[urdadinatoaster]

Hey all,

I've been having some major difficulties with certain applications for the past few weeks. Certain applications like Skype and Steam do not want to work well together and certain games will occasionally crash and not allow me to reopen said programs. Normally I would not be too worried and would think it was a driver compatibility error of some sort, however Chrome will also crash and continually crash upon restarting the program. Nothing is able to fix these issues except for a complete restart of the computer. I had checked my display driver which was completely up to date and went so far as to even wipe my OS and reinstall in case of a corrupt Windows installation. Needless to say this didn't fix my problem.

Anyone out there have any ideas as to what's going on here?

-Will

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I would recommend a ram and hard drive diagnostics first, if that doesn't come up with any problems, I would then start looking at possible infection.

[Cotutor]

I would recommend a ram and hard drive diagnostics first, if that doesn't come up with any problems, I would then start looking at possible infection.

[urdadinatoaster]

I was beginning to wonder if it might be a hardware issue, but was slightly skeptical since only certain programs seem to cause the issue. Got any good RAM and/or HDD diagnostic tools?

EDIT: After running all tests available on SeaTools, my HDD passed every time. I also ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool and no errors were found on either stick. I would be extraordinarily surprised if it were some sort of infection as I wiped my OS and HDD a few days ago.

EDIT 2.0: Currently running a torture test on my CPU with Prime95 as a precaution. Will run for at least 12 hours and post results.

EDIT 3.0: Finished torture testing. Ran for 18 hours and all cores performed fine. CPU never exceeded 56C, meaning the CPU is not overheating and is receiving the proper amount of voltage.

Edited by urdadinatoaster, 06 March 2012 - 04:50 PM.

[rshaffer61]

If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...


1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip). If you prefer to use the USB version then use this link USB KEY
2. Unzip downloaded /memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find /memtest86+-4.20.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-4.20.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS

Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[rshaffer61]

Are you still having problems with your issue?
It has been 30 days since your last response and I was wondering if the issue has been resolved?
If so can you explain how it was resolved so others may be able to fix it if they have the same issue.
If not please let us know and we can continue with helping you to resolve the issue.