Hello all,

I am hoping someone else can think of some troubleshooting for me.

Background:
Bought and built a new computer in July last year
Intel Q9450 processor
Asus P5QC Mother Board
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB HDD
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 Ram
ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT 620W Power Supply
2 x ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model DRW-2014L1T CD Drives
XFX PVT98FYDDU GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) XXX 512MB Graphics Card

The computer would lock up/freeze (not BSOD) at random moment. Sitting doing nothing or using quicken or playing a game or using outlook. There was nothing I could see that conected it. When the system freezes it just stops responding, the screen is frozen and if listen to audio, it starts an endless loop of the tone it was on.

So I thought perhaps it was the Mother Board since this model is not well know.
I replaced the Mother Board with a :
EVGA 132-CK-NF79-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra

However, I was getting errors. So I RMAed my RAM for new Modules and got a new
WD Caviar Blue WD2500AAKS - hard drive - 250 GB

However, I am still getting the issue. It is still random. Doesnt matter if I am doing everything or nothing.
I am wondering if I need to replace my Video Card, Power Supply and CPU.

I am completely at a loss and any help someone could provide, would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Well first thing I would do is update the bios to accept that quad core. I just bought my Asus Maximus Formula 2 mobo and there were 7 New bios's for it....yes SEVEN.

Have you had this issue from the very 1st time you installed vista? Are you using onboard sound....and did you install the Intel .INF drivers at the start?

I see you got a new hard drive, so I'm assuming you did a fresh install rather than cloning your old drive? If so, does the freezing happen with only Windows installed? The problem you're describing sounds more like a driver/software problem than hardware, but it really could be anything. In the past I had similar problems & it turned out to be a conflict between Real Player & the version of the Nvidia driver that was installed. I haven't owned an Nvidia card for several years now, but from the posts I see, it would appear that Nvidia's drivers are causing more problems these days than they did in the past.
Also, I'm assuming that you haven't overclocked anything?

Plug & Play,

Yes I did update the Bios on the Asus but it did not help. But I dont have anymore so I guess it doesnt matter.

Habs Fan,

Yes, I did an all new clean install on the new Hard Drive. The freezing only happens with windows installed but that was the first thing I did. Perhaps you are right, I am using Vista 64 bit Business edition. Are there any know issues with nVid and Vista 64?

Thank you

I don't think there are any known issues with Nvidia and Vista 64bit, many people on this forum has that configuration without problems, including myself.

Could be an IRQ conflict...are you using onbard sound. I assume you are letting the BIOS manage all devices.

Well, you could start disabling things in the BIOS to free up resources. If it's an IRQ conflict that might help you identify it. You could try booting an Ubuntu live cd & see if the system is stable. The PSU could be starting to die (Voltage spikes, etc). If you've got access to another PSU you could eliminate that as well. A bad cpu usually won't even finish the Windows install, so I doubt that's it, but it is possible. Have you tried running with only the Windows default Nvidia driver?

My system would do that when i had my 6800GS's.It was driver issues..But man it was a pain in the ass.Some drivers worked great others wouldnt.But i really think one of my cards was the problem(i was running SLI).You could look to see if xfx has a bios update for your video card.One question were you playing half life when this happened.Thats usally when it happened to me.Also are you overclocking?If so try adding more vcore and Vdimm + NB voltage and if your pci-e bus is not locked lock it at 100mhz

you should run Prime95 and make sure your CPU is stable.

Thank you everyone for the replies.

The IRQ conflict, could be possible but I might be mistaken in thinking that there would be a noticeable pattern in the freeze ups.

I did try running Prime95 and everytime I start the test the system gets frozen. Now I am not familiar enough with pirme95 to know what that might mean. However, I do appreciate Mr Bungle's advice.

Do that mean there is something wrong with my CPU? Again, sory for the dumb question, not sure hoe to interrupt the results.


Thank you

Why dont you do a PURE bench session with the bare minimum installed and resit both the CPU and GPU and play for a while....that will tell you alot mate.

Not quite sure what a PURE bench session is?
Sorry, couldnt find anything with google either.

Thank you