New system crashing problem.

[CrAy-Z]

Are you in a position to run with the side of your case off and be able to look inside???
It is a long shot (only because i can't see how this could only happen under certain games..), but one of your fans may be failing at high temps, and stalling. Affected componet overheats, crashes machine... cools down and fan comes good.

I had a computer a while back with a sick fan that made a few noises that i think are similar to what you describe.. in my case the fan occasionally stopped and if it did i could get about 10 minutes into a game of CS (old computer) before i got a crash that required the big reset button... New fan, all good.

Good luck

 

[Roaring Panda]

I've removed a fan that's not necessary to the cooling, and played Crysis for quite a while without crashing. However, this probably hasn't fixed it, as it only takes the air blown out from the Heatsink's fan and blows it out.

I think i should mention though, it graphically intense moments, i've noticed the noise of the fans in the PC raising and dropping rapidly, as if their speed is fluctuating. In less intense moments, it stays steady.

 

[Proximon]

If I had it, I would be able to isolate the noise using a stethoscope. Some electronic parts CAN make a noise by themselves, but your description does make it sound mechanical. I have heard that a cardboard tube can help as well.

The quality of your PSU model is fine, but maybe you have a bad one.

 

[Roaring Panda]

Ok, it seems i had a retard moment earlier, when you asked if i had a seagate HDD, i for some reason thought of my DVD drive instead, which is external. My HDD is actually normal and internal, though also really small, only 160gb (cutting costs hell yeah.) It's a Hitachi, but i've made a discovery!

The sound, i believe is coming from the Hard drive. I got the toilet roll out and had my head balanced precariously in, and i'm pretty sure it's the hard-drive. What's your diagnosis Doctors?

 

[Roaring Panda]

I think it's this one here. Be he the culprit? http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/160GB-Hitachi-HDT721016SLA380-Deskstar-7K1000B-35-Hard-Drive-SATA-3Gb-s-7200-rpm-8MB-Cache

 

[Proximon]

Some Hitachi diagnostic tools:
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

If the disk is simply being parked or something when the crash occurs, it might not be the issue, but we need to pursue that and see if we can verify it as the problem or eliminate it.

 

[Roaring Panda]

Thanks, i'll pop into town and grab some blank CDs and run the tests.

 

[Roaring Panda]

Ran a diagnostic, yet the results yielded nothing wrong with it. I'm going to run a memtest program for a while to see what i can do.

 

[Roaring Panda]

Ram memtest, 2 passes, no errors there either. I'm more stumped than a lumberjack doing calculus.

 

[Proximon]

Based on the lack of error reports, I think your next test would need to be swapping out the PSU or the MB. Pretty much down to swapping parts.

My guess would be
PSU
MB
GPU

In that order.

 

[Roaring Panda]

Thanks for your help, i'll see if i can grab some replacements.

 

[Roaring Panda]

Well, i think i've found the problem guys.

Graphics card overheating 🙁 I know i said that i'd checked this, and that it stayed safely on the threshold, but then i realised that id never actually seen the temperatures directly before the crash. This was mostly because in Crysis, for some reason, the thing never reached the cut out temp when i was monitoring it. For this reason i believe my PC is possessed, and out to foil my plans. However, earlier i noticed that it would make the sound without crashing on the Sims 3, and also Lord of the Rings Online now, if i pause and allow it to recover. When i noticed this, i had the GPu temperature gauge on the desktop, and as soon as it had recovered, i minimised to see my GPU at 102c. It seemed to make the sound as it bordered the 105 c cut out mark.

Sorry for taking up your time in this mystery, but thanks for all your help. If it wasn't for your help, i wouldn't have managed to fix it myself. I think i've got it fixed, idling at 43c, but we'll see in a few minutes :S

 

[Twoboxer]

Thanx a lot for taking the time to post the solution - it helps.