Possible memory problem

[Zari]

I'm not sure whether this is the right place to post this or not so i'm prepared for flaming. Recently i've been having problems with my pc crashing in windows mainly. It happens every 10 minutes give or take a few minutes and has never happened whilst playing games such as WoW. The crash consists of 2 seconds of the pc freezing then the monitor going blank. The light on the monitor remains green which suggests to me that it's not a graphics card problem. Do you think this could be a memory problem and if so, what sort of things can i do to correct it?

Any help would be much appreciated as this is an incredibly annoying problem.

My specs:

Abit KV8 Pro, Athlon 64 (Newcastle) 3400, 2x512 corsair DDR400, Radeon X800XT PE, 40g Seagate HD/120g Western Digital Caviar HD

 

[nukemaster]

grab memtest 86... or better yet the ultimate boot cd (as it has memtest and allot of other good software) and check it out....

did you see the southpark WoW epp?
watch it here http://youtube.com/watch?v=F-TqCR6Rwhk

hope this helps

 

[nobly]

If you question your memory, run memtest: http://www.memtest86.com/

What did you change prior to the issues occurring? any specific hardware, software?

You may want to run the regular virus scan, adaware scan, etc.

 

[HYST3R]

perhaps maybe even check your temps with a program such as speedfan. if it consistantly crashes after a certain time it may just need to be cleened. might be way off but just a suggestion. good luck.

 

[gahleon]

To make this easy which should help if you aren't very computer familiar. You can burn memtest to cd if your floppy doesn't work. Just download the zipped ISO and burn that to a disk and then in your bios under boot options set it so that your cdrom is your first boot devise. Then restart with your newly created memtest disk in the primary drive and you are ready to rock man. Good luck

 

[Mousemonkey]

You did'nt post it in your spec's so I'm going to be the first to ask "what's your PSU wattage/Amp's per 12v rail"

 

[leo2kp]

Well, since it doesn't happen while he's playing a graphics/CPU intensive game like WoW, I'd wager a guess that it's not your PSU or memory. I'd be more inclined to say that it has something to do with power saving, like Cool 'n' Quiet, or a piece of hardware (NIC card) that is set to shut down when not in use.

Voltage regulator might have something to do with it as well, so I'd check your temps and just see if they go up while you're not doing anything.

Second thing I'd do is turn off your power saving features like Cool 'n' Quiet from your BIOS, shut off the power saving feature on your NIC card (even if it's onboard), and any Windows power settings you may have on.

Just for good measure, go ahead and run Memtest86 and/or Prime95 for a while just in case. I could be wrong =D

 

[Mousemonkey]

Well, since it doesn't happen while he's playing a graphics/CPU intensive game like WoW, I'd wager a guess that it's not your PSU or memory. I'd be more inclined to say that it has something to do with power saving, like Cool 'n' Quiet, or a piece of hardware (NIC card) that is set to shut down when not in use.

Voltage regulator might have something to do with it as well, so I'd check your temps and just see if they go up while you're not doing anything.

Second thing I'd do is turn off your power saving features like Cool 'n' Quiet from your BIOS, shut off the power saving feature on your NIC card (even if it's onboard), and any Windows power settings you may have on.

Just for good measure, go ahead and run Memtest86 and/or Prime95 for a while just in case. I could be wrong =D

It's probably nowt to do with the PSU, but someone was going to mention it and I just wanted to be first. :twisted:

 

[leo2kp]

hehe sawry

 

[Mousemonkey]

S'alright 8)

 

[sailer]

Could be memory, but sounds more like an overheat to me. Cool and Quiet can cause problems too, which is why I have it disabled. Check your fans to make sure they're running properly and clean the heatsinks of any dust (dustbunnies can cause overheat real fast). Memtest, as suggested, can check the memory, or you can try using just one stick at a time.

Another thing is to check for errors in Windows registry, using something like norton's Windoctor, Registry Mechanic, or other program. Defrag to make sure stuff isn't being lost in the tangle, and run anti-virus programs for sure. Those little bugs can cause all sorts of havoc.

 

[leo2kp]

But the overheat, if durring serious downtime in Windows, usually means a hardware failure somewhere (and you're right, if it's overheating it would be a bad thing while it's idle). If it's not overheating when he's gaming, it's probably not fans since that would cause more heat than Windows. I'm almost sure it's either an error in Windows, or some power regulation setting somewhere causing it to mess up.

That said, it could still be pretty much anything. PSU or whatever. But power settings is where I'd start.

 

[sailer]

That's one part where I wasn't quite sure, as He said it had started recently; is it a constant thing, whether he's just in windows and playing games, or if its not occuring in games (WoW) and only in Windows. Overheat would effect the whole thing all the time, especially when gaming. You're right, overheat usually means hardware failure someplace.

However, a faulty bit of software, such as Cool and Quiet, could be acting like the computer was overheating and shutting it off. Possible problems in the registry was why I suggested that it be checked as well. The BIOS would be another place to check for possible problems, in case something was changed there and is now affecting the system.

Thing that seems weird to me is why it would cause a shutdown in Windows, under light load, and not when gaming, under heavy load. One thing to do if other fixes don't work is to reinstall Windows and see if the problem remains. That should separate a hardware problem from a software problem.