Computer Lockup

[AtomicSpark]

So I'll just randomly be doing a task on my computer. Such as talking online or surfing the web and my computer will completely lock up. First the explorer goes then my mouse. I'll have to do a reboot after that, but the thing is after a reboot the VIA SATA start-up thing will not recognize my drives. If I shut down and start-up, it will. This locking up of my computer happens randomly. Some days I'm lucky and others I'm not. I'm currently duel booting Vista and XP on the same hard drive (different partitions) and the other hard drive I just use for pagefile and storage. I'm not overclocking anything and my components don't seem to be overheating. I've checked all the connectors and I know it's not a virus or anything. I've tried to run scan disk and file defrag but it happened to be one of the bad days and I didn't get far. I've even have run the simple memory test that comes with Vista, although I'm not sure if that does anything. Has anyone had this problem or know how I might go about solving it? Thanks. My specs are below.

 

[Saketi]

Did u get this problem b4 u did a dual boot with XP & Vista?

 

[AtomicSpark]

No I didn't. It just started happening last week but I did the duel boot since RC1 was available to Beta testers, which I believe was a few weeks ago. I was actually thinking that it could be something wrong with the partition table but wouldn't know how to check that. I really, really don't want it to be a hardware problem. Especially if it's the expensive drive I just got a few months ago.

Just a thought... When I was checking my system components, I noticed my RAM was fairly warm. One of them actually hot (I didn't think too much of this because I don't normally pay attention to how warm my RAM gets so I don't know whats normal). I just happened to still have my cover off after this post and checked it again. My RAM seems a lot cooler now then it did before and I haven't had that lockup problem. Is this just a coincidence? I think my MOBO is trying to overclock my RAM. I have gotten the "overclocking failed - press F1 to enter setup or F2 to load default values and continue" a few times (exact F-keys may be wrong).

 

[Asus]

Your motherboard is trying to OCing your ram? Do you have a dynamic OCing on or something? I wouldn't have that on if that is the case. It doesn't OC much with that seting but it doesn't take stability into account.

Double check the settings in bios and make sure the FSB/HT and CPU is set correctly as well as the RAM settings. If it is on AUTO then leave it be.

Make sure the parts are inserted all the way (ram, gfx card, power plugs). It's a good idea to have your Powersupply switched off when messing with those items. ESD is a bad thing.

Make sure your PC isn't over heating and the fans are all running. RAM can get hot, But I wouldn't worry about how hot it is to the touch. If you can touch it without burning yourself it is fine.

 

[AtomicSpark]

Just checked everything. I don't know what components it overclocks automatically. Probably just the CPU. All the Bios settings are default, except I disable the on-board sound and raid SATA I don't use. I found a performance option under jumper-free options (auto | standard | turbo). Set it from auto to standard just in case. I've put my case cover back on and we'll see what happens. The case I'm using is a Cooler Master Wave Master TAC-T01. It has two 80mm fans in front of the hard drives sucking air in then one in the back pushing air out. I don't believe I have a airflow problem.

I was paying attention in my Intro to PC Hardware class for once and I was reminded that a bad power supply could cause hangs or random restarts. Since my problem only happens once in awhile but when it does it will do it again a lot until it "fixes itself". Could this be my power supply? I don't have a spare, so I'd have to buy one.

 

[AtomicSpark]

Good news! I decided that it could be the SATA power from my PSU being faulty so I switched both hard drives back to the normal 4-pin molexes. I haven't had a problem since. So either not enough power is going through the rails (which makes since because it would crash when I do hard drive intensive tasks) or I somehow shorted the SATA power port on my hard drive. Either way it's fine and I'm not worried anymore.

 

[Asus]

Nice. It probably has to do with the connector (not the power).
The hard drive wouldn't get different power from a SATA plug vs 4pin molex.