Could someone help me figure out what makes Windows crash please?

[Legolas8181]

I say Windows because I have Ubuntu on this machine and it never crashes on there so what could it be? It's worth noting that it does it every 2 days randomly, it does it both when Windows is on the SSD and the HDD and it does it no matter what I am doing at the time.

 

[The_IT_Guy]

I would assume it's a driver issues since Ubuntu runs smoothly. Are you getting bluescreens? Long hesitations with the OS?

 

[Legolas8181]

I would assume it's a driver issues since Ubuntu runs smoothly. Are you getting bluescreens? Long hesitations with the OS?

No bluescreens, the system just freezes with whatever happens to be on the screen at the time staying there. Dont know what you mean by hesiations.

 

[The_IT_Guy]

I was thinking long pauses but the OS comes responsive after a few seconds. So it freezes and never comes back? You have to restart?

 

[Legolas8181]

Yup, once it's stopped that's it, it doesn't work again unless i hit the power button on the case. Although I have never actually given it more than about 10 seconds to come back, is that about the time you are talking about for an OS pause?

 

[The_IT_Guy]

Pretty much. I've seen one system that would pause for about 20 seconds. Turned out to be a failing hard drive.

Sorry for all the questions. Trying to narrow this down a bit. Can you run CrystalDiskInfo to make sure the drive health is good on the Win7 side: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Normally wondering about the HDD wouldn't come to mind with two OS running differently (drivers would) but since Windows and Linux place things different on the drive, hence no constant need for defrag on Linux, i wonder if some sectors on the drive are bad that Windows is on.

 

[Legolas8181]

Pretty much. I've seen one system that would pause for about 20 seconds. Turned out to be a failing hard drive.

Sorry for all the questions. Trying to narrow this down a bit. Can you run CrystalDiskInfo to make sure the drive health is good on the Win7 side: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Normally wondering about the HDD wouldn't come to mind with two OS running differently (drivers would) but since Windows and Linux place things different on the drive, hence no constant need for defrag on Linux, i wonder if some sectors on the drive are bad that Windows is on.

Ask as many as you want, been dealing with this for about 9 months now. Gonna run it now. It hapens both on the HDD and the SSD.

 

[Legolas8181]

Just checked and the HDD is alright and running at 30c, SSD is good and the other HDD and all good and at 45c

 

[The_IT_Guy]

K, on to the next thing. Start with testing the RAM:

1- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/diagnosing-memory-problems-on-your-computer
or
2- http://www.memtest.org/

RAM has gotten really stable now days as this was always such a touchy part of the system in the past. You could remove some sticks of RAM, assuming you have several installed, and run on one at a time to see if it freezes. If need to stress test the system to help rotate though the RAM to make sure they all work correctly look into Prime95. How to use Prime95: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028882/keep-it-stable-stupid-how-to-stress-test-your-pc-hardware.html

 

[Legolas8181]

I have alrady done that and it found nothing and with both sticks (2) they both froze.

 

[The_IT_Guy]

long shot here but worth a try to cover basis. Open command prompt (as admin) and type: sfc /scannow

That will make the OS scan itself and fix any corrupt system files. I doubt it will find anything but the more you try the more i'm leaning towards an OS issue and not hardware. Also worth a try would be to start in safe mode and see if it freezes. If not, then it's a third party program or driver causing your these issues.

 

[Legolas8181]

Just running the scan.

 

[Legolas8181]

Yeah that didn't find anything. I have tried safe mode before and it still frozae but then I could make it freeze by doing a specific action.