Gaming Random Freezing?

[ShadowSoldier]

So I've given up. I can't figure it out.

Here's the story.

Bought a computer from a friend. It's a custom built PC.

500gb HDD
Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0ghZ
nVidia 9800GT video card
2GB of RAM (I upgraded to 4GB)

The computer randomly freezes, and I don't know why. I don't know much about hardware or where to even begin troubleshooting. I've disconnected all the wires, and reconnected them and made sure everything was in as far as it goes. I've done a fresh install of Windows Vista Home Premium (what it came with), twice.

Recommend on where I can start or what I should do please. Getting really irritated that I can't convert videos to play on my phone because it freezes, or play Portal 2 because it freezes.

 

[NaokiKitsuhine]

First, Windows Vista is very unstable

Second, You've upgraded your RAM, you just addeded 2GB or changes 2GB for 4GB?

I think its memory problem

 

[ShadowSoldier]

First, Windows Vista is very unstable

Second, You've upgraded your RAM, you just addeded 2GB or changes 2GB for 4GB?

I think its memory problem

I don't care about Vista/7 crap dude. I really don't. Until someone gives me a free legit copy, 7 is staying off this computer because I don't feel like spending 100 bucks for something that doesn't cater to me in any way.

It has 2, I added an extra 2 totalling 4 in there.

I went to the store today and asked the people who work in the computer dept. what he thinks. He thinks its the motherboard starting to go and that some caps or something is messed up. What do you guys think?

 

[PettingZoo]

First, Windows Vista is very unstable

Second, You've upgraded your RAM, you just addeded 2GB or changes 2GB for 4GB?

I think its memory problem

I don't care about Vista/7 crap dude. I really don't. Until someone gives me a free legit copy, 7 is staying off this computer because I don't feel like spending 100 bucks for something that doesn't cater to me in any way.

It has 2, I added an extra 2 totalling 4 in there.

I went to the store today and asked the people who work in the computer dept. what he thinks. He thinks its the motherboard starting to go and that some caps or something is messed up. What do you guys think?

He's offering advice on what the problem may be..
Also 7 would cater to anyone running a previous generation OS, since it's an updated OS with updated compatibility and performance

That hardware is really dated is all that I could think of, or either that extra 2gb of RAM you've added isn't so much compatible.

 

[Rydian]

First off... It's not the OS itself being whatever OS it is, that's lazy scapegoat thinking. The hardware's fine, it's not too old.

Anyways.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm
See if it happens in safe mode (with networking).

 

[ShadowSoldier]

First, Windows Vista is very unstable

Second, You've upgraded your RAM, you just addeded 2GB or changes 2GB for 4GB?

I think its memory problem

I don't care about Vista/7 crap dude. I really don't. Until someone gives me a free legit copy, 7 is staying off this computer because I don't feel like spending 100 bucks for something that doesn't cater to me in any way.

It has 2, I added an extra 2 totalling 4 in there.

I went to the store today and asked the people who work in the computer dept. what he thinks. He thinks its the motherboard starting to go and that some caps or something is messed up. What do you guys think?

He's offering advice on what the problem may be..
Also 7 would cater to anyone running a previous generation OS, since it's an updated OS with updated compatibility and performance

That hardware is really dated is all that I could think of, or either that extra 2gb of RAM you've added isn't so much compatible.

-__-

QUOTE

First off... It's not the OS itself being whatever OS it is, that's lazy scapegoat thinking. The hardware's fine, it's not too old.

Anyways.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm
See if it happens in safe mode (with networking).

Thanks. I'm going to try this tomorrow or whenever I get chance. I'm going to bring the PC into the shop on Wednesday, and it's a free diagnosis or whatever right? So why not. I did just get a text from my friend (who I bought the PC from) that it even did it when the PC was new.

 

[PettingZoo]

I did just get a text from my friend (who I bought the PC from) that it even did it when the PC was new.

It may then be faulty hardware, or your friend is just trying to make you feel better about buying dated technology.

I'd do what Rydian has mentioned and boot in Safe mode, and if something does or does not happen it'd be a wise idea to wipe the computer and install a fresh copy of Win 7 or something.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Do you know anything about the model of the motherboard in there?

 

[NaokiKitsuhine]

I wasn't telling to you "vista sux, install win7", i'm just saying that vista is more unstable

I really believe that RAM upgrade is the cause.

Did you have seen the... oh god I've forgot the name...

the xxxMhz from both ram? If each ram is diferent, freeze can occur, or maybe your mother board don't suport the new one.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Do you know anything about the model of the motherboard in there?

I don't. All I know is what I posted, except I forgot to write "E8400" in the original post,

QUOTE(NaokiKitsuhine @ Sep 19 2011, 04:21 AM) I wasn't telling to you "vista sux, install win7", i'm just saying that vista is more unstable

I really believe that RAM upgrade is the cause.

Did you have seen the... oh god I've forgot the name...

the xxxMhz from both ram? If each ram is diferent, freeze can occur, or maybe your mother board don't suport the new one.

It's not the RAM, I checked. I also made sure that they were the same, and the guy at the shop said it would work, also it did it before I bought RAM.

 

[ByteMunch]

Run on 1 RAM stick until freeze, switch RAM and run until freeze... Do that for all of them, check if it's only one of them causing it? Just trying to help, I had a similar problem.

Just as it could've been one of the original RAMs

 

[ShadowSoldier]

I just updated to service pack 2, it said it had better performance and stability, so lets see how it goes. First time it freezes, I'm resorting to this thread.

I know what of the RAM chips he had in there fried. He had 2x 2GB RAM sticks. He took the one out and left one 2GB in there, and there didn't seem to be any damage to the slots at all (checked with light and magnifying glass).

 

[NaokiKitsuhine]

it's working now?

If isn't a Ram problem, then Windows vista doesn't like your pc xD

 

[ShadowSoldier]

No, it froze again -__-

 

[NaokiKitsuhine]

Did you run a scan disk to see if its a disk problem? Maybe it suferred an impact.

--edit

try to see if any of the programs runing in background are having a strange behavior like using a lot for your cpu or RAM, maybe is some software that is causing those freezes

 

[marcus134]

1. download this and burn it on a disk.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html
2. boot your computer with the disk ( the same way you would boot a linux live disk)
3. to test your ram, go to memory, then either memtest86+or windows memory diagnostic.

if it's not your ram, then you can test your hdd or your cpu.
also, sometimes it helps to restore the bios settings to default.

 

[Fishaman P]

Instead of getting that HUGE disc image, just get Puppy Linux or something simple. If that freezes, then it's a hardware problem.

And, as said before, try using only 1 stick of RAM at at time.

Additionally, if 1 of the RAM sticks fried, then wouldn't that mean you have 6GB?
Try taking a stick out; it'll then operate in dual-channel mode, increasing performance despite the reduced memory.

 

[Zetta_x]

Can you explain what it does when it freezes?

 

[marcus134]

And, as said before, try using only 1 stick of RAM at at time.
the whole point of memtest is to determine if 1. is it a ram problem and 2. witch one without having boot in windows wait to get a random crash that is actually caused by the defective ram, rinse and repeat for every stick, witch end up being more time consuming and less accurate than using an automated test.
Also doing such thing with windows could cause some writing errors and data loss on windows system file which would make windows unstable by itself and would require a re-installation.
The use of puppy linux doesn't really help as it's light on memory usage and the computer might not address some memory block that would be normally addressed under normal usage in windows.

it'll then operate in dual-channel mode, increasing performance despite the reduced memory
Quite wrong, considering the memory usage of vista, having 3 or 4gb of ram w/o dual channel will give you better performances than 2gb with dual channel.
Dual channel widen the ram bandwith, however under normal windows usage, memory bandwidth isn't a problem. But when having only 2gb, windows will depend more heavily on the pagefile, which is on the hdd. Considering that the seek time of hdd is roughly a few thousands times slower than ram, it doesn't take a genius to understand why more ram is better.

OH.. and here's the wikipedia quote confirming the very little advantages of dual channel
Wikipedia

Tom's Hardware found little significant difference between single-channel and dual-channel configurations in synthetic and gaming benchmarks (using a "modern" system setup). In its tests, dual channel gave at best a 5% speed increase in memory-intensive tasks.[3] Another comparison by laptoplogic.com resulted in a similar conclusion for integrated graphics.[4] The test results published by Tom's Hardware had a discrete graphics comparison.

The difference can be far more significant in applications that manipulate large amounts of data in memory. A comparison by TechConnect Magazine demonstrated considerable gains for dual-channel in tasks using block sizes greater than 4 MB, and during stream processing by the CPU.

And for those wondering about stream processing, a gpu rendering graphics is good example of stream processing.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Guy's it's not the RAM. lol

The RAM is fine. It was a custom built PC from a professional who put 4 GBs of RAM into it (2x 2GB). One of the RAM's fried. Friend took it out, and kept one 2GB in there. It was still freezing. I put another 2GB in there (bringing it up to 4), and it was the same as the one that was already in. I made sure.