Member Avatar for myopic

Hi daniweb, I've had this problem for several months. My computer should be clean of malware- i got help from another website for that.

My computer freezes (and makes an unpleasant sound- a sharp "chugging") for about 2 or 3 seconds and then restarts. This happens randomly, mostly when I'm on world of warcraft- however, as I am pretty much always playing it, i don't think the problem is exclusive to world of warcraft. also i believe i've had this problem prior to playing world of warcraft.

There are no errors logged in the event viewer that are related to the crash.

Hard drive: 232GB
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz (2 CPUS)
Gfx card: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT

If there is any more information you need, please ask. Thanks in advance.

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Dani AI

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Builds on ’s component-testing idea and on ’s speaker check: the symptom set — a short hard freeze with a sharp sound through headphones and an immediate restart, with no Event Viewer errors — points toward either a hardware power/graphics failure or a driver/low-level audio/DPC problem. The following prioritized checks focus on creating useful diagnostics first (crash data, isolation) and on inexpensive hardware checks next.

Recommended diagnostic sequence:

  • Force useful crash data: disable automatic restart and enable kernel/minidumps (System Properties → Advanced → Startup and Recovery → Settings). Collect any generated dump files for later analysis.
  • Separate OS from hardware: boot a Linux Live USB for several hours under normal use; if the machine still freezes, hardware is far more likely.
  • Monitor temps and DPC: run a hardware monitor for CPU/GPU temps and LatencyMon (or equivalent) to catch driver-induced audio/DPC stalls that can coincide with freezes.
  • Target PSU/GPU: sudden restarts under brief freezes often implicate the PSU or GPU. Check VRM/CPU/GPU temperatures, visually inspect motherboard capacitors for bulging or leakage, reseat cards and RAM, and try a minimal hardware configuration (single RAM stick, no add-in cards). If available, swap in a known-good PSU or GPU.
  • Isolate audio: since the noise traveled down headphones, test with headphones unplugged and with a USB/alternate audio device to rule out driver/audio-hardware buffering faults. Also try rolling back the audio driver if crashes began after an update.

If dumps appear, analyze the bugcheck code (or upload it to a repair guide) — specific codes point quickly to GPU, disk, driver, or power faults. If all software isolation fails and a local PSU/GPU swap is not possible, a bench test at a repair shop is a practical next step.

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Member Avatar for rch1231

Hello,

The sound you are referring to, does it come from the computer or from the speakers (i.e. sound card)?

Member Avatar for b10hzrd

Also, does the system do anything else before restarting? I.E. BSOD?

Does the freeze seem to have a trigger? Such as always happening during intense gameplay or while there is a high level of activity on screen?

Member Avatar for myopic

, I think it comes from the speakers because I have earphones plugged in all the time, and I hear it coming from the earphones. When it happens again I'll try and confirm it.

, no the system doesn't do anything else- it just happens randomly.

I don't think the freeze has a trigger- sometimes I could be idling in WoW and watching something on Windows Media Player and it would freeze and restart.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by myopic because: n/a
Member Avatar for b10hzrd

It could be a hardware or a software issue. Generally its best to start testing components to see if any are showing signs of issues. Below are a list of some common testing/benchmarking utilities that you can use to test individual components. The idea is to run these programs individualy looking for anomolies. If the system repeats your Freeze/reboot issue during one of these tests it could be a sign that the particular component you are testing may be faulty and may in turn be causing your issues.

You can Google these program names to find the appropriate links as many of these programs are hosted on mulitple sites

MemTest86 -- Tests your system RAM

MultiPrime -- Stress tests your Processor

3DMark05/3DMark06/3DMarkVantage -- Tests your graphics subsystem (the earlier versions are more "free" user-friendly.

HDTach or IOMeter -- Harddrive utlilities with some stress testing options

Member Avatar for myopic

Okay I just crashed without world of warcraft on, and the sound is coming from the speakers.

I ran some stress tests on my processor and nothing happened at 100% memory usage.

Also, I can't really figure out how to test the graphic subsystem.

Member Avatar for b10hzrd

If you download 3dMark05 or 3dMark06 from Futuremark, they operate as a graphics benchmark. During the benchmark your graphics hardware is stressed. On the free veresion the parameters are not changeable but the paid versions do allow you to increase resolution, AA, AF, etc and loop the tests to truly stress test your graphics card. That being said with the Beeps coming from your speakers and the system crashing outside WoW it sounds as though it may be software related. Do you have the most recent graphics drivers and audio drivers installed?

Member Avatar for myopic

Yeah after the first few crashes I did update both my graphics and audio drivers, but I still manage to crash.

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