Freezing issues

[baptiste]

So in the past weeks/month my desktop has been regularly freezing, ctrl-alt-del doesnt respond and neither do any of the other commands I know, its a complete freeze, it doesnt shut down, I have to force a shutdown . Its an Alienware Aurora that I got 2 years ago ish. I would have built one myself but it was a gift.

 

Anyway, I have had no sucess figuring out what the f*ck is causing the freezes. I'm leaning towards hardware rather than software simply due to the fact that it happens mostly when I'm running a game for more than 30 minutes. If I'm surfing on the net and what not, I wont get a freeze.

 

I'm thinking it could be a GFX card issue but it could also be a RAM or overheating issue, I've honestly got no f*cking idea. No matter what it is, I've no f*cking idea how to know for sure what the issue is, which is the major problem.

 

I guess my first question is this: Is there any log anywhere that would tell me what caused the freeze? And second off, do you have any idea whats causing the problem or how I would go about finding what the problem is, and finally how to fix said problem?

 

Thanks for your time, excuse any language, I'm a little bit annoyed. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

Here are my specs, incase they are helpfull.

 

i7 CPU 920 2.7 GHz

3.0 GB RAM

GeForce GTX 260

 

 

EDIT: Also, I've run defrags, CCleaner, Avast, spybot and all that bullsh*t a hundreds times over the the sake of it. Before anyone tells me to do that.

Edited August 15, 2011 by baptiste

[uNi]

Check your CPU, GPU and RAM temperatures.

 

There's also a few tools around that let you scan for hardware failures, specially on your GPU, might worth a check.

[baptiste]

Thanks for that, here are the results from Coretemp and CPUID:

 

 

After having googled my CPU and my GPU, it seems that they are running at the appropriate temperature, but feel free to contradict me. As for the RAM, I didnt even know RAM could overheat and wouldnt even know how to measure it.

 

If you could indicate any of the tools that you were reffering too for the hardware failures, I would be greatfull.

 

Thanks for the help.

[uNi]

You'll have to check the temperatures while playing whatever makes it freeze. Also after you have to force it to shutdown enter the BIOS and check the temperature there as well.

 

Mem tests: http://www.memtest86.com/

CPU tests: http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/

 

I'll see if Nvidia has something like the ATI tools for GPU stuff.

[Wolf68k]

When you say it freezes regularly, exactly what does that mean?

What are you doing when it freezes?

 

I prefer http://www.memtest.org better.

 

It could be a dying mobo or PSU. RAM issues would usually cause a BSOD to appear.

 

If you want to see if the GFX are over heating and causing it then get MSI Afterburner. It includes 2 programs, one to monitor the temps and everything else going on with the card and a stress test program. Install them both and run them both.

 

If you want to see if the CPU is overheating and causing it then well you already have Core Temp, that'll do. Then you can use Intel BurnTest or SuperPi to stress the CPU.

[OverTheBelow]

Have you dusted your PC in the 2 years since you got it? That would be the first thing I'd do, especially if your temperatures are higher than they should be when under load (which could be causing this instability). Also, reinstall your graphics drivers - corrupted driver installations can cause this sort of problem.

 

More often than not, a RAM problem can cause Windows to freeze without displaying a bluescreen. However this could also be down to a slowly dying PSU or even a faulty soundcard (if you don't have one then this need not apply).

Edited August 16, 2011 by OverTheBelow

[Slamman]

I agree with Wolf, in that Memory is often a cause of such things as freezes, and that Dell's AKA Alienware now, are prone to memory compatibility issues, as I've been told. I find what works on Dell and stick with that memory brand, for one suggestion