Hardware Malfunction?

Hello, wonder if anyone might help, my PC has crashed now on a couple of occasions, a blue screen momentarily appears and then it reboots, when I sent the error report to MICROSOFT, it came back with the report that it could be either, RAM, MOTHERBOARD, CPU, POWER SUPPLY, which is at fault?? Is there any way I can run a test on these hardware components to establish if indeed any are at fault?:cry

 

Random reboots and such are usually RAM or the PSU. Memtest will test your RAM http://www.majorgeeks.com/MemTest_d350.html The PSU can be tested, or if the RAM is ok, you can try another PSU.

E

 

Thanks for that, did a test, the ram is fine, so you reckon it could be the PSU? and try another PSU, the easiest solution I would have thought, however if one does not have another PSU, is there a test also to perform on a PSU? It cannot be the CPU as all else would not be working, likewise with the motherboard.

 

Everest has a software PSU voltage display, better than nothing, I prefer testing with a multimeter.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

The specs of your computer (brand of PSU, mobo, CPU, drives and such installed) would help.

E

 

Thanks, downloaded and installed and ran Everest, I ran a report of my PC as you wanted to see the spec, and attach it for your ref, does this now tell you anything?

 

It tells me you have quite the hard drive collection in that box! Again, I am not a huge fan of software temps/voltage readings, but you use what you have. Was this done while your computer was in a more or less idle state? Your GPU temp seems a bit high, you might want to clean out the heatsinks and make sure all the fans are running.

I would start Everest, click on Computer-Sensor and watch the temps and volts while trying to stress out the computer and see if any voltages drop or the video card temperature get out of range.

E

 

Well I have just run a sennsor reprt and attach it for your ref, you say my GPU temp appears rather high? how may I overcome this, more cooling? and you say that I ought to 'clean out the heatsinks'? clean what, dust? sorry I am still learning a lot about PC's? you also enquired as to what state of being was my machine when I experienced these 'crashing' problems, well they have happened when I was watching movies, and a 'peer 2 peer' program was running!

 

I clean out the heatsinks using cans of compressed air. Cleaning out the dust may reduce the temperatures. If a fan is not turning on the GPU or is failing, it could cause temps to rise. Can you start Everest and click on Computer-Sensor and watch the temps and volts while trying to stress out the computer and see if any voltages drop or the video card temperature get out of range?

A good way of stressing the computer would be Prime95: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html

You could also watch a video while keeping Everest open and running Prime95. The states of the computer would be idle or load. Idle would be your computer running, but no programs running, like if you booted the computer and left it alone. Load would be stressing the computer's CPU and or GPU. This will raise your temperatures, and stress out the PSU.

E

 

Hello again, I did all that which you recommended, am running the stress test as I write this to you also have a film running in the background, opened up a photo software program, have everest running, there does not appear to be that great a fluctuation between temps or anything else for that matter, but I shall leave it running and we shall see, by the way, when the test finishes does it produce me with a log file? or do I have to do something to save the report?

 

Do you mean a log file on the Prime95? No, I do not think it makes one, could be wrong on that. How long did you let MemTest run? I would run Memtest for at least a couple of hours to eliminate the RAM. Seems like your temps are ok, I would lean toward the PSU as the culprit.

E

 

Yes, I was referring to a log file or report of the 'stress test' in prime95? yes I did a mem test and all appears fine, so quite rightly so it could well be the PSU? I really do not know, these blasted computers when they work they are fine but when things start to act bizarrely it is most infuriating. By the way, have you ever encountered 'windows explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close'? why does this occur? I have sought now to use 'Netscape Navigator', what do you reckon on that?:confused