Computer crashing

[Dubz]

My computer keeps randomly crashing and blue screening and I don't know what the problem is. I've cleaned my computer (physically and digitally) and checked for compatibility issues and it's still crashing.

And my PSU is 400W <--- This is the only thing in my mind that it could be but I've done some calculations and I'm using 378W that shouldn't be an issue should it?

Some help would be lovely

 

[Daveyb133]

how does it crash? does it freeze? restart? blue screen? shut down?

how often does it happen? what are you doing when it does?

 

[Dubz]

It just freezes so everything stays on the same frame and the sound sticks too with the same tone. Probably happens once every 2-3 days sometimes more.

It never shuts down. Always freezes or blue screens.

Today it froze when I was loading up counter strike source. But other times I could just be listening to music or surfing the interweb

 

[singlespeed]

And my PSU is 400W <--- This is the only thing in my mind that it could be but I've done some calculations and I'm using 378W that shouldn't be an issue should it?

Is the calc based on worst case power consumption, or just what was running at the time.

If all the cores are running flatout and the fan etc is at full speed, combined with hard drive and memory accessing data at the full rate, you may have underestimated. 22 watts isn't much of a safety net if the actual output from the PSU is a bit down. Maxing out a PSU could cause excesive current draw through circuits, and may be the cause.

 

[Dubz]

Current time. Pc had been on for an hour with music on and browsing the internet

 

[Daveyb133]

Current time. Pc had been on for an hour with music on and browsing the internet

if its just locking up, its normally a mem fault but as neil said, that calculation isnt running at full chat.

for that spec you are looking at least a 650w power supply i would say,

 

[Dubz]

Just bought a 680W power supply the guy said it would cover my graphics card upgrade as well.

Hopefully that will stop my random freezing and blue screening

 

[Dubz]

Just an update. After an hour of figuring out what was causing the missing BOOTMGR. My computer is now running quicker than before. Booted quicker 20 seconds rather than 40 seconds as it was before.

Had to use some of the components that was on the old PSU to be able to boot properly. However now one of my HDD isn't working.

 

[Bones]

Just wondering how you've got that memory configured? 7gb seems a strange number. Should be paired for better performance

 

[Dubz]

It came with 4GB of RAM and I had 3GB of RAM in my old pc there both the same DDR3-1333 spec so I put it in the new pc

It's 3 sticks of 2GB and 1 stick of 1 GB. It shouldn't make any difference?

Also my PC has crashed twice today. But fines perfectly fine between so.

 

[Penn]

It came with 4GB of RAM and I had 3GB of RAM in my old pc there both the same DDR3-1333 spec so I put it in the new pc

It's 3 sticks of 2GB and 1 stick of 1 GB. It shouldn't make any difference?

Also my PC has crashed twice today. But fines perfectly fine between so.

I noticed the 7gb memory too and it rang alarm bells straight away.

Scrap the memory that didn't come with the original 4gb and buy another 4gb of paired dual channel memory (preferably exactly the same as the 4gb that came with it). It could be one of the extra sticks making up that 3gb causing your PC to lock up.

 

[Bones]

It came with 4GB of RAM and I had 3GB of RAM in my old pc there both the same DDR3-1333 spec so I put it in the new pc

It's 3 sticks of 2GB and 1 stick of 1 GB. It shouldn't make any difference?

Also my PC has crashed twice today. But fines perfectly fine between so.

I noticed the 7gb memory too and it rang alarm bells straight away.

Scrap the memory that didn't come with the original 4gb and buy another 4gb of paired dual channel memory (preferably exactly the same as the 4gb that came with it). It could be one of the extra sticks making up that 3gb causing your PC to lock up.

I'd seriously consider doing this!

 

[Penn]

In fact, take that 3GB out and see if it still crashes. If it doesn't, you've found the problem