Last Summer my desktop developed a filmy dust on the motherboard and video-card from being left in a house with no air conditioning and the side panel off. After I got the computer back it would freeze, randomly. I tried reinstalling the OS, but to no avail. Lately I have been trying to fix the problem, but after everything I have done I am still stumped.
Specs: Mobo - ASUS M2N SLI-Deluxe, CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3.0 ghz, Video - Nvidia Geforce 7950 GX2, Ram - 2 gb Kingston DDR2
1. I re-seeded the processor and re-applied thermal paste.
2. I Took apart the video-card and scrubbed it down with electrical cleaner and a toothbrush (to get rid of the filmy dust that was on it). After this I ran the GeoForms screensaver for several hours and logged the temperatures. GPU 1 peaked at high 60's, GPU 2 peaked at high 70's, both reasonable temperatures. I then ran the NTune stability test all night. The computer never restarted and the GPU temps were completely reasonable. The same day my computer froze while browsing the net with firefox.
3. I ran a CPU stability test for several hours, the CPU temp stayed at high 50's and the computer never restarted during the test.
4. I found myself convinced it might be a bad sector in RAM. I ran memtest86+ several times and found zero errors.
I would like to add that the freezing is extremely random. My computer might be on for days and not restart, then restart three times. I can play a game for hours with no restart, then the computer restarts while surfing the net. I am going to try each stick of ram separately and see what happens. I thought about using ethernet instead of my wireless router, which was my last hardware purchase before the problems. I am also going to try scrubbing the mobo like I did the video-card. Any additional tips/help that anyone could offer would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks so much for taking the time to read.
Specs: Mobo - ASUS M2N SLI-Deluxe, CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3.0 ghz, Video - Nvidia Geforce 7950 GX2, Ram - 2 gb Kingston DDR2
1. I re-seeded the processor and re-applied thermal paste.
2. I Took apart the video-card and scrubbed it down with electrical cleaner and a toothbrush (to get rid of the filmy dust that was on it). After this I ran the GeoForms screensaver for several hours and logged the temperatures. GPU 1 peaked at high 60's, GPU 2 peaked at high 70's, both reasonable temperatures. I then ran the NTune stability test all night. The computer never restarted and the GPU temps were completely reasonable. The same day my computer froze while browsing the net with firefox.
3. I ran a CPU stability test for several hours, the CPU temp stayed at high 50's and the computer never restarted during the test.
4. I found myself convinced it might be a bad sector in RAM. I ran memtest86+ several times and found zero errors.
I would like to add that the freezing is extremely random. My computer might be on for days and not restart, then restart three times. I can play a game for hours with no restart, then the computer restarts while surfing the net. I am going to try each stick of ram separately and see what happens. I thought about using ethernet instead of my wireless router, which was my last hardware purchase before the problems. I am also going to try scrubbing the mobo like I did the video-card. Any additional tips/help that anyone could offer would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks so much for taking the time to read.