Computer keeps crashing

[Knautia]

Ok for the last few days my computer has been constantly crashing when ever I play a game for an hour or so or less at first i was sure it was my core over heating it was at 91*C :O.

So I stuck my house fan on my computer so it back down to 45*C... But im still crashing so I think it may be my graphics card. Is there any way to test if it is or not?.

Because it just crashes I dont get no blue screen or any information as to why I crashed.

 

[JMMD]

What type of heatsink/fan do you have on the CPU? 91° is very hot for CPU even under load unless it's really overclocked.

Which video card do you have? Have you checked the temps on that?

Which operating system are you running?

Do you have all drivers up to date?

Does this happen with every game or just some?

 

[Knautia]

I have a Intel core 2 quad Q8200 @2.33Ghz. As far as i know its not over clocked.

My graphics card is a standard geforce 9400 GT and I think the heat sensor is on top of the graphics card, not sure if it is a heat sensor or not though (So that 91*C might of been the graphics card maybe not).

Running on good old XP.

Yeah it seems to be every game, I just tried to stress my CPU to see if it was that or my graphics card and my computer crashed after a while of having a virus scan, defrag, spyware scan and 2 fire fox's up with a lot of tabs (like 40/50 on each) with flash on their tabs and it crashed when i alt tabbed to skype but whether that was the graphics card crashing because of the flash or just the CPU i dont know.

[edit] updated the graphics driver yesterday.

 

[fragspot]

First of all i think that your PC is crashing because of the CPU temperature is rising above 100 degrees and to protect from damage the intel thermal monitoring technology shuts the processor down immediately.

Secondly, Quad core 2.33 GHz temperature should never surpass 60 degrees under full load unless it is overclocked.

Keep your CPU in open place, make sure the air circulation inside the cabinet is adequate, and if poosible get a liquid cooling solution or a CPU cooler like CM Hyper n520 atleast which will be cheaper than liquid cooling.

 

[Knautia]

Yeah thanks just put it into an open space and had already ordered a new fan which has bought it down to around 44*C but im still crashing :S.

 

[Archean]

Can you please give us some minidumps for analysis?

You can find those in C:\windows\minidump. Incase there are multiple dump files, please zip them in a single file, and attach it with your next post.

 

[Knautia]

Here's a link to my minidump.rar Ok... maybe not i cant post links yet hope you dont mind me spamming this so i can .

 

[Knautia]

lalalalalalalallalalalalallalalala

 

[Knautia]

Ok here we go http://www.mediafire.com/?ezdwzknmikogzjl thanks

[Edit] Its getting worse now crashed on youtube earlier.

 

[Archean]

So far I have had chance to go through 14 of your minidumps, and about 10 or so of these, point at Via Audio Drivers/software. Kindly uninstall your currently installed drivers (which are pretty old considering their release in Feb 2008). Then download Driver Sweeper/or Driver Clean Pro (both have free versions easily available) and run them to wipe out any remaining files.

Once you have done that, reboot your system, download latest drivers either from Via's site or from your motherboard manufacturer's site, and install these.

If the remaining dumps have anything of significance other than this i will let you know. Please do report back about status of this issue once you have updated drivers. Regards

 

[Knautia]

Just downloading the driver and will test it out soon but it may take sometimes as it randomly happens. But just noticed how old the dumps are.. and none of them are recent which means my computer may not be creating dumps for my crashes as my entire system just freeze's.

[Edit] Still crashing/freezing.

 

[Archean]

Yup that fact was noted but I was going to put that up along with my remarks once I have the chance to go through all of your two dozen or so dumps. Just to ensure so, please see that your pc is configured to record minidumps properly.

In windows XP you can check the minidump related settings by, right click on my computer, then going to properties, then going to advanced settings tab, and click on settings in 'setup and recovery' area.

Ensure that Write an event to the system log is checked, and under 'Write debugging information' Kernel memory dump is selected, uncheck overwrite any existing file and click OK twice.

 

[Knautia]

Ok have done what you said and have just gotten it to crash but no new minidump has been made its all the same as last time and none have been updated either.

 

[Archean]

I've gone through three more dumps and all the same as I stated in previous post i.e. via audio driver with 0xD1 error.

Now, as you say you have updated the driver but your pc is still crashing, i'm inclined to suggest you to consider second reason behind 0xD1 error i.e. RAM/Hardware issues. Please run memtest on your PC (for 8 passes) and see whether it finds any errors.

Lastly, with regard to minidumps being not record, please go the instructions in the previous post again, and check which 'folder' is being set as default destination for these dumps in the 'write debugging information' box.

 

[Knautia]

Ok just done 8 passes with 4 memtests checking all available ram and found no errors.

Also the minidumps are being recorded to %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP which i am guessing is c:\windows\minidump?.

 

[Knautia]

Any more ideas as to what the problem may be? or should I wait untill I have money and take it to Pc world or a computer fixer.

 

[Archean]

Have you checked for the location of minidump as i requested in my last post? To see whether more recent minidumps are available?

Also, one of your minidumps pointed at vsdatant.sys, which is part of ZoneAlarm firewall; I suggest you to uninstall it completely for the time being.

Also download OCCT, and stress test your graphic card and see whether there is issues with its memory or hardware.

One of the dumps is of 'Thread Stuck in Device Driver' which in general means that there is some issues with the hardware itself, therefore, please run OCCT for a reasonably long time to stress your graphic card to the limit and see what happens.

Also, if it is possible, can you please get another card and try it on your system to see whether that helps.

 

[Knautia]

Have just done the OCCT Test for my CPU and GPU... Gpu turned up clean on both tests... However the cpu test apparently over heated my processor in 3 minutes of testing. I did the test again and checked the temperature of the core during it with my own software and found that it had not changed temperature but still said the CPU had over heated.

It gave me loads of graphs do you need them?.

 

[Archean]

That can be give some clues.

Also as pointed out by earlier repliers, please ensure that:

1. The CPU heatsink is properly seated / and fan is working fine (you may need to re-apply thermal paste to achieve that). Q8200 is similar to my CPU only bit slower, hence it shouldn't run that HOT ..... my normal idel temperature was below 40C and under load it would hover i the high 40s (before the sensor on the CPU broke lol) anyway, you can use these temperatures as benchmark.
2. Casing's air intake/flow is good.

To test out CPU more thoroughly once you have ensured above two conditions will be to run Prime95.

 

[Knautia]

Ok.... Just turned zonealarm off ben testing for 3 days and no crashes what so ever... which suprised me a lot just got the thermal gel I ordered on the inet and will apply that when it starts getting hot thanks a lot for your help... wish I had tryed turning zonealarm off as soon as you said.

 

[Archean]

Ah the bad old ZA, once it was a decent solution, but not any more. I would suggest you to try Online Armor or Comodo (it is Royal Pain in the B*** ...... but I think its worth it).

Goodluck and hope all is settled in your PC world now Regards