What program to maintain computer?

SalmonNilla · 03-16-2008, 06:59 PM

What program do you all use to keep your computers in top shape?
I previously used Norton system works for optimizing hard drive, disk doctor, etc. I have a new computer now and need to install something as I've had a little trouble with it locking up or restarting on it's own. Is there a really great program out there to buy? Or better yet some trusted freeware?

anglingaddict · 03-16-2008, 08:47 PM

Checkout AVG.

StickFish · 03-17-2008, 06:31 AM

Can you describe the problem you having a little more. For instance are you doing the same things when it restarts or is it at random? For a new machine that is doing that the first culprit I look for is heat, are all the fans running especially the CPU, chipset and video if so equipped. If not remedy. Next is the quailty of the power you are giving it. Assuming that you old system didn't have the same problem you can rule out low voltage, but how large of a power supply (in watts) do you have? Next check that all cards and cables are completely seated and square. Next do you or have you seen any error message however brief they may have been. Have you overclocked the chip, if so, set the timing back the way it should be. If the machine was built locally, you may need to contact them and start playing the swap parts game - first one I'd swap is the memory cause I've had a few cases of bad RAM boards do that. Look for any part that isn't working like a second DVD drive.

Random restarts are usually hardware, but could also be software or a bad driver - good luck - these are not fun. I don't think you need a software utility at this point, but then it has been a few weeks since I stayed at a holiday inn express.

SalmonNilla · 03-17-2008, 02:28 PM

I'm pretty sure all my fans are working it sounds like a vacuume cleaner. My cpu fan is an Arctic freezer 7 pro. My gpu has it's own heatsink/fan. Speedfan shows ok temps. I did overclock my e8400 from 3Ghz to 3.6Ghz and lowered my ram timings to 4-4-4-12. But I changed all that back to stock and still have these problems. My power supply is an Apevia 600 watt. It locks up sometimes when burning a disk or during a long software update or install. Sometimes it restarts when I'm only web surfing. I think I might download memtest and run that for a while. I've run Prime 95 for 5 hours with no errors.

StickFish · 03-17-2008, 02:36 PM

I'd do the mem tests and pop the case to make sure the fans or coolers are running

Last Cast King · 03-17-2008, 04:47 PM

I agree that it sounds more like a hardware issue than a software issue. It also sounds like overheating can be ruled out especially if it's crashing when you are just surfing the web.

In my experience this sort of problem is usually caused by bad memory. Memtest and Prime 95 are good tools to use but I have had bad memory that passed both of those tests with flying colors. The best way to test memory if you have more than one stick is to remove one stick and use the computer, if it crashes put it back in and take out another one. Another thing to try with the memory is to turn off Dual Channel if it's on, some memory/motherboard combos don't work well with each other in dual channel. Also if your virtual memory is set too small then windows will crash when it runs out of virtual memory, and if you're on vista be aware that there is a hotfix to fix some issues that vista had with it.

I think your power supply should have enough power but you might want to check the voltages under load to make sure you don't have a weak rail, in particular the 12v rail. I use everest to check voltages, you can either download a trial version at the company's website or you can get an older freeware version from a site like majorgeeks(that's what I have).

Lastly if you still can't find the culprit don't forget that if you have an actual graphics card, it has it's own memory that can be bad just the same as the main memory. To test this you will need to swap your graphics card out for another one.

Edit: Oh and I would ditch norton and Use AVG(free) for an antivirus, zonealarm(free) for a firewall, windows for defragging the hard drive, and acronis true image for disk imaging if you need it.

SalmonNilla · 03-17-2008, 07:16 PM

Thanks everyone for the help. By the way I did build my new computer. It was my first build but I had a friend help. My specs are:

Asus Maximus Formula motherboard
Intel e8400 3Ghz cpu
2 gigs ddr2 800 pc2 6400 crucial balistix tracer
600 watt Apevia power supply
HIS Radeon 3870 512 meg pci 2.0 superclocked edition
Arctic freeze 7 cpu cooler
Western Digital 150g Raptor 10,000rpm hard drive
Coolermaster Centurian 5 case
Windows XP sp2

I'll probably run Memtest overnight.

I'll include a screen shot of my diognostic aps incase someone sees something I don't.

HeavyMetal BankFisherman · 03-17-2008, 07:42 PM

Something is going on that is causing the restart. Your system is most likely set to automatically restart when it encounters a fatal error. If you go to control panel - system - advanced tab - startup and recovery - click settings. Uncheck where it says "automatically restart" if it is checked. Instead of restarting you should get a bluescreen intead of the computer restarting. There should be some information that could help with your diagnostics. There should be a file, most likely a .dll that may be the culprit. You could then look into that cause.

If the "automatically restart" checkbox was not checked then memory or motherboard.

SalmonNilla · 03-17-2008, 08:20 PM

Thanks. "Automatically restart" was checked. I'll keep an eye out for info on the blue screen.

Undertaker · 03-18-2008, 12:29 PM

I had similar problems with my 8800GTX card because I had updated to the latest greatest video driver when I built the system. Had to roll it back to a more stable driver.
Random reboots stopped.
Waited for the next driver version and it appears to be working properly.

SalmonNilla · 03-18-2008, 01:25 PM

So I ran memtest for 6 hours and it looks like I got 247 errors. I don't really understand what I'm looking at but I hear any errors at all probably means bad ram. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Attached is a pic.

StickFish · 03-18-2008, 02:43 PM

Yep take it back - oh do not mention you over clocked it they might not be too happy with you a screen shot of the failed mem addresses should assure a refund. make sure you get certified memory - many less head aches.

Once you get it running stable than we can talk about utilities, but ditch that norton pig

Last Cast King · 03-18-2008, 05:17 PM

It sure sounds like bad memory to me, though there's still a slight possibility that it's a bad memory slot(motherboard), or a bad power supply(your voltage looked fine but the system didn't appear to be under load). I would exchange the memory first and keep the other possibilities in mind in case the crashing continues after replacing the memory.

On another note it looks like you graphics card is underclocked to below factory settings, any reason for this?

LiveLarge · 03-18-2008, 05:37 PM

I was having problems with a slow computer and on a whim had a look at processes running on start up.......I had four of the same thing running.

Turns out this was a known problem with the ATI driver. I dumped and downloaded the driver again. That cured my problem.....Looks like you are not so lucky.

Norton turned out to be a pain in the posterior for me, as did McAfee. On the recommendation of a friend that maintains the computers for a college, I downloaded AVG and all has been well.