving. So maybe they set it up to not move. I do not know why you would go with a small little fan over a larger fan..... i guess they figured better to set up that way and use heatsinks from v1 for less noise?

 

[COLGeek]

It is just an option that you don't need. Were you are to find your Smart Fan controls (or something similar to that)? That is where you would adjust the fan speed settings. However, for your purposes, other than being annoying, it should have ni impact on your system performing normally.

 

[angry12345]

It is just an option that you don't need. Were you are to find your Smart Fan controls (or something similar to that)? That is where you would adjust the fan speed settings. However, for your purposes, other than being annoying, it should have ni impact on your system performing normally.

Yea, I found them.. enabled them and set to performance then optimal. V1 never came on

Im starting to think that Cyberpower might have pulled a fast one on me on the cooling system

 

[COLGeek]

They don't have the best reputation. Still, sounds like you are doing okay now.

 

[angry12345]

They don't have the best reputation. Still, sounds like you are doing okay now.

who do you suggest for buying a comp for future reference?

Yea, appears the V1 fan was hitting against a clamp on the heatsink preventing it from moving. had my computer friend bend the clamp some so the fan could rotate. fortunately didnt have to take out the fan to do it since no thermal grease on us

CPU temps about 10 degrees lower than they were before.

What i am hoping is that when i was having some system screenshot like freezes, it was due to overheating some. Maybe the reason i was having a hard time reproducing the overheating was because there was still 5 fans in the unit that were pushing air through the heat sink so even though the fan wasnt working on the CPU, it was keeping enough cool most of the time.

I only got it close to overheating once.. the third time i ran Prime95 and the cpu got to 65 degrees after about 5 minutes, so i stopped it.

Thermaltake said that V1 fan has a bit of a reputation of shifting if its pre-installed in a system and the system is moved. Gotta respect a company that admits a flaw with their unit. Good fan though if it can not work and still keep the system cool for 5 hours of online gaming with only 1 or two lockups tops

 

[COLGeek]

Why buy a system? Just build your own and get way more bang for your buck. With the exception of notebooks, I build all my own stuff. I know what goes in and how it will perform and I get the satisfaction of rolling my own. Not hard to do at all. Glad things are much better for you. Later.