Random system crash/lock-up

[DeathNote]

So, here is the situation......

 

While I'm doing something (usually in a game, or something graphical related [even a crappy youtube, non HD, video]) my computer will randomly crash/lock-up.

 

Typically its while I'm in a game, for example.....

I was playing some MW2 last night with some friends and while running around the map, the game screen froze but the audio played fine for about another 10sec. or so.

After which the audio just became a constant screeching sound. This time the game screen didn't change, but many time the screen will go either completely Gray or Black or Gray w/ lines going vertically.

 

But the horrible part is that its not just in-game.

Right after this happened, I rebooted and while downloading the new updated drivers for the 5870 from AMD, I was on Facebook and the system did the same thing......

Screen froze, audio played for ~10sec. then went to constant screeching sound.

 

ANY ideas why this might be happening?

 

(Specs are in my sig)

[wevsspot]

DN - Are you running a single card or crossfire. You post seems to indicate a single card, but your sig says "crossfire"

 

What power supply (brand, model, age)?

 

Are you running a dedicated sound card or onboard?

[DeathNote]

DN - Are you running a single card or crossfire. You post seems to indicate a single card, but your sig says "crossfire"

 

What power supply (brand, model, age)?

 

Are you running a dedicated sound card or onboard?

 

Should have clarified,

1) I am running 2x Sapphire 5870's in crossfire (2x SAPPHIRE 100281-3SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB to be exact)

2) P/S is a Coarsair TX850 watt which is a little less than a year old.

3) ATM, I am using onboard audio (Realtek ALC1200)

[wevsspot]

Should be ok on the power suppy. That one is a dandy.

 

First, make sure that your chipset, gpu and onboard sound drivers are all up to date.

 

Run test. If failure mode remains the same proceed to step two.

 

Disable onboard sound via BIOS, reboot and run test - report results

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

 

JW

[DeathNote]

Should be ok on the power suppy. That one is a dandy.

 

First, make sure that your chipset, gpu and onboard sound drivers are all up to date.

 

Run test. If failure mode remains the same proceed to step two.

 

Disable onboard sound via BIOS, reboot and run test - report results

 

Thanks.

 

Regards,

 

JW

 

Are you talking about Stress tests? or just simply seeing if it still does the lock ups?

[ocre]

could be several things.

 

Because of the person immediatly ruling it out i must say this:

PSU is a common place for random system hangs/crash during heavy stress. Just because your PSU is a good brand doesnt mean that its immune to failure.

 

But for your case i would say there are other things that i would focus on first. In any order you like.

 

-take a good look at my temps while the system is in use, gaming, and stressing. there are plenty of stress test out that can stress all sorts of things. Check the memory thoroughly.

 

-You could test the system with just one GPU to see if it is GPU related. If the first fails try the other. if it crashes with both of the them when ran individually then i would be sure its not GPU related.

 

-Clean contacts and re-seat on the motherboard......I have seen once a SATA Cable cause all kinds of troubles, it was causing very random crashes, it was so seldom that it took a long time to pinpoint. I have seen some crazy stuff that you wouldnt ever think of.

 

This is just a few things to look at.

[wevsspot]

While I agree that a faulty power supply could be the root of his problems, there isn't any reason to start talking about hardware failures / RMAs / replacements etc. until all other causes can be ruled out. First thing to do is eliminate driver issues or hardware conflicts as a root cause. If that doesn't work we can go into more in depth trouble shooting including potential hardware related issues. I was taking it one step at a time, but as ocre recommended it is worth a shot to remove one video card and test for stability and see if the problem is repeatable. But personally I wouldn't go through all of that trouble until the simple things are eliminated first.

[DeathNote]

While I agree that a faulty power supply could be the root of his problems, there isn't any reason to start talking about hardware failures / RMAs / replacements etc. until all other causes can be ruled out. First thing to do is eliminate driver issues or hardware conflicts as a root cause. If that doesn't work we can go into more in depth trouble shooting including potential hardware related issues. I was taking it one step at a time, but at ocre recommended it is worth a shot to remove one video card and test for stability and see if the problem is repeatable. But personally I wouldn't go through all of that trouble until the simple things are eliminated first.

Definitely a good point, lol

 

I went ahead and updated the audio drivers (even though the ones I had were "up to date" according to ASUS Drivers). I got the updated ones from Realtek's site.

 

So far it seems to be working, but I haven't really done any "stress testing" as of yet.

 

I will give it a day or two and see what happens and give you guys the update.

[Stonerboy779]

If you have any overlooks remove them and see if it crashes doing the furmark 720p preset test

[FalconFX4]

I had this when i had a Ati 5770 the sound goes all wonky while the computer is frozen. My cousin is having the exact problem with his computer and he has a Ati 5750 I am in the midst of trying to fix his. From my testing it is the Amd display driver as i upgraded to a GTX 560Ti and all crashing stopped. I first noticed the problem On Catalyst 11.5 and up my self. So a suggestion would be to run driver sweeper and try installing Catalyst 11.3 -11.4? this is what i am going to do for now