I got the same problem

AMD Sempron 1.6ghz 64-bit
Abit k8-ux motherboard (onboard sound, network, raid and firewire)
1gb + 256mb pc3200 ram
80gb maxtor sata HD
Geforce fx 5200 128MB agp 8 card
Thermal Take silent 480w power supply

Random lock ups. But most evident while watching video files. I have a 60 minute divx file which i have been througha round 12 restarts and have still not finished watching, the most recent attempts it locked up 3 times within 2 minutes so gave up.

I only play counter strike so only 1 game to test, but it locks that up too.

Other problems include random explorer crashing, with either no reason, or due to skype plugin (now disabled)

Tried various nvidia drivers, also tried a set if individial codexs and wm player classic (as suggested by another site)

From reading across the website and my own experience, this seems heavily video related. I read that even with browsing websites sometimes ffdshow is sometimes used to render previews and videos. Could be a bug only surfacing with particular hardware or could be bad drivers. who knows.

The last thing i may try is to change to a new graphic card which supports vista. Failing that its back to xp.

I'm having the same problem... It actually just started today.
Systems Inform:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz
Motherboard: M2N-E SLI
NVIDIA NForce500
4Gs RAM
64-bits Vista Ultimate
VCard: 8800 GTX KO
Using Integrated Sound

No problems on any of my devices.
Re-installed my sound drivers.
All updates fine

No sure what could be causing the lockups and sound distortion.???

ANY SUGESTIONS!

Hi Guys,

It looks like a few of us are going through the same thing, my specs are:-

mother board is gigabyte ga-m56s-s3
4800+ Dual core running at 2.5ghz
2 x 512megs of kingston ram = 1 gig rated at 667mhz
windows xp32bit with sp2
80gig seagate hdd
-nvidia 8500gt 512meg vid card

I just upgraded from AGP to PCI Express, and now really getting ticked of from the lockups. I actually had an asus board (PCI Xpress M2V model) and thought that was causing it, but still happening with the gigabyte board.

I upgraded from athlon64 3000+ single core cpu, AGP m/b and never had any issues with that system, it's only happening with this new pci xpress

So now this is the stage im at:-
-Ive run a hdd diagnostics tool for seagate hdd, and thats ok
-im running a free tool for memory test called memtest86 on just one of the 512 meg modules-stilltesting, but what i noticed is that if you lower your cpu speed, i.e do not overclock your system, it will change your ddr ram speed, example it shows my cpu at 2.5ghz, and the ddr2 speed at something like 717mhz, this is actually going over the rated 667mhz of the memory chip. now when i bring the cpu speed down to 2.4ghz, the ddr2 ram speed shows 688.

so there is a relationship between cpu clock speed and ddr ram speed, i think thats where my system is becoming unstable, more tests to come.

Cheers,

Mrd

Ok it looks like by setting my 2.4gighz processor to 2gighz, brings down the ddr2 ram speed to 669mhz, which again is close to the rating of my ddr2 ram chips, if this test runs for the next couple of hours lockup free, then I would have resolved the issue, again, im using 'testmem86', d/l the iso version and burn this with nero, using the image option, which then makes your cd bootable, then restart your pc with the disk in the drive, and the, program will start up, oh and don't forget to go ino the bios prior, to make your cdrom bootable at startup, otherwise the disk won't boot with the program, I just mention this for people who might not be that tech savy. To get in the bios, hit 'del' key when your pc first boots up.

Hi All,

Well after some testing overnight, it was still locking up, and this isnt even in the operating system yet. That much I can establish, by running memtest86....what an awesome utility.

Anyways, this morning I did something that has so far given me good result, I increased the voltage of the ddr2 ram one notch, by going into the bios you should have this option.
typically when running memtest86, it went to only two passes at the most, so far for last hour its gone to 4 and the test is still running, I.E NO LOCKUPS, I have still left it at 2gighz setting on the cpu, so people it could well be there is just not enough juice supplied to the memory chip.

Best to findout through by running this program, whether it's your operating system at fault or the memory.
so far so good.....

Mrd

Hi All,

Well after much frustration, I finally worked out the lockup issue with my athlon 4800+, I have definitely narrowed it down to 2 things:-

1. not enough heatsink compound between cpu and heatsink.
The heat sink actually sits on the plastic holder, which sorrounds the cpu, so if the cpu is slightly smaller in thickness, the heatsink will not sit hard pressed against it, so its critical to have enough heatsink compound inbetween them.

2. The ddr2 ram heats up and casuses the lockups.

Ok so how did I findout, I got frustrated, after many hours trying to figure the problem out, which included:-
-playing around with the bios
-upgrading the bios
-upgrading the windows drivers, and so forth
-changing hardware like ram in different slots, dvd roms from the system....I could go on

Note to:-
I have been using memtest86, this is a bootable DOS memory test utility, so this rules out any windows issues.


so I took my upgraded pc back to the shop where i purchased the m/b, cpu and Ram, guess what no lockup, it ran flawlessely for hours. I felt like a moron, but to tell you the truth it did lockup just the once, when we switched the pc on for the first time, but after that it didnt lockup at all. The guy that was helping me, wanted to know as well, because he knew the first time it did lockup.

This is the clue, in the shop it was cool, because there was a cool breeze coming from outside into the shop area, I thought they had an aircon on, but it was just the slight cool breeze from outside.

So then I placed another fan loosely, near the cpu heatsink and fan, and near the ram and it ran for along time without a hitch, still testing continues, but everytime i have the fan near the ram and heatsink, it runs much much longer.

to give you an idea, the lockups were mostly happening within 10minutes, sometimes even seconds, by placing the fan, I get hours run time.

Mrd

I have a similar problem and may just have found the answer. I have 4Gb of Geil DDR2 6400 installed (The cheapest I could afford after a complete upgrade). It works very well withXP and Vista 32 but gives the random lock up problem we all know and love.

I went to the Crucial site and downloaded the Vista check tool and ran it. I immediately got a BSOS, tried again and got the same. Could be my attempt at saving a few quid is going to cost me more than I planned.

M/b EVGA 680i SLI
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3Ghz
Graphics EVGA 8600 GT
4 Gb Geill DDR2 6400 Ram
Vista Ultimate x 64

Your comments would be welcome

Looks like I will spending Xmas on the laptop (Vista x 64 NO PROBLEMS)

I have the same problem. However, I have a spare hard drive with another copy of vista-32. With that harddrive, I am not getting the lockup. So I am guessing the problem is with a driver, not the hardware or overheating.

OS: Vista 32
MB: Asus M2N32 SLI
CPU: AMD 5600
RAM: 2 GB
Video : ATI 1650
Using integrated sound.

I'm guessing it has something to do with the chipset drivers from nvidia. I'll verify if they are the same drivers between the two installs.

installed the latest nvidia drivers - no change.
installed the latest onboard sound drivers - that fixed the problem.

Used: AMD 3500+
Used: 2GB Ram
New: FoxConn MB
Used: 6600GT VCard

My vista locked up very randomly as well, mostly during downloads but also during regular usage, browsing and especially trying to setup media center. After a copule of hours of cursing, i realized that it started locking up after i downloaded vista nvidia drivers/control panel for my 6600GT. so i reinstalled vista with format cause i had Windows.old folder which vista would NOT let me delete (another cause possibly) then i did NOT install any drivers AT ALL, i let vista get drivers for my TV card and wireless card and nothing else and its working fine NO lockups for about an hour now...before it would lockup within 1-5 minutes, i was able to download large fiels file and set up media center and no lockups. Hope this helps someone.