at wit's end..

[gltyrian]

So recently, my computer started just hanging up.. it would just straight up freeeeze. no blue screen or errors, it would just be like on pause. I've been doing computer stuff for years, been able to diagnose most problems, but this one is extremely puzzling.

At first I thought it might've been a memory problem.. So i ran memtest on the system, and it reported errors on one of the sticks.. after replacing the memory, i thought the problem would've been gone, but it's crashing again. Memtest though, this time didn't report any errors.

It seems to hang when I do some more intensive applications. Notably, when I run some p2p software like emule or bittornado. It's also crashed on just some intensive stuff like when I open too many programs or what nots. Right now its fine-- playing mp3's, browsing the web, watching a video lecture, AIM, etc.. but it'll still crash if I try to do to much.

Drivers and stuff have been updated.. I doubt its the video card.. might be the sound card, but i doubt that because when it crashes, its not sound outputting..

My system: shuttle sb61g2, 3.2e p4, 1 gb ram, 6800gt, sb x-fi xtrememusic and the shuttle pn15g wireless addon

Anybody have some suggestions to other diagnostic methods or tools to check out? I'm pretty much at wit's end cuz it seems like thers no clue to point me in a direction to check out

 

[ITJunkie]

you can try Sandra, it will stress test your entire system and I've found it to be quite useful in situations such as yours.

 

[wpshooter]

Have you check for spyware & viruses ?

Also, you may have file corruption on drive caused by earlier memory problems ?

Have you ran check disk and defragmented ?

Also, might want to get manufacturers diagnostic software for your drive and check it's integrity.

Good luck.

 

[starlounger]

It could be your motherboard on it's way out. Check for leaky, or bulging capacitors on the motherboard. I used to have a gigabyte board that would always freeze up when anything complex came about, you know things like Gaming, SSE instructions and whatnot, and especially when processing algorhythms to digital audio files. I even tried formatting and still had the same problems. Then one day my MB just died, and I finally took a look at it and all the caps around the CPU had leaked, so that must of been the issue. Once I put a new MB in everything was great.

 

[amdskip]

What temps are you running at? Try running with your case open for kicks.

What about that power supply running everything and that video card. That video card surely sucks some power. I just sorta wonder if you swapped the card out with something that doesn't take nearly as much power if the problems would still exist.

 

[daveybrat]

I'm seriously wondering if that little 200Watt power supply in that SFF can really power a 6800GT video card and all the other components. It might be too much draw for that little pc. Of course the only real way to test that theory is to find a low-power video card like an older geforce or an older Radeon card to test it with.....or you could try plugging in a 400+ watt power supply and lay it outside the case just to test it with.

good luck!

 

[gltyrian]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, unfortunately.. these solutions didnt check out.. spyware/anti virus stuff didnt find much, switched out my vid card for my roomies fx5200, but that didnt help either.. ran the free sandra lite's various benchmarks, but it was fine also..

i went ahead and checked my tcp and winsock stuff, but thats fine too.. it might possibly be the motherboard as one poster alluded.. but its going to be quite a hassle to rma the whole darn shuttle..

any other possibly places to check? Thanks again for all the suggestions..

Siao

 

[amdskip]

Hook a different power supply up to it. It could be going bad.

 

[spherrod]

Check the power supply - my PC started doing similar things when the power supply was failing