Computer sporadically stops responding?

OK ... when you installed Windows, did you delete the partition and started fresh?
Did you at any time before all Windows updates, installing an Anti Virus with updated definitions added a backed up drive, CD/ DVD, thumb drive and such? Trying to rule out possibilities of MBR or system infection.

On the systems I have worked with, when system freezes with the hard drive lit solid, nothing works, this goes on for 30 to 60 seconds at times and it was related to one of the SATA controllers, the others, no problem. Come to think of it, I never checked the data and power cables .... hmmm ....

Like you said, if installation, including drivers and all were done right, this would only point to the two components and their drivers perhaps!

How is it that you cannot use the new PSU?

the new PSU did not have a 4 pin. it only had an 8 pin. well. 2 8 pins. plus one of the SATA power connectors was broken from getgo so i just returnehd it. the old one had the one 4 pin i needed for the new motherboard.

as for updates and stuff, I did completely reformat, took 3 hours, but it reformatted my whole drive. i installed all my device drivers while the system was downloading the 37 updates for Win7, and i did install AVG Free antivirus and updated the definitions in between the driver discs. On the other hand i HAVE been using the same SATA cable since i got the hard drive. when i get home later this week i'll switch out the cable and see what happens, i have a million of the damned things laying all over. The lockups were happening even while installing certain updates though so i would imagine its either the SATA cable, or one of the two components. I did not go anywhere but google and AVG's website during the installation of the antivirus though, so the system should not be infected. It points towards a component as well since its the same problem i've had since the last motherboard CPU and RAM.

One other question. How in the heck do i test a GPU with a multimeter? lol, if its even possible that is.

You can't, simple solution can be if possible, borrow another graphic card from a friend, if not, perhaps another alternative can be to buy some dirt cheap card, and see what happens.

For GPUs with PCI-E 6 or 8pin, you can take a reading from the plug first then the back using the solder points if visible. I don't think that would prove much.

You didn't say if you deleted the partition before format. Not that I think it is related, but it is best to be certain about everything, we are down to HDD and GPU and don't need to think what if this and that, in case of MBR infection, even after reformat and install of new AV, system could still be compromised!
Latest drivers were downloaded rather than using the CD/ DVD?

These days you do not need to visit certain sites, download files and execute them to get infected, all is needed is to be connected to Internet without even opening a browser. I don't believe we are looking at infections but like to be always 100% sure about things!

Do test your PSU while the system is running, before Windows loads, you can enter the BIOS so it will sit there, take a reading from all 3 rails using the 24pin then let Windows load, play a DVD and do an AV scan at the same time then take another reading.

Download BurnInTest™ run a few tests back to back, the trial version lets you do 15 min tests, in preferences, take OFF floppy, CD and such, do the first test with 50% load then increase the load, do few tests back to back.

Or another alternative can be OCCT, its free to use, with which you can thoroughly stress test your graphic card.

That is a good point Sharam, PSU can be an issue, considering that he has almost changed everything except the few parts.

Lastly, if you have deleted the old partition, then recreated and reformatted chances are you are clean provided the medium you used for installation is clean, but just to be sure please go through Virus and Malware Removal forums 8 steps as a precaution, and wait for their review.

I do think it is my harddrive. me and my buddy switched out the cards and it did not change anything. we even hooked his PSU up. I switched out the SATA cable and saw no improvement, and the HDD still takes forever to do things apparently. I'm going to buy a new HDD next paycheck and i'm going to stay far FAR away from Western Digital.

Well you can look at an article about HDD reliability on the link provided here. You'll be surprised about the results.

Don't blame it all on your hard drive, something must have pushed it over the limit, new drive with your old config would've had the same faith most probably due to many reasons hidden in this thread!

Hope the new drive ends all this and you can get back to uninterrupted gaming.

Happy fragging

well i sure as hell hope its not caused by my PSU. I looked at so many videos and i STILL cannot figure out how to test the darn thing with a multimeter. I wish i had someone who friggin knew how to.

Testing the +12V and the +5.0V is easy using one of the large 4pin Molex connector, use the Black as ground, Yellow for the +12V, Red for the +5V. SATA power connector should have the Orange +3.3V as well if it comes straight out of the PSU but the holes are a lot smaller. I use the 24 pin connector.

With all the above, we are measuring voltage before it goes through the board, not the best way to test but it would tell you enough. The meter should be set to the lowest DC Volt, mine jumps from 2V DC to 20V DC so I have to set it to 20V DC to test all, if I had 5V DC setting, I would have had to use 5V to test the +5V/ +3.3V and set to 20V DC to test the +12V.

I was thinking more with your board and CPU working together, the South Bridge and the HS. Still after all these, it is possible that the drive just went south all on it's own. Hard to say from this side of the screen.

okay that makes sense then cause my multimeter goes from 2 to 20 as well.

And to me it seems as though the hard drive went on its own only because Western Digital hard drives tend to die easy. And i do move my computer around a lot. My friends live an hour away and i'll put my computer in my car, drive up there, and we'll LAN together for a night or two. might explain a lot actually..

quick question actually.

Does having a bad harddrive relate to drops in FPS while in a game? i keep getting like 17-30 fps in game. I'm realllllly hoping its my HDD thats bad.. ugh

About the HDD being bad, don't forget the board and the CPU compatibility issue as well as the reported +12V voltage (your old setup)

I don't know what game you play and on what server. Many things affect FPS starting with the most important part, the server then the number of players before going to your system.
Any newer system can handle MP server if set correctly.

I don't know the location of the server and your ping, if this happens on different servers, do they use custom maps or the standard maps, and does it happen right away or after playing for some time.

All in all the player's system setup and performance plays a big role as well, I used to run Soldier of Fortune (the original) server 24/ 7 and few other games, one of my servers was not dedicated and I used to play on the same system, this was a PIII Celeron 800MHz over clocked to 1066MHz with 192MB of RAM running on 1.5Mb business ADSL line, 10 slots and we played hours on with either Assassin or CTF mode with no lags or crashes.
Playing on other servers was different, even with high ping I had decent FPS, and I preferred 30 to 60FPS (as long as you know what you doing with the vid settings). If I had the VSYNC ON, 30 and 60 was perfect.

I do build and setup gaming systems with attention to the MP gaming performance but over the internet is rather difficult to troubleshoot low FPS; best place would be one of the Forums, perhaps from one of the respected clans!

well i replaced my HDD and it fixed the lockup problem. This makes me extremely happy.

However, while playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, i get around 46-56 fps while standing still in a non combat area, then once i enter an area with everyone shooting and a lot of stuff going on i drop below 30 fps. sometimes i'll even hit 19fps.

My first thought was that my GPU was overheating, but it isnt since it can handle up to 105*C, and runs hot at about 75*C. I'm wondering if my PSU really DID cause any issues. I'm going to have to test it with my Multimeter. If there are any websites that you know of that give good instructions on how to do so it would be greatly appreciated. This could possibly be that my PSU is not giving my GPU enough juice. and thus runs with bad frames.

I know it's not the servers, seeing as the server only has 12 people total including myself, and it is not run on Dedicated Servers. It's a crappy matchmaking system, but even before it was just lag, not low FPS. I was getting around 60 fps at all times before i got computer issues.

I don't know of any site with instructions but can check.

Dedicated server is the one that is not generated from within the game, as in, you start a game and in one of the menus you start a server and even play on the same system at the same time. Dedicated is any computer running MP game server and nothing but, this is done by adding switches to the game's executable with certain CFG file that is changed by the server "owner" and it does not run the game itself but a server window which resembles the Command Prompt with most games. The server's upload is of most importance as well as it's hard drive setup, condition and speed.

Have you changed your settings in the game as well as in your video card's utility?
Is detailed texturing ON? How about shadows, AA and AF.
What is your Monitor's refresh rate?

Without knowing the server's exact setup, it is hard to say if your GPU can’t handle the amount of information or if the server cannot provide the client with enough info based on the ping, upload and it's overall setup. (combat area hits the server hard, as in, sending lot of info to all you 12 players)

1.2GHz processing power, 387MB of RAM and 360Kb upload should be the minimum requirement of a 12 slot server assuming the server runs at it's best. Keep in mind these figures are for the server only and does not include the system itself "idling" however, most todays computers and connections pass them figures!

As long as the game is not crashing or you are not getting artifacts, we can assume your card is doing its job, I never setup anything that runs that hot even if it can handle twice the reading you are giving. Most my older setups use third party coolers.

I would look into third party coolers for my GPU if i had the space for it but the Mobo i bought only has 2 PCIx8 slots and 2 PCIx1 slots.there's only one slot accessible at the moment and thats the second PCIx8.

Also, i installed a second game, Left For Dead 2, and that runs great at higher settings. it must be the game itself, so i gave up trying to fix it.

All that put aside, my system is back up and running to the way it should be. The new harddrive fixed everything that was wrong, and I thank you for all the time you've given to help me out =)

Hey sharam, i dont know if you're still out there or not, but i just recently came across a new issue in my PC.

I said i got a new harddrive. it makes noise as a harddrive from the 90s did. is this good or bad? The HDD is a 1TB Western Digital Black Caviar. 32mb cache and 7200rpm.

Also, my computer randomly shut off on me about 5 minutes ago. could this be from a hot room, or could it be caused by something else?

Also, here is a CPU-Z reading.

Let's get that +12V reading with a Volt Meter and another program before we go any further.
I don't have a program in mind but check on-line, PCWizard is another program by CPUID, I rather use a program from a different developer.

ASUS has a monitoring tool as well for their motherboards.

Two different setups and your +12V is reading low?! Let's see if this is true or not.

Don't worry about the +3.3V and the +5.0V just check the yellow wire from a 4 pin large Molex as well as the 24pin ATX connector.

I am around but have increased calls since the Schools started.

havent had time to check yet, but i keep getting blue screens and my computer has done the turn off on its own thingagain. It seems my CPU fan has come loose.

I was able to get 2 of the pegs that came loose, but the fourth REFUSES to snap in, and when i finally get it, the one opposite it comes out.

How the heck am i supposed to fix this?

I think I did ask you to install the CPU HSF and RAM with the board out of the case.

This is not the first HS by Intel that has people jumping up and down.

Before you brake any of the legs, you should take it out, ready the HS legs and start over, you need to insert all legs and do an X while holding/ pushing down on the HS, hope you don'rt crack your board, I've seen minor cracks that show after months, see if you can support the board right under the HS when installing it.