[SOLVED] Total Hell, Very Confused

[Avillius]

I've had this system for just over 2 years and basic programs and low-intensity games run perfectly fine on this system. However, recently, I decided to get into more hardware-intensive games. That's when I hit a snag. Within 5 minutes of opening and playing the game, my system locks up for no reason. It isn't a total OS crash, but a weird middle ground where I need to power cycle my system to get it back to "normal." I've made sure I checked event logs to check for OS errors, checked my hardware to see if it was being overloaded, and confirmed my components weren't overheating. Even after this, the random crashes showed up every time I opened these games, and never when I conducted hardware stress tests. More recently, when I accidentally hit my desk with anything at a certain magnitude (e.g. my knee hitting the space underneath my monitor), the same freeze issue occurs. I'm not sure if this is a software issue, or if it's a defect in my hardware that I never thought about. Anyways, any help will be appreciated.

 

[Unolocogringo]

If you bump it and it freezes that is a problem.
Something is not fully connected or making contact somewhere.
Over time with heating and cooling of the computer, connectors "creep" and lose contact.
Open it up for a cleaning and pull out and reconnect all cables ,Video card, memory, hard drive etc....
Usually solves the problem unless it is a shorting issue with an extra stand off under the motherboard mistake.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Once that is done check your hard drive for errors. System crashes can corrupt data on the hard drive or be the cause of it.

 

[Avillius]

If you bump it and it freezes that is a problem.
Something is not fully connected or making contact somewhere.
Over time with heating and cooling of the computer, connectors "creep" and lose contact.
Open it up for a cleaning and pull out and reconnect all cables ,Video card, memory, hard drive etc....
Usually solves the problem unless it is a shorting issue with an extra stand off under the motherboard mistake.

Now that you've mentioned it, my 8 and 24 pin connectors look very squished in the config I have them in. I'll look into it ASAP.