Computer Freezing Randomly

[ckchessmaster]

Hi sorry if this isn't the right place to be posting this (couldn't really tell where this sort of thing goes) but anyway, so Iv been having some issues with my computer recently and was wondering what the best way to try and diagnose it would be. The specs are below. Basically my problem is as the title says it freezes randomly. Everything appears to be on but it won't respond to anything and I am forced to hard reset. While it happens frequently at random times it happens most often when I am gaming. In one of the games SWTOR it freezes consistently about 2 to 3 min into the game. Another one Heroes of Newerth is about 5 min in. Those are the only two things that will consistently freeze others are just random. Also, the problem isn't OS specific. I dual boot Win 7 and Win 8 and both will freeze about the same. In fact for a little while even my Linux was freezing. Im thinking its a hardware issue but none of the scans I have done so far have been any help whatsoever saying that there are no issues.

Here are my specs:
Dell Studio 1747 (its a laptop, about 2 and half years old)
CPU: i7-720
RAM: 4GB
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon 4650

Thanks

 

[Cyberat_88]

I am willing to say overheating, but you might have a bottleneck at the old video card. Also dust off the inside of the PC thoroughly.
Have you done a ram test ?

 

[ckchessmaster]

Yeah I had thought of overheating as I have had problems in the past with overheating, I dusted it out a bit recently though and I normally have a cooling pad with 2 fans as well as a third next to it. When it used to overheat it would shutdown rather than freeze. As far as the RAM goes yeah Ive done several scans and even gone so far as to temporarily remove a RAM stick to see if just one was bad and it would freeze still. On a side note Ive got another thing that will consistently freeze now. Whenever try and render something using Blender 3D is freezes after about 2 or 3 min. Im wondering since Blender maxes out CPU usage if it could be something CPU or Mobo related. And yeah my Video card has been my biggest bottleneck however up to the past few months its been able to run all of these programs fine with no freezes.

 

[Cyberat_88]

Video cards go bad too, it cooked up for so long...
Might be time for a new one.

 

[ckchessmaster]

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure my video card is integrated... Whats would be the best way to test my video card?

 

[Cyberat_88]

Furmark will do the fuzzy test, but it may also fry the MB if integrated.
I skipped over the laptop part, sorry.
It is a dedicated video but only a technician can replace it if it is removable.
I don't recommend you even trying it. Ask Dell if it can be done and how much, using their services, than take it to a shop for a second quote.

 

[ckchessmaster]

Ok thanks yeah I look into that. Though the one thing that made me think it might not be the graphics card was that it crashes consistently when rendering in blender 3D as im using my CPU only not my graphics card to render so GPU usage would actually be rather minimal during it. As far as furmark goes would you recommend not using it then since its integrated?

 

[Cyberat_88]

If you have an overheating problem with either CPU or GPU, don't use it.
Test heat using CPU-ID and GPU-Z, found and filehippo and elsewhere.
If it's like mine, I use the modified bios and drivers for AMD since I cannot get the laptop to run on AMD video only. HWinFO64 for system specs., InsydeH2O unlocked, UnifL drivers for CPU embedded and dedicated combo.

 

[Cyberat_88]

You need to move the load off the CPU onto the GPU then.
Lookup the chat boards for UnifL they got a link for modded Bios, choose carefully, mod at your own risk, not responsible for results.
When you get Bios modded and setup, cleanup your AMD drivers and install the UnifL.