Random freezes with windows 7 - 64 bit

Anonymous

I use to run Vista home premium x86 on a acer computer. This summer I downloaded Windows 7 rc x86. A month ago I bought all new parts and since I could use 64-bit system now I installed a 64-bit Windows 7. Then did the problem start. Every new and then the computer freezes, some days over 30 times. I thought it was hardware problem and tried a lot of hardware finders and nothing helped. I also installed windows 7 rc my mothers laptop (The same version I use to have that work fine) that used to run on Vista home basic.. But her computer didn’t freeze it just got a black screen now and then.

The I started to suspect that it was because it was a beta version so when windows 7 were released I bought two of them a 32-bit and a 64-bit. But the problem didn´t go away. It´s still there and It´s kind of frustrating and even more now when I’m trying to write a essay.

I used windows upgrade advisor and it didn´t see any problem with an upgrade to windows 7. What can I do?

original title: Random freezes with windows 7

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Anonymous

Guys,

I might have the answer to your problems. This might fix your sleep/suspend problems and your random freezing problems. Bottom line is that the default and "auto" values in Win 7 and your BIOS might not produce a stable computer...even with a virgin install.

RANDOM FREEZES FIX:

My computer used to freeze randomly until I fixed the memory timings. I suspected bad memory early on and tested it with MEMTEST, but it passed with flying colors. I even tried swaping memory out, trying to eliminate bad memory and/or slots. It turned out that it was a memory frequency/timings/voltage issue. No more freezes! If you have a similar setup, this will most likely fix it. If not, then check your memory and/or power supply.

The "AUTO" settings in BIOS *may not* produce a stable setting. You have to goto the ASUS support website and download the latest memory QVL and lookup the memory settings for your particular brand there. For my memory (OCZX1333LV6GK(XMP)) I had to make the following adjustments in the BIOS:

DRAM Freq:1066 (even though my memory is rated at 1333 frequency, the QVL guide recommended a lower freq!)

7-7-7-16 for the rest of the timings. The other settings I was able to leave in "AUTO"

DRAM BUS Voltage: 1.6

*warning: be sure to consult your memory/motherboard documentation...the wrong value could damage your components!

SUSPEND/SLEEP FIX:

My computer used to hang when coming out of sleep or wouldn't completely goto sleep. This solution may be partially dependent on you fixing a random freezing issue if you have one.

In your "advanced" power settings, disable "Hybrid Sleep". That's it! My motherboard doesn't like hybrid sleep.

*If you have a desktop with a UPS, Win 7 will treat it like a laptop and apply the battery settings....sooo make sure you adjust the "on battery" settings!

My setup:

Processor:Intel core i7 920

Motherboard:Asus P6T

Memory: OCZX1333LV6GK(XMP) (ie. 6GB in 3 sticks)

Harddrive: 3 x WD Caviar Black drives in RAID 5

PSU: X3 1000W

Video card: 2 x NVIDIA 9800 GTX+ SLI

*I have all of the ASUS overclocking/energy savings programs uninstalled

*I have the latest BIOS 0801 and all the latest drivers installed

Nick

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966 additional answers

Anonymous

2011-10-02T22:04:54+00:00

Gentlemen,

This is not a hardware issue. I just finished reading the 70 pages of replies and the common thread among the various replies is - no one has the same hardware. In other posts about the same issue, the same has been true - a wide variety of people posting with the same complaint about random shutdowns, with a wide variety of hardware profiles. I replaced my motherboard, my video, and my RAM, and update Windows 7 Pro on a regular basis, all to no avail. This is NOT a hardware related issue. Microsoft , please begin research on this issue and supply us with a fix.

Why should they? Is it sales relevant? Most likely not.

You should start using EventViewer and Verifier.exe, this is the official way of hunting down your problem.
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Anonymous

After literally a year of messing around with this problem I have gotten my freezes to be fairly well managed. Now I can actually work on my computer without worrying about losing data all the time because of this issue.

I didn't change any hardware or mess with the BIOS. I did uninstall AVG which did seem to help.

During one of the freezes I actually got a bluescreen which gave me some information about what had happened and it seemed to be a drive controller issue.

I WONDER IF THE HARDWARE WE ALL HAVE IN COMMON IS AN EXTERNAL USB DRIVE?

Anyway, this led me to an association between the crashes and Flash media players embedded into browsers. At first I thought it was a Firefox issue but I was able to replicate the issue in Opera and Chrome as well. One thing about Opera I noticed though is that whenever I used a private tab, the freeze would not occur. I looked into that further and realized that Opera was blocking the Flash plug-in from writing data to the drive so I disabled this ability in the plug-in itself and now I have a fraction of the freezing episodes I used to have. I can even listen to music while working on this computer, something I was never able to do.

Another thing that I can confirm causes the freezing is when you are using a Flash movie plug-in and it connects to Adobe for an upgrade. Every single time this happens, my system freezes. When the computer restarts, the first thing to appear is a Flash upgrade. Again, a Flash plug-in issue accessing the drive.

Win7 is quite disappointing because of these issues I have been having and the fact that we seem to be alone in our quest for answers is also disheartening but far from surprising. Next time I replace the drives, I am switching back to XP64.

Here is what I am running:

Component	Details	Subscore
Processor	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz	7.4	5.9	<br>	---	<br>	Determined by lowest subscore
Memory (RAM)	12.0 GB	7.4
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT	6.9
Gaming graphics	4095 MB Total available graphics memory	6.9
Primary hard disk	34GB Free (140GB Total)	5.9
Windows 7 Professional

* * *
		Manufacturer	ASUS	<br>	---	---	---	<br>		Model	P6TD Deluxe	<br>		Total amount of system memory	12.0 GB RAM	<br>		System type	64-bit operating system	<br>		Number of processor cores	8

* * *
		Total size of hard disk(s)	2468 GB	<br>	---	---	---	<br>		Disk partition (C:)	34 GB Free (140 GB Total)	<br>		Media drive (D:)	CD/DVD	<br>		Disk partition (E:)	127 GB Free (466 GB Total)	<br>				<br>		Disk partition (K:)	62 GB Free (466 GB Total)	<br>		Disk partition (L:)	227 GB Free (1397 GB Total)

* * *
		Display adapter type	NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT	<br>	---	---	---	<br>		Total available graphics memory	4095 MB	<br>		Dedicated graphics memory	512 MB	<br>		Dedicated system memory	0 MB	<br>		Shared system memory	3583 MB	<br>		Display adapter driver version	8.17.12.6724	<br>		Secondary monitor resolution	2048x1152	<br>		Primary monitor resolution	2048x1152	<br>		DirectX version	DirectX 10

* * *
		Network Adapter	Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller	<br>	---	---	---	<br>		Network Adapter	Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

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Anonymous

2011-10-01T13:27:25+00:00

Gentlemen,

This is not a hardware issue. I just finished reading the 70 pages of replies and the common thread among the various replies is - no one has the same hardware. In other posts about the same issue, the same has been true - a wide variety of people posting with the same complaint about random shutdowns, with a wide variety of hardware profiles. I replaced my motherboard, my video, and my RAM, and update Windows 7 Pro on a regular basis, all to no avail. This is NOT a hardware related issue. Microsoft , please begin research on this issue and supply us with a fix.
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