Computer Help Needed

[John 2]

I build my own but my knowledge isn't that broad. After a couple of years trouble free usage, my machine froze a couple of times last evening whilst I was using CS6 and even the task manager wouldn't respond. The reset button restarted the machine each time and I was able to carry on. All seems to be well this morning except that all of my CS6 custom settings have been reset to their factory settings. I was about to kill CS6 and reload it thinking that the recent RAW converter update must be the problem but I have found that the same has happened to my Epson Printer settings. I could backtrack to a previous restore point but any Computer gurus out there? I'm looking for clues.

[Inkanyezi]

There are mainly two culprits to look for, assuming that you didn't make any changes to your software lately (there's where restore point comes in).

You could have a bad memory, or there are bad sectors on the hard drive. There are tools for looking for both of them. I believe that Windows can check the hard drive, but for memory check, the free-standing Memcheck might be preferable.

The hard drive should be replaced if there are many faults on it, but if it is just a few sectors that have given up, it's no big deal. Just let the software mark them as unusable and restore the program by reinstall if necessary.

[Colin Southern]

I'd recommend checking the system event log for clues.

[John 2]

Colin, thanks. My first stop but all it registered were the forced re boots.

Urban, thanks. I'm using W7 and I have pulled up a system health report. That confirms all is well with my Drives and system info shows my Memory as OK. However, I will schedule a disk check for my system drive but I'm not familiar with Memcheck. Is this stand alone software?

[Tringa]

I'm not expert but have built a few PCs.

The freezing could be an early warning of something more serious but also just the PC trying to do too much and failing, though it appears you were doing noting unusual, but could you have had a lot of things running which put a large demand on the system.

What is the spec of your PC?

As you have already built a PC you may already know these, so apologies in advance, but this is a good memory test -

http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

and Speedfan http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

in addition to measuring various temperatures in a PC also has a hard drive health checker.

The recent update of a RAW converter could be the problem and sometimes similar PCs do not function in the same , eg I know lots of people who think Windows XP was the spawn of the devil but for me it has been rock solid (as in never frozen or crashed, ever) for years.

I hope your problems remain minor, though I appreciate having to reset your CS6 settings is a pain; at least you did not get the BSOD.

Dave

PS Is there any info online about problems with the RAW converter update?

[tao2]

Hi J2,

ensure that ye have the latest graphics card drivers and that ye have the latest drivers for PS updates and plugins and of course that these drivers are correct for 32/64 bit (whichever version yer running).

[John 2]

Thanks Dave. That's also helpful. The Disk Check didn't come up with anything so I will also check the memory however, your thought on something bigger in the pipeline could have some basis. I have occasionally suffered the mouse freezing. Moving it to a different USB port immediately cures the problem. It's as if the problem cycles. That sort of suggests memory (??) but I'm beginning to wonder if I have a dodgy MB.

[John 2]

Hi J2,

ensure that ye have the latest graphics card drivers and that ye have the latest drivers for PS updates and plugins and of course that these drivers are correct for 32/64 bit (whichever version yer running).

Thanks Robert. PS and windows updates I'm sure are up to date but the graphics card drivers is a good thought. Should be automatic but you never know.

[John 2]

Oh I forgot. The spec of the machine is:

ASUS MB
i7 Quad processor running at 3.6GHz
16GB Ram
250GB Samsung Pro SSD for the system drive
Applications and drivers are on the system drive. All other files and backups and the PS scratch disk are on dedicated HDs - Generally WD Black series.

[Colin Southern]

Other suspects to add to list ...

- Cooling fans clear?

- Power-supply going on the blink (quite a common one if the logs are relatively clean).

- Temperature related (does it when PC has been on a while, and not when it's relatively cool)?

[Inkanyezi]

Memtest is available at http://www.memtest.org/ but the more convenient way to use it can be downloading a Linux distro as Ubuntu, burn it to a DVD and start the computer on it and choose "Memory test" from the menu. This won't change anything on your computer, but it will do a thorough test and give you a report. The test is does is more thorough than the one in the POST sequence.

[ajohnw]

i haven't had a processor overheat for some time but assume since they prevented them from blowing up they all still do the same thing. Turn the machine off.

My immediate thoughts were something that you have already noticed - mouse problems or possibly keyboard - usually wi fi related or flattish batteries. I had this happen recently due to mouse wi fi. In one case I could get out using short cut keys in another I had to use the reset. Using reset may explain why your software resetted itself. NVG software wise but very possible. Bit unfair saying NVG really.

If it is the mouse problem I cured mine by moving the transmitter on to my desk. It was in the PC under the wooden desk maybe a meter away from the mouse. This worked fine most of the time. I think the problem is down to buying mice that are really intended for laptops, seems hard to do anything else of late. My keyboard works fine through the desk and on to the back of the PC, the mouse was in the front. No chance of having it in the back. Both keyboard and mouse are now dearer HP. They sell the machines with wired parts.

Windows short cut keys in an application if I remember correctly are <alt> F plus TAB and cursor keys. When it happens again these could be used to see if the machine is really dead. I've only used these at work and it's surprising how easy it is to forget. In some quarters using the mouse might get some one sacked. Tooooo slow.

Past that if the machine boots up ok, turns on and off, goes to sleep as it should etc I would be inclined to wonder about the motherboard but these often last for rather a long time if of reasonable quality ASUS etc. Long life capacitors really are worth having. Unfortunately the motherboard itself can cause memory faults. Hate to say it in case it causes one to happen but I have never had memory fail other than when I was into tuning PC's via the bios - not worth the effort make sure it's set to defaults.

I vaguely remember having this conversation with some one else some where or the other who was running the motherboard bare out of a case. Cases cut out a lot of the interference the boards generate to get the levels down below certain international standards.

Another DVD I keep about is called Knoppix. Linux KDE but the first to boot properly from a DVD. Pays to print what they call cheat codes and any other documents that are available. There are all sorts of bits and pieces on it and it runs in memory if needed and allows complete access to the machine. Rather useful at times.

John
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[John 2]

Thanks John but I detest WiFi Mice. Too unreliable and the battery always dies at the critical moment. Everything is USB hard wired on my desktop.

Graphics software is up to date but thanks Rob.

I have also discovered that the MB has built in monitoring software. Its confirming that the system drive and memory are working OK but I will still check the memory. CPU voltages seem to be within spec. Fan speeds are pretty constant. Nothing seems to be working hard. CPU and MB temperature s seem to settle at between 30-35 degrees C - not sure what they are supposed to be is the problem. Its event log doesn't show any problems since the 19th March (as far back as it goes). Usefully, the app has a recorder and so I have set it to record 6 hrs worth. If I get a glitch tonight, something should show.

Its a strange one but thank you all for your responses. If I get to the bottom of it, I will let you know.

[ajohnw]

This page might help you. I would hope that anything free they provide is OK

http://www.pcworld.com/article/20288...-hardware.html

I do have some software that drives the cpu nuts on all 8 cores but don't know how hard the above works them. If you have a throttling CPU it should cut back clock speed when it starts getting to the top end of its working temperature range.

To be honest though as you have had mouse problems I'd guess that's where the problem lies - if dead it's hard to tell what is locked up but shortcut keys should help with that unless the entire USB set up has gone down. Why that may happen is questionable but it might be worth seeing if there is a bios update for your motherboard if you can. Trying another mouse - doubtful but why not. I did have a motherboard once that shut down USB ports but no idea why. I concluded it was some sort of protection that had broke but it might have been an odd Linux idea.

In order to check the disks I would suggest that you look on the manufacturers web site. These days there is usually something to read the drives internal monitoring which can be far more useful than many other ways of checking them. SMART rings a bell. Not sure on flash drives or if they can be trimmed on windows. One thing for sure what now seems to be common idea - defragging them is probably best avoided but if windows splats stuff all over the place that might not be a bad idea. On linux I can make sure that all temp files do not get written to flash. Not sure if that is even possible on windows. I do know from my son that windows is capable of wearing them out. He runs the same way as you do. No failure yet but he does know it will happen.

If you were using raid I would suggest western digital red as some of the greener drives can break rather quickly if raid is used but a lot depends on how intelligent it is. Some optimise the layout on the disk. It seems some drives park the heads too often at the slightest opportunity.

John
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[paldon]

All seems to be well this morning except that all of my CS6 custom settings have been reset to their factory settings. I was about to kill CS6 and reload it thinking that the recent RAW converter update must be the problem but I have found that the same has happened to my Epson Printer settings.

Most application settings are stored in user profile, which is located at c:\users\xxxusername. You may have a corrupted profile which caused CS6 and printer settings missing. If this is the case, you can always restore to your original profile.

[DanK]

I'm no computer guru, but I'm struck that no one suggested looking at software or malware. Here are some things I would check:

-- check what is loading when you boot. There is probably a lot there that you don't want, since garbage accumulates over time. This can be time consuming, because you may have to google the names of many of the executables that are loading to find out what they are. Be careful, as a lot of things that look suspicious aren't.

--if you haven't already, update your virus protection and run a full system scan.

--if you haven't, install a good malware screener like SpyBot (free), update it, and scan the system.

--Do the same with the free version of Malaware. Some of what malaware finds is not really malware, so be careful, but it is worth checking.

The last time I had a computer malfunction, it was because of malware and garbage software that had installed because of a stupid mistake I made. I had to do all of the above, and I think I may have had to do a system restore (from the windows system restore point) as well. Everything worked fine after that.

It might be a dead end, but the fact that you are finding no hardware problems would make me suspicious.

good luck.

[John 2]

Thanks John, JD and Dan. W7 has good diagnostics and at one point indicated problems with my security software. I checked the software (BitDefender Pro) and found that the "Access Scan Module" (whatever that is) was malfunctioning. So Dan you could well be right. I have deleted and re installed the software and all seems to be well and running quite fast. Whether what I found was a symptom or the cause, only time will tell. Thanks all for your input. It does help.