10 replies to this topic

[FouGilang]

okay, i've spent my whole week just to investigate my pc's hardware problems without any luck and got myself to the deepest part of frustration and despair (say, trying to make it dramatic). the problem is somewhat the same as the ones i posted before, in a thread somewhere called "random freeze in windows 7", it just..... worse, far worse, and even worse because i don't know what's really wrong

my problem, as said above, RANDOM FREEZE. well after awhile of investigation, i found out that it's not-so-random because it can be predicted lol. it will have the chance to freeze everytime something accesses the hard disk, such as copy-paste, installing something, playing music, or even just trying to open a folder. and it 100% will freezes every time i played a game even the GAMEHOUSE one. funny enough, i got no problem playing microsoft's XP default game like pinball, solitaire, and ubuntu default games... though sorry i can't remember the name.

the indication? well, my harddisk sometimes will stopped when this occurs, no process sound at all, but no sound of fail too, it just "silent". after awhile of freezing, my hard disk will work again (the sound re-appear) and my system ready to go for some times until it locked up again. so, i though it was because of my hard disk, but after re-formatting my whole disk, it didn't helped anything. will try my disk in others pc, if that could help
when playing games, the problem can be mentioned with freezes screen, not responding application (can't even alt-tab), locked mouse and keyboard, then comes the stupid looping sound and music (like "do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-double kill!!"). and as mentioned above, i have no problem playing microsoft's default games, so that's quite fishy.

anyone? both i and my friend are confused enough and need some help here. any help (except "buy a new one" idea) is appreciated :/

hope it helped, this is my pc spec
CPU : intel core 2 duo e4500 @2.20 GHz
memory : 3454 MB (it's actually 4 pieces of 1GB RAM)
OS : XP SP 2 (reverted back to SP2, no luck)
VGA : ATI Radeon X600

and here's what i've done
- checked harddisk for bad sector test with easus partition master : nothing found
- checked ram for memory test with memtest : 2 of them are fault, removed the faulty ones, still the same problem
- chkdsk : it mostly found something corrupted, but that didn't help whatsoever
- changed BIOS : no luck
- upgrade / down grade drivers for ati display, realtek sound card, and others stuff : nope
- directx and sound check (via dxdiag) : no problem
- Speedfan temperature : normal, below 50
- disk drefrag : no good

[k_nitin_r]

Hi!

What you have described seems to be a problem with your hard disk more than anything else. Have you been able to swap hard disks with another computer to try them out?

Do you have an antivirus software installed? If so, the antivirus scan probably kicks in while playing movie or music files for the sound to keep repeating, but it's pretty speculative until we have performed more tests on your computer.

Also, you might want to turn on the computer with the lid taken off to ensure that the processor fan is working correctly. I'm not really sure which fan's temperature you have got because there's the cooling fan located within the power supply unit, and there are cooling fans on processors, with a heat sink sitting between the fan and the processor and some thermal paste to keep the air insulation from forming between the processor and the heat sink. The reason why you ought to check the processor is because when Intel processors heat up, they throttle down to reduce speed and if they are still unable to stay cool, they shut down completely. Chances are that your processor is running hot while the rest of the case is not so the processor slows down and has the sound card play the same sound over and over again due to the circular sound buffer.

If all else fails, you can keep swapping parts with another computer till you find that your system does not hang any more. If it still does after swapping out everything including the motherboard and power supply of the computer, you might want to check for software problems again.

[web_designer]

i am not quiet sure, but i suggest you to check your hard disk for errors first. Norton antivirus has a great tool for checking errors. and you mentioned that you reformatted your hard disk, well i don't know about windows 7, but for windows xp, if i want to check if i have a bad sector or not, i don't choose the quick format option, i choose the full format option, it takes longer but check every sector in your hard disk.

also if that freeze happened only when you play games, then i suggest you to swap your video card with another one and see what will happen. maybe the problem in your video card. also try checking the fans of your processor, what k_nthin_r said is absolutely right, if your processor heats up, its speed will slow down until it stops causing everything related to it stop either.so check these for the first and post what you get. good luck.

Edited by web_designer, 14 May 2010 - 08:41 AM.

[FouGilang]

Quote

What you have described seems to be a problem with your hard disk more than anything else. Have you been able to swap hard disks with another computer to try them out?

Do you have an antivirus software installed? If so, the antivirus scan probably kicks in while playing movie or music files for the sound to keep repeating, but it's pretty speculative until we have performed more tests on your computer.

no, but i DID have tried my hard disk on another computer (to move my files before the full re-format, that is) and got no problem there
though, i haven't tried playing games on that computer because i though it was hard disk partition problem only. maybe next week i'll have some spare time to spend and go there again

about the antivirus... for some reason, i'm not using any. and when i copy my files to my friend's pc above, it didn't detect anything bad

Quote

Also, you might want to turn on the computer with the lid taken off to ensure that the processor fan is working correctly. I'm not really sure which fan's temperature you have got because there's the cooling fan located within the power supply unit, and there are cooling fans on processors, with a heat sink sitting between the fan and the processor and some thermal paste to keep the air insulation from forming between the processor and the heat sink. The reason why you ought to check the processor is because when Intel processors heat up, they throttle down to reduce speed and if they are still unable to stay cool, they shut down completely. Chances are that your processor is running hot while the rest of the case is not so the processor slows down and has the sound card play the same sound over and over again due to the circular sound buffer.

it did taken off already, i always remove it when i think something went wrong
i checked the processors and hard disk temperature via Speedfan (almico) and biostar hardware monitor. it did overheat for the first time i checked, but even after i fix the processor fan, the problem still occured

Quote

i am not quiet sure, but i suggest you to check your hard disk for errors first. Norton antivirus has a great tool for checking errors. and you mentioned that you reformatted your hard disk, well i don't know about windows 7, but for windows xp, if i want to check if i have a bad sector or not, i don't choose the quick format option, i choose the full format option, it takes longer but check every sector in your hard disk.

what norton tool? is it freeware?


well based on both post seems i have to borrow some hardwares from my friend to check all my hardware status one by one :?

[anwiii]

did you even test your power supply yet? that's the first think i would check before swapping parts.

[FouGilang]

er... no
how do i do that? :l

[web_designer]

you really didn't hear about norton antivirus program! anyway, here is the link http://www.symantec....loads/index.jsp you can download a free trial version and use it to check errors, it is not very effective for viruses but have a lot of features for fixing errors more than any other antivirus, but be careful when you do that. read the instructions carefully before do anything. it can mess your hard disk, i prefer you buck up your data before use it. good luck.

[k_nitin_r]

Hi!

A disk check for errors can be performed in a few different ways - it can include a check of only the areas of the disk where data is stored, it can include a check of only the blank areas of the disk, and it can combine both the checks. There are also checks for an increased spin-up time of the disk, which is one of the first few signs of gradual disk failure.

Hardware either fails gradually which is when it gives you a couple of months of service before finally dying on you completely, or it can fail suddenly. The gradual failure is what makes computer hardware problems hard to figure out at times with only a brief description of the problem i.e. hearing an account of the problem without actually having physical access to the computer to try it out.

@web_designer

As you've suggested, a full format is a pretty good way to make sure that a disk works correctly. I'm not aware of the disk error checking capabilities of Norton Antivirus, which you have mentioned in your reply, but Norton/Symantec does provide additional products specifically for performing system checks. I believe Norton 360 might be what you need. The software is not freeware - it costs $80 to $100 - but might be able to get a trial version or you could buy an older version of Norton Utilities off somebody else.

Do you remember seeing the videos by Toms Hardware when they took off the processor cooling fans of AMD and Intel processors? The AMD processor literally melted while the Intel processor slowed down before finally coming to a halt. It's a fail-safe mechanism built into Intel processors and the game being demo-ed at the time had a sharp decrease in frame rate before Windows 'panicked' (etymology - "Linux Kernel Panic").

I did have an overheating problem with an HP laptop too - it was an HP Compaq 6710b that was 'refreshed' with newer specs and sold last year. I got it as a work laptop to replace the old Lenovo N1000 that they managed to salvage when I first stepped into the office. Running Need For Speed Undercover (without the fancy graphics, since the laptop does not have a dedicated graphics adapter card and the integrated graphics capabilities are less than ideal for the graphics that Need For Speed Undercover has to offer) caused the laptop to overheat and turn off after about half an hour to about forty five minutes.

Although HP laptops offer a good value for money.... ummm, let me re-word that... although HP laptops offer a GREAT value for money, they aren't built to last.

A co-worker went through two different laptops as she is very accident-prone. She put her laptop into the case and picked it up without fastening the laptop strap or closing the zipper and BAM! The laptop fell out and although there was no visible damage, the LCD panel was cracked from the inside (visible upon closer inspection of the screen). She went to the technical support guy and said, "I dropped my laptop and the screen isn't working. When can you have it fixed? I'm leaving in about five minutes and I need it by then." :-D
The technical support representative gave her the 'look' and said, "We will have to send it to the Hewlett Packard workshop, which is a half-hour drive away, and will have to wait for their service quotation, which we will send to you."

Physical damage aside, I've had a Compaq Presario 1800 with a screen hinge that jammed so the computer lid wouldn't shut. Then, I had a Compaq Presario 2132 that has a loose power connector on the board and some of the keys on the keyboard don't work any more. The touch pad works erratically, with the cursor hopping about even with a motionless finger on the touch pad.

[FouGilang]

ah, finally i found this thread

Quote

you really didn't hear about norton antivirus program! anyway, here is the link http://www.symantec....loads/index.jsp you can download a free trial version and use it to check errors, it is not very effective for viruses but have a lot of features for fixing errors more than any other antivirus, but be careful when you do that. read the instructions carefully before do anything. it can mess your hard disk, i prefer you buck up your data before use it. good luck.

well i do know norton antivirus, but as it sounds, all i know is that it was just another antivirus and doesn't have anything to do with my problem . anyway i'm trying to download the "free Norton 360™ Version 4.0 trial." at the moment, hope it will find something i really stressed out

oh, and i would like to give some update in my problem
about 3 days ago, i was cleaning up my room. and something crossed my mind that i should clean up my cpu case too, because you know, it's so dusty at times. so i removed the lid, take the motherboard and everything within, remove all of them and clean up individually, then put them back together. i even opened the PSU to sweep the dust from it. this time, i start up my computer WITHOUT the case (because i was kind of lazy to put them back in the case after all those cleaning up... ). and guess what? IT WORKED!!! i can even play dota without any buggy trouble for about one day... then it just fail again until now whatever i did

and about the harddisk, i checked it with almisco's speedfan's (which is located in this link : http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php ) online hard disk test (or whatever it was called) and overall just like it said in the app itself, its overall performance is still rated "good" although the drive fitness has decreased. i was going to copy the result, but i was forgotten and left it in my pc, so maybe next time .____.' i hope this norton stuff could find something more so i can compare the result

oh and one more thing
i checked the event viewer in windows, and i found out this numerous error event ID 11 from "atapi", which is "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0."
i tried to move my disk to other port, and the error event will change the port numbers, so i guess it IS my disk fail or whatever this "controller error" means (since all device i have is in sata port)
before i decided to replace my disk (which still not 100% sure and i'm kind of flat on bucks...) i want to re-check it again and decide it after showing you the results

thanks for accompanying me

Edited by FouGilang, 25 May 2010 - 03:52 AM.

[web_designer]

Quote

oh, and i would like to give some update in my problem
about 3 days ago, i was cleaning up my room. and something crossed my mind that i should clean up my cpu case too, because you know, it's so dusty at times. so i removed the lid, take the motherboard and everything within, remove all of them and clean up individually, then put them back together. i even opened the PSU to sweep the dust from it. this time, i start up my computer WITHOUT the case (because i was kind of lazy to put them back in the case after all those cleaning up... ). and guess what? IT WORKED!!! i can even play dota without any buggy trouble for about one day... then it just fail again until now whatever i did

according to what happened i think the problem is in your video card, i remember once i was checking my pc and when i opened it i got an error message about video card performance so after a while i figured it out, it's the dust. i only cleaned it and made sure that it was pluged in correctly and everything worked fine. maybe u should check it on another computer.

Quote

i checked the event viewer in windows, and i found out this numerous error event ID 11 from "atapi", which is "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0."
i tried to move my disk to other port, and the error event will change the port numbers, so i guess it IS my disk fail or whatever this "controller error" means (since all device i have is in sata port)
before i decided to replace my disk (which still not 100% sure and i'm kind of flat on bucks...) i want to re-check it again and decide it after showing you the results

and this could be part of the problem, i suggest you to buy a new ide and replaced it with yours. and since you got error when you changed the port then the problem is in your ide, sometimes it breaks and stop transferring data correctly.