Computer Frezzing up!

Ark · Dec 2009

Ok so this is happening like 2 -3 times a day where the computer just locks up. Sometimes the mouse cursor just stops moving, other times the PC will just freeze with a loud looping noise coming from the speakers.

At first i thought it was memory which was the cause, but then i kinda ruled that out because i started to notice that it was only happening when browsing the internet.

So i used to use Firefox, then tried Safari and now i'm using Chrome. I personally think its Flash thats causing the lock-ups as thats where it seems to happen mostly.

Any heavy flash website seems to increase the odds of the PC locking up.

Heres my system which isn't 5 month old yet:

CPU - Intel i7 920
RAM - 6GB Corsair Dominator 1600mhz
Motherboard - Gigabyte EX58-UD5
GFX - ATI 4870X2
Sound Card - Creative X-Fi
O/S - Windows 7 x64

Any help or suggestions would kindly be appreciated!

Shogun3d · Dec 2009

Are your drivers updated? I know it's kind of a dumb question, but sometimes hardware like the Sound Card get rarely updated and can have issues that cause lock ups.

Ark · Dec 2009

Yes, everything is up-to-date driver wise. I may end up re-formatting and see if that solves the problem.

SyncViewS · Dec 2009

Hi, maybe this is another kind of a dumb question, but are you cooling your system properly? An i7 920 should dissipate a lot of heat. Do you have any temperature monitoring software? Have you noticed differences when the computer case is open or close?

System · Dec 2009

Yep, same thing was happening to me, bit less than 5 months though, it was due to the ram overheating (common issue) but this was caused by fluff blocking an air filter. Clean that baby inside and out with a vaccum cleaner, it's the best and only service you can give your machine. Do it every 2 weeks, if your a smoker like me it's necessary.

If that doesn't work throw Windows 7 in the bin, reformat and install something stable.

Ark · Dec 2009

SyncViewS wrote: »

Hi, maybe this is another kind of a dumb question, but are you cooling your system properly? An i7 920 should dissipate a lot of heat. Do you have any temperature monitoring software? Have you noticed differences when the computer case is open or close?

I have a thermaltake 120 ultra which is supposed to be one of the best i7 air coolers.

My average temp is around 35 degrees according to 'coretemp' when not under load, i've ran quite a few benchmarks: Uniengine and STALKER:COP to name a few and theres never any problems when under load.

I recently cleaned the inside and components about 2 weeks ago.

I still think its software related myself.

Jason Young · Dec 2009

I've had a similar issue with vista 64 and tracked it down to my wireless card not supporting 64 bit windows properly... might be a similar issue as mine would only lock up every so often, but it always happened when there was high bandwidth usage.

Mark Dygert · Dec 2009

If I was a cynical man, I would say that some of the latest microsoft updates for XP and Vista are loaded full of little things that bring those systems to their knees... but you know, they would never do that just to push people onto Win7. It's not like they have done it before ... They are normally pretty quick to fix those problems after they introduce them.

Ark · Dec 2009

Just ran a pass on memtest and it passed with no errors.

Gonna uninstall flash and see if that sorts it before resorting to any drastic measures.

Ark · Dec 2009

Ok so i've installed a fresh clean copy of Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and the problem still persists.

Still had the same problems in Vista x64, kinda hard to track down if its software or hardware related.

Now my theory about it being flash must be wrong as it's not installed at this time.
Although it could have some similarty with other programs that are causing the crash like high CPU useage.

Just loaded up Zbrush and it crashed after a minute with the same looping noise coming from the speakers.

Really starting to piss me off.

Psyk0 · Dec 2009

I always blame the RAM first...especially if you overclocked. Repeated Long Beeps usually means memory problem (i guess it depends on the board manufacturer). I dont trust memtest XD.

Gut the machine and only leave the minimum, 1 stick of ram, 1 HD, no DVD drive, no sound...etc. Reintroduce hardware one piece at a time, i would start with, audio and other "secondary" peripherals. If all goes well, then you can start pointing the finger at RAM that is faulty by swapping it with the current one until you reproduce the error.

r4ptur3 · Dec 2009

I had the same problem, and after a TON of research I think I finally nipped it in the butt.

It's a Windows 7 64x problem with power saving.

It seems that the 64 bit version of Windows 7 likes to tun absolutely everything off to try and save power. Go to your power saving options and make sure Windows never shuts anything off. The default is set to 10 minutes, I think. After you are done there take a look at your hard drive and ethernet card. They should both have an option for power saving -- Windows tries to shut them off while idle ... the only problem with that is it totally locks your system up. Make sure both of those never shut off as well.

I still get the frozen mouse every couple of days...I am sure it is because I missed some option for power saving somewhere. It seems to happen way less now that I've disabled the power saving wherever I could find it. Hope this helps!

Ark · Dec 2009

Thank for the help guys, gonna try the power saving tip.

Can't believe the amount of power saving options in Win7. Guess this is what we get for trying to be green.

Psyk0 · Dec 2009

Hey good info r4ptur3, i'll try that solution first before pulling my hair, and hardware out!

Ark · Dec 2009

Seems to be alot more stable now. I will report back later.

Edit: Think i spoke too soon, still doing it.

bejkon · Dec 2009

Checked for any BIOS updates?

Ark · Dec 2009

No not looked into that, always scared that the flash would fuckup and screw the motherboard, although i think i have dual bios.

Thanks for the suggestion though, i may try it later.

I've just disabled some legacy features in the bios see if that helps.

eld · Dec 2009

try having a big fan blowing at the open side of the case, if it hopefully cools it down and it doesn't crash, then you'll know if its a heat issue.

Ark · Dec 2009

Don't think its a heat issue as i've monitored the temps and there ok and sometimes it crashes straight after loading into windows.

r4ptur3 · Dec 2009

damn, sorry to hear it didn't work >< I still get the frozen mouse / lockup from time to time. I've also read that it might be mobo incompatibility (if you have an nForce mobo). I'm going to keep my eye on this thread to see if we can find the culprit. Stable Win7x64 would be so awesome...

ShadowFox · Dec 2009

Ark, are you using dual or more monitors? if so, I found this was a problem with my computer having very similar freezing episodes like the ones you described.

If you are using more that one monitor,I suggest maybe seeing how one runs and whether you have the same issue.

The shortkey in windows 7 is (windows key + P) allows you to change the display to dual or single whatever, hope this helps

as this issue annoyed me for several months!

I think its down to windows 7 and graphics cards, as every update it gets rid of mine -.- and it seem to have terrible viewport glitches in 3ds max.

Ark · Dec 2009

Thx for the suggestion ShadowFox, but im only running a single monitor.

Don't wanna open my mouth again to soon, but since i disabled the legacy options i had set in the BIOS, the computer as been running flawlessly and hasn't crashed since.

So any of you guys that are having the same problem, go into your BIOS and try disabling any legacy support that you don't need.

Computer Frezzing up!

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