BleepingComputer.com: Troubleshooting new lockups

Hey everyone,

Here is the situation. My girlfriend and I started playing Star Wars The Old Republic. She had some incredible lag despite her system actually being a bit stronger than mine, yet I get none.

Here is/was her current setup:

Win Vista x64
4 gigs ddr2 ram (2x2)
Asus P5QL Pro Mobo
Nvidea GeForce 8800 GT
Core 2 Duo @ 3.00 Ghz

I realized her memory was a bit low for 64 bit, so I picked up another 4 gigs (2x2) and when I went to put it in, I noticed her cpu fan heatsink was incredibly dusty. I airdusted the heat sink (though didn't help much), threw in the sticks and thought I was gtg.

- Lockups began right away and got worse quickly. I installed a heat sensor app to see her cpu was idling at 60+(!!!). Obviously what happened was when I dusted the heatsink, I must have impacted dust even further.

- I took out a memory stick just to see if the new hardware was causing issue, but I also took off fan and gave it a very thorough cleaning. Put some new thermal paste on, and heatsink - however when I put the fan back on, it was a pain in the ass for some reason. Maybe the way the case was, I don't know but I've never had this much trouble putting a fan on and I'm not 100% sure it's on all the way.

- Anyway, after the struggling, I did get her computer back up, and CPU running idle was 35.. huge difference. Problem solved, right? Nope.

- The next day her daughter locks up playing a game. I chalked it up to maybe a bad game.

- A few days later (over this past weekend) she suffered a lockup, lockup, then reboot before I pulled out the other new stick. Now her system should is 100% the way it was (minus the dust).

- Just now, another lockup.

So I'm at a loss. Overnight I ran checkdisk, I'm not sure if it had any issues because it was rebooted when I woke up. I've run malware programs a few times, no signs of anything fishy.

My concerns are:

A) Something broke (gfx card?) during the overheating period she's been suffering the past few months
When I put the fan back on, I broke something on the mobo, the cpu itself, or something along those lines. I doubt I impacted the cpu, but perhaps damaged mobo?
C) Her HDD is flaking out? About 2 times in recent memory - prior to any of this - when she loaded her computer, it prompted her for a check disk thing.
D) Memory is clearly not the issue as I'm back to using the original sticks, original slots, etc. Unless they cracked when overheated?

Any help troubleshooting this to find out the cause would be great.

Side note:

- Her lockups have only happened while playing games so far.
- It generally still gets pretty hot in her case when it's running. Like memory is almost too hot to touch just after I shut down. While CPU temp seems low, perhaps it's a graphics card heating up?
- Her Gfx card cooling is just a heatsink. There is no fan on this model. I didn't notice any dust, but I did also notice a few times when I started the computer up, the monitor didn't recognize the card. Had to reboot the computer.

I just noticed I have a GeForce 8800 GT sitting next to me (I wonder why, maybe my old one?). I think tonight I may swap this in and see if that helps her issues. In the meantime, any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Oh, what I'll also do is make sure her graphics card drivers are up to date when I do this.

Use Speccy to provide details of your computer's configuration.

• Download, install, and run.
  
• After Speccy has finished gathering information, click File > Publish Snapshot.
  
• In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
  
• A web address will be displayed. Click Copy to Clipboard and paste it in your next post. Include your computer's manufacturer and model number, as well.

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Sorry it took so long, she was on the computer all night. I'm on her system, here is the link after a fresh boot up (I still haven't put in the new gfx card yet)

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/E16G10elyaF084XnaMmYzIo

This is a custom built machine, so no mfg or model number

Thanks!

Some concerns:

Your GPU is idling at 60C. That is high and could be responsible for the lockups if it's getting up over 80C under heavy load. Verify every fan's operation and check the GPU heatsink for debris.

You need to recheck your thermal paste application and the heatsink itself. One core of the CPU is running 11C hotter than the other. That suggests either a bad paste job or a warped heatsink base. (There are a couple other less desirable reasons for this, but we'll stick with the fixable ones for now.)

I am going to swap out the video card with the one with the fan (same model), and update drivers. Hopefully that does help a bit.

I am wondering if I also did a poor job replacing the fan. I'm a bit nervous because I had such a hard time putting the fan back on before, it's probably what messed up the paste to begin with.

^ If that's the case, the other graphics card (with the fan) should idle at around 45°C or lower.

You also need to make sure your power supply offers enough power to the card. Compare the +12V spec. of the PSU against the card's requirement.

This post has been edited by ReviverSoft: 07 February 2012 - 08:02 PM