Hey all. I have a weird problem. Randomly, the monitor either goes into standby mode and the machine locks up, or it outright reboots. It does this mainly in games, but it's done it in Windows too.

Any ideas?

DK

maybe it can't stand anymore of your "You know you've played too much blahh when..." threads and is trying to self destruct....kick it and then smash it up :dopey:

@csu1: ...It was doing this /before/ I started the threads. And you gave me an idea for a new one :P

Few more specs
Nvidia GeForce 7600GT graphics card
1.05GB ram

@Niko: I have two fans, both working fine. Though I should put the side of teh case back on at some point...

DK

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

@Niko: I have two fans, both working fine. Though I should put the side of teh case back on at some point...

Case fans are irrespective, use SpeedFan to check CPU temps, drivers for GPU temps & a MemTest86 wouldn't hurt either.

I think your power supply's probably too small. What PSU do you have?

Quote from LFSn00b :

lol!


Possible overheating?

Lol...whenever there is a problem...you always say Overheating!!! you crack me up lol

CSU1...lol that was sooo funny

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

Any ideas?
DK

The problem is at the moment quite generic, so it has to be addressed with general troubleshooting procedures.
First thing to do, disable automatic restart after a failure. This will probably lead to having a blue screen with some diagnostic info. Take note of that info and start looking into the trouble from there.
In case no info is given, you should start investigating your system for hardware and software faults.
Things to check first: RAM (prime95, memtest86), Hard disks (chkdsk, HDTune, manufacturer's utilities) and ensure all fans are working and clean. Have a look at the Event Viewer too. These are things that can be done quite easily without replacing anything and, they don't require advanced maintenance and repair skills.
You'll find additional information about the things I mentioned searching in this forum.

Quote from Albieg :

The problem is at the moment ....

OT:
...that some people just.dont.listen. no matter how desperate the questions seem at the time- the op always disregard simplicity and obvious answers...wondering into and endless cycle of asking questions not even bothering to take the time to read the answering post.
[/endOfRant]

Quote from LFSn00b :

lol!
Possible overheating?

Quote from harjun :

Lol...whenever there is a problem...you always say Overheating!!! you crack me up lol

CSU1...lol that was sooo funny

I will have to agree. NOT EVERY COMPUTER PROBLEM IS DUE TO OVERHEATING YOU N00B. Why don't you try to help instead of just increase your post count?

I have had this problem, and I magically solved it. By magically I mean I don't know what I did but it worked. First answer me this: do you hear your hard drive turn off, then turn back on when your pc reboots? If you do it means its a glitch within Windows, and not a hardware problem. If not, maybe its your RAM. I've had computers lock up for no visible reason, and I've almost always traced it back to the RAM. Try removing it, clean the socket, then put it back in. Or if you have multiple modules, try switching them around.

Quote from shiny_red_cobra :

I will have to agree. NOT EVERY COMPUTER PROBLEM IS DUE TO OVERHEATING YOU N00B. Why don't you try to help instead of just increase your post count?

I have had this problem, and I magically solved it. By magically I mean I don't know what I did but it worked. First answer me this: do you hear your hard drive turn off, then turn back on when your pc reboots? If you do it means its a glitch within Windows, and not a hardware problem. If not, maybe its your RAM. I've had computers lock up for no visible reason, and I've almost always traced it back to the RAM. Try removing it, clean the socket, then put it back in. Or if you have multiple modules, try switching them around.

Not all problems are caused by overheating, but the fact he thinks he's safe because he's got 2 case fans without checking any temperatures makes me thinks it could be that, in the same way that it could be the memory - grab a copy of MemTest86 and do about an hours worth of tests and see if you get any errors

It sounds like over-something, to me. I'll assume you wouldn't waste our time with an overclocked box. Overheating is definitely a reasonable starting point, and more importantly it's the easiest of all possibles to diagnose and/or rule out. 2 case fans, even if they're blowing in the right directions, may not be enough if there's a build-up of dust.

The monitor turning off sounds like a possible GPU temp problem. I've known that throw a PC far enough off kilter that it will crash.

Early prognosis: heat caused by dust. Quicker than a few hours of memtesting

on my laptop i only have 1 fan, about the size of my balls...and it works just FINE!

Ok. First off. I don't hear the HD power down, I just hear the monitor go onto standby.

Secondly, how do I look at the event viewer?

Thirdly, I've noticed it ONLY goes into a BSOD when exiting GPL. Changing the auto-restart has no effect. All other times it either reboots or the monitor goes onto standby and I have to reboot it.

Finally (For this post)...I have cleaned the inside of the case, No change.

DK

Quote from SamH :

Early prognosis: heat caused by dust. Quicker than a few hours of memtesting

From what Kolkrabe wrote, I bet against overheating.
The screen going black just means his computer had a Stop error for whatever reason. The PC rebooting hints at having automatic restart enabled. So this is - really - the first and foremost thing to do.

Okay, it doesn't work it seems

For the event viewer choose start, run, type eventvwr.msc. Look at system and application sections. If you find system errors related to the crashes cut and paste here the info, and I'll try to have a look. And what does the BSOD say when you exit GPL? It would help to know that vital information, sometimes looking at those strange numbers (especially the first one) can already point you in the right google direction.

I checked the event viewer, I found 6 system errors.

They are

1) Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 15/07/2007
Time: 17:30:12
User: N/A
Computer: HOME-2A555C42A6
Description:
Error code 000000c2, parameter1 00000040, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 80000000, parameter4 00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 63 000000c
0020: 32 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 2 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 30 30 eters 00
0030: 30 30 30 30 34 30 2c 20 000040,
0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 00000000
0040: 2c 20 38 30 30 30 30 30 , 800000
0048: 30 30 2c 20 30 30 30 30 00, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000

2) Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 15/07/2007
Time: 15:57:35
User: N/A
Computer: HOME-2A555C42A6
Description:
Error code 100000d1, parameter1 00000004, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000001, parameter4 b70caf69.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 64 100000d
0020: 31 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 1 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 30 30 eters 00
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 34 2c 20 000004,
0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 32 00000002
0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 , 000000
0048: 30 31 2c 20 62 37 30 63 01, b70c
0050: 61 66 36 39 af69

3) Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 14/07/2007
Time: 11:03:18
User: N/A
Computer: HOME-2A555C42A6
Description:
Error code 1000008e, parameter1 c0000005, parameter2 01010101, parameter3 b350f9e0, parameter4 00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 38 1000008
0020: 65 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d e Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 63 30 eters c0
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 35 2c 20 000005,
0038: 30 31 30 31 30 31 30 31 01010101
0040: 2c 20 62 33 35 30 66 39 , b350f9
0048: 65 30 2c 20 30 30 30 30 e0, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000

4) Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 06/07/2007
Time: 20:56:56
User: N/A
Computer: HOME-2A555C42A6
Description:
Error code 100000c5, parameter1 00000004, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000001, parameter4 8054afd2.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 63 100000c
0020: 35 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 5 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 30 30 eters 00
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 34 2c 20 000004,
0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 32 00000002
0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 , 000000
0048: 30 31 2c 20 38 30 35 34 01, 8054
0050: 61 66 64 32 afd2

5) Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 06/07/2007
Time: 18:54:57
User: N/A
Computer: HOME-2A555C42A6
Description:
Error code 100000d1, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 b6d2f491.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 64 100000d
0020: 31 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 1 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 30 30 eters 00
0030: 30 30 30 30 30 30 2c 20 000000,
0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 32 00000002
0040: 2c 20 30 30 30 30 30 30 , 000000
0048: 30 30 2c 20 62 36 64 32 00, b6d2
0050: 66 34 39 31 f491

6) Event Type: Error
Event Source: System Error
Event Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003
Date: 19/06/2007
Time: 14:52:48
User: N/A
Computer: HOME-2A555C42A6
Description:
Error code 10000050, parameter1 cc2289e8, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 b6d884cc, parameter4 00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 53 79 73 74 65 6d 20 45 System E
0008: 72 72 6f 72 20 20 45 72 rror Er
0010: 72 6f 72 20 63 6f 64 65 ror code
0018: 20 31 30 30 30 30 30 35 1000005
0020: 30 20 20 50 61 72 61 6d 0 Param
0028: 65 74 65 72 73 20 63 63 eters cc
0030: 32 32 38 39 65 38 2c 20 2289e8,
0038: 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 00000000
0040: 2c 20 62 36 64 38 38 34 , b6d884
0048: 63 63 2c 20 30 30 30 30 cc, 0000
0050: 30 30 30 30 0000

Anyone make any sense of that?

DK

Seems like a faulty driver. Mind you, bad RAM could give the same results.
Here you can figure out something yourself:
http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm
If you have one or two recent minidumps in c:\windows\minidump post them here. They should be no more than 92K. I'll try to analyse the minidump as soon as possible.

Addendum:
You could check drivers with dxdiag to see if there are unsigned ones, anyway if possible I'd update the soundcard driver right now, and try putting dx sound acceleration to none. I'd also give priority to stress testing the RAM with prime95 and Memtest86 (in this order). If prime95 halts during a stress test (say, half an hour) chances are that you have a faulty module. Also try to remove unneeded hardware such as USB peripherals if you can. Stripping things down to a minimum helps to exclude stuff, so identifying the problem gets simpler.

I put up all the minidumps, as I'm not sure which is which.

DK

Okay. The crash dump analysis is quite a fast process, but I have to download some stuff from Technet. I'll need some time since I don't have all that's needed at hand and I have to go away today. Don't expect anything until tomorrow.

Ok

DK

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

Ok. First off. I don't hear the HD power down, I just hear the monitor go onto standby.

Had the same, which was due to a dodgy overclock - are you overclocked?

Please don't just clean your case, check the temps, other wise it might be pointless

Quote from harjun :

on my laptop i only have 1 fan, about the size of my balls...and it works just FINE!

And you have a massive heatsink, too...

Jakg, it's not overclocked and the internals were de-dusted, no effect. I'm not 100% sure how to check the temps

DK

Quote from Jakg :

to check CPU temps, drivers for GPU temps & a MemTest86 wouldn't hurt either.

I'm starting to wonder if it's an OS issue, but to check this will take all of 3 minutes

How would I check it?

EDIT: The BSOD I don't get a chance to look at

DK

Just download SpeedFan, then run it and look at the "CPU Temp" one, the number in your taskbar that will appear - run something like LFS that will give your CPU some work, and see what it does

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

EDIT: The BSOD I don't get a chance to look at
DK

Did you check the first link I posted? You have instructions there on how to disable automatic reboot, and an explanation.
Anyway you'll have the same info that you posted from the Event Viewer.

Addendum: I have to download the Symbols for WinXP service pack 2, but anyway I'll update the CMedia sound driver now since the debugger gives me a timestamp error about that. Without the symbols I cannot go on, so this is the last post for today, probably. A strange place awaits me for the rest of my day and part of my night. No computers there

Re-Addendum: this work is preliminary, but 3 different dumps have 3 different, unrelated modules generating an error: ipnat.sys, nv4_disp.dll and c6501.sys. This strongly suggests a hardware problem, possibly memory related.