Computer Freeze-Up

[Sam123456]

Hi all, I am experiencing some freeze-up problems with my computer, and was wondering if anyone can help to resolve the issue. The system is pretty old but it was fine till couple weeks ago. If anyone is familiar with Age of Conan game, it’s what I’m playing at the moment, and it was running it at high settings with great FPS. I’m not sure if it’s the game, but the freeze-up happens also w/o running the game. I have tried everything that I can think of (spy ware program, virus scan, registry cleaner, disk clean-up, defrag, virtual memory booster) but nothing seems to solve the problem. See below for my computer specs:

CASE: X-Cruiser Mid-Tower 420W Case W/ WINDOW
CPU: (939-pin) AMD ATHLON(TM)64 3500+ CPU w/ Hyper Transport Technology
FAN: AMD ATHLON64 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK + 3 EXTRA FANS
HDD: (SATA150) Maxtor 250GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive
MOTHERBOARD: (Sckt939)MSI K8N NEO4-F nForce4 Chipset SATA Raid PCI-E
MEMORY: 2048 MB (1024MBx2) PC3200 400MHz Dual Channel DDR MEMORY
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition w/ Service Pack 2
POWERSUPPLY: STANDARD CASE POWER SUPPLY
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: Geforce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

Thanks for your help.
Regards,

 

[LookinAround]

You can try updating to SP3 to see if it makes a difference.

Another good quick check is look into the Windows Event Log (the System Logfile and the Application Logfile). This tool Event Log Explorer makes going through and saving the Windows logfiles even easier.

Look for faults the are being reported (there are many red herrings that might appear as problems but aren't. So post back if you need help interpreting some of the events)

 

[Sam123456]

Thanks for the quick response.
Unfortunately I am not at home right now, but I remember doing the Event Log and I am curtain that I have loads of warnings and errors. But I couldn't understand the errors. Is there something that I can do to fix them? Maybe I can post the errors here?
Thanks again.

 

[LookinAround]

i'd suggest

1. Saving copies of your current System Log and the Application Log as text files.
2. Run Windows (or Microsoft) Update to install SP3. When it's done Run Windows Update again to check for other updates. You should click Custom rather then Express as if there are new drivers they may only show up under Custom (note: this still doesn't mean all new drivers are reported via Windows Update)
3. See if your problem is still occurring and let it happen a few times over a day or two before saving the LATEST copies of your current System Log and the Application Log as text files. Post the LATEST copies as attachments (look for the paper clip icon) in your reply post after clicking on Advanced Reply.
4. You can use Event Log Explorer tool to generate text file copies of a log file (repeat for each logfile).
   • Open the logfile
   • Click File -> Export and select the following: Text file, All events, and Export event descriptions.
   • Click Export. Then just choose the directory and filename as usual to generate the text file (.txt)

 

[Sam123456]

What does saving the event logfiles do?

 

[Sam123456]

If the issue continues to occur, I am thinking about building the following:

PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
FAN/HS: Rosewill RCX-Z5 92mm Two Ball Bearing / FDBB CPU Cooler - Retail
MOBO: MSI P7N Diamond LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard with SoundBlaster X-Fi Extreme Audio - Retail
VC: EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail

Any comments and/or suggestions to the above build.
Thanks,

 

[nickc]

it would be a good idea to check the PSU in this older computer as PSUs that come in cases are generally not very good.

 

[LookinAround]

1. I don't know if upgrading to SP3 has any affect on current log files so figured best to save them as is before upgrading
2. Having copies of the old logfiles around can just be handy when needing to go back in history to see what's being reported. Might see something interesting that's different between what was being reported before vs. after SP3.
3. You'll also have a better pre-SP3 event history as the event log is actually "circular" meaning older events are overwritten as newer events occur.
4. Saving the "before" logfiles just to have them handy "in case" (given the nature of the problem) is just of my own approach to troubleshooting i've personally sometimes found helpful over many years of debugging computer problems.