I have an unreliable PC. I need some advice on tracking down the cause. Can anyone recommend a suitable forum to ask on? Google brings back loads, but I can't tell which ones are any good/actually give reasonable suggestions fairly quickly.

(I've tried lots of stuff already, there is no manufacturer since I built it myself, and it isn't a malware problem).

Here? (-:

Bleepingcomputer and Geekstogo are both good.

overclockers.co.uk Propper full of computer geeks, and active beyond belief.

Having said that, I've not been on for a year or so. I has to give up that forum addiction, to fuel this singletrackworld one!!

OK, I'll have ago on here as well… probably a bit of a ramble…

About a year ago I built two PCs to nearly identical specifications. I've installed Windows 7 on both.

Trouble is, one of them has been intermittently unreliable. It is most unreliable from a cold start, often requiring several re-starts before it fully boots and logon is successful. Often it hangs during startup, sometimes it bluescreens. Generally once it is up and running, it remains stable.

The real problem is trying to get a clear diagnosis of what is wrong. This is especially frustrating as it will sometimes work for a few days so I always think whatever I have done has fixed it, only to find out that it hasn't.

Things I have tried:
Memtest86 overnight, no problems
Prime95'd the crap out of it, no problems
Some disk checking tool, no problems
Re-format and re-install Windows 7. Initially OK but problems returned
Swapping the hard drive for a known good hard drive. Initially OK but problems returned
Dual boot with Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installation was more reliable than Windows but I didn't use it enough to prove anything one way or another

I think the following are possible causes (most likely first)
1. Dodgy motherboard
2. Dodgy RAM
3. Dodgy power supply

I don't think it is software-related because the reformat and re-install didn't sort it. I also don't think there is any possibility of malware.

So, how can I clearly identify the failing components?

(Latest status: I must have tried a dozen re-boots last night, but couldn't get properly logged in. I did manage to get into Safe Mode. Today, it is working fine despite not having changed anything)

Ta!

The Guardian?

other things you could try would be
swap the power supply's between the pc's
swap the memory
update the bios on the motherboard

drive controller subsystem?
swap m/boards over and see if problem moves

Yeah. You've two near-identical systems, swap components between them.

When it bluescreens, what's the error?

WillTheRealForumPleaseStandUp – Member

OK, I'll have ago on here as well… probably a bit of a ramble…

About a year ago I built two PCs to nearly identical specifications. I've installed Windows 7 on both.

Trouble is, one of them has been intermittently unreliable. It is most unreliable from a cold start, often requiring several re-starts before it fully boots and logon is successful. Often it hangs during startup, sometimes it bluescreens. Generally once it is up and running, it remains stable.

The real problem is trying to get a clear diagnosis of what is wrong. This is especially frustrating as it will sometimes work for a few days so I always think whatever I have done has fixed it, only to find out that it hasn't.

Things I have tried:
Memtest86 overnight, no problems
Prime95'd the crap out of it, no problems
Some disk checking tool, no problems
Re-format and re-install Windows 7. Initially OK but problems returned
Swapping the hard drive for a known good hard drive. Initially OK but problems returned
Dual boot with Ubuntu. The Ubuntu installation was more reliable than Windows but I didn't use it enough to prove anything one way or another

I think the following are possible causes (most likely first)
1. Dodgy motherboard
2. Dodgy RAM
3. Dodgy power supply

I don't think it is software-related because the reformat and re-install didn't sort it. I also don't think there is any possibility of malware.

So, how can I clearly identify the failing components?

(Latest status: I must have tried a dozen re-boots last night, but couldn't get properly logged in. I did manage to get into Safe Mode. Today, it is working fine despite not having changed anything)

I was having the same problem as you (Win7x64) last night (every so many days it would give me Black Screen of Death with Windows Logo) and was fixing it until 3am in the morning. Bear in mind my PC is only 1.5 month old. I have searched for the cause but to no avail and have done Intel Burn test, memory check etc … no problem was detected.

I tend to get short beep (AWARD Bios) from time to time and I suspect the problems might be:

1) Video hardware compatibility – Video RAM.
2) TV card compatibility – Bloody driver and hardware shite.
3) Motherboard slow death (my SYS_FAN is only meant for 5V and I connected to 12V once for a while but noticed that it did not spin – only found out when asked. Bloody manufacturer! Now if I do not switch off the beep for SYS_FAN in bios it would scream (continuous loud beep) like no yesterday)

Mine is a Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 mATX mobo but the AWARD bios is a load of shite to be frank as my beep code is not even listed so I don't really know what cause the problem apart from guessing.

I will be getting an iMac for back up in few months time … 👿

Update in case anyone is interested/cares

It is the RAM. I had more than a week of no problems, despite not having changed anything. Then I finally had a failure to boot properly (though not a failure to POST). I ran memtest86+ straight away, and it errored. I then tried a stick at a time, but found no errors. Of course, by then, everything was warm.

I then swapped the RAM between the two machines.

I’ve had over a week of no failures, but today the other machine (now with the same RAM) failed to boot properly. Again, memtest86+ showed errors, but attempts to isolate it to a single stick didn’t get anywhere.

Luckily the RAM has a lifetime warranty…