what could be the cause of this problem...

okay, i'm having a strange problem with my system. when I load/install programs, run a game, or just do a few things at once, my comp with freeze, then reboot. I play a lot of games, so it seems to happen more when loading up a game, but it's not limited to that. it doesnt happen everytime, but it seems to be about 1 out of 5-6 times. all my drivers are up to date, and i've actually replaced the memory to see if that was the cause. i am not oc'ing at this time, so all temps and voltages seem okay (of course it freeze the comp, so i really cant tell for sure if the voltages have changed.)

so my questions are: what could be the cause? and does windows keep a log of the crashes and maybe a reason why?

here are my current specs:

OS: windows xp pro
CPU: intel 6750
modo: asus p5k premium
hd's: 2 wd raptors, raid 0
vid card: 7800 gtx
sc: sb audigy2
ram: corsiar dominator 8500 series

it could be the mb,psu,temps or even the memory.i would start by monitoring the rails on your psu underload.i would also doublecheck your hsf mount to be sure your proc isnt overheating.it could also be the mb shorting into your case.so pulling it and testing it outside of the case may be helpful.i would memtest86+ your ram to be certain it isnt the problem as well.last and most painful is a reformat.

Check the Event Viewer logs... Start | Run | Type eventvwr.msc in the Run box, and right click--> "Properties" a couple of the latest critical errors you've received (critical errors are in Red). Copy and paste (use the "Copy to Clipboard" button under the arrow buttons in the "Event Properties" window) the latest error message(s) as they appear under the "Description" field, and post them in this thread.

After you hit the "Copy to Clipboard" button in the "Event Properties" dialog, the contents in the Description field will be copied to the ClipBook Viewer (ClipBoard). You can then just paste the contents into your post, as there is no Edit-->Select All-->Copy function in ClipBook. In addition you could type clipbrd in the Run box, which will open the ClipBook Viewer containing the copied text from the Event Properties dialog... then perform a File-->Save As, and save the file with a *.txt extension. You could then perform a Edit-->Select All, then do a copy/paste of the text in your new post... so you have a couple different options.

Also, open the System Information tool by typing msinfo32 in the Run box | Expand "Components" | Highlight "Problem Devices", and look for any problems that might be listed there.

The most important question - what power supply do you have?

thx for the suggestions. i will check it out.

my ps is a Thermaltake 650W Toughpower

The only problem component is the usb driver for my printer, which i haven't installed yet. btw, i have formatted/reinstalled about 5 times now to try and correct this issue. however, it does not correct the problems.

here are some of the problems found in the event viewer:

LoadPerf
The performance counter name string value in the registry is incorrectly formatted. The bogus string is 3576, the bogus index value is the first DWORD in Data section while the last valid index values are the second and third DWORD in Data section.
LastCounter and LastHelp values of performance registry is corrupted and needs to be updated. The first and second DWORDs in Data Section are the original values while the third and forth DWORDs in Data Section are the updated new values.

Unloading the performance counter strings for service WmiApRpl (WmiApRpl) failed. The Error code is the first DWORD in Data section.

A few questions. How soon after you boot it does it start this? Also does it seem to progressively get to be shorter and shorter time period? if so it is heat related. I would take it out and make sure that it is all clean. Use some canned air and blow out all of the heatsinks, CPU, VIDEO card, powersupply and motherboard. If that does not do it try running something like MEMTEST and see if it may be a memory problem causing it. Hope this helps.

WoW_STORM said:

A few questions. How soon after you boot it does it start this? Also does it seem to progressively get to be shorter and shorter time period? if so it is heat related. I would take it out and make sure that it is all clean. Use some canned air and blow out all of the heatsinks, CPU, VIDEO card, powersupply and motherboard. If that does not do it try running something like MEMTEST and see if it may be a memory problem causing it. Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

it's random. just depends on what i'm doing on the computer. almost every part is new, except the WD raptor drives, so everything is clean. Memtest came back no errors. i've run the intel thermal test for about 1 hr and the max temp is about 45C. no errors during that test either.

thx for the suggestions..

test the PSU with a Voltmeter ASAP. I had similar issues that werent fixed by swapping Mem, reinstall, reinstall of drivers or anything else. Ended up finding out that the PSU was overvolting at almost 13v and it fried the board.