PC Randomly locking up
 

Here is the issue, my computer is locking up randomly, and I have found no correlation with the locking up or any other program. The last thing I did to my PC about two months ago was upgrading to 1 gig of ram. Earlier today I changed the RAM in to different slots and it did not make a difference. I built this PC and have no idea what would cause these random freezing, my keyboard locks up as does my mouse and I must restart to resume using my PC. If ran a virus scan, even though there was ADWARE and a Trojan on it which I removed. Anyone shed any light?

Thanks

I would suggest downloading and installing "Memtest". I would boot into Memtest, and let it run over night. Simply changing slots will not help 99% of the time.

I had a similar problem a few years ago. Turns out the sound card was defective. Try taking out random PCI cards and see if it works without them.

if your using xp try the event viewer it can help to track down erors etc

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10010
Date: 8/23/2004
Time: 3:53:49 PM
User: *****\**********
Computer: ******
Description:
The server {9F92FFA3-40D1-475A-9323-A39C705DAB86} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Of course I dont think that is it, because right after I typed my last post it locked up again, and when I went to the event viewer i didn't see anything, my PC locked up at 5:53pm and nothing was in the logs at that time. I dunno just started happening this past weekend and it really is pissing me off...

anyone else with an idea?

My PC used to do that. I formatted and reinstalled Windows of course...I didn't even have enough time to run a virus check.

-Lasereth

Before anything:
- Do a google search on your motherboard model and see if other users are having similar issues. If the computer is something you can identify (IE: "Dell Inspiron 8500" or "Compaq Deskpro" or whatever) then google that as well.

Get someoen who knows how to use google meta commands really good to help you with this. This could potentially save you a huge headache.


If you get nothing...

First of all, rule out software as the issue:
-Reinstall windows... fresh.

-If it still freezes on a fresh install it is a 95% probability of being hardware.

-Test it right after a fresh install, if it doesnt freeze then systematically install things and test untill you find the issue.


Then do hardware diagnostics:
- Check processor and case tempature with motherboard monitor. Get it to log tempatures and check temps at time of crash.

- Check power supply voltage rails with motherboard monitor. Get it to log the results and look at the logs at the time of the freeze. See if there is a variance.
Try running with only a PCI vid card and a HDD. Also try testing with a super juiced powersupply (like an 800W server one or one from a reliable computer) just to rule out that you may be overloading it with too many peripherals.

- Replace CMOS battery if it is replaceable. Make sure you remeber which way it goes in. We've all heard horror stories of shorting out a motherboard by putting a battery in upside down. (If it isn't replacable then check maufactuerers specs on the life expectancy of the motherboard - googling will help u with this.)

- Check for failing or incompatible RAM (theres tools avaliable to test it).

- Systematically check for incompatible or failing hardware. (Take stuff out one at a time or replace with a junk component. Start with vid\audio cards.)
If you don't have 2 PC's to pull parts from (or spare\outdated parts) this is going to be hard to do solo.

Ideally you should test your mobo with all new stuff and test all your stuff on another mobo and see what happens. This could potentially indicate weather the mobo is to blame ir if it's another component.


If this kind of stuff yields nothing... heh, start saving, you've got a new paperweight.

Dunno if thats the optimum order to do it but good luck. Random failures can be anything. If they aren't COMPLETELY RANDOM and totally UNEXPLAINABLE. Give us more infos.

The issue might be related to hardware since the event viewer didn't log the event.

A couple of questions:
Are you using the proper amount, memory?
Are you mixing different memory types?
Does your PC have proper ventilation?

Try opening up your case, and if you have 2 512mb ram, remove 1, and try starting your machine.

If that doesn't work, try removing your sound card, then restart your machine.

Keep removing things so that you can indefineltly eliminate them as a possibility of causing the problem

Yes I have 2 sticks of 512MB DDR PC2700
No
Yes

Here is a thought, It is possible that my Plantronic DSP-500's could cause this issue? they are USB headphones and they do contain their own soundcard so to speak. POssible?

Many, many problems (with a majority being lockups) are caused by sound issues. Most gaming problems that are related to freeze ups or lockups are caused by soundcards or onboard sound. I'd go without the headphones for a while and see if it works...make sure to uninstall them from Device Manager!

-Lasereth

Quick update:

I removed the oldest 512 Stick that i had and i has not locked up on me in the past 5 hours..I assume that was the problem..the stick was close to 2 years old

I've been having a random freezing issue as well....here is the error from my log viewer. The time shown is about the time the thing started freezing. The computer mentioned is my daughter's PC (my old one) which is upstairs and linked via a wireless network card to my router. It was on at the time, but she wasn't using it.



My PC was only bought in November, and is a Pentium 4, motherboard is an ATI Radeon 9100, RAM is 512. Any ideas what the error means?

It seems like they're arguing over which one will be the primary domain controller.

What kind of OS are these computers running?

Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed. On the last reboot Windows did a scan disk and it hasn't happened since, but it concerns me that this would suddenly happen when I've had the PCs networked for a couple of months now.

hmm..Well I'm glad the problem has vanished for now.

Normally, when multiple machines are connected on a network, they will 'discuss' between them which one is the Primary domain controller. The PDC is usually determined by the date/version of the OS and the uptime of the machine. Example: NT machine wins the election over 98 machine; XP wins over NT, etc. BUT if you've got all of them as XP, it should be based on uptime alone. However, I'm assuming you're using a peer-to-peer networking system (as opposed to a server-client setup) and so you don't need a PDC. I'm guessing there was some weird glitch due to machines rebooting in weird orders or something (total guess) so an election was forced and combine that with the fact it's wireless so they may have had a hard time finding each other, and so you got the error.

One thing I've done is, when having problems with the machines over a network, is to make sure I don't reboot them at the same time. This avoids the conflict of each one trying to find the other and so on. Reboot one, wait a while, then reboot the other.

Hopefully your problem won't come back!

Most memory has a lifetime warranty. Check with whoever you bought it from for details.