A Computer Issue which actually has me stumped

[devotedsniper]

So a few days ago, i was sorting out my car electrical issues, came upstairs turned my rig on, it worked fine for 1-2 hours then it all started to go downhill... the french electrical gremlins seem to have infected my computer and for once in my life i'm fairly stumped what piece of hardware is failing me this time. So anyway i was watching a video on 5 demand (a TV channels on demand website for those not in the UK) and uploading a few photo's to photobucket at the same time when flash crashed on me (this has happened every now and then for the past 5-6 month), i thought fine i'll just restart the browser, so i close my browser when BAM BSOD @.@, just my luck i thought sumat else is breaking. After letting it dump the memory it restarted up where it then decided it was going to BSOD every 5-10 minutes (usually just after everythings all loaded up), one of the BSOD errors was the registry which had been damaged from all the crashing, windows fixed this only to have it BSOD again this time with IRQL_LESS_OR_NOT_EQUAL (or something very similar) which after googling pointed towards the RAM. The system was then wiped after this because my OS was constantly moaning about being corrupt after all the crashes after the wipe it froze once and Blue Screened once (which is where i got the IRQL error from).

So after download Memtest 4.0 and microsoft memdiag, running both for an hour each Memtest came up with 1998 errors yet memdiag came up with none, so afterward i took RAM and gave it a blast with the vacuum along with cleaning the ports to make sure nothing was shorting, afterwards its ran fine up untill today. Today i woke up hit the power button everything seemed fine passed POST till my monitor wouldn't display just sat there the power light flashing waiting for input, restarted a few times, everytime passing post along with my G15 lighting up 10-20secs later (meaning the computer was reaching windows login), but no monitor output, so i switched my monitor for my old one still no output, restarted and it came to light, i switched back my monitor and low and behold this one now displays.

Again it's been fine all day till a few hours ago where it now is having flash issues again, it will play flash vids from hosts such as megavideo, and putlocker, even BBC iplayer works fine untill you tell it to go fullscreen and then fps drops through the floor causing the video to be choppy along with the sound, tell it to go back to window and video picks back up fine, i know it's only with flash since if i play a standard .avi or .mp4 through VLC it plays fine in fullscreen (this including testing it with HD output), and now i'm playing a flash game while using WMP to play some music and each time i click on the flash the music chops up for a split second.

So yeh i'm abit lost i was thinking the GPU but it's only 6 month old and is taken care of (regular servicing of new thermal paste every 6 months, and the computer is cleaned usually every 2 month). Also the RAM which comes to mind but it hasn't blue screened on me since i cleaned the port and RAM.

Any help would be apreciated guys, computers specs below i should also mention the overclocks stated have been turned off after the first Blue screen in case something was going wrong, but the CPU OC has been going for 2+ years and thats never given grief, the temps are also closly monitored, the CPU never goes over 42c (lowest is 8c and idle after hours and hours of use is 25c) and the GPU never goes over 70c (max is 66c when running standard clock).

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 overclocked to 3GHz sometimes 4GHz (standard clock 2.4GHz)
MB: Gigabyte GM31-ES2L
RAM: OCZ 2GB*2 DDR2 @ 667MHz
GPU: KFA2 NVIDIA Geforce GTX 460 768MB overclocked to core 800, shader 1600, mem 1900
Optical Drive: Sony DVD/CD Rewriter
HDD 1 (OS): Western Digital 500GB SATAII
HDD 2 (Bckup): Samsung F2 1TB SATAII (Encrypted with a 50-60 char password on 256bit AES)
PCI 1: USB Expansion Card
PSU: Coolermaster 1000 watt (1200 peak) Silent Pro
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ 3D HD Monitor

Cooling: 5 * ThermalTake Fans (70-85CFM), OCZ HydroFlow MK1 CPU Waterblock, XSPC single bay reservoir and pump, XSPC 120mm Radiator

 

[Neuromaster]

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd aim for the GPU as well. If you suspect system RAM, can you get a buddy to lend you some replacement sticks to test with? As an aside, what version of Windows are you running? Have you tried a fresh install?

While I have nothing to back it up, I'm not really a fan of how often you're re-applying thermal paste to the GPU (and to a lesser extent cleaning the whole PC). Every time you have to touch it, you risk static or other damage. Ditto for your system RAM. The electronics are designed to function for years without service as long as they're cooled properly. Pretty much the only ways to screw it up are touching it (check), overclocking it (double-check), or letting it overheat (sounds like you're cool).

 

[devotedsniper]

Oh did i forget to mention that, it Windows 7 Professional 64bit sorry, it's a fresh copy wasn't a backup.

I understand what your saying but i do take precautions (e.g. anti static wristbands, clean hands, etc.), the system has to be cleaned every 2 months, the house is a very dusty one and even with dust filters it gets very filthy fast. Some might argue that renewing the thermal paste every 6 month is a tad overkill but i do like to keep a well maintained system and it's never been an issue before.

The system has been failing for a while now, it is 4 years old, on average it's turned on for well over 10 hours a day so wear and tear is bound to start having an affect sooner or later and the plan is a completely new system (except the psu, which was just replaced since the old one went bang) january but it appears it may need doing sooner.

I have my friends barebone in a box so i plan on nicking the RAM tomorrow and see if his cheap 2GB module will solve my issues, the thing which makes me think it isn't the GPU is the fact i don't see any artifacts or issues you would usually see in a failing card but then theres the slowdown which has started today.

The overclocks are generally safe, the CPU doesn't even use the stock voltage to run the .6GHz overclock it actually uses less and thats been stable for 2+ years as i said, and after checking the GPU spec sheet the temps are well within the limit (104c is the limit), there also tested for stability and there both fine. The only time the system has overheated is when my Waterpump died 8 month ago and that only affects the CPU.

If it isn't the RAM i'm going to have to assume its the GPU i don't see what else it could be other than possibly the motherboard going.

 

[devotedsniper]

OK guys after doing some more testing this morning i've found a few things, my RAM appears to be fine now, i carried out another memtest for 2 hours coming up with no errors at all (and this is from the 1998 errors memtest gave), so i'm now assuming its down to the GPU, after plugging my old monitor back in and playing an iplayer vid in fullscreen it worked fine, switching back after restarting the new monitor now works fine, one thing i did other than swap the monitors was unplug my USB headphones, i've plugged them back in and the videos are still working fine.

So it's either going to be the GPU, a driver issue?, or the motherboard now. I should also mention that the monitors both run at different resolutions, meaning that also changes the testing enviroment, the old monitor runs at 1440*900 and the new one is running 1680*1050 @ 120hertz (i'm not sure what the other monitor runs at since i didn't check). So now i'm back to square one, i guess the only thing i can do now is wait and see if it happens again, then see if the headphones are effecting the computers performance. Also i did a quick test of the witcher 2 before and after, before it was lagging/choppy like the videos on the intro videos and gameplay, but now it's working fine.

In my mind i still think it's GPU related after the no display issue before but i would have thought the computer wouldn't have passed POST if the GPU was playing up before it did the POST test. Anyway i'll leave it at that for now, looks like the plan of turning this into a server when the new rig is built is still on, if it comes up with any more issues i'll post back here.

Thanks.

 

[kaioshade]

Humor me for a bit. Download and run Prime95 for an hour and see what it does. I have seen systems with memory problems pass memtest and fail Prime95 almost instantly.

 

[devotedsniper]

Humor me for a bit. Download and run Prime95 for an hour and see what it does. I have seen systems with memory problems pass memtest and fail Prime95 almost instantly.

Well after leaving it to it for 2 hours nothing, no errors at all.

 

[kaioshade]

Humor me for a bit. Download and run Prime95 for an hour and see what it does. I have seen systems with memory problems pass memtest and fail Prime95 almost instantly.

Well after leaving it to it for 2 hours nothing, no errors at all.

You did perform the blend torture test, correct?

 

[devotedsniper]

Humor me for a bit. Download and run Prime95 for an hour and see what it does. I have seen systems with memory problems pass memtest and fail Prime95 almost instantly.

Well after leaving it to it for 2 hours nothing, no errors at all.

You did perform the blend torture test, correct?

Yeh just the standard blend torture test.