Hi, everybody! My problem is the following. Three weeks ago, I bought myself a new desktop with these characteristics: Motherboard: ASUS M2N68-AM SE2 Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.091207-1941) BIOS: BIOS Date: 09/22/09 17:19:16 Ver: 08.00.14 Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 620 Processor (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz Memory: 4096MB RAM Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM Page File: 1023MB used, 5117MB available DirectX Version: DirectX 11 Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 Display Memory: 2266 MB Dedicated Memory: 986 MB Shared Memory: 1279 MB Driver Version: 8.17.11.9621 (nVidia's most recent - 196.21). What happens is that my computer's been having, since the first day, a weird kind of freeze. Randomly (meaning no defined time or program - it has already happened with Firefox, WMP, Windows Explorer, Messenger, etc.), when I minimize or close a window, it gets semitransparent on the background, as if the computer froze while closing it. Whenever I'm listening to music during the event, the song starts a loop of the last few seconds. Mouse works for some time (not the keyboard, though), but if I click the left button for a couple of times, it also stops working. Searching the foruns for suggestions, I've already tried to set Performance to High and disable PhysX, but this only seems to delay the problem for a while. In the end, I'm forced to hard reset the machine. At System History in the Action Center, the only thing which is said is that Windows was not properly shutdown. One more detail: sometimes, it seems the problem is going to occur, but then Windows informs me that the display driver stopped responding and has recovered. When this happens, there's an event at System History, like the following: Description A problem with the video hardware made Windows stop working correctly. Problem Signature Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3 Locale ID: 1046 When this 'recovery' takes place, the system seems to work correctly from then on until I properly shut it down or reset the machine and restart it, becoming prone to the random freeze again. Any idea about what I can do to try to prevent this random freeze so that I do not have to keep hard resetting my computer every day? Looking forward to an answer. Thanks in advance.

Hi! I suggest you test the video card for possible heat issues. You can do that with a lot of tools, for example 3DMark or FurMark. In my experience, this sort of problem is related to poor airflow in the computer, causing hot air to not be evacuated properly, but it's impossible to know for sure if that's what you're experiencing without physical inspection.Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup!

Hi, DemmyDemon! I'll try 3DMark on it. I just don't believe the possibility of excess heat because it happens even within some minutes after starting the computer and a long time of 'resting'. Something funny is that most games I play, even heavy 3D ones, don't seem to have any problem. This sort of freeze happens randomly (could be five minutes or ten hours of use) mostly with basic programs like the browser, WMP or MSN when I minimize or close a window. Thanks for the help, anyways.

Hi DartacanIf this has been happening, like you stated from day one, I would check with the manufacturer of that computer. This may be a known issue with that particular system that has a fix available.A system should not experience problems, right out of the box. Let us know what you find. Thank You for using Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

Contact whoever you bought it from FIRST, as anything you do as this point could be construed as a violation of your warranty if they think whatever you did made it malfunction. I would get them involved so that in the event you are issued an RMA they will fix it or replaced the hardware if faulty. Has this problem ALWAYS occurred since you've bought this machine?MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

People, after three weeks, I guess I finally figured it out. It's been 14 hours already since the last freeze and this is the longest I've spent without it happening. Today, after yet another freeze, I decided to uninstall the video drivers altogether and everything related to them and install the newest version again instead of simply updating it. It turns out that, looking at System History, I noticed that, while uninstalling, a program was removed (which was not reinstalled with the 'clean installation'). Also, something that was not registered before by System History, a driver for the onboard chipset from my motherboard was installed. Ronnie, you found it strange that it has been happening from day one, but take into consideration that also on day one I installed the drivers which came on the DVD with my video card. Maybe this program that was not reinstalled was responsible for causing the freeze. Or maybe the chipset driver was not installed, I don't know. The thing is... so far, so good. I'll let you know if there's any freeze again. I'd like to thank you DemmyDemon, Ronnie Vernon and cdobbs for trying to help me in my case here. See you, hopefully with good news!

Updating: woke up this morning to another freeze. =( This time, I went to Safe Mode, uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled the latest version. A question, though. On day one, I also bought myself a USB Webcam. There were no references on the package about it being Win7 ready. After today's morning freeze, I had an insight and decided to take it off the port and uninstall it as well. Could it be the one causing this freeze mess? Update #2: ignore the latest update. It just froze with the newest drivers and Webcam uninstalled. Could it be the newest drivers for the video card causing the freeze? If so, what would you suggest that I do. Thanks! Update #3: Well... after having a series of freezes yesterday, I am calling here for help again. Tried both the newest and older drivers to the graphics card. It keeps the same. One thing I noticed is that if I merely use a sound application alone (e.g. Winamp), the system doesn't freeze. On the other hand, if I start a common routine, for instance listening to music while I have msn on and browse the net for a while and eventually check for a file with Windows Explorer, the freeze is sure to happen. If I do these things separately, it goes fine. Another thing I felt that accelerates the freezing process is using the applications in fullscreen mode. Using smaller windows seem to avoid the freeze, at least when I do one thing at a time. Right now, I had one of those 'almost freezes' (froze for a while, went black screen for two seconds and when it came back, there was a warning saying that the graphics card driver had recovered from an error) merely by scrolling down this page with the side button. After uninstalling and reinstalling graphics drivers and uninstalling the Webcam (both tests didn't help), which were the things I added on day one before noticing the freezes, I really don't know what to do. If anyone could give me a hint on that, I'd really appreciate it.

Confirming what I said on my previous post, I had no more freezes today sticking to the 'one application at a time' routine. I'm using all the applications on smaller screens, not on fullscreen mode, and only opening one thing at a time. My suspicions go to the fact that maybe Windows 7 is taking up too much memory and, whenever I use more than three applications at a time, the system freezes. Even though this helps me with the problem, it is definitely not the ideal solution. Still, I have no idea on how to put an end to it. Any hints on how to solve this in terms of making it possible to, for example, browse the internet and use msn while listening to music without worrying that my computer is going to freeze at any given time? Thanks in advance!

Hello Dartacan, Your motherboard model ASUS M2N68-AM SE2 has onboard video. I may have missed it some way but don't see where that you have turned it off in the bios. It you do not have a monitor plugged into that video output then it should be turned off in the bios. The system will default to where a monitor may be, but that video will still be trying to work. This seems to cause a hardware and driver conflict. Try this if it has not already been done. Your setup should be able to run many, many programs at once. JB

Hi, JB! Unfortunately, there's nothing at BIOS to turn it off. It has a command instead to set the preferences of Primary Graphics Adapter, from PCI-E to PCI to IGP or the contrary. It's set the first way. Supposedly, BIOS (or even Windows) sets it on its own. A question: my Plug and Play O/S command is set to No. Should I put it on Yes? Also, do you recommend updating the BIOS to see if a recent version allows me to turn off onboard video? Thanks!

The PCI-E would be correct here. Yes I would recomend you to update your bios. Don't have the correct answer for the Plug and Play. My choice was YES. If the Update of the bios doesn't take care of it I will not know where else to point you. One other thought. Remove your video card and try your system with the onboard video. This will at least take one variable out of the mix. Also, this may point to a problem in the power supply ,May be not enough power for the video card. When selecting the BIOS update make sure that it is compatible with your processor. With my ASUS update there were different version numbers for my motherboard and only certain ones worked for my processor. If it is new and not home built and it still does not work properly I would contact the manufacture's support. If it is home build then you should remember this : Just because things are new does not mean that all things are working perfectly. JB

Ok, this may sound real lame, but I guess, at this stage of the game, it is worth asking. Looking at the configuration of my SATA drives (HD and DVD), I realized that the DVD was plugged to SATA 0 and the HD to SATA 1. I saw in a forum that you should have the OS drive plugged to SATA 0. Can this be causing any problem? Thanks.

No question is lame if you don't know the answer. I'm not a technie, what you have read may be true. I have just always did it that way. Until one of my board's instructions said not to use "0" for the boot drive. So be sure to read the instruction "Note:" for your board. Again, is this a home built unit? Have you tried uninstalling the video card? JB

Sorry, I meant removing the video card. JB

Hi, JB. Well, to make a long story short, I bought separately the computer and the GPU from the same store. When I asked them if my installing the card on my own would be any problem in terms of warranty expiring, the salesman said it wouldn't be an issue. The computer came without an O/S, though. I had to buy it from a different store. Maybe something I could have done wrong was installing the graphic card before installing Windows. What do you think? I've changed the position of both SATA drives (which came from store the way I mentioned on the previous post - still, I could notice a 5% drop in physical memory use and the freezes don't happen that often if I open more than one or two applications), but the problem persists. By the way, no 'notes' on the manual about the change. You asked me about the power supply as well. It's a 400W one with 700W-peak. I'll try removing the video card today. If removing the card solves the freeze problem, should I use something as drive cleaner to remove the GPU's traces and then try reinstalling it again? Another udpdate: I realized I also have some problems with games. It never happens during game itself. But the systems freezes eventually while loading a module or phase (which makes me think the problems come from the same source - memory issues) making me have to hard reset it. I already performed a memory diagnosis test and no error was found. Cheers.

Yep, definitely, we found the problem. Removed the GPU and, guess what, the freezes stopped, even running my old routines (sound, browser, msn and explorer - everything full screen). Should I give the card another try? In case it crashes again, should I ask the guys for a different model? Cheers.

Yes, I would try it again. The power supply required is 350 watts are greater with at least 18 amps @12v. Check your amps. There are power supplies that list high wattage but the amperage falls short of the needs of the system. Install the latest driver and if there is a problem try and earlier driver. If there is still a problem then try to return it or exchange it if possible. JB

Hah. Wanna hear something funny? Reinstalled the GPU and it SEEMS that the freezes stopped in the moment I removed it and put it back again. Go figure! Cheers! =)

That's great, maybe all that was needed was to re-seat it. Glad everything is fine now. Enjoy JB