Windows Freezes

I live in an apartment with shaky floors. I just started noticing the windows Freezes when there is a loud thump on the floor, you can feel the whole floor vibrate. My windows started freezing and I was worried it was my over clock.

So I down clocked to stock and it kept happening. I inspected all of my components and everything is tight and in place with nothing touching anywhere.

To duplicate this I just have to jump on the floor near my computer and it will freeze up. If I gently tap on the top/front of my case, it will freeze up.

I believe the problem is my Hard Drive, any thoughts?

there is one way to find out. Unplug your HD, and boot off a linux livecd/livedvd. try the 'thump' test again. if it passes, you got your culprit. if it still freezes, that means something is loose.

something ended up being loose Not sure exactly what, I ended up taking everything out of the box. Maybe a short to ground or something somewhere.

I already put in an RMA on my HDD.

Now I just have to figure out what was touching. Soooo many wires. No looking forward to this again.

Edit: yeah, I booted off the windows CD and problem was still there.

The simplest way I can think of at first. Is to pull out your DMM and test for any voltage changes or continuity breaks.

Insert the probes into the proper spots. Wiggle wiggle. See if there is any continuity fluctuation. It would be easy to pull the plugs off and maybe jump the PSU, if that is needed. Moving around methodically as you need to. Since your good at knowing the systems on a computer. It should not take long to track down the culprit. Black = ground Yellow =12v Red =5v Orange =3.3v

Lets hope it is in front. Not buried behind something.

If you don't have a DMM. Harbor Freight has CenTech DMM's really cheap.

Thank you. I am well versed in wiggle test. A am an auto tech.

It just sucks because of limited space, even in a HAF 932!

But I am sure I will find it. Its probably a case short or pinched wire. Probably some wire management will clear it up. I will keep ya posted.

It should not be to hard to figure out a way to do continuity checks on the wires in tight spots. Without tearing most everything out. Being an auto tech. A trade of methodical wiring nuts.

The good side. It is a reason to pull the parts, and do a spring cleaning. Heck, you could even turn it in to an article managing wires and such. I would enjoy reading something like that. Snap a few pix while your doing it. Later on, pull it together with some words. Be at least an excuse to pull the machine apart and reassemble it.

Agreed, even though I have only recently built this, I did some carpet cleaning using some talcum powder like freshener and it made a mess everywhere. I have this white dusty stuff in my case. Additionally I needed to do some wire managmentbecause while I have been installing and adjusting stuff since my initial Motherboard install, wires have gotten messy.

I will try and take some pics. If I manage to find the exact culprit I will add in a picture. I will pick up my Fluke at work tonight just in case. Everything was working fine until I reoriented my Venomous X a couple days ago, so I will start there.

I am just dreading disassembly as I have just gotten my HSF set up perfect. As anyone who messes with wiring knows, sometimes you can't even see the short or loose connection.

Edit: BTW I am an Audi/Porsche Tech. I don't do Harbour Freight.

When I rebuilt this particular iteration of these parts. I went to power on. All the sudden, I found a wire break in the hardest way. I got not only blue smoke. I got the light show. Darn fan wire was broke and grounded out inside the case. No pre-power visual inspection showed me this.
(I pulled the screen out the Window. Then flung that fan out - Five stories down.. My wife later on, told me to go get my trash... I did and smashed that fan to bits...) I corrected the sharp edge in my case and it should be stable enough for long term.

I am hoping this is not something more dire. I know you can deal with a simple wire break or silly connector being loose. It will be much harder to T_S if the electrics pass.

Well fortunately it doesn't affect anything outside of the case. This tells me, it has to be a case short to ground or wire short to ground. If it was a short to positive, I would get getting that lovely smell of burnt electronics accompanied by a puff of smoke. Additionally I would expect the component to only do this once.

I will see tonight when I get home. Had I not just ripped everything out, I could have done the wiggle test. Unfortunately I wanted to make sure it wasn't a component failing. Everything is new, so RMA would be possible, but inconvenient.

I have had your same experience back in the 90s. I removed a hard drive with the computer powered up. The circuit board on the bottom (I never figured out why these are always bare) came in contact with the case. It took only a split second for it to kill the drive.

Fortunately for me, all of my components work outside of my case. Worse case scenario, I have to RMA my HAF, but I doubt it. Since it was working no problem a couple days ago, it must have been something I moved or pulled on which caused it to short or pinch the wire. I am confident it will be fixed tonight. Doesn't this always happen though when your late for work?

Well as promised, my results. No obvious signs of chaffing or broken wires. one connector was pushed out on my video card PCIe adapter (but I don't think that was the culprit). Case was a bit dusty, but not that bad. Problem was resolved with a some wire managment. Here are before and after pictures. Took about an hour and a half.

Case Stripped down.




Back side of HAF 932.



Inside of case. Its so hard to get these large bundles of connectors tucked away.






















My dog doing what he does best.
































In his Snuggie. YES HE HAS A SNUGGIE!

Glad you got it sorted out.

Would of been funnier if the pooch was doing the dead roach inside his snuggy.