Cpu is randomly freezing?

[recentiy03]

So I was playing all morning then all of a sudden after what seemed like a clean install and after watching a movie and changing to some music a florescent eye appeared on my screen (like the eye of horus perfectly centered) and the music froze on a random note...I rebooted and now it happens randomly within 3 min of rebooting. There is always fragmented florescent colors but not always the eye. Any ideas what might be wrong? No clue if it is a virus, video card problem or hard drive...it seems ok in safe mode, any suggestions please?

[recentiy03]

I just ran a diagnostic and it said there is a hd error and gave me a code
To give dell...sigh. I am gonna have to dl 6.4 on a laptop now...I just hope I can transfer files if hd is corrupted.

I wasnt sure if 6.4 did something which is why I posted here since it is the only file I installed today I wasnt sure if it is a concidence.

I know this isn't the right forum but I'm not sure the forum you mean. I contacted DELL and gave them the diagnostic code I received and they sent me a new HD but the freezing is still happening, even with the new hardware, so I'm thinking it wasn't the HD afterall...the old HD may well have been corrupt, but it wasn't causing the freezing, which only seems to be happening when I play SS 6.4 or WOW...basically games that depend on the video card. The old HD would freeze just from clicking the start menu, and this one seems to be freezing less frequently (maybe 30 seconds into WOW instead of on the main menu screen) but it is still freezing. I ran a RAM test and nothing came up. Does anyone else think it sounds like it might be a video card problem? Can that cause sudden freezing? And can someone please link the proper forum for this issue?

[soulson]

Check your temps. Both cpu/vid and mobo.

[recentiy03]

About a week ago my CPU randomly froze. The screen became a bit blurry and a large florescent-looking eye appeared on the center of the screen. I took a picture, although it's difficult to see and the eye is no longer appearing when it freezes. Initially it was freezing very frequently, caused by anything from trying to play SS 6.4 or WOW to simply clicking the start menu or using IE. After I stopped playing WOW and SS the freezes slowed down. I was able to run a diagnostic test on the HD and RAM and a HD error came up so I figured that was causing the freezing. I gave the error code to Dell, they gave me a new HD and I when I received the new HD I installed WOW and it froze within 30 seconds. I haven't played WOW since and it hasn't froze since...until I installed SS 6.4...I started a new campaign and it froze within 30 seconds...so now I'm thinking it has to be avideo card problem, but I don't know much about this stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas other than contacting Dell and telling them the HD wasn't causing the freezes?

I don't know how to check temps or even what you mean other than temporary files? How do I check cpu/vid/mobo temps?

[soulson]

Checks temps. I think you can use Everest home edition if it's still around. I use ASRock tuner to check cpu and mobo and I use MSI afterburner for my vid card. Google around for programs.

[irishron]

You can use HWMonitor, PC Wizard, Speedfan, to name three.

Check your voltages, too.

[recentiy03]

Thanks. I DLed two of the programs you guys mentioned but I'm not quite sure what they're doing or rather what I need to be looking for...they're listing all of the hardware/specs of my CPU but I don't see where it would indiciate any potential problems or how to fix them?

[irishron]

Post your temps and voltages they record. It will give us an idea if anything is wrong or not.

[recentiy03]

PC Wizard 2010 Version 1.96
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Owner: Microsoft
Organisation: Microsoft
User: Winston
Computer Name: WINSTON-PC
Operating System: Windows (TM) Vista Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1
Report Date: Sunday 23 January 2011at 16:33
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<<< Voltage, Temperature and Fans >>>
> Hardware Monitoring : ITE IT8718F
> Processor Voltage : 1.18 V
> Memory Voltage : 1.81 V
> +3.3V Voltage : 2.99 V
> +5V Voltage : 5.00 V
> +12V Voltage : 11.84 V
> +5V VCCH : 4.95 V
> VBAT : 3.17 V
> TMPIN0 : 50 °C
> : nVidia SMI
> Processor Temperature : 50 °C
> Processor Fan : 122 rpm
> Processor Intel Core 2 Duo : Sensor DTS
> Core 1 : 45 °C
> Core 2 : 38 °C
> NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT : nVidia Driver + Analog Devices ADT7473
> Temperature : 66 °C
> Temperature (Ambient) : 52 °C
> Temperature (GPU) : 66 °C
> Temperature (Card) : 52 °C
> Fan : 30%
> Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T
> Hard Disk WDC WD64 00AAKS-75A7B : 31 °C
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***** End of report *****

[newt]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

PC Wizard 2010 Version 1.96
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Owner: Microsoft
Organisation: Microsoft
User: Winston
Computer Name: WINSTON-PC
Operating System: Windows (TM) Vista Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.00.6001 Service Pack 1
Report Date: Sunday 23 January 2011at 16:33
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<<< Voltage, Temperature and Fans >>>
> Hardware Monitoring : ITE IT8718F
> Processor Voltage : 1.18 V
> Memory Voltage : 1.81 V
> +3.3V Voltage : 2.99 V
> +5V Voltage : 5.00 V
> +12V Voltage : 11.84 V
> +5V VCCH : 4.95 V
> VBAT : 3.17 V
> TMPIN0 : 50 °C
> : nVidia SMI
> Processor Temperature : 50 °C
> Processor Fan : 122 rpm
> Processor Intel Core 2 Duo : Sensor DTS
> Core 1 : 45 °C
> Core 2 : 38 °C
> NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT : nVidia Driver + Analog Devices ADT7473
> Temperature : 66 °C
> Temperature (Ambient) : 52 °C
> Temperature (GPU) : 66 °C
> Temperature (Card) : 52 °C
> Fan : 30%
> Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T
> Hard Disk WDC WD64 00AAKS-75A7B : 31 °C
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***** End of report *****

Have you ever opened your computer and cleaned it?

[recentiy03]

Have you ever opened your computer and cleaned it?

I sprayed some air into it the other day when I replaced the HD and it was really dusty...that's all...it must still be under warranty since the HD replacement was free...so I should contact Dell and give them the numbers I posted in this thread? I don't even know what the fix would be.

[irishron]

The 12 volt side is low but within range except maybe under load.

My 9800GT will run about that hot and at at that fan speed it will push 80 degrees C while it's pulling up my mod and my screen starts getting darker.
In the summertime, I have to use Rivatuner and manually set it at 100%. And it's noisy.

I'll bet the combination of those two are what's doing it to you.

If it's under warranty, make Dell fix it.

[Ishan]

Identical threads merged, cleaned etc.

[newt]

Did you get it all out? Does the video card come out or is it integrated? You should clean the card really well and also the cpu fan/heatsink too.

[recentiy03]

Nah, Dell sent a tech to install the HD and I sprayed for about 10 seconds when he had it open...I'm sure there is still more...I will clean it out with a fresh can of air and then contact Dell.

[newt]

You want to stick the nozzle in where the fan is and blow towards where it's open on the back. Short bursts and stop when the can gets cold (you don't want it spraying liquid which is what happens if the can gets too cold)

Also all the fans on your case need to be cleared. Heat is the #1 killer of computers.

This program is called speedfan, it monitors temps and allows fan control.
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

Click on the tab 'charts' and check the gpu box then run M2 and play a custom battle for about a minute. Report back what temps you get.

[recentiy03]

You want to stick the nozzle in where the fan is and blow towards where it's open on the back. Short bursts and stop when the can gets cold (you don't want it spraying liquid which is what happens if the can gets too cold)

Also all the fans on your case need to be cleared. Heat is the #1 killer of computers.

This program is called speedfan, it monitors temps and allows fan control.
http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

Click on the tab 'charts' and check the gpu box then run M2 and play a custom battle for about a minute. Report back what temps you get.

I followed your instructions but I wasn't able to run the game for a full minute, it froze after about 30 seconds, although I was able to check the temp once before it froze...when I loaded the game it was around 64 and right before it froze it was up to 70...I just sprayed the inside of the system with a lot of air and then rebooted and now it is between 53-54.

[recentiy03]

So I just loaded WOW and it shot up from 53.5 to 60 and it is still rising...just flying around a city has brought it up to 63...it went up to 64 and then when I closed WOW it dropped back down to 60...

[newt]

If your room is hot it could be normal. Do you know who made the card? evga, pny, etc.

[recentiy03]

NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT : nVidia Driver + Analog Devices ADT7473