A recurring and most annoying problem...

[Nightstorm]

Like many people this christmas, I went out and using my hard saved money I decided to upgrade the ol' comp (practically a complete new deal). Anyways I bought everything, put it together (first time in my life) and around 9 hours after returning home from the store, all the drivers and updates were installed and I was sitting down to the great game of HL2 at max everything.

A couple of days later, the computer froze. Static image on screen, no response to any input. No problem, simple restart and I'm good, however, Windows did not agree. It complained of a corrupt or missing files in the system32/drivers folder. So I wiped the drive clean and reinstalled windows. Everything was fine except in a few more days same exact problem. So I reinstall and begin talking with the vendor I bought the stuff from to try to come up with a source of the problem. Again the freeze. Again reinstall. Tonight the freeze occured again after running smoothly for about 2 weeks (longest run).

This freeze occurs randomly and during different activities, surfing the net, loading up bsplayer, closing down WoW, while idling. I've stressed the computer running loops of 3dMark 03 to try to force a crash, but it's never happened doing anything particularly intensive. Any help or suggestion as to what's causing this problem would be very appreciated.

My specs:
MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum s939
Athlon 64 3200+ (boxed)
OCZ Dual Channel Optimized PC3200 DDR400 512MBx2 CAS2.5 (OCZ4001024PDC-K)
Ati AIW 9800 Pro
Creative Audigy 2 Zs
Maxtor 200GB Sata drive 8mb cache (oem part)
Pioneer DVR AO6-U
Pioneer DVD Rom drive
All in an Antec Sonata case
Cooled by two 120 mm fans (trying running case open in case of cooling problem, did not help)
Powered by a 380 W Antec Power Supply that came with the case.

Again thanks for any thoughts or help.

 

[Osiris]

Sounds like a driver incompatibility that might have over written the other driver you might have installed. When you installed your mobo drivers, did you install all of them lke your sounds, agp, lan, etc? If so, did you add a sound card to your system and a new video card and sound card? If so, don't do it again. Install the drivers that will be in use. So don't install your onboard sound then buy a soundcard and install them do. That's asking for trouble. Now saying this is your problem or if you did this but just a suggestion. Any luck yet?

 

[killians45]

check event viewer... give its details AND the error details

 

[Nubius]

Have you tested the RAM with memtest86+ to see if you get any errors?

What are your voltage? The +12v, +5v, and +3.3v rail.

You can get that kind of info from programs like Speedfan, Motherboard monitor 5 , or even SiSoftware Sandra, but the other two are real time voltage viewing.

 

[Nightstorm]

As far as I know I've installed only drivers that were required, meaning basic motherboard drivers (agp), ethernet drivers, not the onboard sound (disabled that in bios too) vid card, sound card.

Also could you elaborate on what is Event Viewer, how to run it and such. Sorry, but as this is my first built not bought comp, I've never had to do serious trouble shooting before.

Thanks again.

 

[EricB]

try lower the resolution to 800 X 600 to see if that helps. it look like you are having a video card issue.

 

[Osiris]

How to View Event Logs
To open Event Viewer, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, then click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. Or, open the MMC containing the Event Viewer snap-in.
2. In the console tree, click Event Viewer.

The Application, Security, and System logs are displayed in the Event Viewer window.



How to View Event Details
To view the details of an event, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, then click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. Or, open the MMC containing the Event Viewer snap-in.
2. In the console tree, expand Event Viewer, and then click the log that contains the event that you want to view.
3. In the details pane, double-click the event that you want to view.

The Event Properties dialog box containing header information and a description of the event is displayed.

To copy the details of the event, click the Copy button, then open a new document in the program in which you want to paste the event (for example, Microsoft Word), and then click Paste on the Edit menu.

To view the description of the previous or next event, click the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW.


Event Types
The description of each event that is logged depends on the type of event. Each event in a log can be classified into one of the following types: • Information

An event that describes the successful operation of a task, such as an application, driver, or service. For example, an Information event is logged when a network driver loads successfully.
• Warning

An event that is not necessarily significant, however, may indicate the possible occurrence of a future problem. For example, a Warning message is logged when disk space starts to run low.
• Error

An event that describes a significant problem, such as the failure of a critical task. Error events may involve data loss or loss of functionality. For example, an Error event is logged if a service fails to load during startup.
• Success Audit (Security log)

An event that describes the successful completion of an audited security event. For example, a Success Audit event is logged when a user logs on to the computer.
• Failure Audit (Security log)

An event that describes an audited security event that did not complete successfully. For example, a Failure Audit may be logged when a user cannot access a network drive.


How to Search for a Specific Log Event
To search for a specific log event, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, then click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. Or, open the MMC containing the Event Viewer snap-in.
2. In the console tree, expand Event Viewer, and then click the log that contains the event that you want to view.
3. On the View menu, click Find.
4. Specify the options for the event that you want to view in the Find dialog box, and then click Find Next.

 

[The Rage]

Sounds like a driver incompatibility that might have over written the other driver you might have installed. When you installed your mobo drivers, did you install all of them lke your sounds, agp, lan, etc? If so, did you add a sound card to your system and a new video card and sound card? If so, don't do it again. Install the drivers that will be in use. So don't install your onboard sound then buy a soundcard and install them do. That's asking for trouble. Now saying this is your problem or if you did this but just a suggestion. Any luck yet?

I agree...
I find a smooth running system starts with what you do once Windows is installed. I use this sequence:
Stay off the net at first
Motherboard drivers
Video drivers
Sound
Ethernet
Install any service packs if needed....this takes care of USB 2.0
I burned a CD especially made for if I have to reinstall with all the latest drivers for my system for an easy install.

Good Luck!

 

[Nubius]

wellll beyond event viewer if that doesn't do anything I'd still like to know this info if you could:

Have you tested the RAM with memtest86+ to see if you get any errors?

What are your voltage? The +12v, +5v, and +3.3v rail.

You can get that kind of info from programs like Speedfan, Motherboard monitor 5 , or even SiSoftware Sandra, but the other two are real time voltage viewing.

 

[Nightstorm]

Yeah I think I could have clarrified the problem. I can't get back into Windows after it has frozen once. After 'the freeze', it either complains of missing/corrupt files and doesn't load, doesn't get past the Windows Loading screen, or just goes blank after POST. So event viewer, as I understand it now, is out of the question.

As for memtest and the voltages, I'll need a little time, I already have papers and labs due (double annoying) so I'm kinda stretched. I'll probably get to the memtest on friday, tomorrow if I'm very lucky. Right now, I don't have time to rehook up the comp to check voltages.

As for the drivers, the order I installed was (off internet) Motherboard drivers, ethernet drivers, (on internet) windows updates, vid card drivers, AIW media drivers, sound card drivers, if that helps.

I'm not going to reformat my drive for a while, afformentioned work is one reason, the other, I need to get Knoppix to back up some stuff, but again no time right now.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, I completely forgot about Memtest for one.