PCTech Forums

I would normally not have posted this here, but my PC has just returned from the technician after overnight stress tests on all hardware (no errors found), and it has crashed within 2 hours.

The problem is the system completely locks up and I must hold the power button to turn the system off.

I experience this problem randomly when gaming and media playback.

Running Vista home premium SP2 64 bit,
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz
4GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce 9600 GS

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Ram is what comes to mind. Regardless of a stress test, i suggest a mem test.

You can download a bootable iso image from [ur=http://www.memtest.org/download/4.10/memtest86+-4.10.iso.zipl]HERE[/url]. After burning this image, boot from it and follow the on screen directions to start the test. I suggest letting it run overnight as the test is never ending. If by morning theres no errors then memory is ok.

Heat typically powers one off instead of just freezing but thats not to say its impossible. It doesnt really sound like a temp problem but it wont hurt to check them anyway.

Thank you for the reply, I guess I did not leave many details in my previous post, sorry.

I have tried certain things myself such as;
MemTest86+
SpinRite
Multiple Formats
Replaced GFX card, Hard Drive, PSU

Have never found a program compatible with my HD to check the temperature, but when touching it, it does get quite hot. Not sure what the temperature limits should be on the HD but it does NOT have a fan pointing at it, I wonder could this be the problem since there are no hardware errors and there appears to be no software errors (Saying that, it hasn't crashed since I uninstalled google chrome, and windows live care/onecare safety).

A technician reports having the same problem, and it was only resolved when the motherboard and hard drive was replaced but I'm not convinced to take that step yet.

Interesting that it seemed to stop after the software removal. HDD's are often warm to the touch but you should be able to keep your hand on it. IF it starts locking again, you may consider changing the port the drive connects to the motherboard on. Im of course assuming this is sata in which case you shouldnt have a boot issue if going for example from port 1 to port 4 with the sata cable. That would put it on a different HDD controller and possibly eliminating a motherboard issue.