PC Freezes with Looping Sound

I got a suggestion to post my issue here, saying that many of the people here are good with technical problems, so I was wondering if anyone could give me any helpful information about a problem I've been having.

Since about 6 months to a year ago, my computer has had a problem where during high load, it crashes with repeating sound. It has slowly gotten worse, to the point that it is crashing on things that it shouldn't be (Like Ragnarok Online...4 months ago I played RO with no problems, and just today I had 3 crashes in an hour).

I was going to wait it out and get a new computer, but now it's getting bad, and I still have no money to get a new PC. Any help on this situation would be great.

Specs:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600)
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG (I'll reset later to get the Motherboard Model number)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 4096MB Ram
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 2GB VRAM
Speakers: HTO Striker 7.1 Sound Card

What have I done to try and fix this situation?
1) I've tried switching PCI-E slots for my GPU (Used to have two but one shorted out a long time ago)
2) I've tried switching PCI slots for my Sound Card.
3) I've upgraded my Drivers to the absolute most recent version.
4) I ran MemTest about 3 months ago. Did about 4 consecutive tests and all came clean.
5) I've updated my BIOS.
6) I've checked cooling, the system never rises above 40C except during extremely hot days (Which right now it's Winter and my window is usually open so that's not the reason).
7) Defragmented my Harddrive, in case it's some odd access error or something
8) Done several virus checks with multiple Scanners and resolved all issues (I think I've had a total of...one Virus on the computer ever).
9) Done Ad/Spyware scans and resolved all issues.
10)Currently running a Hard Drive scan. Went through one "Advanced" (Don't know exactly what that means, there's Advanced, Basic, and Exerciser) scan, with a clean result, and it is now running multiple "Exerciser" loops and will be done later tonight.

I honestly have run out of ideas. Does anyone have an idea on what I should do? There's only two things I can think of that remain.
1) My Power Supply is busted, and it cannot supply enough power when it is needed causing the system to freeze up.
2) Either my Motherboard is busted or my CPU is, neither of which I have the money to replace so I hope this isn't the problem.

Any help would be great, bad news wouldn't =P

The thing you have to do is single out which component is causing the failure. The trifecta of failures in a high load system are the memory DIMMs, CPU, and GPU. Looks like you've singled out the memory.

I'd encourage another run of memtest to see if you get anything there. Leave no stone unturned. Allow memtest to run for an hour to simulate a high load environment.

Before you do the next tests, get HW monitor from here and run it while you are running the benchmarks. Verify that your voltages stay stable. A sudden dip in voltage will cause your CPU or Graphics Card to segfault and cause the errors you're reporting. Keep your eye on the voltages if anything happens to fail. This way if there's a dip in voltage and then a power failure, you can say it's the power supply and not the component. While you've got HWMonitor running, make sure that your voltages are within tolerance of what they should be. If it's reporting, say, 11v on the 12v rail, your problem is 95% the power supply. It could be possible that the motherboard is reporting the wrong voltages, which is why it's hard to be 100% sure. But when you've got a problem like you've got, it's worth it to know that a power supply is good and that you have a component failure elsewhere.

The next thing you can single out is your CPU. Get the SiSandra Lite Burn-in utility and make it stress the CPU. Again, run it for one to two hours to simulate high load.

To test the graphics card, get Furmark and run that for an hour. If HWMonitor doesn't report GPU temperatures, get a tool that will read it for you. I understand you've checked the temperatures before, but you can't just assume that nothing has changed in the past four months. Your problems are worsening - something has changed.

While you are running these tests, look inside your computer. Are all the fans running? Does it smell of burn at all? Put your hand behind the power supply. Is the fan working inside the power supply? Does the power supply feel hot to the touch (it shouldn't)? On some power supplies, there is a red light on the back of it next to the power switch. If that red light comes on, that means there's a wiring fault somewhere inside the case and it also means that it's definitely a problem with the power supply (100% this time!).

If each part works individually just fine, then you know it must be the mobo or the power supply. Since replacing the power supply is generally less invasive, is more likely to be the cause, and is cheaper than a motherboard, I'd recommend replacing that first.

As I'm sure you know, you have got to take care of this now. This sounds like imminent component failure, and within a couple of months you won't be able to turn on your computer at all. I would strongly advise that even if you don't have the money now, save like $10 a week for a power supply. You'll thank me later.

As far as replacing components, perhaps it's not as bad as you think. For some older systems, there are a wide variety of cheap components that is not on the mainstream market anymore. Call up a computer business and ask them if they have any old parts they just want to sell at discount to you. If nothing else, just buy a cheap component that you know works and throw that in there. You can get an older CPU model for as little as $40.

Thank you for all that great information Fiel, I really appreciate it.

I've installed HWMonitor, and it looks like all the Voltages are in correct numbers in basically idle. Should I expect this seeing as how the system only has problems during high load? I'm thinking I should have it keep a log file if possible, then start playing something and when it crashes check the log files.

A couple of the numbers are off by small amounts, though. I've never dealt with voltages before so I have no idea what I'm looking for. For example the +3.3V seems to stay at about 3.26-3.28, and the +12V seems to stay at about 11.90V. Everything is small decimals under what they should be. Would this be a small tell, and slowly get worse as the system tries to draw more power, causing that issue?

Also, my Hard Drive tests came out negative, as I expected. Just wanted to make sure.

Once again, all help is great.

Edit: Oh and it has Fan RPMS on HWMontior. Looks like all my Fans are running correctly. I can always hear them so I never thought that was an issue, and when my other GPU burned out a long time ago, I smelt that so I believe if there was an issue like that I would smell it from where I am. I'm in a pretty small room and I'm almost next to my PC.

It's common for voltages to be slightly under. Your voltages seem normal and I wouldn't let it concern you. You should only worry if it's more than 7 - 10% too low. Have it keep a log file. It honestly cannot hurt.

Although the fan monitor says it's running at a certain RPM, it can't hurt to physically monitor them. Also, fan monitors don't always get all of the fans like the one in the power supply. Make sure to check that one. It's the most important one in your scenario.

EDIT: Another place of failure would be to check your southbridge/northbridge. These have fans which do bust (though on lower end mobos they have passive heatsinks to reduce cost). Check those heatsinks too. If they overheat, your computer will freeze as well.

That's good to know. I'll keep it logging until the next crash, then I'll check the logs when it does.

I just remembered something that I thought might give a hint to someone who knows more than I do to what he's doing:
Sometimes when it crashes, an immediate reboot doesn't fix it. If I turn off my PC and turn it right back on, most of the time it never passes boot that turn on. I have to turn it off, wait about 5-10 seconds, then turn it on and it will be fine. Would that indicate a power issue, or something worse like Motherboard, or just nothing at all?

You should be waiting about 5 - 10 seconds anyway. What tells you that "it never passes boot that turn on"? What happens? What does the computer do? Does it beep?

It never beeps ever. When it passes boot, it beeps and immediately the monitor shows the start-up graphic and what not. It just stays at boot forever. I waited a while one time, thinking maybe it was going to give me an boot error message, (Like when my first GPU broke, it gave me something like 3 short beeps and a long one, when I looked it up it said that the beeps meant a GPU issue, and I went through various attempts and tests and realized that the first GPU was dead). Nothing like that happens, it just sits there forever.

Ever updated your BIOS?

One of the earlier things I did was update my BIOS. I'll check for another update though, it couldn't hurt to make sure it's completely up to date.

My bad, didn't see it in your list. Nevermind then.

If you've already updated your BIOS, I'm still going to lean on it being the power supply.

Just going to add a couple things that I don't think Fiel mentioned

If your computer is full of dust, take it outside and blow it out, especially the heatsinks. Watch out for static if you have low humidity. Dont' try to use an ordinary vacuum cleaner to do this, they often build up static electricity.

If you have one of those fancy motherboards that lets you tweak up the CPU clock, bus, or memory chip access speeds, set the speeds back to whatever normal is for your components, or perhaps even try below normal to see if it changes the problem. (Probably unlikely though, since most times the BIOS defaults to normal settings if a boot fails.)

Many problems with ageing electronics have to do bad connections. What was previously good connection oxidizes and becomes poor. Gold plating prevents this, but not all connections are gold plated, or else the thin plating can get worn off with repeated handling. Carefully remove and replace boards and connectors to try to renew the connections. Again, if humidity is low, be careful of static electricity. Touch bare metal on the case every time you approach before handling the boards.

Since this is all leaning towards a power supply issue...

how many Watts is your power supply? What are your system specs? Have you tried underclocking certain components to see if performance doesn't fall apart?

What is the computer connected to? Is it a good outlet? Is it the only outlet or do you have multiple devices connected to the same outlet?

I would say it's your RAM / CPU that's malfunctioning.

You can try a few things:
- Bump up the CPU voltage in your BIOS (+10% is always safe)
- Bump up the RAM voltage in your BIOS (+10% is always safe)

- If you have multiple RAM modules, remove -ALL- and check your PC with only -ONE- in the FIRST slot (DIMM1) otherwise your PC won't boot. on the Motherboard it should say DIMM1, DIMM2, etc.
--> Retry all modules. Just test with the +10% RAM voltage, it's can't hurt them in any way.

P.S. When Switching / Removing RAM modules, make sure to disconnect your PC physically from the powernet (aka remove the powerplug)

My bad, didn't see it in your list. Nevermind then.

If you've already updated your BIOS, I'm still going to lean on it being the power supply.

No problem, you've already given a lot of great information. The only thing with the BIOS I'm left to try is giving it a reset to default settings. Though the only thing I know I've done off hand is disable the Integrated Sound Card, which is a piece of crap, which shouldn't be causing any issues. In fact, the last time I had an Integrated Sound Card by the same company (C-Media, never heard of them but their cards suck), it caused a lot of performance issues. Blue screens, all kinds of random crap, and I had to disable it to keep performance, so I don't trust anything by that company anymore. The first thing I did when I got this computer is get a Sound Card, I didn't know that the sound card was from them.

I'm watching the Power Supply Voltages, I've seen jumps/decreases of up to 0.50, but since I last posted, I went to bed so I haven't really been able to test it. I'll give more information soon hopefully. Next time it crashes I'll also definitely look for that red light before I do anything. I'm almost hoping it's a Power Supply, it'd be the cheapest thing to replace.

Just going to add a couple things that I don't think Fiel mentioned

If your computer is full of dust, take it outside and blow it out, especially the heatsinks. Watch out for static if you have low humidity. Dont' try to use an ordinary vacuum cleaner to do this, they often build up static electricity.

If you have one of those fancy motherboards that lets you tweak up the CPU clock, bus, or memory chip access speeds, set the speeds back to whatever normal is for your components, or perhaps even try below normal to see if it changes the problem. (Probably unlikely though, since most times the BIOS defaults to normal settings if a boot fails.)

Many problems with ageing electronics have to do bad connections. What was previously good connection oxidizes and becomes poor. Gold plating prevents this, but not all connections are gold plated, or else the thin plating can get worn off with repeated handling. Carefully remove and replace boards and connectors to try to renew the connections. Again, if humidity is low, be careful of static electricity. Touch bare metal on the case every time you approach before handling the boards.

I didn't think to mention it, but I do clean the dust out of my PC about every 3 months. It has a window on the side and whenever I notice it get dusty, I clean the entire thing, so I don't think it's a dust issue.

I'm not even sure how to do that. I've never looked into overclocking or underclocking, I never though it was the greatest of ideas. I'd rather have a slightly slower computer with slightly worse looking graphics than have no computer at all because an overclock went bad. I'll look into it though.

I never thought of the bad connections deal. If I do go out and get a new Power Supply, that would fix those connections, and then I can always get the data cables replaced while I'm out as well, I don't think they would cost that much. The computer isn't over 3 years old, however it seems like the guys who made this (I would have made my own but I have terrible luck with that) seemed to cheap out on a few things. For example, when I originally got it, there was no SLi Bridge, and I had to get my own to stop the computer from crashing in SLi Mode because of GPU mis-communications.

Since this is all leaning towards a power supply issue...

how many Watts is your power supply? What are your system specs? Have you tried underclocking certain components to see if performance doesn't fall apart?

What is the computer connected to? Is it a good outlet? Is it the only outlet or do you have multiple devices connected to the same outlet?

I honestly don't know off the top of my head, however if it were a Wattage issue, I would have been getting this issue since Day one. Granted, if it's a dying Power Supply, and it's Wattage is dying with it, that would cause the same issue, however if the original wattage on it was bad, the entire 2-3 years I've had this computer would have been like this, but instead it was good for the first two. However, I would think that if the PSU was dying, and overtime its wattage was getting worse, it would explain why Ragnarok Online is suddenly causing issues, having none before. It needed just enough, now it needs more and my PSU can't supply it. Maybe I'm talking out of my ass, I have no idea how PSUs work, but it sounds like a good reasoning to me.

I haven't tried Underclocking, as explained before I don't even know if the motherboard will allow it, I've never even thought of it.

Now the OUTLET! I never thought of that. It is hooked up to a fairly old Surge Protector. Although I've never noticed a light on it turn on, it's also got to be at least 7-10 years old. I'll have to see if I have another one in the house I can try out. I remember a few years ago I noticed that one of the plugs on the Surge Protector had an issue where if it was shifted the wrong way, it would lose power to that plug. I never put anything in that plug usually anyway, so I ignored it. Perhaps the problem is running its course through the rest of the device, and now it's at a point where it can't transfer power properly?

I would say it's your RAM / CPU that's malfunctioning.

You can try a few things:
- Bump up the CPU voltage in your BIOS (+10% is always safe)
- Bump up the RAM voltage in your BIOS (+10% is always safe)

- If you have multiple RAM modules, remove -ALL- and check your PC with only -ONE- in the FIRST slot (DIMM1) otherwise your PC won't boot. on the Motherboard it should say DIMM1, DIMM2, etc.
--> Retry all modules. Just test with the +10% RAM voltage, it's can't hurt them in any way.

P.S. When Switching / Removing RAM modules, make sure to disconnect your PC physically from the powernet (aka remove the powerplug)

I've already done all those RAM suggestions. It's the first thing I thought of when I started having issues. It also was the first thing to come up clean. Both the RAM and the Cache on the Processor seem perfectly stable, but I'm going to do another MemTest tonight when I go to bed, or know I wont be on for a few hours.

Are you sure bumping the voltage is safe? I don't know anything about it so I want to make sure you know, because I definitely don't have the money to replace my CPU.

Thanks for all the help guys! I definitely have some things to try out.

Edit: Fiel, do you know of a program like HWMonitor that makes Logs as they are created? It creates graphs and stuff when the Log is ended, but if I crash it will never be able to do that, unless it does it when I start the program up again (which I don't expect), so if I do crash I won't get information anyway.

Crash as in BSod? Or just hangs forever? If you BSoD, there should be a dump with info.

Crash as in BSod? Or just hangs forever? If you BSoD, there should be a dump with info.

Crash as in hangs forever. I wish I got dumps, but ever since I went to Windows 7 I've never gotten a single BSoD. A dump would give me some clue, but alas, it just completely freezes and the sound loops forever until I force a reset.

Here are my specs:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600)
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG (I'll reset later to get the Motherboard Model number)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6400+ (2 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 4096MB Ram
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 2GB VRAM
Speakers: HTO Striker 7.1 Sound Card

I'll update my first post with this as well.

Tried stress test with ATI Tools? Maybe then at least you can point it to the graphics card.

i asked about wattage because the higher capacity wattage, the worse volt regulation occurs with bad power supplies. Tis be a negative relationship. If your PSU has high wattage capacity, then your tests should even more careful.

i asked about wattage because the higher capacity wattage, the worse volt regulation occurs with bad power supplies. Tis be a negative relationship. If your PSU has high wattage capacity, then your tests should even more careful.

Oh I didn't realize that.

Unfortunately after a recent crash, the HWMonitor did not make a log, since it does it at the end (because that's wise), so I'm unsure of if it is a Voltage issue still. Since my Surge Protector is so old, I'll probably go out soon and replace both and hopefully that will remedy the situation. Still going to do a memtest tonight and I'll make sure I give the results just in case.

After the MemTest tomorrow, I'll probably also reinstall Windows 7 on a formatted drive. Since I opted to Upgrade Vista instead of a fresh Windows 7 install, I heard there's potential for issues. Plus, my current install is also a Beta release, so making sure the OS is in working condition is also a must. Plus, if there's anything that happens to be evading scans (Like some virus or something), a format will resolve that as well.

I took a minute to look at my BIOS since I was resetting for other things anyway.
My Motherboard model name is M2N-SLI. An Asus Motherboard.

I looked into the settings, and saw two things that may be major contributors to the issues.
1) Under SLi Configuration, the setting was set to Dual Video Cards. Last I remember it was Auto, but for some reason it's Dual now. I don't know why, but I set this to Single, since I only have one GPU installed.
2) Under Primary Video Adapter, it was set to PCI, but my Video Card is PCI-E. I switched it correctly.

Honestly, with these two changes, I'm surprised the system was booting at all. Wouldn't these both be major problems with the wrong settings set, or does the system automatically compensate during boot?

Regardless, both settings are now in their proper setting. I took a look at the Voltage area, and could not find anything that would allow me to overclock/underclock nor could I increase or decrease Voltage going to the system. The only thing was that it told me my CPU, the settings it's at, which were greyed out, and the Voltage settings were either "Show" or "Ignore". Of course I left it on Show. So Overclocking and Voltage changing are both no longer options for checking. Going to begin MemTest now.