So stumped on the most annoying crashing problem....

[DocMongre]

About a year ago 6 months ago...a silly little boy having built a gaming computer, encountered problems with random crashes whilst morbidly pummeling his enemy.

Set out to solve it, he searched high and low for an answer until, fed up, he replaced his system with nice shiny new one....back in to the game, he is baffled when the computer he had hoped was a shiny replacement, crashed as if possessed, all the same. Determined after still some time searching for an answer, he thought...hmm what if i bought a NEW box...would that help my problem?

Well he does...in fact even cooler than the one before. He is sure the THIRD computer would work just fine. He has a close friend build it for him..."that's all he does all day" Who apparently "pimped his ride" Well this one too, in all it's glory crashes randomly (mostly while gaming or during graphically intense moments)

Then comes his loyal and close compadre, me. Somewhat(achem, yeah right)technically endowed, i race to help my friend...i complete the following (over time):
reseat every card
reinstalled windows
installed Mobo drivers, 4in1, sound
all windows updates
removed all spyware/adware (spybot, AAW, HijackThis)
ran trendmicro and avast (thorough)

IT STILL RANDOMLY CRASHES!
Mostly when gaming, but occasionally not. This makes 3 SYSTEMS IN A ROW THAT HAVE CRASHED IN THE SAME WAY. No parts in common except the following:
Win XP Pro
Office 2004
Joint Operations
Trillian
Avant Browser
Fileshares!
Same Cable Modem
Same electrical line
same monitor, speakers
same ext. HD

Specs:
XP w/sp2
80 GB WD
120 GB Ext.
Gigabyte GA-7VT600 Mobo
1GB Corsair Extreme
Gigabyte FX-5900
Thermaltake pwr supply

Keep in mind, 3 boxes crash the same way with no common cards. I can see one crashing from a memory prob or the video card on it's way out, but 3? I personally think there can be one of two sources of the problem. 1) His house's electrical is old. Shorts in the wire could be to blame. but wouldnt the power strip or pwr supply catch it? 2)there is a malicious trojan on his box that has gone undetected (despite the above scans) and is to blame.

I'm stumped!?! Has anyone ever seen this before? Any other guesses or input would be gratefully appreciated. The person that solves this one will be glorified as the King of Kindness and Intellect. (all must bow!)

 

[wolluf]

Its even harder guessing without have been involved with any of 3 sets of hardware!

Few (unlikely) thoughts occur

- power supply (all 3 slightly underpowered)?
- common assembly blunder (eg, fan on cpu allowing overheating)
- software (very unlikely)
- drivers
- real bad luck - all 3 builds have had bad hardware

 

[micker377]

Trojan on ext drive? House power fluctuations (may go "out of range" of power supply)? Try UPS, or try running computer at your house.

 

[DocMongre]

All 3 ps's were 450 watt. The most recent ps is a thermaltake.

I doubt it was a blunder. This one has arctic silver...all temps are running below normal...5 case fans...built by people who know what picante sauce is supposed to taste like.

I'm narrowing down to power. It does it without the HD, or so i understand, so that's out. Power then...it has to be. Has anyone ever heard of power fluctuations crappin a system out?

One other thing...is there a way to understand how windows logs these errors?

 

[Freestone]

If you mean how do you view any possible logged errors, then Start, Run, eventvwr.msc.

 

[TekTippy4U]

hmm.....the dilemma seems akin to buying a new car cause you ran outta gasoline/petrol - like Jamie Farr did in the Gumball Rally

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there,

go to the BIOS Setup...

there Look for RAM TIMING set this to AUTO...

then go to GFX-Card Aperture size, set this to at least 64mb best would be 128mb... (this is where the most gamers systems crash, as there isn't enough SWAP MEM for the GFX CARDs and system OS...)



Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[Thesuperiorone]

"1) His house's electrical is old. Shorts in the wire could be to blame. but wouldnt the power strip or pwr supply catch it?"

YES YES YES. I have had clients where this has been a real issue, and they solved it by changing outlets. Sometimes the shorts can be SO SLIGHT that the power strip won't catch it. That'd be my first guess on what to try.

Second..... What game is it you are trying to play? Do you know anyone else who plays it? If it only happens on this game, you might want to also post a question in the game makers forums. A lot of times, other people have the same issue and are able to help fellow gamers solve it.

Hope this helps

Chris

 

[edfair]

UPS available? That would be my first step.

Home near an industrial park? Related to anything like heating system or refrigerator starting up? See any flickering in fluorescent lights? Electrical problems are more visible with them.

Anything that causes a temporary dip in voltage, or a spike in voltage can get passed into the power supply. And you won't need to worry about shorts, but about opens, dips, sags, and spikes. And I have seen the problem with old surge supressors.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[DocMongre]

You guys ROCK!

@ work right now, but when i get home i will put all of these items in to effect. Thanks and i will update with what happens.

 

[TekTippy4U]

on a much more serious note than my first;
Definitely try a UPS
Look at this

http://www.awsperry.com/cgi-bin/db_...More&session_key=&exact_match=on&item=ca-300a

~$9 US - it's bright yellow
find a local hardware store or large chain that has it (or similar - better is an meter if available, but this little thing is great for testing the wiring).

Run an extension cord (12guage) to ANY outlet you can that is it's own dedicated line (Direct to the Circuiut Breaker / FUSE box), such as a Refrig's / Washer-Dryer or AirCond outlet "should" be, but just b/c the Refrig is plugged into it does NOT mean it's "dedicated" - you'll need to shut the fuse or trip the breaker off and see what else in the house goes off.

Take the "old" power strip OUT of line...forget that junk, for testing only....in case it's faulty - get a decent Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). I use rack mount Power Conditioners that I had leftoverfrom some pro Musical gear I own.

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[TekTippy4U]

just to add - once a component is fried - or damaged from a reversed hot/neutral say - even if wiring is fixed - it's prolly going to take atleast a 'new' component (from a memory module to a Mobo capacitor - I dunno which is damaged, beyond use, or if anything is).

If using the little tester, you find the wiring is not itself appropriate (wired wrong) - first find and test any/all dedicated lines only...then re-wire those correctly (shut breaker first or call an electrician if you're weary, but we here can help tell you the steps for basic electrical wiring - just don't go playing around in the 200Amp Circuit Breaker Box for the Mains that come off the Telephone Pole, or from wherever) - perhaps where you live, the wiring/cicuits are somewhat different - must let us know first

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[TekTippy4U]

dang nabbit;
I was trying to say to test the memory using "memtest86" when you're up and running on good electric finally

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[ImpetusEra]

All good points but also make sure newest windows updates and hardware drivers are in use. Along that same note check for any patches for the game itself.