So for the past week I'm suffering from a problem where the system will make a hard freeze and everything stops working. If sound is being played at the moment, it turns into a continuous beep from the speakers. The only way to recover is to do a hard restart as everything ceases to function. The display is completely stuck and the mouse and keyboard are rendered useless. The freeze first happened two weeks ago when watching HD videos. I dismissed it as a random but disturbing error. The second happened last week. The third happened a couple days ago only moments after I turned the computer on while the desktop was still loading. The fourth and last freeze happened just now as I was speaking to my brother.

So heat is out of the question even though the CPU and video card are both already operating at cool temps. So far none of the freezes have happened while gaming or using heavy full-screen applications. Most of the time programs such as Xfire, Firefox, Winamp, and MSN were on during the crashes.

Specs:

Intel Quad Core Q6600 3.0GHz
Corsair TX650W
4GB (4x1GB) OCZ Platinum XTC Rev-2 800MHz Dual-Channel Memory 4-4-4-12
1.25TB total HD space (all WD SATA-II Caviars)
eVGA GTX 260 55nm 216SP (720/1484/1101) Forceware 181.22
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Extreme Gamer 7.1 EAX HD
BFG nForce 680i LT SLI (P08 BIOS)
Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1

The first thing I'll try is changing my video drivers. The reason I'm not using the 182.05 or 06 drivers is because I've heard Photoshop's GPU acceleration doesn't work with them.

So any clue what the heck is going on? My last hardware change came in second week of January when I replaced my 8800GT with that GTX260. Before that first freeze, everything had been working perfectly. What gives?

As a first responder I'd suggest loading the latest graphics driver and the latest BIOS.

The symptoms you express are indicative of a graphics card malfunction.

Not likely to be hardware but drivers and or SLi.

If you are running SLi and this only applies to a particular application then turn off SLi for that application.


You could also try a System Restore to a point prior to your problem:

System Restore
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You might try a System Restore to a point prior to your problem:

start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

System restore is out of the question since I've done a lot between now and the first crash.

I'm already using the latest BIOS, as pointed out in the first post (P08).

Not running SLI, so that's out of the question too.

This is drawing comparison to my motherboard woes of 2006 (remember those wondrous few months Jeph) in the fact that the gap between each crash seems closer and closer. By this rate the next one will occur the next time I turn the system on.

I'm going to install the bug-filled 182.06 drivers and play with my shuriken in anticipation of the next crash.

Let us know how the drivers go.

I am passing out at the moment but I usually return.

The third happened a couple days ago only moments after I turned the computer on while the desktop was still loading.

So heat is out of the question...

Well, heat is not the "primary" suspect - but it is not out of the question. It only takes a couple seconds for a device to overheat if current is too high, or necessary cooling is not present.

I agree this sounds like graphics driver issues and should be pursued. You might even consider putting the 8800 back in to see if the problem stops. But there are other possible causes too. I assume the internals are clean of heat-trapping dust and dirt, and all fans spin properly. Have you inspected for leaky capacitors?

If overclocking - stop! At least until this is resolved.

Corsair PSUs have become one of my favorites - but that does not mean they can never be bad, or become slightly out-of-tolerance. You might get it properly tested, or swap in a good and adequate spare and see if it holds.

Humm, looks like the 182.06 only lasted two days for me. Downloading the .08 now which fixes the Photoshop problem.

I'll keep you posted.

No more problems since upgrading to 182.08, so I think you can mark this as solved for now.

Thanks folks.

cool.

I just thought that I'd share that since this first happened when watching HD videos graphics does seem like a very good possibility and probably is since updating drivers seemed to solve it. Although it came to me that it might be your memory. Something to keep in mind if it happens again. Also I wonder if it was/is graphics then why didn't it happen with gaming but instead with non-graphic intensive applications, except for the fist instance? Computers cam be so mysterious sometimes. By HD do you mean a BluRay movie?

No, just 480P and 720P videos.

But anyhoo, the problem has decided to reappear and this time it's bringing reinforcements. I just got home today from work and fired up the PC. Vista's "configuring updates - 3/3" appeared during the bootup since the last thing I had done the previous night was install a few Windows updates that needed a restart. After last night's shutdown, I had not touched anything. Then the desktop boots up and as soon as my digital vibrance settings are enabled, a BSOD comes out of nowhere. I restarted only to get a BSOD at the very same spot. I restarted for a third time for yet another BSOD. The ones I remember were for "memory management" and "irql_not_less_or_equal" or something along the lines of that. On the fourth try nothing happened so I quickly did a system restore to March 9th. Again, no real changes had been made. The restore did its thing and once the desktop loaded up, another BSOD. I restarted for yet another BSOD.

I then went into the BIOS and set all of my options to default and booted up, just to make sure overclocking isn't the issue. The desktop froze just as described in the first post.

So here I am.