Computer freezing while under load

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Hey all,

Recently my computer has started to freeze while under load. No error, no warning messages come up, just freezes DEAD in its tracks, and does NOTHING until I manually reset it. I can keep it running and on for days and weeks at a time, but while it is under load, it freezes without warning.

Originally I thought this was a software issue with Plex Media Server, as this was occurring anytime that the customer was doing video trans-coding, such as watching a movie on a Plex Android phone client over the internet. It would work for a few minutes, then freeze, and I would have to reset the computer for it to reboot and work again.

Today, I went to play some Starcraft 2, and again, I get the issue with freezing. I can't get more than 5 minutes into a game without it locking up. I am thinking perhaps I have a TEMPERATURE issue, but I am not certain.

I am running a fully up to date Windows 7 Ultimate machine, and also just fully updated the AMD drivers for the video card.


Is there anything I can do to look at what is happening JUST BEFORE the freeze? I have looked at Windows event viewer, and I can't find anything before the freeze, but it lists a minute afterwards saying something about unexpected reboot. Is there anything I can enable to get more info or anything?

I'm not really sure what to do...


Specs:

Gaming Rig: GA-X38-DQ6, Intel Q9550 @ 2.83 Ghz, TRUE (MX-2 & 2 SFF21D), Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR 800,
XFX Radeon HD 4870, SILVERSTONE DA700, OCZ Agility 3 60 Gig, 4x 7200.11 ST3500320AS, WD20EARS,
ASUS DRW-2014L1T, Antec P280, Dell 2709W, Sony SDM-HS95P, Windows 7 Ultimate - PLEX Media Server

 

[carnageX]

For temperatures, run something like HWMonitor and turn on logging (I think it has this feature... if not, use some software that has logging options). That way you can see what your actual temps are.

Have you tried updating all of your drivers? GPU, Network (both Wireless and ethernet if available), chipset, etc?

 

[Peter.Cort]

I know with SC2 one of the things that used to be an issue (I don't know if the fix was client side hotfix or if it was a manual thing to do) was the main menu would never cap fps and would just use as much of your gpu resources as it could take, and it would cause a lot of temp issues and lockups.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

OK,

so at this point, I have updated all of the drivers that I can.

GPU
Chipset
Audio
LAN


I have had Core Temp installed and running on this machine since I upgraded to Win 7 Ultimate. I went through many of the logs just before a crash was seen, and in each instance, I see nothing indicating elevated CPU temps.

I have looked at over a dozen CSV's from the logging spanning weeks and weeks and weeks. The HIGHEST temp I have seen (sorted data by value to make sure) was 120* F (which is UNDER 49* C, and that ain't bad if I say so.)


At this point, I haven't done any further testing, but I am searching for software that can log the GPU temps for me. I have a GPU monitor gadget on my desktop, but I don't know that I trust it, as it has always been goofy for me, and for the LONGEST time wouldn't report ANY values. Anyways, It shows that under 0% GPU load, right now as I type this, that the IDLE temps are 170-172* F (77-78* C). I have to do some reading, but holy COW..... that seems HOT for idle.....


As for the SC2 menu, that isn't the issue. I can let it sit at the menu for a while without issues. I have an authentication app on my phone which I need to login, and it took at least 45 minutes for me to finally get it working the other day. This freeze happens after only about 5 minutes or so of actual gameplay. Same thing seems to happen when transcoding video for that amount of time.


[EDIT]
Ok, so after a little research, it seems that 70-80* C idle for a 4870 is perfectly normal. I got a temp monitoring program just in case, and will be setting it up shortly.

Another thing I thought of is that I am using a 64 gig SSD as my C: drive, and there is only a few gigs free. I moved the page file to another drive to see if that changes anything.
[/EDIT]

 

[Peter.Cort]

Ok, I think they've fixed that SC2 main menu issue then. If you get AIDA64 (the successor of everest) you can enable logging and it'll save either an html or csv log on your computer with the data you wanna select. Also this feature is available in the trial version.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Well, the updating of the drivers and the changing of the page file had ZERO effect on the issue.

I got AIDA64 set up, but i am still trying to figure out how to get the logging to work for me properly. Unless it only logs ONCE in the freeware version. I dunno.

When running any of the stress tests in AIDA64, the machine locks up within a MINUTE. The GPU stress tests alone ran good for over 5 minutes though. I think it is something with the CPU that is hosed..... Just not sure.

 

[Peter.Cort]

I ran it as an html and had a decent amount of logging info (and they make it look pretty too!). If you go to preferences and down to logging you can specify the output and it'll save the file with a time stamp and all the info.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Gah, it was a PEBKAC issue.... I was the problem between the Keyboard and the chair.... I had logging set up, but then I restarted after changing the page file info. Forgot to start the software up again.... NOW that it is RUNNING, it is logging wonderfully every few seconds.... GAH!!!

Going brain dead over here.....

 

[Peter.Cort]

haha time to sit back for a night with a couple beers and watch some tv Hopefully the logging comes up with something useful information

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Well, as I have feared, the logging reveals nothing. It goes about it's business logging away every few seconds right up to the freeze, and nothing is any different that I have noticed in the last few moments than it is normally.

Found a new way to freeze it today. Watching youtube videos. I had 2 or 3 freezes right in the middle of videos. No warning, just BOOM, FROZEN.