Gaming Windows 7 randomly freezing after installing SP1

[MrCooper]

Perhaps a faulty SPU (Supply Power Unit) or can´t take too much power drainage. This lead to stability issues.

-_-

PSU>

 

[YayMii]

I think it may be my CPU. I got it recently, and it was used. It came in really crappy packaging (it was a small fist-sized clamshell of styrofoam taped closed, and it was in a brown envelope), but that couldn't have been a problem since it was working on arrival. However, it's probably several years old and probably is broken and causing the freezes.
I just underclocked the CPU, and now it's a little more stable. But can anyone suggest why did the problem only started to occur when I installed SP1?
EDIT: Yeah, I don't want to keep this underclocked. It's sluggish now, although not freezing (as much). It still handles games quite well. I don't know what the problem is.

 

[Coto]

Perhaps a faulty SPU (Supply Power Unit) or can´t take too much power drainage. This lead to stability issues.
-_-

PSU>


I meant PSU haha , thanks.



QUOTE(YayMii @ Mar 22 2011, 08:49 PM)

I think it may be my CPU. I got it recently, and it was used. It came in really crappy packaging (it was a small fist-sized clamshell of styrofoam taped closed, and it was in a brown envelope), but that couldn't have been a problem since it was working on arrival. However, it's probably several years old and probably is broken and causing the freezes.
I just underclocked the CPU, and now it's a little more stable. But can anyone suggest why did the problem only started to occur when I installed SP1?
EDIT: Yeah, I don't want to keep this underclocked. It's sluggish now, although not freezing (as much). It still handles games quite well. I don't know what the problem is.

Most likely to, overclock does irreparable damage to CPU no matter what you do. Maybe it´s time to go for a new CPU/Motherboard. Also, swollen capacitors (unlikely, but..) inside motherboard causes issues, that happens either bad factory capacitors, or either capacitors being exposed too much to severe heat

 

[Schlupi]

I don't think it is a hardware issue. Windows 7 SP1 is known to have issues with several programs and it conflicts with prior updates made (rewrites some, forgets others, things become a jumbled mess of a system).

I have a solution -- But YayMii, you have to PM me about it.

 

[Gangboy]

Don't you have a spare hardrive or know someone you can borrow it from? Install W7 + SP1 on that drive and see if the problem exists. This way you won't lose your current system and can test your hardware properly with a clean installation.

It's all about excluding options now.

 

[doyama]

I don't think it is a hardware issue. Windows 7 SP1 is known to have issues with several programs and it conflicts with prior updates made (rewrites some, forgets others, things become a jumbled mess of a system).

I have a solution -- But YayMii, you have to PM me about it.

I don't know about that. SP1 is really just a 'collection' of all the security updates that have been released up to this point. It's not a huge leap functionally that say XP SP3 was and such. You'd be no better off if you had just updated your PC every Patch Tuesday.

 

[doyama]

I think it may be my CPU. I got it recently, and it was used. It came in really crappy packaging (it was a small fist-sized clamshell of styrofoam taped closed, and it was in a brown envelope), but that couldn't have been a problem since it was working on arrival. However, it's probably several years old and probably is broken and causing the freezes.
I just underclocked the CPU, and now it's a little more stable. But can anyone suggest why did the problem only started to occur when I installed SP1?
EDIT: Yeah, I don't want to keep this underclocked. It's sluggish now, although not freezing (as much). It still handles games quite well. I don't know what the problem is.

Random crashes usually are because of 3 things

1) Memory
2) CPU
3) GPU

Generally memory is the culprit. I would take out one stick and see if it crashes more or less. Also try swapping slots as well, as a bad memory slot on the mobo can impact you. To be honest the installation of SP1 is probably only correlative with your issues not causal. Reading the thread you seem to be having issues sometimes yes, sometimes no. Personally memory seems like the big culprit here. Swap out the sticks entirely if you can, though getting spare memory of that type these days will be hard unless you can pillage a local school

 

[Coto]

I think it may be my CPU. I got it recently, and it was used. It came in really crappy packaging (it was a small fist-sized clamshell of styrofoam taped closed, and it was in a brown envelope), but that couldn't have been a problem since it was working on arrival. However, it's probably several years old and probably is broken and causing the freezes.
I just underclocked the CPU, and now it's a little more stable. But can anyone suggest why did the problem only started to occur when I installed SP1?
EDIT: Yeah, I don't want to keep this underclocked. It's sluggish now, although not freezing (as much). It still handles games quite well. I don't know what the problem is.

Random crashes usually are because of 3 things

1) Memory
2) CPU
3) GPU

Generally memory is the culprit. I would take out one stick and see if it crashes more or less. Also try swapping slots as well, as a bad memory slot on the mobo can impact you. To be honest the installation of SP1 is probably only correlative with your issues not causal. Reading the thread you seem to be having issues sometimes yes, sometimes no. Personally memory seems like the big culprit here. Swap out the sticks entirely if you can, though getting spare memory of that type these days will be hard unless you can pillage a local school

Or PSU, because of power leakage. Causes unstability.

Just to add doyama´s post, sometimes broken motherboard slot pins causes random problems, also you should use the fastest memory (or quality) ones fitting, near the processor, because those slots seem to rely more on data handling. (I`ve had some cases of problems like this... )

 

[YayMii]

Shlupi, I got your PM. You're suggesting that upgrading from my current W7 to Ultimate will cause SP1 to get removed? I'm not sure if that will work, and even if it did, I couldn't do it since I'm already using Ultimate. I could just re-install Windows (with or without a slipstreamed SP1), but I don't really want to/don't have the time.

@Doyama:
1. Don't double-post.
2. SP1 is known to cause issues, look it up. There was a few hotfixes that fixed a few issues caused by SP1, but my issue hasn't been fixed.
3. As I said, I haven't had any issues with RAM, or RAM testing. The GPU is almost brand new, and other OSes aren't having much problems. I am doubting that it's the hardware (the CPU could've been a coincidence since it works fine in Linux+Minecraft).

 

[twiztidsinz]

EDIT2: I may have possibly found my problem. I ran ComboFix, and it deleted my theme service. I recall installing a patched UXtheme file, so the crashes/freezes might've been caused by that. I'm pretty sure that they make a new UXtheme patch whenever a new build of Windows is released, so the file I had probably had incompatibilities with SP1. Does anyone know how I can restore the SP1 UXtheme files so I can get themes back in working order?
EDIT3: Nope, still freezes. I still want the original UXtheme files for SP1 x86 though (if it's possible).You can try running:

sfc /scannow

SFC is System File Check, it scans your computer for any system files that have been altered and replaces them.

I'd unload Daz' loader, SFC, then reactivate.


QUOTE(YayMii @ Mar 22 2011, 06:49 PM) I think it may be my CPU. I got it recently, and it was used. It came in really crappy packaging (it was a small fist-sized clamshell of styrofoam taped closed, and it was in a brown envelope), but that couldn't have been a problem since it was working on arrival. However, it's probably several years old and probably is broken and causing the freezes.
I just underclocked the CPU, and now it's a little more stable. But can anyone suggest why did the problem only started to occur when I installed SP1?
EDIT: Yeah, I don't want to keep this underclocked. It's sluggish now, although not freezing (as much). It still handles games quite well. I don't know what the problem is.

Pretty good indication that it's the CPU... but since you mention that you DON'T have this problem under Linux, I'd rule it out for now and go with the above.

 

[Apk07]

You should try running a torture test under Prime95 for a few hours and see if it finds any faults in the CPU.

It could be a number of things though:
- Outdated bios, try updating, new bios versions have fixes for newer unsupported CPU code
- CPU is seated improperly, or there's junk on the pins, try taking it off, blowing air on there, and reseating it
- CPU is overheating. Try using RealTemp to watch the temps while gaming or running Prime95 (or IntelBurnTest if you want something more simple to use). If this is the case, you'd have to look at better thermal paste or a better heatsink
- If your bios has options, try disabling C1E/SpeedStep
- Make sure in Power Management you have it set to Performance
- Ensure you have the latest drivers for everything including your videocard
- If you suspect RAM faults, you can run a program called MemTest from any flash drive to check for errors

I've also noticed a lot of voltage issues on AMD boards. I built an AMD rig for a friend not too long ago, and he had a lot of hard crashes randomly. We couldn't figure out why until tinkering with his VCore/NB Voltage/RAM voltage. It turns out he just needed a hair more north bridge voltage and everything ran like butter.

 

[YayMii]

twiztidsinz, I'll try that in a second.

@Apk07:
1. I'm using the latest BIOS. It doesn't really matter since my CPU's from 2005, and the latest for my mobo is from 2006.
2. I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't boot at all if something like that was happening.
3. How many times do I have to say this? I'm using a i7/AM3-era heatsink, and I've been monitoring the CPU temps even before the problem happened. It's running 10°C cooler than it should be.
4. I've already tried that. Nothing changes except for the temperatures going 5°C higher.
5. I refuse. Catalyst 11.2 is broken (on AGP cards at least), and IIRC AMD acknowledges that.
6. ...Have you been reading the post at all?
7. It's an old CPU+mobo. I doubt that it'd be an issue with voltage. Nothing changes but the temperatures when I change the Vcore. Also, I don't have a northbridge, my CPU is old and uses FSB. The RAM voltage is set 0.1V higher than default, since the mobo defaults to 2.5V while my RAM is rated at 2.6V.

EDIT: I just ran SFC, and it just finished. It apparently detected issues, but couldn't fix all of them. I haven't tested yet if it's stable. Should I post the log?

 

[Coto]

You should try running a torture test under Prime95 for a few hours and see if it finds any faults in the CPU.

It could be a number of things though:
- Outdated bios, try updating, new bios versions have fixes for newer unsupported CPU code
- CPU is seated improperly, or there's junk on the pins, try taking it off, blowing air on there, and reseating it
- CPU is overheating. Try using RealTemp to watch the temps while gaming or running Prime95 (or IntelBurnTest if you want something more simple to use). If this is the case, you'd have to look at better thermal paste or a better heatsink
- If your bios has options, try disabling C1E/SpeedStep
- Make sure in Power Management you have it set to Performance
- Ensure you have the latest drivers for everything including your videocard
- If you suspect RAM faults, you can run a program called MemTest from any flash drive to check for errors

I've also noticed a lot of voltage issues on AMD boards. I built an AMD rig for a friend not too long ago, and he had a lot of hard crashes randomly. We couldn't figure out why until tinkering with his VCore/NB Voltage/RAM voltage. It turns out he just needed a hair more north bridge voltage and everything ran like butter.

See? This is a good post, good job apk07.

There`s a difference between linux & windows. Linux is lighter, meaning lower cpu & system resources. This lead to stability a lot of times. Is like using Windows 2000 vs Windows XP. Its less likely to have a windows 2000 machine having lockups or freezing, because of its kernel design, one of the strongest & stables I ever found on any windows software.

So, linux don´t "take that much of your machine", but windows always does.

Just to mention, try to add voltage at VERY small values. 0.05v and see system overall stability. Again, Windows 7 causes weird problems on older CPUs due to motherboard compatibility/bios support. Your best bet now is to low ram CAS/lower access but to keep their stock memory speed. And don´t overclock anymore (not without good quality memories (which can rely on higher frecquencies easily, good PSU, etc), it damages computers and their internal components one by one beyond repair.

 

[twiztidsinz]

See? This is a good post, good job apk07Not really...
All but two things he said has been mentioned previously, and those two are:
- If your bios has options, try disabling C1E/SpeedStep
- Make sure in Power Management you have it set to Performance

The first would have affected him prior to updating to SP1 and under Linux.
The second has no real bearing on the computer, just manages sleep/screensaver functions.

There`s a difference between linux & windows. Linux is lighter, meaning lower cpu & system resources. This lead to stability a lot of times. Is like using Windows 2000 vs Windows XP. Its less likely to have a windows 2000 machine having lockups or freezing, because of its kernel design, one of the strongest & stables I ever found on any windows software.

So, linux don´t "take that much of your machine", but windows always does.Eh... not really. That's mostly fanboy bullshit.
Windows does more, which is why it uses more. Linux fanboys think that ALL the extras Windows does is 'not important' so they call it useless and 'resource heavy' and other bullshit, but the fact is when you add all the stuff onto Linux it's just the same.


QUOTE(Coto @ Mar 26 2011, 12:35 PM)

Just to mention, try to add voltage at VERY small values. 0.05v and see system overall stability. Again, Windows 7 causes weird problems on older CPUs due to motherboard compatibility/bios support. Your best bet now is to low ram CAS/lower access but to keep their stock memory speed. And don´t overclock anymore (not without good quality memories (which can rely on higher frecquencies easily, good PSU, etc), it damages computers and their internal components one by one beyond repair.

BULLSHIT.
Overclocking something increases its clockspeed, making it perform faster. That is the ONLY component that gets affected and the ONLY component that will burn out faster than normal (but it does not 'kill' it... EVERYTHING in the computer wears out, overclocking just does so faster).
Think of it like giving your engine more gas. Instead of going 55MPH, you'll go 65MPH, or 75MPH... or 90MPH... or 100MPH. But no matter how fast you go (not counting you crashing the car), you're not going to kill your radio.

 

[Coto]

See? This is a good post, good job apk07Not really...
All but two things he said has been mentioned previously, and those two are:
- If your bios has options, try disabling C1E/SpeedStep
- Make sure in Power Management you have it set to Performance

The first would have affected him prior to updating to SP1 and under Linux.
The second has no real bearing on the computer, just manages sleep/screensaver functions.

There`s a difference between linux & windows. Linux is lighter, meaning lower cpu & system resources. This lead to stability a lot of times. Is like using Windows 2000 vs Windows XP. Its less likely to have a windows 2000 machine having lockups or freezing, because of its kernel design, one of the strongest & stables I ever found on any windows software.

So, linux don´t "take that much of your machine", but windows always does.Eh... not really. That's mostly fanboy bullshit.
Windows does more, which is why it uses more. Linux fanboys think that ALL the extras Windows does is 'not important' so they call it useless and 'resource heavy' and other bullshit, but the fact is when you add all the stuff onto Linux it's just the same.


QUOTE(Coto @ Mar 26 2011, 12:35 PM)

Just to mention, try to add voltage at VERY small values. 0.05v and see system overall stability. Again, Windows 7 causes weird problems on older CPUs due to motherboard compatibility/bios support. Your best bet now is to low ram CAS/lower access but to keep their stock memory speed. And don´t overclock anymore (not without good quality memories (which can rely on higher frecquencies easily, good PSU, etc), it damages computers and their internal components one by one beyond repair.

BULLSHIT.
Overclocking something increases its clockspeed, making it perform faster. That is the ONLY component that gets affected and the ONLY component that will burn out faster than normal (but it does not 'kill' it... EVERYTHING in the computer wears out, overclocking just does so faster).
Think of it like giving your engine more gas. Instead of going 55MPH, you'll go 65MPH, or 75MPH... or 90MPH... or 100MPH. But no matter how fast you go (not counting you crashing the car), you're not going to kill your radio.

Sigh... I won´t debate with a "kool" child like you.

I have no interest in "saying X system is better than Y". Both linux & windows are strong OSses. But I was referring to "how hardware handle things". Its more likely linux will run off any hardware without putting too much strain into their components, rather than Windows, because it sure does.


And I see you´re not very acknolewdged at computer basics. When you do overclock, the whole system gets strained, from southbridge PCIclocks refreshes, higher overall FSB increase, chipset controllers running at higher pci speeds than they were designed to (which lead all the components inside plugged to some kind of slot directly to motherboard) to more power drainage from the PSU . It is not bullshit this.

Newer motherboards will let FSB divisor factor for PCI/agp/etc slots to handle much better "data transmission" than older models, allowing better overclock but without putting too much pressure on the internal components, what was what I mean.


And fstdinwhateveryoucall. Please stop your childish ragecomments. I´m not a fanboy in any way, but rather to clarify some stuff.

 

[twiztidsinz]

Sigh... I won´t debate with a "kool" child like you.And I no desire to the same with an idiot who resorts to name calling at the drop of a hat...

QUOTE(Coto @ Mar 26 2011, 01:10 PM) I have no interest in "saying X system is better than Y". Both linux & windows are strong OSses. But I was referring to "how hardware handle things". Its more likely linux will run off any hardware without putting too much strain into their components, rather than Windows, because it sure does.

Except that is exactly what you are by your following sentences.
By that logic though... DOS IS TEH BEST!!!11!1!11!

And I'm just going to stop there because the rest of your post gets more and more incoherent as it goes on.


Also, you meant "knowledgeable", of which I consider myself to be.
"Acknowledged" means to show recognition or notice of, like 'he acknowledged that he understood'.

 

[YayMii]

Seriously, stop arguing.
I didn't make this thread for you to fighting about stuff.
And I'd actually rather keep my problem unresolved and close this thread if you guys continue.

 

[raulpica]

Sorry for teh doublepost, but:
raulpica, how are you supposed to check a minidump for clues?

Uh, yeah, sorry for the late reply. You have to use the Windows' Debugging SDK and load the minidump in WinDBG.

 

[YayMii]

Okay, sorry for the big bump, but I have just found the source of my problem.

Summary of what I did:
I got fed up with the issue, and ended up reinstalling Windows. After (frustratingly) installing my drivers (

AMD's AGP drivers are complete BS, I had to backtrack something like 6 versions older than the latest to get one that didn't cause BSODs), I realized that there hadn't been any freezing yet (excluding the BSODs caused by faulty drivers), so I started to rejoice. Then, to view YouTube, I installed Flash Player.
Moments later, I open YouTube. I click a link, and about 30 seconds into the video: It freezes. Same type of freeze as I had been getting before the reinstall.

Flash Player was causing the freezing. Reinstalling Windows did shit-all, and was a huge waste of time.

Well, here I am, with a freshly re-installed copy of Windows, barely any programs, and it's still freezing. How can I fix it?

 

[Schlupi]

If it's flash player, try reinstalling it? >_>