Posted: 3/6/2011 4:07:15 PM EDT
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Essentially new, home built PC (It's pretty much been doing this from the get-go). We start it up, then it locks up within the first 5 minutes. Press and hold the power button to force the restart, then the little troubleshooting screen "Start Windows Normally" and then it's fine off the reboot, runs like a champ for as long as we need it to. It's predictable to the point that we fire it up, wait for it to freeze, then get on with the important stuff. i7 930 in a 1366 ASUS mb 6 gb RAM Radeon 5770 1024mb graphics card. 1tb hd All drivers and BIOS updated. Did a clean reinstall of windows. No viruses, spyware, etc. Once upon a time, I took the box to a local shop, and they couldn't get it to freeze up (figures). That almost makes me suspect the monitor. The monitor is an older HP 1730 flat screen, 4x3 swivels to portrait, etc. Could there be some sort of interaction that could make it go tits up? Some outdated energy star gibberish that is old and buggy? I'm almost tempted to buy a new monitor and see if that helps, but it seems like a stupid and expensive way to try to fix a problem. |
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You're not sure if it is hardware or software at this point? Have you considered downloading/running a liveCD version of a Linux distribution? If you have similar problems, that points to hardware. If the trouble magically goes away, that would lean toward a software (driver, etc.) problem. WIth a homebuilt system, either could be the case. A monitor connection shouldn't "freeze" a system. All you should get is some kind of "no signal" thing. |
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Quoted: My gut feeling says power supply, but that is a pretty weird problem. i love IT its always the power supply unless it isn't.  its true though try a different known working PS. after that start removing items one at a time. Edit: that sucks about the MB Asus is my go to brand. |
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Quoted: this is an known issue with ASUS boards. I had 3 striker extreme boards and only one would work but you dare not shut them off Downloading a Linux to a flash drive. Never tinkered with Linux, so that may be another whole new adventure. So, if we determine the board is at fault, what replacement would you recommend? |
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If the linux test tells you it is hardware and not software, I would look into possibly the hard-drive first. Those seem to be the most finicky.
Other than that, your windows install disk could be corrupted (which might cause the problem to repeat itself even after re-installing. As far as ASUS goes, I have no experience there. I built my computer 3 years ago on an EVGA Nvidia 680i SLI, with a core 2 QUAD and (still rocking) only 4 GB DDR2 Ram. Still runs like a champion though. Good luck man. |
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I don't have enough posts on this forum yet to have any idea what I'm talking about, but you might want to reboot your computer in safe mode and select "yes" to step-by-step confirmation.
It will list everything it's loading and you can figure out what's causing the hangup that way. I find that enabling boot logging is also quite useful. I might have more suggestions after I get a couple hundred nonsense posts and a few "me too" comments in and can get a clue. |
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Quoted: I don't have enough posts on this forum yet to have any idea what I'm talking about, but you might want to reboot your computer in safe mode and select "yes" to step-by-step confirmation. It will list everything it's loading and you can figure out what's causing the hangup that way. I find that enabling boot logging is also quite useful. I might have more suggestions after I get a couple hundred nonsense posts and a few "me too" comments in and can get a clue. Have you ever had a draw-down in a Wal-Mart? That gives you instant GD cred. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I don't have enough posts on this forum yet to have any idea what I'm talking about, but you might want to reboot your computer in safe mode and select "yes" to step-by-step confirmation. It will list everything it's loading and you can figure out what's causing the hangup that way. I find that enabling boot logging is also quite useful. I might have more suggestions after I get a couple hundred nonsense posts and a few "me too" comments in and can get a clue. Have you ever had a draw-down in a Wal-Mart? That gives you instant GD cred. No, I'm afraid I'm even too much a newb for that. Heck, I don't even carry. Open or concealed. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I don't have enough posts on this forum yet to have any idea what I'm talking about, but you might want to reboot your computer in safe mode and select "yes" to step-by-step confirmation. It will list everything it's loading and you can figure out what's causing the hangup that way. I find that enabling boot logging is also quite useful. I might have more suggestions after I get a couple hundred nonsense posts and a few "me too" comments in and can get a clue. Have you ever had a draw-down in a Wal-Mart? That gives you instant GD cred. No, I'm afraid I'm even too much a newb for that. Heck, I don't even carry. Open or concealed. Could a software/booting issue cause a freeze up 5 minutes after everything has fired up? The kicker (in my mind) is that when you reboot after the original freeze, then it's good to go. Could there be something that runs in a boot up from proper shut-down that doesn't run in a forced restart? ETA: Linux is almost done DL'ing. |
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I went throught the same situation as the OP with a late model HP I7 quad core. At first, I just got used to starting the thing twice each morning. Once, within minutes of the first boot, then after the blue screen I'd restart it for the second time and it would handle everything I threw at it....all day long. Photoshop, video edits, DVD projects. Weird... I soon grew weary of all that "second reboot process", and a motherboard firmware update fixed it. |
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Quoted: I went throught the same situation as the OP with a late model HP I7 quad core. At first, I just got used to starting the thing twice each morning. Once, within minutes of the first boot, then after the blue screen I'd restart it for the second time and it would handle everything I threw at it....all day long. Photoshop, video edits, DVD projects. Weird... I soon grew weary of all that "second reboot process", and a motherboard firmware update fixed it. Did you get a proper blue screen? I'm just getting actual freeze, otherwise that sounds like the exact issue I'm dealing with. I should double check the motherboard firmware. I updated the BIOS, but I don't know that I updated motherboard firmware. |
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Some systems are really picky about memory problems too.
You might want to try removing your RAM one stick at a time and see if it corrects the problem. Well, not all of it sequentially. Pull one out, test, put it back and pull another one, test, etc. Another weird fix to some problems is to move your peripheral cards around. Sometimes they act up in one slot and work fine in another. Also reset the interrupts (irq) in your BIOS. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I went throught the same situation as the OP with a late model HP I7 quad core. At first, I just got used to starting the thing twice each morning. Once, within minutes of the first boot, then after the blue screen I'd restart it for the second time and it would handle everything I threw at it....all day long. Photoshop, video edits, DVD projects. Weird... I soon grew weary of all that "second reboot process", and a motherboard firmware update fixed it. Did you get a proper blue screen? I'm just getting actual freeze, otherwise that's the issue. I should double check the motherboard firmware. I updated the BIOS, but I don't know that I updated motherboard firmware. "proper blue screen"? Oh yeah.... Sometimes it would say it's "doing it's thing" to "protect my computer", and I'd see the memory dump percentage as it happened. Sometimes the memory dump froze. Either way...the motherboard update fixed it. |
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Quoted: OMG, this Linux boot thing is filling my head with fuck. Either all the how-to's on the internet are unnecessarily complicated by nerdspeak, or I am not qualified to f with that. Quoted: this is an known issue with ASUS boards. I had 3 striker extreme boards and only one would work but you dare not shut them off Downloading a Linux to a flash drive. Never tinkered with Linux, so that may be another whole new adventure. So, if we determine the board is at fault, what replacement would you recommend? |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: My gut feeling says power supply, but that is a pretty weird problem. I'm thinking the same thing. What power supply are you using? OCZ500SXS 500 Watts I found out after my last supply smoked the wattage rating is almost useless. The manufacturer will sum up the total of each rail to get the wattage. They usually have multiple 12v rails at a low amperage and add in a high amp 5v rail to get the wattage number up. Your supply has +3.3V@30A, +5V@30A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, [email protected], [email protected] Maybe the 12v rail isn't enough for the processor or video card, or it could be something else. Have you tried load testing it? There are programs that will run the processors at max. If it's the supply, running under full load should make it fail. I replaced my smoked power supply with a Seasonic X750 with a single 60 amp 12v rail. Worth the extra money IMHO. |
I suspect Software. Something may not have installed properly. Check for BIOS updates and then reinstall. If it is doing the same thing consistently, then it is probably Not the hard drive. Memory would also cause a repeatable problem like that and it is also possible that a bug in the CPU or Mother board is causing it. Both hard drive and power supply problems are usually random. Just my 2 cents worth.
Impeach Obama for the Good of the Trees.  
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