Computer freezing lately

[kahlil88]

I just built a computer, with fairly new parts, and it was running smoothly until very recently - now I can't use it for very long without it freezing!!! When I hard reboot, it either doesn't output to the monitor or it freezes at the point where it would usually boot from the hard drive, displaying a bunch of J's on the screen or beeping continuously until I turn it off. I have to shut it off for several minutes to get it to boot up again, but I'm afraid to use it for very long.

I think the issue is related to overheating, possibly my CPU (I really hope so, because I intend to replace it very soon anyway). CPU usage was at 100% when it last froze (according to Gnome System Monitor). The motherboard is an Asus P5B-E (LGA-775, 533/800/1066 FSB). I'm using a Celery 2.93 GHz CPU - 512k L2 cache, 533 FSB. The RAM is supposed to be 800 MHz, but I think it's only running it at 533.

 

[Lexluethar]

Check the times. Try to recreate the freeze points with a temp monitoring program running so you can see the final temps at freezing. Then you'll have your overheating question answered.

 

[kahlil88]

I installed the GNOME Sensors Applet, so now I have some numbers. Here are the final temperatures (Celsius) from the last freeze:
Sys Temp: 42°
CPU Temp: 79°
AUX Temp: 127°

 

[FlashDude]

Yep 80c on your CPU is very bad. Make sure the cpu Heatsink is clean and the fan is working. Did you use thermal paste when you installed the heatsink? Make sure the heatsink is installed properly.

 

[kahlil88]

I pulled the CPU from a board that I got from a friend, but I did notice thermal paste on it. The fan works just fine. I inspected the heat sink and it was loose. After securing it, the CPU temperature was around 42° (however the system did freeze again - CPU was 53°).

 

[networkgeek]

I am concerned about that aux temperature. Could that be the graphics card?

Try downloading Ati tool or rivatuner and check the temp of that graphics card. Make sure the fan on the card is clean and spinning up properly.

 

[kevin nguyen]

I have same trouble. My machine is 1 year old Dell 4GB RAM and good motherboard, but I think it happened since the Norton 360 is installed.

 

[kahlil88]

I am concerned about that aux temperature. Could that be the graphics card?

Try downloading Ati tool or rivatuner and check the temp of that graphics card. Make sure the fan on the card is clean and spinning up properly.

I've also been a bit worried about the AUX temperature, and it probably is the graphics card (I think mine is brand new though). In any case, I'll give those programs a look and inspect the fan.

I have same trouble. My machine is 1 year old Dell 4GB RAM and good motherboard, but I think it happened since the Norton 360 is installed.

My problem is entirely hardware related, but I have definitely seen Norton 360 slow computers to a crawl (but completely freezing them?).

 

[philbar71]

norton 360 sucks. uninstall it and run avg free to see if it's still slow and locks up.

 

[kahlil88]

It seems RivaTuner and ATI Tool are Windows only. Will either of them run under WINE?