Windows Freezing Problem

[Sonic 296]

So for the past couple of months I've been having some problems with my computer. These problems have gotten worse over the past couple weeks. This usually happens when I power on the computer (from a cold start), once Windows 7 has loaded, as soon as I open something like Firefox or Outlook, Windows freezes, the mouse pointer doesn't move, no keyboard input accepted. But I still see hard disk activity. There are times when it doesn't freeze though. The screen will go black for a few seconds then it comes back with Windows showing this in the notification area....

 

 

Just this past Friday morning I turned the system on and it didn't post. Twice it gave me 1 long, then 2 short beeps. After consulting the motherboard manual, the ASUS site and http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm it says....

 

Either video adapter is bad or is not seated properly. Also, check to ensure the monitor cable is connected properly.

So based on the freezing, the crashing and recovering (in the picture above) and then the BIOS beep codes I suspect my video card is failing and will probably die sooner or later.

 

Current system specs:

• CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 GHz
• Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-E
• RAM: 4 GB Corsair DDR2800 Dual Channel
• Video Card: EVGA 9600GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E
• HDD: Western Digital 640 GB SATA2 & External eSATA Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATA2
• PSU: 500w Silverstone
• Monitor: LG Flatron W2252TQ 22" LCD (Widescreen)
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Like I said I think its the video card so I've already got my eye on this one EVGA NVIDIA GEFORCE GTS450 SUPER CLOCKED 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E as a replacement. Since I don't play games on the PC any more I don't want to over spend on something that I don't need but I do want something that handle some gaming if things change in the future.

 

But I would like to nail this problem down before I spend $219.00 NZ on that video card. I hate to get that card, install it only to see it still freezing and crashing.

 

Oh I should mention that I've tried the latest NVIDIA drivers. As well as older drivers and drivers from the EVGA site as well. Drivers are software and I'm sure this is not a software problem.

[Nmenth 291]

The screen will go black for a few seconds then it comes back with Windows showing this in the notification area....

 

My video card did that when it was brand new, but it works now. Can't remember what the problem was...

[Luk3us 63]

My computer rarely (like once a month) does something similar, after going to screen saver and turning off the screen, it will come back alive, but just freeze till I restart it. No error messages though.

 

 

You might want to do a fresh install, just to cleanup the junk you've accumulated over the however many months its been since you installed Windows. Since you've already tried installing new drivers. I'm guessing your computer doesn't have 'compatible' onboard video either right? Yeah, I miss the old days were everything was onboard.

[Sonic 296]

Yeah a fresh install might solve the problem. Been running this installation of Windows 7 since October 2009. And yes, no onboard video. I specifically wanted a motherboard without it when I was shopping for parts. So I might go with a format and reinstall of Windows before spending $200 on another video card. I just hate setting everything up the way I like it all over again.

 

However, the no post and then BIOS beep codes the other day still have me thinking something could be wrong.

 

I wonder if it could be the PSU?

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Power supply won't beep, and, for the most part, video cards do not either. The most likely candidate for beeps are RAM, processors and motherboards; keyboards and hard drive controllers can do it as well though. Even with the 1 long and 2 short, you may even be looking at a bad slot on the board as well. Cannot discount that.

 

If you have an older card around, give it a run and see if it helps any.

[rSquar3d 0]

Beeps, huh? Experienced that a few years back. Just rearrange the RAM in your PC (juggle/cycle through slots), sometimes that does the trick. Try checking the mount of the video card on the board as well. And since tech support (the one you posted) does say something about the monitor cable, try to check the pins. Freak accidents happen, and sometimes pins go MIA.

 

But for the most part, I just think a fresh install will do it. Windows does have a tendency to degrade/rot over time, and maybe Win7 is no exception.

[Sonic 296]

Back up and running after doing a format and reinstall of Windows 7 this afternoon. Going through now and reinstalling my apps and restoring all my data. Will have to wait and see to find out if my freezing issue has been solved.

[Sonic 296]

Son of bitch froze again. So formatting and starting again with a clean install of Windows doesn't help. On the other hand it rules out the possibility of it being software related I guess. It has to be the video card then.

[Luk3us 63]

It was worth a try I suppose. At least Windows will be running fit as a fiddle now.

[dbjs2009 25]

The same is happening to me for more than a year now, maybe it's the processor's problem because I've replaced my RAMs but no luck, overheated processors cause the same problems sometimes, format won't work so don't waste your time, I don't know how I'm still living with this computer though.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Son of bitch froze again. So formatting and starting again with a clean install of Windows doesn't help. On the other hand it rules out the possibility of it being software related I guess. It has to be the video card then.

If you have an older card sitting around, throw it in there and see how things run. That way you can verify it's the video card. You don't want to spend your hard earned cash on the wrong part, only to find out it still freezes.

[Sonic 296]

Only old card around here is some old AGP one, that's no good. Needs to be PCIe.

 

The one thing that has me puzzled is that it only freezes after the computer has been switched off, like overnight or some other extended time. When you return, power on the system, Windows boots. Chances are it freezes after about 30 seconds. I kill the power, Windows coughs up the standard warning of a bad shutdown, tell it to load Windows normally and the system goes for hours and never freezes.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Disable hibernation and stand-by. See if that alleviates the problem. It's not a permanent solution of course, but it will help in the meantime.

[Sonic 296]

I'm not 100% sure but I may have solved the annoying freezing problem. It was a rather simple fix as well. All I had to do was change the Power Plan settings in Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options from Balanced to High Performance.

 

 

Since making that change I've had 4 successful cold boots and no freezing. How odd that it was so simple.

[Luk3us 63]

lol. Well at least you worked it out before you bought anything unnecessarily.

 

Usually its the other way round.

[Sonic 296]

Well I still might go ahead with a planned system upgrade that I posted about here http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showtopic=14848, but maybe sometime later this year. Because what I have now runs great.

[Sonic 296]

Oh brilliant, the annoying freezing problem returns. I knew changing Power Plan settings was to good be true. On its last freeze the computer actually restated it self this time. As in it froze, then a few seconds later it rebooted.

 

Part of me thinks it could be the PSU beginning to fail.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

It's time to buy those new parts, and to include a power supply in the mix.

[Sonic 296]

It's time to buy those new parts, and to include a power supply in the mix.

Trust me I'm thinking about it. Might start looking at that option towards the end of next month.

 

This morning I opened the cased, cleaned out the dust and ****, removed the video card and re-seated it, removed the ram and re-seated all 4 modules, even swapped them around. Not that it makes any real difference since they are all identical. Powered on the system, Windows booted, no freeze but I'm not hold my breath, it will probably do it again. Because everything I done that makes me think I've solved it has turned out to be coincidental.

 

One thing I did notice was one of the small wires for the rear extraction case fan was making direct contact with the video card. Like this below..... forgive the crudely, crappy example. The yellow line represents the wire, it was wedged inside the SLI connector part of the card's PCB.

 

 

Again I doubt this was causing the problems, the case fans wires (like all of them) are insulated aren't they. I think I'm really just clutching at straws here because I think I've run out all options trying to solve this.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

I dunno if that would do it or not. Probably not, though you could take the fan housing off and reseat the wire, but that might be more work than its worth.

[Sonic 296]

Yeah I've made sure no wires are touching the video card any more. Its tied back with a cable tie now.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

That could be it, and it was causing a brief short, but I somehow doubt that. I would watch it closely, like I'm sure you are already.

[Sonic 296]

Well its been just over a week now, and not one freeze, Finally after almost 3 months I've solved the issue. While I'll never know what was causing it for sure I know it wasn't a software related problem. It had to have been the video card, or more specifically the case fan wire touching it, like the example pic below (I posted this earlier in this thread).

 

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Now that you've said that, it'll come back to haunt you.