Random Computer Crashes

[Mamamo]

Several times over the last little while, my PC has crashes for no reason.

It shuts off and then I have to reboot with the button and it gives a message apologizing for the inconvenience, then 3 options...Safe Mode, Last Known Good Configuration, and Start Windows Normally.

There haven't been any common programs being used when the crashes happen. And no new programs installed.

Any help/tips/ideas are much appreciated

[shifty]

Quite commonly these types of crash are due to device driver crashes or simply just windows conflicts, however, if there are no software changes recently maybe consider hardware changes... newly installed hardware could also be the cause, things to consider also may be power supply issues (have you got a lot running from a small supply i.e. 250w ) or overheating does you case have sufficient ventilation.. I know this reply is more of a list of possibilities than solutions but i would need to know more details of the fault to be able to elaborate furher, hopefully this will give food for thought though to allow you establish the issue and sort it, Shifty

[UncasMS]

- give us detailed infos on your components

- did you install anything lately?

- what are your temperatures

install EVEREST for a detailed list of your machine as well as an overview of the temperatures

[Gary D]

Have you scanned for viruses, malware, rootkits, etc.?

Is this a laptop? Overheating is known to occur if it is sitting on your lap. The best way is to elevate on a desk top so air can circulate under it.

[Mamamo]

Field Value
Sensor Properties
Sensor Type Winbond W83627THF (ISA 290h)
GPU Sensor Type National LM63 (ATI-I2C 4Ch)

Temperatures
Motherboard 31 °C (88 °F)
CPU 45 °C (113 °F)
GPU 52 °C (126 °F)
GPU Ambient 43 °C (109 °F)
Seagate ST3200826AS 35 °C (95 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 2058 RPM
Chassis 2722 RPM

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.28 V
Aux 1.04 V
+3.3 V 3.38 V
+5 V 5.11 V
+12 V 12.67 V
+5 V Standby 5.17 V
VBAT Battery 3.28 V
Debug Info F 52 3E FF
Debug Info T 31 45 127
Debug Info V 79 41 D3 BE C6 C0 40 (01)

These are the temps as supplied by Everest ( Thanks UncasMs )
*edit*
It is a desktop. I perform scans with Norton, Spybot, AdAware, RegCleaner every couple of days. Nothing new has been detected.
I will get a sysem summary.

[Mamamo]

Here is the system summary of all components and such.
There haven't been any added hardware or programs. The PC is 4 months old, and has only done this the last week.

Thanks so much for the input. Everyone is so helpful

[Chewy]

500 MB in use at idle is a bit much?

something's that's heavy duty is running

[jmet]

Power Supply is also another solution that may need to be considered.

[Chewy]

the voltage rails looked ok, but the 12v was high, they may be unstable?

a hijackthis log and nero info report might confirm my hunch, but it could still be hardware, that corsair value select seemed safe

Norton, Spybot, AdAware

are any of these running during the crash?

[UncasMS]

according to the everest details HEAT does not seem to be an issue unless this everest report was created on a pc which hasnt run much before the everest test

Motherboard 31 °C (88 °F)
CPU 45 °C (113 °F)

my best bet is this:
you have the MSI tool "SlowDownCPU" installed and i think this tool causes your crashes!

do the following:
go to => programs => autostart and DELETE "slowdowncpu"


in case it is not available in autostart then go here:
=> start => run => type in MSCONFIG and hit enter

now msconfig should start
go to the tab "systemstart" and UNtick "slowdowncpu"

in case "slowdowncpu" is not accessable from this place either then stay in msconfig and switch to the tab "services"

search for "slowdowncpu" and UNtick it

finally RESTART your machine


good luck

[Chewy]

Uncasms,
what about his bios, they are up to 12?

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/bios/bos/spt_bos_detail.php?UID=655&kind=1

Award BIOS Type Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

System BIOS Date 01/31/05

[UncasMS]

a bios update may be another thing to do, you're right

msi (like asus and others) offers a nice and easy live update tool for online updating bios/drivers

i have used it quite often with one of my machines on an msi k7t266 pro2 mainboard and it never failed

[Furiousg]

@ chewy
The 500MB in use was my brother encoding with Nero at the time...so if that is the case I would assume that all the temps would be great.

I believe that once she was scanning with AdAware when it crashed, but the others were different ( a game, trivia etc )


@UncasMs
I will get her to check for the Slowdowncpu and disable it.

As far as BIOS, I know she won't touch that until I can get out there again. I never even considered an old BIOS. Does the live update tool work fairly automated?? When I did my PC I had to boot from a floppy to A09.

Thanks to everyone who has some input

[UncasMS]

dont update the bios until all else has been tried

but yes, the msi live update is a windows program which does NOT need floppy disks

this is what it looks like:

[Furiousg]

I will try talk her through removing the SlowdownCpu service and let you guys know.