PC freezes and blue screens

[Phil UK 87]

Hi guys, I'd appreciate some advice on what software to use to figure out what is wrong with my PC (Prime95 etc), so here's the situation:

A couple of weeks ago my PC started having stability problems, sometimes it would just freeze (on desktop or in browser) and there was the occasional blue screen. I think one blue screen mentioned an nvidia driver, and some of them mentioned something like "try changing video adapters".

I did a full reformat yesterday, fresh install of Windows 7 Pro x64, seemed to have fixed it until I had a blue screen today while playing WoW, but the PC restarted itself before I could read what the error was. I've started running Prime95 on blend, is that still considered a good stability test these days? Or should I run it on custom and try to use as much RAM as possible? Should I use other tools like OCCT or FurMark? And then there is the possibility that it's the hard drive that's the problem, would would be the best way to test that?

Ok here are the specs, some parts are around 6 years old (mobo, hard drives and PSU):

CPU: AMD Phenom X4 2.3GHz
RAM: 4GB DDR2 (4x 1GB Corsair)
GPU: GTX 560 1GB
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E
PSU: Enermax Liberty 620W
Hard Drives: Seagate 400GB and WD 320GB, both SATA 2 and 7200 rpm, plus a 1TB external drive
Sound card: X-Fi XtremeMusic

Until recently this was a very reliable PC, I ran Folding@home for the first 6 months of this year 24/7 on CPU and GPU, no crashes. Also no blue screens or freezes that I can remember in several years, until a couple weeks ago.

I think that's everything, sorry if this post was too long, I just wanted to explain everything in detail. Any help would really be appreciated :)

[rotNdude]

Get a capture of the bluescreen error using something that will read the minidump file. There are a couple of utilities that may help.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_7147208_check-event-viewer-bsod.html

[Phil UK 87]

BlueScreenView isn't showing anything, says 0 crashes at the bottom. Tried Event Viewer, it's my first time using it though and I can't figure out how to find the blue screen there either.

[rotNdude]

If bluescreenviewer didn't show anything, then maybe it wasn't a BSOD. It could be other things to cause a system restart. The PSU could be suspect.

[Phil UK 87]

Yeah, I was thinking maybe it restarted before it could do the dump properly. It was a blue screen, is a BSOD something else? And yeah the PSU could be on it's way out, I heard OOCT is a good test for the PSU, might try that and see what happens.

[phmac65]

Have had similar problems which have been cured by simply unplugging/removing all, then plugging back in (ie Ram, Audio, Video card) also if your sound card is Pci-E, make sure it is plugged into the 1st slot as i read on the Asus forum that problems can occur otherwise. Also, with my older board (ecs GF8200SM-M3) if i tried loading the latest drivers from Nvidia, then my PC would not start without giving me a blue screen and i had to load older drivers.

[Phil UK 87]

That's maybe something I could try, but I guess if something came loose or had a bad connection it would not work at all. The sound card is PCI (another thing that's 6 years old) so that shouldn't be the problem.

[Jamebonds1]

Trying to update your video card driver or remove video card. If no Blue Screen, it is your video card.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Make sure its set to do an error dump, possibly why you arent finding any.

Continued problems after a format could mean its a hardware problem, most likely having to do with the RAM.

thats my guess anyway.

[Phil UK 87]

How do I check if it's set to do an error dump? I'm pretty sure I've seen it do that before, at the bottom of the blue screen, but yesterday it restarted itself a few seconds after the blue screen appeared. I didn't think RAM would start developing a problem, at least when it has a lifetime warranty, but I can't rule anything out yet.

Graphics driver is up-to-date. I might try swapping the graphics card if I can't figure it out, but the blue screens are very rare, only one in 48 hours.

[_I_]

odds are its a crappy psu problem

download hwmonitor
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

run it, play a game for 1-2 minutes
exit the game

look at the 12v value for min
if its under 11.5v you need a better power supply

[Phil UK 87]

I'll try running though 3DMark 11 with HWMonitor. The 12V sitting at 11.648 just idling, is that unusual? It's using just under 150W, I'll see what that goes up to when I run 3DMark.

If it is the PSU, it will be down to it's age, it was a very good PSU back in the day.

Edit: HWMonitor showed 11.52V as minimum before running 3DMark, all I did was get Core Temp and GPU-Z running (to monitor temps).

[_I_]

11.6 is pretty low
atx tolerance is +10%/-5% (11.4v min)
when using the gpu to its limit its most likely dropping below the min and causing the bsod/restart

looks like it was a good psu back in '06

you can try taking it apart and cleaning it
another thing to try is remove it from the system, jumper it on (green to black)
and measure the 12v (yellow) with a multimeter if its reading low
the power supply might have an adjustment pot for 12v, try raising it to around 12.6v (+5%)

[Phil UK 87]

Finished running 3DMark 11, no problems as when I ran it yesterday, but the minimum 12V was 11.456V (max power use was 325W). Does this definitely mean there is a problem with the PSU? Can we be sure it's an accurate voltage reading?

Edit: I'd rather not take apart the PSU, isn't that dangerous unless you know what you're doing? And it's probably cheaper just to buy a new one than to get someone qualified to test it.

[Granada]

For hardware issues, I would check:
- Hard Drive (could cause BlueScreens as well)
- RAM
- look for broken capacitors on video card, board and possibly inside the PSU
--> maximize power draw, also try if there is a connection between high usb power draw and BlueScreens

As mentioned, I also assume the PSU is causing this trouble - this Liberty Series is pretty old tech, from times were SLI was still geeky and GPUs didn't took 300w... aye, there has been some evolution in PSU design - you can see this already when you take a look inside.

[Purger Of Souls]

If you overclocked you cpu or even not try re-applying thermal paste.
And make sure to clean/dust your PC at least once a month.
Update your bios if you have'nt.
Also turn off error reporting in bios.