[pichu]

Hello

I am having some very bad computer problems and would be eternally grateful if anyone here could help me.

My PC is constantly shutting itself down (complete power down) or freezing (I have to restart it, its completely frozen and nothing works. The temperatures of the CPU ranges between 50-61 Celsius when it freezes, which I don't think is too hot. Alot of the freezes happen when I am watching a video or playing a game, although not just then, it can freeze while doing anything. I have tried to download the latest drivers for my video card, this hasn't worked, but made it worse. And I have tried downloading my latest chipset drivers from MSI, this causes the computer not to get past the XP loading bar. I am very irritated by this problem, and if I could only know what the problem is so I can fix it, it would be great.

I have made an everest report, it is here.

I think it is also worth mentioning that while running this report, my computers fan speed was reduced to 150 rpm, im not sure how normal this is.

--------[ Summary ]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer: Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional OS Service Pack [ TRIAL VERSION ] Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13 (IE 7.0) DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c) Computer Name COMPY User Name jonesy Logon Domain [ TRIAL VERSION ] Date / Time 2008-09-01 / 14:17 Motherboard: CPU Type DualCore Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840, 3200 MHz (16 x 200) Motherboard Name MSI P4N Diamond (MS-7160) (2 PCI, 1 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394) Motherboard Chipset nVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition System Memory [ TRIAL VERSION ] BIOS Type AMI (04/06/06) Communication Port Communications Port (COM1) Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1) Display: Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT (256 MB) 3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT PCI-E Monitor Samsung SyncMaster 150s/151s/155s/MagicSyncMaster CX151S [15" LCD] (HJGW301686) Multimedia: Audio Adapter Creative SB Live! 24-bit (CA0106) Integrated Audio Processor on MSI motherboard Storage: IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller Storage Controller ACDZGMZC IDE Controller Storage Controller MagicISO SCSI Host Controller Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive Disk Drive Maxtor 6V250F0 (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II) Optical Drive HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4167B (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-RAM:5x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM) Optical Drive OM1356E KSE755C SCSI CdRom Device Optical Drive SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615 (16x/48x DVD-ROM) SMART Hard Disks Status OK Partitions: C: (NTFS) [ TRIAL VERSION ] D: (NTFS) 16002 MB (549 MB free) E: (NTFS) 72190 MB (3189 MB free) Total Size [ TRIAL VERSION ] Input: Keyboard HID Keyboard Device Keyboard Logitech HID-Compliant Keyboard Mouse HID-compliant mouse Mouse Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse Network: Primary IP Address [ TRIAL VERSION ] Primary MAC Address 00-13-D3-13-59-74 Network Adapter Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller Network Adapter NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport (192. [ TRIAL VERSION ]) Peripherals: Printer Adobe PDF Printer Microsoft XPS Document Writer Printer Send To OneNote 2007 FireWire Controller VIA VT6306 Fire II IEEE1394 Host Controller (PHY: VIA VT6307) USB1 Controller nVIDIA MCP04 - OHCI USB Controller USB1 Controller nVIDIA MCP04 - OHCI USB Controller USB2 Controller nVIDIA MCP04 - EHCI USB 2.0 Controller USB Device Habu Mouse USB Device USB Audio Device USB Device USB Composite Device USB Device USB Composite Device USB Device USB Composite Device USB Device USB Device USB Device USB Human Interface Device USB Device USB Human Interface Device USB Device USB Human Interface Device DMI: DMI BIOS Vendor American Megatrends Inc. DMI BIOS Version 080012 DMI System Manufacturer MSI DMI System Product MS-7160 DMI System Version 100 DMI System Serial Number [ TRIAL VERSION ] DMI System UUID [ TRIAL VERSION ] DMI Motherboard Manufacturer MSI DMI Motherboard Product MS-7160 DMI Motherboard Version 100 DMI Motherboard Serial Number [ TRIAL VERSION ] DMI Chassis Manufacturer To Be Filled By O.E.M. DMI Chassis Version To Be Filled By O.E.M. DMI Chassis Serial Number [ TRIAL VERSION ] DMI Chassis Asset Tag [ TRIAL VERSION ] DMI Chassis Type Desktop Case DMI Total / Free Memory Sockets 4 / 2

[4D(Fordy(Ford) Ollie]

I think its almost certainly a GPU problem. I know you said you tried latest drivers but is it possible that the card just all together cannot cope with whats being asked of it?

You could try quite simply reducing the screen resolution.

Or depending on your make of card opening the control panel (I know this works with nVidia) and open the 3D settings tab, move it more in favour of performance and, therefore away from quality, if its already right up on high performance, stick it right in the middle.

[philthomas]

What Ram have you installed ?

[Dave Hybrid]

I'd start by cleaning your CPU fan from dust regardless of any reported CPU temps.

[Carbon]

Seconding the cleaning but also would highly suspect the PSU.

I think its almost certainly a GPU problem. I know you said you tried latest drivers but is it possible that the card just all together cannot cope with whats being asked of it?

No, this isn't possible.

[pichu]

My ram is 2x Corsiar twin XMS2 CL4 512mb.

Could it be a PSU problem, this would be surprising because my psu stopped working once and I brought just about the most expensive one I could find, a Tagan TG580-U22, 580 Watts.

Im running at only 1024x768 resolution.

Also, if it helps, when it crashes (either freezes or switches off) and I switch it back on and it loads a desktop, it will freeze or shut down while loading the desktop, this will happen a few times.

[Dave Hybrid]

Clean the CPU fan spotlessly, take it apart if you need to.

[philthomas]

Try removing one stick of Ram and see how it behaves. If no better swap them around, still running on one.

[pichu]

Ok, I have done everyone now and the problem still exists, I even brought new fans to help air flow. Any idea what I can do now? Could it be a HDD problem at all?

[pichu]

Ok, so now my PC shut down like it always does, I rebooted it but the bios had reset. I dident bother to change it back, so my processor is running at 2800 mhz, rather than the usual 3200, and under device manager and task manager only one core is running, rather than 4 cores. But, the freezing and shutting down has completely stopped. However I dont want to use this PC with only 1 core running, with it running at 400mhz less than its intended to be run at. Anyone think this can narrow down the problem? Is it still heat?

[thingie2]

was the CPU overclocked to 3.2GHz, or is that the stock clock?

[pichu]

Originally Posted by thingie2 was the CPU overclocked to 3.2GHz, or is that the stock clock?

3.2ghz is what its supposed to be run at. But my motherboard resets the multiplyer to 14 so i have to put it back at 16 to get the required 3.2ghz

[pichu]

Also, Im not sure if this is an issue or not. But FSB of this cpu is 800 (http://www.intel.com/products/proces...umXE/index.htm) and in the bios it is 200. Should I change the fsb in the bios to 800 and the multiplier to 4??

[thingie2]

Sorry for such a late reply (if your even still monitoring this thread) I was just going through my subscribed threads.

No, don't have the FSB to 800, with BIOS saying it is at 200 is correct, as Intel CPU's are "Quad pumped" (Intel's name not mine ) which basicly means, whatever the BIOS says the FSB speed is, it is actually running at four times that speed. So in this case, the 200 FSB means the CPU is actually still running at the 800FSB it should be. And if you up the FSB in the BIOS to 800, it will try to run the CPU at 3200MHz FSB instead, which is way to fast for all CPU's as far as I know.