BleepingComputer.com: Vista Constant Crash And Hard Boot

Help!

Vista is killing me! Here are the specs on my machine..

ASUS P5N-E SLI NFORCE 650I SLI MB
INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6700 2.67
2 160GB SATA-II HD in RAID 0
1 320GB SATA-II HD
CREATIVE LABS AUDIGY Sound
2 GEFORCE G8800GTS 320MB PCI in SLI
WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM 32-BIT (came with the computer)
3GB of DDR2 PC6400 MEMORY

At first things were great, but when I started installing games it all went to hell. I even tried removing all programs and reinstalling windows but it hasn't helped. Now, no matter what program I'm using (games or not) it will lock up at any random moment. Currently, the only games on the computer are Half Life 2 and Preatorian. I've also used a registry cleaner but it makes no difference.

I've read that some folks have driver problems with the 8800's nividia's so I tried downloading and installing the latest driver for Vista. It locks up during the install and now the computer only recognizes one video card.

I've rebooted so many times I think the hard-boot button is wearning out.

Any help is appreciated. I'm limited in my computer savvy, but let me know what information you need and Ill do me best to find it.


Thanks

How to Find BSOD (Blue Screen) Error Messages

See if that will help you find an error message. That would be the start.

I never actually get to the BSOD. Everything just freezes and I loose all keyboard and mouse inputs. Often, when I try to do a normal shut-down I'll get the "shutting down" screen but the computer never actually turns off. I left it for 12 hours this way the other day. It just seems that all these little glitches must have some common root that I don't know about.

This is most likely hardware related. The normal reason for the computer to just freeze is overheating. What do your temps look like?

How do I check temps?

I found at least part of the problem - and yes it was hardware related. I have 3 gig of ram - the original 2 512 sticks and 2 1 gb sticks. They are all 800 MHz so I thought I was coverd. However, the arrangment of the memory in two pairs II II was 512 1gb 512 1gb. I had to switch them to 1gb 512 1gb 512. I'm sure this is old news to all the techies - but it was new to me. I still have a few driver issues to resovle, but no more freeze-ups so far (or at least for the past 2 hours).

I have difficulties running mismatched pairs (2-512 and 2-1gB sticks) on several of my systems. Try disabling the dual channel feature in your BIOS to see if that improves the performance and reliability.