Hey guys. I'm kinda pissed right now, which is a rare thing.

2 Days ago, I decided to format my comp for no particular reason, just felt like it.
Anyways, after completing the clean install of Windows 7, I played Heroes of Might and Magic 4 while downloading the 150+ updates including SP 1.
All of a sudden, everything just freezes. My music from Spotify stops, the game stops and my mouse stops. Cannot do anything but kill my comp and boot up again.

After this event a whole shitstorm of freezes have occurred. Happens at random, for no obvious reason.

Yesterday, I got a bluescreen too, for no obvious reason while playing a game. Today, it's just gotten worse. I get constant bluescreens or freezes and I'm starting to get really frustrated. I have goolged, but I haven't found a single solution to my problem.

What's most frustrating is that I didn't have any of these problems before reformatting, so I don't see how this can be a RAM issue as many have proposed.

I have tried resetting the BIOS defaults and even tightening the motherboard screws. BIOS is the latest version, same for the graphics drivers etc.

Can someone PLEASE help me

Run off a live CD for a few hours, if everythings fine, your windows install must be the problem.

Thanks for the quick response. How would I do that?

Download one of these, burn it to a CD (or DVD if it's too big for a CD) and set your BIOS to boot off the CD/DVD first, then reboot with the CD still in the drive. In that list on the webpage, try one of the Desktop types in the Purpose column so you can actually do stuff.

I bet everybody's going to say to use Ubuntu, but I've had problems with those too, from not detecting the monitor correctly (too high a resolution for the monitor to handle, so it doesn't display) to not detecting wireless devices correctly.

[EDIT]

I totally forgot about the possibility of using a USB stick instead of a DVD.

I'd also attempt a memtest86+ run.

It could just be bad luck. But I'm hesitant to claim it for sure is a ram problem. But it doesn't hurt to run the tests.

Another possible issue is drivers. Try making sure you have the latest drivers from the manufacturers of your hardware, like the motherboard+chipset (ie: amd, nvidia, intel), NIC, Video Card, Sound, etc.

I agree with Tomasu that it can be a driver issue. Perhaps Windows Update tried to update your video drivers while playing a game, so it may have left something in a corrupted state. Try also with safe mode and see if it hangs.

Passed, no errors.

Chipset is up to date.
AMD CCC is up to date.
NIC is up to date.
Etc. etc.

I haven't tried Arthurs suggestion yet though.

My old man thought I should check the hdd for physical errors via the windows tool or just simply do another clean install of Windows.

Any other suggestions?

S.M.A.R.T. test on the harddrive. Maybe check for issues with the drivers you have installed? I'm not sure hard drives would normally cause bluescreens. See if you can't write down the error code windows gives you the next time it bluescreens, and google that.

Ring 0 code is certainly on the disk, if not data in the swapfile.

If the OS is already running, it probably isn't related to ring0 code, as I'd expect to stay cached in memory if its important. Swap is a possibility, if data is corrupted, or the disk takes too long to respond to the OS, apps can/will hang while the OS is waiting. And there might be crashes because of it.

Bluescreen certainly sounds hardware related. Either bad drivers or hardware failure, I'd guess. The drivers seem more likely. It might not hurt to attempt to reinstall the graphics drivers (you'll probably be better off getting the drivers directly from the graphics card vendor instead of using Windows Update). I don't imagine that it should be possible for Windows Update to corrupt itself, but then I wouldn't be surprised either... If all else fails, format and reinstall Windows, and this time to be safe just let the updates go before you start actually using the system. Try your luck with that.

Also, make sure you put decent anti-virus software on early. AVG Free, Avast! Free Edition, and Microsoft Security Essentials are all relatively well regarded [or at least have been] (and all free). None of them are perfect, but they're still way better than paid-for software.

You interrupted the computer while it was updating. You probably left the computer in an unusable state. The computer will appear to stall like that during the update process, it's just poorly designed software. You just have to let it run next time. Start over. Format, install, update. And don't turn it off in the middle of stuff!

I have never noticed a windows update process freeze the entire OS outside of it doing the bits it has to do on reboot. But yeah, it may be messed up after that freeze.

I did get the graphics drivers directly from AMD, It was the first thing I downloaded.

Got MSE right after the AMD drivers.

I did not turn it off myself

Ran a full harddrive scan today, don't know what it's called in the english version but the one where you right click the drive > properties > Tools > <insert name here>
No error

Occasionally updates to the display driver freeze the display for a few seconds. Another good way to to get Windows running so slowly that it seems to be frozen at times is trying to use the computer when the RAID controller is rebuilding a RAID array^[1]. During RAID rebuild system calls and deferred procedure calls take full seconds to complete (in contrast to microseconds under normal conditions) and that delay makes programs behave in interesting ways. Trying to install a metric fuckton of updates while the rebuild is in progress is simple way to fuck up your OS.

Yesterday I decided to remove one of my RAM sticks, to see if this was the cause of the problem, but It crashed once again.
However, after that I ran the memtest86+ on the single stick which gave no errors.
After that, I did not have a crash before I turned it off.
Today, comp's been running like a charm for 2 and a half hours now, which is kind of a miracle, as the freezes occurred much more frequently.

I'm hoping to say that the problem is solved, although I have not a single clue about why. I'll update if it crashes again

Sometimes the connectors can corrode, and taking the stuff apart and putting it back together again fixes that.

Seriously... Just read your post Arthur, then I got a bluescreen again...

Isn't there some sort of message on this bluescreen? What does it say? And IIRC, there are logfiles for the Admin to look over that should say something about the cause of a bluescreen.

Yes, try to write down every bit of detail you can from the bluescreen(s). They should give you a hint what parts of the system are failing.

It's also possible that you just have hardware that isn't seated quite properly and inevitably a bad connection is made which Windows can only see as asplosion. It might be worth removing all detachable hardware and reseating everything if you're comfortable doing this. Take care to make sure everything is seated good. That might resolve your problems.

Yeah googling the BSOD Message and error code can sometimes help you pinpoint whether the error is in the hardware or in some level of software.

Most (if not all) chipset providers say to update their drivers first and THEN install graphics card drivers. Maybe reinstall your graphics driver again. It could be you had a corrupt spot on the dvd when you installed. I had that happen to me with XP. Installed everything clean and had random issues here and there, come to find out...it was something bad on the dvd (original, had dirty spot or was scratched...I can't remember exactly now). Windows SHOULD have picked that up during the copy operation of the install, but apparently not. Good luck bud. I would probably do:
1. Fresh install of Windows
2. Make sure Windows updates are on, but only ask before downloading and installing
3. Update chipset drivers to latest (known) stable
4. Update graphics drivers to latest (known) stable
5. Do the windows updates, but only update what REALLY needs to be updated. Had a friend that had Vista and Windows wanted to install a driver for something he didn't even have...ended up really screwing his computer up.

I didn't use the cd, I downloaded the latest driver directly.
Will try to reinstall it anyways, as I can't remember if I installed that or the chipset drivers first.

All the bsod error codes have been 1053, but that's all I remember

I think he meant the OS.

Look for the ALL_CAPS_STRING and the 0xHEXCODE and search for those.

This is wierd.
2 Days ago I had only 1 crash the entire day. Yesterday I didn't have a single one. Today, I haven't had one either
Problem solved..?

What does the bsod say, and there's an option to not reboot if it's too fast for you. You can also dump everything to a file for looking.

Perhaps also run in safe mode and see if things work.

I should stop writing those things.. Just had another bluescreen.

This is the output:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA80052CD028
BCP3: 00000000B20F2000
BCP4: 0000000000000175
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

I also attached the .dmp file if that would help.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=BCCode%3A%09124&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=

Just made a new clean install of windows.
Installed all windows updates first.
Then, while installing the chipset drivers, I got another bluescreen with error code 124.

From googling, the code 124 seems to be the "I don't know" of windows. It could be anything.

Glad you can listen to people that try to help you... Please go back and RE read my post. Also, might be worth a shot looking at a power supply.

I didn't read your post carefully enough

Still, after googling around alot more, I'm pretty sure it is NOT the OS that is faulty. It is most probably the PSU or MOBO.
Thing is, I got a new 750W PSU 10 months ago and that's way more than my system requires. If it is the cause, it must be loose or something, unless anyone can point out anything else?
I have noticed many are having problems with ASUS boards, but I don't know what to do about it really. I can't afford a new one at the moment and I'm not sure about the warranty.
Any other thought?

I've read that power supplies that are way too big may have voltage instabilities, kind of like trying to get your cruise control to drive smoothly at 25 mph, it overcompensates for any little deviation.

Mostly an overpowered PSU (if its a good one) will just not be running as efficiently as it can. Typically a good PSU will be the most efficient at 50-80% load. They shouldn't be unstable at low loads, but I suppose anything is possible.

I'd suggest making sure your ram is seated properly, and the motherboard isn't shorting out against the case (I've seen that happen) or the motherboard screw stand-offs (ie: there may be an extra one somewhere under the motherboard that doesn't match up with a screw hole in the motherboard, and may be touching some metal contact on the motherboard).

Actually, it might be the OS. Should be rather; it all started after a clean install, not any hardware changes.

Found this post where someone linked to a windows 7 hotfix that I think might be my solution.
Keeping all hopes up.

Else I will do what you suggested Thomas.
Thank you guys for your help so far

Hardware can be flaky. It could be coincidence that you didn't have problems until you reformatted, or the problem could have been an indirect result.

The hotfix did not work, however, I uninstalled SP1 after a freeze today and haven't got a single one after that, except for one bluescreen after 9 hours. Still not 100% sure this is a fix, but at least it's something.

The bluescreens is probably hardware related but anyhow, I'm going abroad for 12 days, so by the time I get back, I will probably have to make a new thread.

Thanks to all of you.

Just because the PSU is only 10 months old doesn't mean it's not fubar.

How long did you run memtest for?

PSU would be my primary suspects. Secondarily, I'd suspect the RAM and GPU. Failing that, mobo or CPU.