Windows 7 64bit is freezing

[mckorgan]

Windows 7 is freezing. I have had it freeze while watching youtube. It freezes mostly right after I have logged in and its loading the startup programs. It is freezing all the time when I run Starcraft 2. Starcraft 2 can be in campaign mode, multiplayer mode, or just in the menue and it will freeze. The only way out of it is a hard reset in any of the cases. Usually what happens is I run starcraft 2 and it freezes about 5 to 10 mins in. I do a hard reset and then it freezes after login when it is loading up. Then I do another hard reset and it runs fine again.... well until i run starcraft 2 or it just decides to freeze on me. My keyboard's lcd screen shows that one of the cores of my cpu maxes out everytime it freezes while the other 3 cores are running normally or not at all. I am thinking its a windows problem or a hardware problem and not a problem with starcraft 2. It just happens with starcraft 2 100% of the time. I have updated all of my drivers. Win 7 is up to date. all virus software is up to date and runs weekly. I have tried reinstalling sc2... still freezes. It has been doing this since Saturday. The one change i made was I installed an additional 500gb wd blue hdd for more backup space. Please any help or ideas you could give me would be grately apreciated.

specs:
win 7 64bit
intel ssd 75gb
gtx 470
rampage 2 extreme mobo
intel i7 920 @ 4ghz (water cooled)
6gb corsair ram
HDDs: WD 500gb, WD 250gb, WD 500gb blue(new one)
850w thermaltake ps

 

[mckorgan]

It seems it was my overclock. i went ahead and updated the bios too. going to try overclocking again. but its fixed for right now.

 

[verbalizer]

keep me posted..
good-luck.

 

[mckorgan]

could you recomend a voltage for i7 920 @ ratio 20.0 and BCLK 200? my current voltage is 1.3125

 

[mckorgan]

nevermind.... it still froze and crashed running starcraft 2 at stock speed.....

 

[verbalizer]

did you update the BIOS.?

 

[mckorgan]

yeah got the latest one .. its either hardware or starcraft 2 itself

 

[mckorgan]

OK so one thing i have not tried is installing sc2 on a different hdd. Right now it is installed on the SSD with win7. Maybe its the ssd causing it to freeze and maybe i just need to install it on a regular HDD.

 

[mckorgan]

Ok installed it on a regular HDD and it still froze and i had to do a hard reboot. After the reboot my comp froze again after i entered my pw and before going to desktop. rebooted again... this time i got into windows but the graphics resolution was messed up. It fixed itself about 10 secs in but was interesting none the less. I am wandering now if my graphics card is crapping out on me.

 

[aford10]

Check the event viewer for errors.
start-->run-->eventvwr.msc-->look at the system and application logs for errors (red X's).

Look at the date/time of the error, and find the ones that correspond to the freezing.

 

[mckorgan]

Critical: Event 41, kernel-power

Error: Event 6008, Event log

 

[aford10]

Any others right before that, in either the system or application logs?

 

[mckorgan]

no red x's in application. I wish i could tell u there were others. in the system log the only error is me having to turn the power off cuz it froze.

 

[aford10]

Double check to make sure you have the latest video driver.

Then look up your RAM, and find the factory timings and voltage settings. Then download, and run CPUZ, and verify that your settings are correct. If not, adjust them in the BIOS.

 

[mckorgan]

i got normal corsair ddr3 ram running at 1600 with an xmp profile running(auto sets the timings for what the ram is rated at). 6gb.

 

[mckorgan]

8-8-8-24 in cpuz. and at 1.65v

 

[aford10]

8-8-8-24 in cpuz. and at 1.65v

Do those match the factory settings for your model of RAM?

 

[mckorgan]

yup... its what corsair says it should be at.

 

[aford10]

Try disconnecting the WD blue drive, and reset your BIOS.

Check out the capacitors. Do any seem bulged?

 

[mckorgan]

Disconnected the WD blue drive, reset the bio,s and none of the capacitors eem bulged. Still froze and it took me 4 tries to get back into windows becuase it froze 3 times(windows loading) after the initial freeze in SC2. REally sorry this is such a pain in the arse problem. I really appreciate the help. Thank you again.

 

[aford10]

Try running in safe mode with networking for a while. Does the problem follow you there?

Look at scenerio 3, at the bottom of the link. Most of the possible causes have been ruled out, except the power supply. Thermaltake aren't known to be the greatest quality. Maybe swap in a better PSU, or a lower powered video card (helps ease the demand on the PSU).
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028504

 

[mckorgan]

Ok thank you i will look into it and try it out.

 

[mckorgan]

is there some way to test the power supply with out me having to purchase a new one just to test them? some software or maybe some kind of volt meter?

 

[aford10]

You can test the output of the power supply by using a multimeter.

 

[mckorgan]

ok cool i will look into that as well. thank you

 

[mckorgan]

ok, I looked into the power supply and i started unplugging things trying to pin point if it was the power supply or something drawing power from it. Well I have an lcd device called "Hardcano 12 se". Its an old device i was using to display my pump's rpm. Anyways i have unplugged that and so far no freezes! I think it might have been the problem.