Computer crashing

Hi, the past few months my main desktop pc has been randomly crashing. I do not need to be doing anything specific for this to crash, it has happened when i was just searching the internet, listening to music, playing a game, even just editing a office document. The screen does not go blank or anything, it just freezes up, my mouse and keyboard are unresponsive, manually shutting down the computer is the only option that works. I have formatted the computer several times in the past few months, all with the same outcome. Windows Vista is the windows used each time too.

If anyone has any advice and ideas/suggestions about what I could try in order to find out what the problem is would be a great help, thanks in advance =)

If I need to supply anything like system information, hardware specs just ask.

Thank you.

 

Yes sir, no difference, the card functions fine when in too, never had any issues with it, sound wise.

 

try memtest http://majorgeeks.com/Memtest86_d4226.html

 

I would also suggest an in-depth hard drive diagnostic. Visit the hard drive maker's web site and download their free diagnostic. Then run it as outlined on their web site. Random freezing can be caused by many different things, including flakey memory, bad hard drives, overheating components (CPU, RAM, etc). You might even check the motherboard maker's web site and see if there's a BIOS update that addresses your particular problem....

 

@thesmokingun - I ran the memtest software, it found no errors at all.

@ dlb - i am not too sure what make my hardrives are, running something like everast will give me these details, correct?

 

http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

yep, then you can get the tool(s) here:
http://majorgeeks.com/downloads8.html

 

Yup... the Windows Device Manager will also give you the model number of your hard drive; then Google the model number. Generally speaking, the first few letters tell you who made the drive: HT or IC is Hitachi (which makes drives for IBM Corp, thus the IC); ST is Seagate; WD is Western Digital, etc.

 

Ok, my hard drive I use for windows is just a 70gig Western Digital, I found a "data lifeguard diagnostics" tool and ran it on the WD hard drive. It came back with no faults. My motherboard is a "AsusTek Computer INC M2V" Or a Asus M2V I guess lol. I went onto the Asus website and my motherboard comes under M2A - VM, I am not sure what to download once there though....

Thanks for the help so far

 

Hmmm.... if the RAM and HD both tested 100% healthy, then it's very likely that the problem is either the motherboard, CPU, or power supply. You didn't mention if you're using a video card or the on-board video.... it could be the CPU and/or RAM is overheating due to poor cooling, failing fans, dirty fans/heatsinks, dried out corroded thermal paste on the CPU... or the power supply could be faulty and/or dirty and/or the fan in the power supply could be failing. Download and run HWMonitor. Leave it running in the background while you do your normal computing for an hour or two. It will record the high and lows of your system temperatures and voltages so we can see if something is amiss. Take a screenshot of HWmonitor after an hour or two and attach it here to a future post (click this link for a quick how-to on taking screen shots).

 

I will run HWMonitor on my desktop PC and will ss it and post the result here.

I use a video card, Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT. What about the BIOS update for the motherboard, is there anyway you can tell me what I have to downlaod for it?

 

Ok, I have ran the HW monitor for over 2 hours while doing stuff such as:

Downloaded Yahoo! Messenger and Java as well as installing both. Listened to some music on Windows media player, played a couple of games of Yahoo! pool online to pass the time. Then I watched a football match live online with my pc hooked up to my TV so i can watch on a bigger screen.

All the above was done while HW Monitor was running in the background. On a sidenote the computer has not crashed while this was happening....

 

Hey, I was told to post a screenshot, but heard nothing back .......:confused

 

I looked at the screenshot and all looks well. The voltages are stable, and the temps are good too. As to the BIOS update: your motherboard maker will have the BIOS and the BIOS flash program and the how-to at their web site. Many times a new BIOS will address and fix system problems that are made aware after the motherboard is on the market and in use for awhile. My motherboard has a known issue with some nVidia video cards: when it's cold-booted, only the post screen comes up, then no video until you hit the reset button. Then Windows loads up normally and all is well. Flashing the BIOS fixed the problem. So maybe there's an issue similar to this with your motherboard. If you have trouble locating the required downloads, post the make/model of your motherboard (or an Everest report as an attachment) and we'll do our best!
:-D

Sorry... I'm a very busy man. I don't always have the time to check the MG forums on a daily basis.

 

Thanks for the reply, I am not sure how to do BIOS updates so you might have some talking through to do unless it executes automatically lol. Anyway here is the stuff on the motherboard from Everast, I just copied and pasted the motherboard bit

[ Motherboard ]

Motherboard Properties:
Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Product M2V
Version Rev 1.xx
Serial Number MB-1234567890

As for ....

I was just keeping you on your toes lol

 

Wanted to also add, 10 minutes ago I got my first crash in a couple of days. I stepped away from my computer for all of 10/15mins, all that was running was firefox and Yahoo! Messenger. I came back and I could not move my mouse or keyboard, having to manually shutdown.

Just thought I would keep ya informed.

 

If I knew how to get into that I would lol. I was just looking @ google to see if I could find some kind of system crashing software that would maybe log a file that would possibly tell me whats causing it ..... no look though.

 

that would help...check windows event viewer (in control panel, under administrative tools) or just search in the start menu for it, and see if there are any errors associated with your crashes.

 

Ok, I dont want to sound like a complete numpty but I cannot really follow the event viewer in Vista, not sure where I am looking once there lol. If it would be easier for you to look at it through some program like crossloop or team viewer I am willing to do that, if not I am stumped on it lol.... sorry :|

 

Yet another crash, two today now