Windows Crashing, Computer Locking

2012-09-16 18:59:39

#1

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6900

After having the computer on for about an hour, Windows will freeze/crash and will not recover. I am forced to do a hard reset or power off. This did not start happening until today. Throughout the process of restarting the first few times, various HDDs would not be detected (I have 3), including the one with the OS installed (would get a boot error). That hasn't happened anymore, but the random crashing is still occurring.

Virus scan found nothing, as I expected. I haven't installed anything new lately, aside from an iTunes update (yes it's shit, let's save that for another thread).

The drive the OS is on is hardly a year old. It's a Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2.
I'm running Windows 7 Professional x64. All up to date, along with my drivers.

I did recently upgrade my computer case, which has more fans, but that really shouldn't be an issue. Current PSU is 650W. I've got 2 HDDs, an SSD, a DVD-ROM, plus the usual CPU and GPU.

Running an Intel q9550 (~2 years old?), Nvidia GTX 460 (~2 years old?), 8 GB RAM, and this motherboard (since December 2007).

Sometimes after rebooting, I get a popup telling me Windows created a temporary paging file on my computer because of a problem that occurred with the paging file configuration when I started my computer.

Things are backed up and whatnot. I'm ready for a reformat if it's necessary. Gonna try unplugging unneeded HDDs, DVD-ROM and see how long it'll run.

Last edited by mtb0minime (2012-09-16 19:09:11)

2012-09-16 20:57:02

#2

Tdog2007: Giggity Giggity; +25|6958|US

memtest?

2012-09-16 22:36:02

#3

Shahter: Zee Ruskie; +295|7021|Moscow, Russia

Psu?

if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

2012-09-17 00:16:35

#4

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6900

Memtest is running now. 2.5 hours in and still not done?

PSU is Corsair Professional Series 650-Watt 80 Plus Certified. Have had it since April of this year, so it had better be nowhere near dying.

RAM is 4 of these sticks. 1 set is as old as the motherboard, another set is just a year or two old.

2012-09-17 00:23:50

#5

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6900

Herp a derp I forgot that it just keeps going. Currently at 2 passes, 0 errors. Guess I'll keep it going overnight.

2012-09-17 00:31:26

#6

Shahter: Zee Ruskie; +295|7021|Moscow, Russia

mtb0minime wrote:
Herp a derp I forgot that it just keeps going. Currently at 2 passes, 0 errors. Guess I'll keep it going overnight.

good idea.

another possible problem would be the ssd drive i think. did you try updating its firmware? ssd's are still relatively new technology and can be glitchy.
as a way to test: you'll need a spare hard drive or a separate partition on one of the existing hdds to boot from. image your whole system from ssd to it, remove the ssd, boot from the hard drive and see if the problem persists.

if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

2012-09-17 07:40:14

#7

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6900

Results from the overnight test: 7 passes, 0 errors.

Rebooted from there and the OS could not start because of a boot failure. Powered computer off, then back on and it booted fine. I'm strongly leaning toward a PSU issue at this point. Luckily I do have the old one still with me, so I'll switch them out and see what happens.

But first I'm gonna update the SSD firmware. If the firmware update doesn't fix it, and the PSU swap doesn't fix it, then I'll try imaging to an HDD and seeing what happens then.

2012-09-17 09:01:04

#8

Ilocano: buuuurrrrrrppppp.......; +341|6913

What is the current firmware version? Latest M4 version update was back in 4/2012. You should be at 000F. Properties, Hardware ID.

Also, on Saturday, my main gaming PC was ignoring my M4 boot drive (was already on firmware 000F), and was instead booting from another HD that I didn't bother removing the boot files. After I moved the boot files, the PC started loading from my M4. Crazy.

2012-09-17 09:02:06

#9

13urnzz: Banned; +5,830|6743

are the chipset drivers up to date?

2012-09-17 09:15:16

#10

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6900

Updated SSD firmware (was on 0009, now at 000F). Updated the chipset drivers... I think? Ran real quick and the latest update was from 2010, so I might have already had the latest version, not sure.

I updated the SSD firmware right after I made my previous post, so the computer was running normally for a good hour and a half. That might have been the issue. Gonna leave it on and head to work, remote log in, and monitor it from there.

2012-09-17 11:28:34

#11

mtb0minime: minimember; +2,418|6900

Well it's been on for 2+ hours and still going strong. Turned it off for now. When I get home I'll plug in the rest of my drives and try playing some games.

Hoping this means the case is solved. Thank you all for your help!

Fucking SSD firmware

BF2S Forums Windows Crashing, Computer Locking

mtb0minime wrote:

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