strange crash

[Master101Chief]

I have some strange crash going on on my laptop.
it first happend 4 days ago and it crashed since then every day at least ones, today it has not crashed yet*but I am using linux al the time*
so basically what happens is that the sound start playing extreamly slow(think about factor 1000 slowed) and the rest just freezes up.
Then I have no choise but to hard reset it by keeping the power buton presed.
On my linux system I am runing now it also makes a strange sound sometimes but linux does not freeze up.*my linux is ubuntu 12.10*
the issues start occuring after some time 2 hours and more I would say.
My best guess would be that it must be some hardware isseu and can not be software.
but I have done a scan on my hard drive 1 week ago no errors at all and linux self test does also not give a error. so I think we can say that it can't be my hard drive.
I have check my ram with memtest86+ and also 0 errors on that one.
Since I do not see any artifects on the screen I don't think it can be my vram.
since the crashes do not necerely occur during heavy load my cpu is also unlikely.
which leaves a few things:
My sounds card, since the strange sound it does not seeme unlikely that it is that one.
(does a sound card get hot cause it only hapens after some time so it would not be unlikely that heat is building up somewhere, but my cpu, ram, gpu get at max temp in like 20min so it has to be slow heating or how you want to name it)
Some random component on the motherboard, but then it is most likely a capacitor and it that case it would only have isseus with booting.
my wifi card, verry strange but the problems start occuring at the same time as we got a new router and the windows log last error is something with wifi card.
(so the big question is here is it posible for a router to mess up a wifi card which on his turn can cause a crash, while not letting any other comp crash)
other sugestions are welcome.

and if you want more info just ask

[Big V]

Myself I would be very doubtful that it would be caused by getting a new router.
With it being a laptop you can't just crack it open very easily to check thing out, Plus their is warranty issues also with opening the case if it's still under warranty.
My best guess would be a heat issue with the motherboard components breaking down after the test you have already ran.
It very common for a laptop to suffer heat issue because of design issues of limited case space and ventilation problems with dirt accumulating and plugging airflow off. Most people don't realize how much crud get sucked in the body of a laptop threw the fan, it also one of reason manufactures have started started renaming them notebooks instead of laptops. When you use the machine as a laptop and place it in your lap the fan work like a mini sweeper and sucks all the lint from your clothes directly into the machine, the next thing you know when you crack it open it looks like the inside of your clothes dryer vent.
If your laptop is already out of warranty I would disassemble the lower cover and do a through cleaning of the components.
Sadly if it is a heat issue you might have already suffered non-repairable damage with it already suffering crashes.

[deviantdon]

i must say that even tho what Big V (http://virtualcustoms.net/member.php/155318-Big-V) is saying is and can be the cause i would not jump on that right away. reason being that i have a few friends plus my wife and all there lap tops have been doing the same thing for about the last few days,and because im there computer guy the phone just keeps ringing. crashing for no reason at all,i have looked at about 12 in the last 2 days and have found no reason for the crashing for no reason. the weird thing is mine is a desktop and none of my other friends have reported problems with there desk top computers only laptops and some tablets.. i have yet to find any thing that should or could be causing the problem on any of them. my wife has got the blue screen of death 3 times in the last 2 days .

[Big V]

Ok don with that info that i was not aware of my next thing I would be looking at is the windows update logs, What recent updates have been installed? What got installed about the time they noticed the issues. What type of gpu is being used? ATI or Nvidia? AMD or Intel based units? What the common item they all have in common besides being a laptop?

[deviantdon]

so you think it still could be hardware related? most of my friends and the wife are all amd and Nvidia machines. i cannot speak for some of them but as far as the wifes go the last update was just for windows security and was about 3 weeks ago.but the crashing on all didnt start till about 3 to 4 days ago and nothing before hand.as far as our machines i keep them clean and up to date on everything.
so im not sure i would agree with it being caused be an update.

[razorsedge]

It's not going to be windows updates that were the prob anyways guys he said he is using linux not windows there so he won't be having any dreaded microsoft crashes lol

Have you ever looked into the possibility that its a virus at all I know they are not wide spread like microsoft ones but linux machines can still get them little link about that here http://www.unixmen.com/meet-linux-viruses/

I do remember a similar problem with a desktop computer in the past the problem ended up being caused by an overheating on board gfx chipset the fix was simple adding a fan to it but not sure how u could go about that with a labtop, I doubt much would be your sound card as basicaly if that was either overheating and or stop working u would just lose sound rather then be having the whole labtop shutdown on you.

another question would be does the same thing happen when you run on the battery and if you are plugged into the wall possible the battery has a fault in it causing the shutdowns something else for you to check.

Also check your drivers as well I would look at the gfx driver especially considering the problem I bet you a lot that the cause ends up being a driver problem with the machine had u reciently updated any drivers or check to see if you are on the newest ones :)

[deviantdon]

like ive said befor no overheating problems at all, and happens when on battery or plugged in. also all drivers are up to date i did check that as soon as i started to get calls and the wife told me about it..
so still not sure what is happening.;

[8pecxstudios]

hi mate

lets see if we can help you work it out ok

lets just grab a little info and work from there.

get you please give the

make and model of the laptop and roughly how old it is

can you please give a list of the drivers you installed and what version they are.

also have you tried an earlier version of Ubuntu to see if its an issue with 12.10

also if any error logs or crash dumps have been recorded can you please upload thos too.

with all this information hopefully we can help you get this issue resolved.:happy:

[deviantdon]

i can and will do that my friend,but will have to be later today because she and the laptop are not home at the moment. but as ive said it seems to be happening everywhere. not just my wifes.

[Master101Chief]

hi mate

lets see if we can help you work it out ok

lets just grab a little info and work from there.

get you please give the

make and model of the laptop and roughly how old it is

can you please give a list of the drivers you installed and what version they are.

also have you tried an earlier version of Ubuntu to see if its an issue with 12.10

also if any error logs or crash dumps have been recorded can you please upload thos too.

with all this information hopefully we can help you get this issue resolved.:happy:

Ok maybe it was not completly clear out of my first post but I did ran windows until the crashing started.
Then I swapped to linux(I have a linux dual boot in case of emergancy and hell yhea it is usefull)
a bit more info about the linux part, it seems that linux can handle it cause it did not crash.
another thing in linux the strange sound only occurs when skype is open.
since I always have skype open on my laptop also in windows it might not be strange to think that is the cause.
also cause deviantdon said his last update of windows was 3 weeks ago(mine was 5 days ago or so), so my question is do all your friends run skype?
BTW yes I just patched to the latest version of ubuntu*I had to get my linux out of the dust* but during the 5 hours I did run the old version it also had isseus.

then to awnser the rest of your questions.
I have a acer aspire 7551g.
running a phenomII x3 n850,
a radeon hd 5400 card.
2 sticks of 2 gigs of ram at 577mhz(if I rember corect)
an athros wifi card,
I don't know what the card is for my wired conection.
all drivers are up to date.
my machine is just a bit more then 2 years old(bought it in november 2 years back)

for the crash logs:
it gives 2 repeating,
one about the wifi card forgot the error number but just have a wired connection n pull out the cable and it will pop up in the log.
I think that this is a strange one cause it says it is my wired card with a issue but I am connected wireless.
this one is added to the log 4 seconds(exactly every single time) after a fetal error which is caused by me cause I hard reset the laptop in order to get it out of its freezed state.
the other one is some a error called 1003.
I can copy and paste the log later today.

last:
I always use my laptop as notebook it stands on a diy'ed cooling station, however it still is like 80 degrees.
But if I do not place it on the cooling station it will be 99 most of the time, it will shut down when it reaches 110 for as far as I know.

[Master101Chief]

I think it really is skype!
I have been running Linux now for 4 hours flat whiteout any strange sounds, skype closed.
Tomorrow I will run windows without skype and see what happens after a few hours, if there is no crash I think we can safely assume Skype is the issue.
One strange thing would be that they updated both the linux and windows version at the same time with the same bug, they odds on that seem to me like 0
*in case it is skype hope they update it soon, it never gave a problem*

Will keep you up to date!

[Master101Chief]

running tests now!
I am now running windows again for half an hour no skype, since I started it up it gave me one strange sound, but that was just one min after I shut down skype*windows was in hibernation*
I will keep it running for 2 hours more or so and will tell the resaults, if there is a crash then skype did not cause it*captain obivious strikes*
When it does not crash I can be a bit more certain that it did actually cause it, but since I only have time for a 2,5 hour test I can't give you certainty yet.

will post just before I end the test.
Edit:
Test done, did not have problems!

Edit:
after doing more test I am like 90% certain that skype is causing this.
I did try to re-install skype but that does not seem to work, the crash came even faster then before in like 1 hour*I really need both, windows and skype*

Did a quick search and found *only on the dutch wiki don't know if it is reliable* that skype can cause a tcp-stack, the symptoms seem to be close.


Edit:
finaly found the bug! it actually was a windows update but skype worked as some kind of a triger!
removing this update will fix it!
shamefull I forgot the name of the update, it was a compatibility update something like kb29xxxx or kb27xxxx and them more numerbers.(it is know to give isseus and was released at the end of november)
when I rember witch update it is I will post it here.