Computer hard lock and sound repeat

[MushOcho]

I hate to drop this one on you guys but I've had no luck resolving this issue and can't find a single post that actually gets me any closer. Without further complaining here is the problem.

My computer has taken upon itself to randomly hard lock, as in display locks up, no cursor movement, no keyboard functions etc. And the speakers tend to repeat the last thing being played, albeit at a very fast speed. Just on the off chance I left it like this for 30 mins or so but it wasn't playing. Always have to hard reset.

So far I've run through....
Memtest - At least 4 passes without error.
Heat test - Gpu's, cpu etc. None of which get higher than 60 degrees...which surprised me.
Prime95 - Left the torture test running for a long while. Again flying colors.
Registry Clean - Done to the best of my meagre knowledge, although I feel like I've done more harm than good.
Drivers - All up to date, least they should be by now.

Guess I should really post my system specs for scrutiny....

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1
System Manufacturer: Packard Bell BV
System Model: iPower X8870
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Code Name: Kentsfield
Core Speed: 1598.97 MHz
FSB: Dram 1:1
Bus Speed: 266.33 mhZ
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Motherboard Manufacturer: Packard Bell BV
Motherboard Model: P5N=E SLI
Graphic Interface Version: PCI-Express

Memory Type: DDR2
Size: 4096 MB
Frequency: 266.3 MHz

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
Display Memory: 2668 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Driver File Version: 8.17.0012.9610

Hardly any lock ups when idle, online etc. Occassionally with movies. Constantly with games.

Thanks for any help in advance. And if this has already been solved and I've missed the post then I am sorry for wasting time.

 

[MushOcho]

Forgot to add...

Its got a 700 watt OCZ power supply, surely there must be enough power in that thing?
Only other things I could think of was either the hard drive or the sound card, or lack of one:/

 

[MindoverMaster]

No problem, man. We do this stuff every day.

If you add anything, use the edit button.

When does your computer freeze? Just randomly, a certain program?

You might want to run a virus check. Also run malwarebytes.

 

[MushOcho]

Thanks

Computer freezes almost completely randomly. Mostly games, sometimes wmp or vlc. Hasnt done it idle or browsing yet although maybe I just jinxed it

Malware scan came back clean. Will do a full virus scan asap.

Hard drive is coming back clean too.

I've seen a lot of older posts on different forums but none have got a fix that works.
I havnt changed or added anything recently except another gig of ram but the freeze was there long before that.

 

[Joe C]

Left click on the orb (used to be the start button in xp) and in the search box type in "reliability" without the quotes. Click on "view reliability history" . This will give you a history and a possible report of any errors from the system

 

[MindoverMaster]

Or event viewer can help you, too.

Might be a driver conflict or windows update, too.

 

[MushOcho]

Morning

Thanks for your posts

Reliability monitor I'd already checked but had another look and apart from the "windows was not shut down properly" (tell me something I don't know!) its all clean.

Eventvwr I'd also poked about with, that's why I tried the registry clean due to there being a critical event, in fact I've just checked and the same one's still there.....

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
StarOpen

I did some hunting and its supposed to be part of Samsung PC Studio (maybe) so I got rid of that but it must leave it behind.
Still the error above doesnt coincide with the lock up's

No conflicting drivers in device manager, although I know that doesn't mean much. Didn't think about the windows update, not sure when the last one was but do you think it's worth rolling back if its possible?

Could it be the onboard sound card and is it worth me getting a cheap sound card just in case?

 

[Joe C]

Run it in safemode for a while and see if it locks up, if it doesn't then you can be looking at a software/driver issue. If it does then you should be looking for a hardware problem

 

[-RockMan-]

Run it in safemode for a while and see if it locks up, if it doesn't then you can be looking at a software/driver issue. If it does then you should be looking for a hardware problem

Mush, can you test some multimedia applications for me please and tell me what happens ?
Try starting up adobe, corel paint or any related tool like and see if it locks up.
If it does that right away, it maybe a graphic card driver issue, that is causing all of the ruckus in there.

 

[MushOcho]

Thanks for the idea's.

Havnt had chance to test it in safe mode yet but have run photoshop as well as played several movies etc. No lock up's on those. Just games now it seems.

I did however remove the hdmi cable I had connected to my tv. Last couple of times it froze it allowed me to ctrl-alt-del and end the program. Sadly I'd love to put it down to just one game but its happened on a few recently so we're still not much closer.

Will test safe mode and post back