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Computer suffering random problems!

by hollasaurusrex Dec 18, 2012 5:11PM PST

Hello, I've built my computer rig maybe about 3 years ago and it currently is going through random problems.

1. During gaming, the computer will do a hard freeze with no sounds looping or anything like that and I am forced to hard shutdown.

2. Sometimes after said shutdown, I boot up my computer again and everything on the computer looks to be running okay (Video card fans, etc.) but an image won't be displayed as if my monitor isn't picking up any signal.

3. Sometimes while doing casual internet surfing and skyping simultaneously, my computer would freeze than after 2 seconds it would hiccup back to what I was doing.

Note: It shows the hard freeze symptom the most maybe once every 2 days. Not booting all the time once a week. Hiccup maybe once a month.

My friend thinks it could be the Motherboard, but wasn't exactly sure. Below are my specs

3 HDD's in raid5
OCZ Vertex SDD
Zotac Nvidia GTX460 graphics card
Intel Core I5 750@2.67Ghz
Corsair 850 W Power Supply
2x2GB Corsair XMS Ram
Huge Antec 1200 case with all fans running

So many symptoms!

Oh and I have tried reseating both the video card and ram and still lead to problems. Currently trying 1 stick of ram at a time and see what happens.

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

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My initial thought

by Jimmy Greystone Dec 18, 2012 10:58PM PST

My initial thought would be heat buildup. You have 3 HDDs, SSD, and a 460 video card. That's a lot of heat, and given that proper air flow essentially requires a good understanding of fluid dynamics (the organic chemistry of engineering land), let's just say virtually everyone's setup is lacking in some way or another.

So the first quick test is to pull the cover of the unit and let it run like that for a few days to see if the symptoms change. If yes, get some compressed air and blow out all the dust bunnies, maybe look to add some additional fans to the case. If the symptoms don't change then you get to go through the process of elimination to figure out which component is faulty. My guess would be the video card. The thermal grease under the heatsink may well have long since dried up and lost the majority of its efficacy. However, the wise person would not get fixated on any one component, and make sure to methodically test EVERYTHING.

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Another Moderator had same.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Dec 19, 2012 1:33AM PST

We went through a lot but in the end he tried other setups and went with what works.

This looks like a new system so if it's defective, get the maker to fix, replace or refund.
Bob

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