Computer randomly freezing

[Modena]

Hi everybody, I recently replaced the PSU out of my friends computer because it died on him, and now he says it's randomly freezing/locking up on him. It happened apparently while watching a movie, so nothing demanding at all.

Before I gave it back to him I tested it through Prime95, Heaven Benchmark, Cinebench, Furmak, and OCCT. I had 0 stability errors, nothing at all temps where all perfect. I updated all drivers and windows updates, cleaned out the system from dust, cleaned the registry, I even tested the RAM through memtest and it was also good. Now he gets it and says it's freezing on a movie?!?!? I have no idea what's going on or how to fix it. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

The specs are the same as mine except he's running stock clocks on CPU (3.4ghz), and his video card is a GTS450 instead.

 

[Mark56]

Have a look in event viewer it should have some error reports relating to the freezes.

You could also try running the PC with just one memory stick in and if the problem continues swap to another stick. Memtest is good but it can miss minor errors in the RAM and it does not test the memory in the same way that Windows uses it.

 

[Modena]

Thanks for the response, would faulty RAM also cause the computer to turn on but not display anything on the screen? I'm seriously about to tell him to go hit up a shop, now it won't even display anything on screen. Is it possible he messed it up somehow I don't get how it's all falling apart on him now when it ran perfect for me.

 

[Mark56]

Many components can work fine one minute and then not the next. And, yes, the RAM can cause a PC to have a blank screen, I've seen it myself on a laptop, took the faulty RAM out and it worked perfect. But, there can be other causes.

What caused the last CPU to fail, overheating, overclocking, could other components have been damaged if it was overheating. If overclocking was the cause has it been done again?

 

[Modena]

Wasn't the CPU that failed the PSU failed. I assume it just wasn't great to start and over time it died. There isn't any heat issues with it, so sounds like my best bet is to tell him to replace his RAM, hopefully that's the issue.

 

[Mark56]

Ooops, I misread that after a long day.

Simply replacing the RAM might be a waste of money if it is not faulty. I would tell him to try it with just one stick at a time. Ram is a likely cause but it could also be the graphics card. You wouldn't want to tell him to buy new RAM and then find it makes no difference.

 

[Modena]

Ah damn, I've already ordered it for him. Well thing is he's really in need of his comp but also couldn't open it up and find the RAM to save his life.(Even if I walk him through)

So if it isn't the RAM I'll just take out the video card and run off his on-board, and return the RAM. Thanks again for the responses, I'll post how it turns out.

 

[Mark56]

Having a look in Event Viewer, as I suggested in post 2 would have been the best place to start rather than buying new parts, fingers crossed it is the RAM.

The graphics card would be the next culprit but there are other possible causes including faulty drivers, a virus, a mobo fault, software corruption and errors or a fault on the hard drive. Event Viewer should give a better indication which Is why it was my first suggestion.
On many occasions the most obvious solution is the wrong one, that is the reason for running tests, like swapping the RAM around.

Best of luck and yes please do get back with the outcome.

 

[Modena]

Here's the event log, I had him take out one of his sticks of RAM and it booted up for him. This list is a cluster **** I know but I don't know how to copy it in a better way. Also I went through it with him over the phone and there was some kernel errors, and a few display errors if that means anything.

Edit: Actually got it in a more viewable way here's the link

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BPE65EXB

 

[Mark56]

I had him take out one of his sticks of RAM and it booted up for him

Are you saying here that it booted up OK, no more blank screen, if so then it was the RAM stick that was removed, problem solved.

The event log is of no use and the snapshot of the event viewer only shows one critical error that I can read, the process relates to an audio driver and the exception code has many possible causes relating to software, anti virus and firewall incompatabilities with XP SP2. I can just see another critical error on the same date, what does that one show.

You need to look through the critical errors and note the process name quoted and the exception code. See if the same processes are being named over and over.

What version of windows is being used and what service pack level?

Could you list the antivirus and firewall being used?

If on XP SP2 upgrade to SP3, SP2 is no longer supported and leaves a PC wide open to security attacks.

 

[Mark56]

Ooops, just looked at the download of Event Viewer and I was able to open it. The last two errors are both the same but as they both occured on the same day (today 18th) they don't relate to previous freezes. Check that the sound drivers are up to date.

There does not appear to be any more usefull information in the Viewer, it all looks fairly normal to me. Only a couple of other BSOD's both different.

With nothing in particular recorded in the Viewer, memory is the prime culprit. May be your purchase of new sticks was not a mistake.

 

[Modena]

Yeah, saying it booted up as it should normally. He's using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, with all the latest updates installed. Avira Free anti-virus, and no firewall except for the Windows one.

The only process I noticed in the list over and over was Bonjour, which I assume is part of itunes and is just a normal error non-critical. But yeah great I'm glad it was just the RAM, and thanks for all the help.

 

[Mark56]

Your welcome.

Yes, Bonjour is part of Apple/Itunes. It is odd that Event Viewer does list a lot of things as Errors when infact they are just Events. All those Bonjour entries are quite normal.