System freezes/Memory testing (possible bad RAM?)

gigercom · February 5th, 2009, 11:13 AM

Well thanks to all for helping with my CPU issue,.. now I have a separate issue to resolve.

I have had very random system freezes from time to time. It can happen so random that I can be freeze-free for weeks at a time,.. then all of a sudden it happens 2 to 3 times in a day. By freeze I mean everyhting is un-responsive including ctrl-alt-del. I have to reset the machine manually.

At first I thought it was bad memory on my video card, since most of the freezes occured while I was using the PAN command in AutoCAD. This strains the VC I am sure. But I replaced it with another card and I was still having the same issue.

Now I am thinking it may be bad RAM. I ran memtest86. It got to test #4 and froze at 80%. (I assume it froze since it said 80% for at least 5-10 minutes straight)

Since memtest86 froze does this mean I have issues with my ram?

Are ther other ways to test in a windows enviornment so I can run tests while I am working?

Thanks for any help.

-Chris

My System:
EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Yorkfield 3.0GHz LGA 775 130W Quad-Core
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
GIGABYTE 3D Aurora 570 Full Tower Computer Case
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Western Digital Caviar 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner
BFG GeForce 8800GTOC 512MB Video Card
CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Memory
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive
Saitek PK02 2-Tone USB Standard Eclipse II Keyboard
SIIG JU-91RW12-S4 9-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader/Write + Floppy

nemowolf · February 5th, 2009, 02:24 PM

Try running the Microsoft Memory Tester.

Test your RAM with Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic » Raymond.CC Blog

Direct Download:
Microsoft Online Crash Analysis

gigercom · February 5th, 2009, 04:26 PM

I ran the Microsoft Memory tester and I froze both times. This cant be good.

The first time I froze at Pass #1, Test 5 of 6 (see picture 1).
The second time I froze at pass #2; Test 4 of 6 (see picture 2).

Do I really need to run more? Is it definetley the RAM? Could it be other memory on the mo-board? What is the typical warranty on Corsair RAM?

Thanks for any advice.

-Chris

gigercom · February 23rd, 2009, 05:12 PM

I am still freezing up,.. when I use the application "AutoCAD 2008" it seems to happen much more,. but it has happened in Photoshop as well (but much less frequent).

I am at my wits end here... I had a bad day last week and I was freezing constantly,.. so I decided to test a few things out.

1. I removed 2 sticks of ram from slots 2 and 4 and left the other 2 in slots 1 and 3. (So I am only running 2GB instead of 4GB. My system froze again later.

2. I swapped the 2 RAM sticks out. I later froze again.

3. I swapped the location from 1&3 to 2&4 on the moboard. I later froze again.

So at this point I have replaced the video card and swapped out ram many times to try and isolate if it was a bad chip. Now I am thinking,.... Could it be my hard drive? I am using a drive that aI know has had issues aht I have read in online reviews. Could it be? Remember I do not have the typical symptoms of a freeze. the cursor just freezes I cannot do anything except turn off the computer manually. I cannnot access taskamanger, ctrl-alt-del does not work, etc.

I have the following hard drive:
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA

This does not seem to be typical of a hard drive failure,.. But the only other two options I can think of is the moboard or the processor itself. How can I know for sure??

Any thoughts???

Thanks so much in advance....

nemowolf · February 23rd, 2009, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigercom

I am still freezing up,.. when I use the application "AutoCAD 2008" it seems to happen much more,. but it has happened in Photoshop as well (but much less frequent).

I am at my wits end here... I had a bad day last week and I was freezing constantly,.. so I decided to test a few things out.

1. I removed 2 sticks of ram from slots 2 and 4 and left the other 2 in slots 1 and 3. (So I am only running 2GB instead of 4GB. My system froze again later.

2. I swapped the 2 RAM sticks out. I later froze again.

3. I swapped the location from 1&3 to 2&4 on the moboard. I later froze again.

So at this point I have replaced the video card and swapped out ram many times to try and isolate if it was a bad chip. Now I am thinking,.... Could it be my hard drive? I am using a drive that aI know has had issues aht I have read in online reviews. Could it be? Remember I do not have the typical symptoms of a freeze. the cursor just freezes I cannot do anything except turn off the computer manually. I cannnot access taskamanger, ctrl-alt-del does not work, etc.

I have the following hard drive:
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA

This does not seem to be typical of a hard drive failure,.. But the only other two options I can think of is the moboard or the processor itself. How can I know for sure??

Any thoughts???

Thanks so much in advance....

First off, your testing your memory wrong. Put ONE stick in slot 1 and test. Swap out each stick until you have tested all four sticks. You should find that you probably have one from each pair that is not going to pass... or worse all of them wont pass. borrow or replace all the ram and see if you still get problems. If you do, then it might be your mobo. Test your ram in a known working system and see if you get the same problems.

Its about eliminating variables.

stroyal · February 23rd, 2009, 06:45 PM

Also don't worry about your hard drive yet, when testing memory your hard drive is not involve.

gigercom · February 26th, 2009, 11:19 AM

Well I ran "Windows Memory Diagnostic" on each chip one at a time. No errors were found. Does this mean they are fine? Can I write the memory off? It ran at least 5-15 sucessful passes on each chip.

So now what? How can I test the motherboard? What about the CPU itself?

My only other thought is the fact that my OS is 32bit XP Pro. Where I really need a64bit OS (and I am working on purchasing it) . Could I be havinng conflicts because of this? All my hardware is compatible with a 64bit OS.

Any thoughts???

Thanks again for any help...

stroyal · February 26th, 2009, 11:38 AM

I'd say your memory is OK, and your motherboard and CPU ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic.
next I'd download the Western Digital diagnostic disk, and see if it finds any problems.

Edit ; 64 vs 32 is not a problem for your hardware, it will limit your RAM.

stroyal · February 26th, 2009, 12:12 PM

My laptop freezes sometimes and I have to take the battery out to reboot, but that isn't a hardware problem, it's a software/driver problem. I'd format and reinstall, but I have no CDROM or floppy, so I have live with it.

gigercom · February 26th, 2009, 01:04 PM

It only seems to happen when using the program AutoCAD 2008, so I am guessing that the problem may actually be software related,.. but I also had a previous version of 2007, that I tried for a month or so and had the same problem. I upgraded to 2008 hoping it was a glitch in the software or an isolated hardware/software problem with that software version. This does not seem to be the case since it happens with 2008 as well.

Now as some background info,.. I had been using an older version of the software (AutoCAD 2002) and I had no issues with it. It only seems to be problems with the newer versions of the software and this computer.

I have no idea what to do. I really do not want to have to use the old software with a computer htat is less than 1 year old. That is completely ridiculous.