pc crashed out during working in live, total restart of pc ?

[leighbeynon]

so twice now i was working on a track, and my whole pc shut down in 1 second like i had a power cut, it was instant, when i started back up there was a live error saying
a file from live i tried to use was from an older version ?? which is weird

then live wouldnt work at all, so i had to re-install,

all ok had to find vst folders etc etc, working again then it happend for the 2nd time,

does this sound like a pc problem ? ive not re-installed my o/s for 2 years, i was told this should be done once a year to keep the pc running smooth,

the pc is totally offline and never gets connected to the web

its dual core with plenty of ram, im gettng worried now !

[funky shit]

sounds like something wrong with the hardware.
is the ram the right spec for the mother board?

[adventurepants_]

If its spontaneously shutting down, the first place to look is the temperature of the CPU. Did you buy or build this PC?

When the machine reboots, go into the BIOS and look at what the CPU temp is.


It could also be bad RAM, or a dodgy power supply.


You also want to determine if the fault is repeatable, ie can you make the crash happen by doing the same things? If thats the case then its more likely to be software than hardware.

[H20nly]

could be RAM... you can download a memory tester. It runs from CD so you have to set your PC to boot from CDROM.

You don't have to reinstall your OS once a year to keep it running smooth. Thats like having back surgery once a year to make sure you can still ride your bike. If you don't go online you should run for years unless you have a hardware failure or you get some shit driver from new gear that fuksthaduk.

[adventurepants_]

could be RAM... you can download a memory tester. It runs from CD so you have to set your PC to boot from CDROM.

You don't have to reinstall your OS once a year to keep it running smooth. Thats like having back surgery once a year to make sure you can still ride your bike. If you don't go online you should run for years unless you have a hardware failure or you get some shit driver from new gear that fuksthaduk.

Windows absolutely benefits from periodic reinstallation, for most purposes about once a year should do. It does accrue crap at an enormous rate, and is very poor at purging superceded files, update cabs etc etc. Every version of windows gets better at this, but its still good hygiene. Even if it doesnt actually affect basic benchmarks (ram, HDD transfer speeds, game frame rates), it does have an effect on how snappy the GUI is. At the very least it makes the average user release that keeping 80gb of data on the desktop may not be the best place for it.

Of course, dont actually reinstall everything from scratch, install it the first time, then image once youve installed your basic apps.

[Martyn]

All you have to do is download CCleaner from here http://www.ccleaner.com/ and it'll remove all junk files as well as purge the registry of broken links. I had the same XP install for 6 years without re-installing once, it ran as well as the day I installed it too. In fact it's still there really, I got a new machine and that old one is now an archive for old audio files.

You can remove files that you do want with CCleaner too so read instructions and take care with it if you do try it. Once you understand what it's doing it's a godsend.

Basically, it's a complete myth that you have to re-install windows once a year. If you like doing it then I guess it's a good way to run, I can't imagine having to go through and re-build by system that often.

@ the OP, it really does sound like a hardware issue, either RAM or temperature, bad ram is my guess.

[leighbeynon]

ok some great suggestions thanks

the pc started playing up in different ways when it came back on,
live wouldnt play and the cpu percentage was missing ??

i bought the pc parts seperatly then paid someone to build it,
its only got 2 gig of ram i was thinking of getting some new ram to help it out more

the mother board is intel DG965
i worked on the pc this monring before work and it seems all ok again ??
i keep all sample cd on an ext hard drive

[blank]

could be RAM... you can download a memory tester. It runs from CD so you have to set your PC to boot from CDROM.

You don't have to reinstall your OS once a year to keep it running smooth. Thats like having back surgery once a year to make sure you can still ride your bike. If you don't go online you should run for years unless you have a hardware failure or you get some shit driver from new gear that fuksthaduk.

Windows absolutely benefits from periodic reinstallation, for most purposes about once a year should do. It does accrue crap at an enormous rate, and is very poor at purging superceded files, update cabs etc etc. Every version of windows gets better at this, but its still good hygiene. Even if it doesnt actually affect basic benchmarks (ram, HDD transfer speeds, game frame rates), it does have an effect on how snappy the GUI is. At the very least it makes the average user release that keeping 80gb of data on the desktop may not be the best place for it.

Of course, dont actually reinstall everything from scratch, install it the first time, then image once youve installed your basic apps.

I don't agree, windows does not need to be reinstalled, just maintain it on a regular basis will ensure you a functionnal machine for a long time.

[H20nly]

could be RAM... you can download a memory tester. It runs from CD so you have to set your PC to boot from CDROM.

You don't have to reinstall your OS once a year to keep it running smooth. Thats like having back surgery once a year to make sure you can still ride your bike. If you don't go online you should run for years unless you have a hardware failure or you get some shit driver from new gear that fuksthaduk.

Windows absolutely benefits from periodic reinstallation, for most purposes about once a year should do. It does accrue crap at an enormous rate, and is very poor at purging superceded files, update cabs etc etc. Every version of windows gets better at this, but its still good hygiene. Even if it doesnt actually affect basic benchmarks (ram, HDD transfer speeds, game frame rates), it does have an effect on how snappy the GUI is. At the very least it makes the average user release that keeping 80gb of data on the desktop may not be the best place for it.

Of course, dont actually reinstall everything from scratch, install it the first time, then image once youve installed your basic apps.

I can see doing a slip stream reinstall from an image. It makes everything... the way it was when you first installed it without having to reinstall it - its fairly time consuming and doesn't do much for settings you've changed since and programs you installed after that day but much better and considerably faster than reinstalling from scratch.

However, your PC is like your house/apt if you keep it clean, its clean. Yeah dust and dirt settles... so clean it! If you expect to install everything and then never do any maintenance well okay. If you think reinstalling the OS is easier than spending half an hour setting a few programs to do the work for you and coming back to check the results when you get home from the gear store well... thats okay too. To each his own.

Me, I'm gonna roll with Martyn and blank on this one.

[adventurepants_]

could be RAM... you can download a memory tester. It runs from CD so you have to set your PC to boot from CDROM.

You don't have to reinstall your OS once a year to keep it running smooth. Thats like having back surgery once a year to make sure you can still ride your bike. If you don't go online you should run for years unless you have a hardware failure or you get some shit driver from new gear that fuksthaduk.

Windows absolutely benefits from periodic reinstallation, for most purposes about once a year should do. It does accrue crap at an enormous rate, and is very poor at purging superceded files, update cabs etc etc. Every version of windows gets better at this, but its still good hygiene. Even if it doesnt actually affect basic benchmarks (ram, HDD transfer speeds, game frame rates), it does have an effect on how snappy the GUI is. At the very least it makes the average user release that keeping 80gb of data on the desktop may not be the best place for it.

Of course, dont actually reinstall everything from scratch, install it the first time, then image once youve installed your basic apps.

I can see doing a slip stream reinstall from an image. It makes everything... the way it was when you first installed it without having to reinstall it - its fairly time consuming and doesn't do much for settings you've changed since and programs you installed after that day but much better and considerably faster than reinstalling from scratch.

However, your PC is like your house/apt if you keep it clean, its clean. Yeah dust and dirt settles... so clean it! If you expect to install everything and then never do any maintenance well okay. If you think reinstalling the OS is easier than spending half an hour setting a few programs to do the work for you and coming back to check the results when you get home from the gear store well... thats okay too. To each his own.

Me, I'm gonna roll with Martyn and blank on this one.

Slip streaming means creating a Windows install disc with updates that have been released since the RTM release. Im not sure how thats relevant unless you actually mean something different.

My reload of windows takes about 15 minutes when using incremental imaging. On some PC labs ive setup in the past, every time the workstations reboots, its actually loading a fresh image cached to the drive or pulls it off the network at boot time. This way you can guarantee that every workstation is free from software issues %100 of the time. Its not practical for a home DAW, but incremental imaging gives you most of the same functionality.

Ive been using CC cleaner for about two years, its a decent cleaner, but theres an enormous amount of stuff it doesnt touch that can be removed manually. Its registry cleaner leaves a lot to be desired for one, its a bit timid.

[leighbeynon]

so i think i would like to get some ram just to help the reduce some strain on the pc, all my slots are full 4 x 512 ddr 2
would the pc run ok if i just bought 2 x 2gig sticks and left 2 x 512 in there ?

some one told me once that pcs run better if all ram is identical ?

[adventurepants_]

It depends if your motherboard chipset supports dual channel RAM. If it does then you get a speed boost from using memory in matched pairs. If its later than a late P4 then it probably is dual channel.

[leighbeynon]

ok well my motherboard is a intel DG965
does this help ?

[Anubis]

I run Registry Mechanic regularly. It seems to find stuff every time I use it. Just stay away from the porn sites and you'll be OK.

[leighbeynon]

ok looks like my motherboard support dual channel ram,
so does this mean i can still run the pc with different ram,
since i wanted to just get 1 stick of 2 gig ram for now and leave in the 2 sticks of 512 ram ?