Computer crashes all the time. I have tried a lot

[JacoG7]

Hi

my story  
I have had my computer for about 3 years now, it's not a work of art, but it has never given any problems. I assembled it myself, so I know it pretty well. I switched to windows 7's evaluation build about a year ago and it worked fine until recently. About three months ago my computer started restarting and freezing.

It happens in ANY and all applications. It can take 5seconds or an hour. When I play games it normally freezes or restarts within 10minutes. It happens when I open IE, while I'm watching a dvd, while I'm playing a game or even when i'm just opening my documents.

By freeze I mean:
The screen blurrs and then doesn't change, whatever music or sound is playing sounds as if it's stuck, the numpad and caps keys don't change the lights on the keyboard, and the cursor doesn't move.

Sometimes after my computer has frozen or restarted it will freeze again in the middle of start-up.

NOTE: My computer never restarts or freezes when it is idle. 

I've tried these things in the order below:

1)I updated all the drivers on the motherboard, sound and graphics card.

2)I downloaded speedfan so I can monitor all the temperatures

3)I replaced the old thermal paste on my CPU

4)I did numerous virus scans

5) I tried running the computer on the onboard graphics

6) I've reinstalled windows and tried to run my computer on all the default drivers.

7)I installed latest drivers again.

8)I opened my computer up and cleaned everything thoroughly.

9)I bought a new power supply after the voltages seemed to be the problem

Specs:

CPU:        Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2200. (Dual core 2.2Ghz)
RAM:        2GB of Transcend 800Mgz DDR2 RAM
GfxCARD: MSI Nvidia Geforce 9500GT 512mb
PSU:        Gigabyte Odin 370Watt PSU
M-board:  Biostar GF7100P-M7S Motherboard
DVD:        Asus X multi DVD writer
HDD:        Seagate 160GB

Software:

Bios:        phoenic technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 2007/11/7
SMBIOS:  2.5
OS:          Windows 7 ultimate 6.1.7100 build 7100. 32bit
Audio:      Realtek drivers
Graphics: Nvidia drivers 196.21

Temperatures:
GPU : 44C
core0:30
core1:25
HD0:40
system temp: 25
Temp1: 25
temp2:34
temp3:32

Voltages
Core1:   1.12v
Vcore2:  1.47v
+3.3V:    3.30V
+5V:       4.89V
+12V:     12.03V
-12V:       -6.93V
-5V:         -4.96V
+5V:        4.84V
Vbat:       3.15V

CPU Usage: 1%
Memore:     767MB

Thanks for the help!

[Allan]

1) Go to System Properties - Advanced - Startup & Recovery Settings and uncheck "Automatically Restart". Next time there's an error your system should display a blue screen instead of rebooting. Post the entire contents of that screen here. If, however, the system still reboots, the problem is almost certain hardware related.

2) Open Task Manager to the Processes Tab. Double-click on the "cpu" title at the top of that column to sort with highest usage at the top. Next time the system freezes, see if the top task was hogging the cpu and if so tell us what it is.

3) What happens in safe mode? What happens with a clean boot?

[JacoG7]

I allready had the setting to auto-restart disabled.

The CPU was acting normally while the computer froze.

SAFE MODE DIDN"T STOP THE PROBLEM! My computer just froze now

You also asked me about what my computer does during a clean boot.... It just boots normally. There are no problems. It only gives problems on startup straight after a crash.





new:::::
Could the problem be cause by malfunctioning RAM? I could try a different RAM module in the computer and see if it still gives the same problem.

[jkolak]

It doesn't hurt to try a different RAM module if you have one available. Eliminating possibilities never hurts.

If your computer never crashes after a clean boot, then you have something in startup or services that is crashing your computer.

Allan meant for you to watch the process manager and see if a process was at a high CPU percentage when the computer freezes.

[JacoG7]

I hve been working on it this morning. I put a different RAM module in and the computer seems to be working fine.

Just on your previous post. My computer did crash after a clean boot, but only while I was using it. It never crashed while it was idle.

And when I opened task manager to view processes the application that I was busy using would be the one at the top. There was nothing strange to report.

I am going to try and clean my RAM chip quickly and see if that makes a difference. Otherwise I'll just have to order a new one. It might still be under warranty.

Thanks for your help, though!

[jkolak]

I hope that solves your problem. I recently had to clean both RAM and video card edge connectors to get a computer working right.