PC Locking up: Plz Help

[qu1k_sh0t]

This post has been updated. I have done a whole bunch of tests, but this is a nice summary of what I have gone through so far.

I purchased an Asus motherboard and after transferring my components across I started to have random crashes, but only whilst gaming.

Current setup.
Problem: While gaming the pc will just lock up after a random amount of time.

Intel QX9770 with Gigabyte Gpower2 cooler
Asus Striker 2 Formula
1 x 2gig DDRII 800 Transcend memory
Seagate 620 HD
Creative XFi Gamer sound card
Zotac 9800GTX Amp edition
Aerocool 620watt psu

I have run a tonne of tests. The most important ones being Prime95 for a full hour. With all four cores running at 100% the CPU didn't get higher than 60degrees and did not lock up or freeze at all.

I have also run memtest for a full pass twice over with no errors being reported.

I have swapped out my gfx card, both my Asus 9800GTX+ and my Zotac card were causing lock ups after random periods of time. My previous set up ran with the same components without any problem whatsoever.

I think that my northbridge or southbridge may be over heating, as I recently stuck a 40cm desk fan in the side panel and it seems to have stopped the locking up. I played for nearly two full hours without a crash. What software can I use to check my north and southbridge temps?

 

[Kuga]

Did you reinstall Windows when you put the new board in? I know if you have a different chipset to what you changed to without installiing windows again it can cause major issues.

 

[qu1k_sh0t]

Did you reinstall Windows when you put the new board in? I know if you have a different chipset to what you changed to without installiing windows again it can cause major issues.

Yeah sorry should have added that, I installed fresh, clean install then clean driver update as well as BIOS update. I don't get what the problem is, I play COD4 competitively and on the old board I was able to maintain 250fps, on this board I get MASSIVE spikes even trying to run stable 125. It will drop to 13 or 22 and then back up to 125.

Not sure where the problem lies. Could the board be faulty?

 

[Bouman]

Try google a bit on that motherboard... Its been known for major issues..
I alsio read in the newegg customer reviews lots of people complainig about that mobo, even after replacement...

 

[Carbon_Fibre]

Eish, sorry i don't envy you.

This is why i prefer gaming consoles. No need for upgrades or technical issues.

Pc is for we, email, work. No gaming allowed for me.
Xbox ftw

 

[qu1k_sh0t]

Dammit. So freaking bleak, I think it may have to do with heat related. Does anyone know of an app that I can control my fan speeds from windows? Freeware obviously

 

[chickenbeef]

Speedfan

 

[LFX]

Eish, sorry i don't envy you.

This is why i prefer gaming consoles. No need for upgrades or technical issues.

Pc is for we, email, work. No gaming allowed for me.
Xbox ftw

go away you troll



@quik.

if you have a spare hdd lying around, clone your windows partition to that drive then run it from there and see if it improves.

i suggest using paragon partition manager

 

[Zenbaas]

Eish, sorry i don't envy you.

This is why i prefer gaming consoles. No need for upgrades or technical issues.

Pc is for we, email, work. No gaming allowed for me.
Xbox ftw

D00s post of the month!
Someone is having problems and all you can do is gloat in their misery with your pro-console posts..? Pathetic.

 

[chickenbeef]

go away you troll



@quik.

if you have a spare hdd lying around, clone your windows partition to that drive then run it from there and see if it improves.

i suggest using paragon partition manager

never ever, Acronis is the way to go!

 

[chickenbeef]

D00s post of the month!
Someone is having problems and all you can do is gloat in their misery with your pro-console posts..? Pathetic.

+1, we code the games so he can play it on his Xbox and here he is...telling us pcs are crap for gaming

you belong in the other section of this forum, the section where we geeks monitor your behaviour so we know how to get you to buy our games again in the future

 

[qu1k_sh0t]

go away you troll



@quik.

if you have a spare hdd lying around, clone your windows partition to that drive then run it from there and see if it improves.

i suggest using paragon partition manager

I don't have any software to clone at the moment, and as per usual I am capped haha.

I do have a spare drive, so what I will do is swap out the current drive which is a Raptor, and test a fresh install on a different hard drive. I have been monitoring my temperatures and I have hit a 69degree high on Gfx, with my HD's sitting around 45 - 50 degrees and my core doesn't go higher than 40.

So I will add some extra fans to pull from front to back tomorrow. Would it stuff up my airflow if I sat a fan on the side panel pulling ontop of my gfx cards?

 

[Carbon_Fibre]

HAHAHA

 

[Conradl]

So I will add some extra fans to pull from front to back tomorrow. Would it stuff up my airflow if I sat a fan on the side panel pulling ontop of my gfx cards?

My guess would be heating or virus/spyware (due to the active desktop error).

I don't think the over heating will be caused by ambient temperatures within the machine, especially not on a standard configuration, i.e. no overclocking etc.; so I am not sure if another fan will help. You need to make sure all heatsinks are connected correctly.

Try run this from a command prompt:

Dir C: /s.
Your CPU will spike, you may need to run a few, or create a batch-file to run your CPU at 100:

:maxCPU
dir C:/s
got maxcpu

Then use speedfan to monitor the CPU temp in realtime and see what happens....

 

[qu1k_sh0t]

I just ran that Dir c: /s command and my cpu temp jumped from 25 - 50degrees. Just spamming the command Speedfan tells me my core 1 is around 10 - 13% usage and sitting around 45 - 50degrees. It is a quad core so its only the one that has a big spike in temp the rest sitting between 35 - 45.

. Maybe my CPU is not mounted correctly.

Could you possible explain how I make a batch file that I will be able to test what you saying?

Thanks for the point in the right direction btw

If it is my CPU, would it also cause the dropping in FPS that I am experiencing in game?

 

[The_Techie]

You might want to give Prime95 a try, which will stress all four cores at 100%. If your CPU is throttling itself then it will indeed result in an FPS drop.

 

[chickenbeef]

Type the stuff in notepad and save it as Filename.bat

+1 for prime95, you can also try occt and loop 3dmark a few times

 

[qu1k_sh0t]

I created a batch file with about 6 of these lines

:maxCPU
dir C:/s
got maxcpu

And I have spammed that batch file for about 5 minutes already. I opened up

edit test.bat

then screen went blue I added the 3 lines about six times each and then saved the file.

Then proceeded to run the batch about 10 - 20 times, spamming up and enter haha. My core has not gone higher than 50degress and I am only using around 15% CPU Usage. Please let me know what I am doing wrong if anything haha.

 

[Rosaudio]

Eish, sorry i don't envy you.

This is why i prefer gaming consoles. No need for upgrades or technical issues.

Pc is for we, email, work. No gaming allowed for me.
Xbox ftw

WTF Dude Xbox sucks

PS3 FTW

 

[qu1k_sh0t]

I have been running Prime95 for 5 minutes now, CPU's reading at 100% and the temperature has not gone above 58degres.

There are a few discrepancies between CPUID Hardware Monitor and Speedfan haha, check the picture out. I will leave this running for about half an hour, if it doesn't lock up and freeze, could that mean there might be something wrong with my PCI - E slot?