Hi,I bought a new computer 3 weeks ago. Sandy bridge OC 4.6. I was very happy with its performance, untill it started to freeze at start up. I had to restart it which triggered the automatic repair tool. A restoration was then launched which was successfull. Then it started to freeze again at start up and so on. I thought that one windows update was the culprit. I uninstalled some of them, to no avail. Then I thought that one of my FSX related program had deteriorated windows seven. I spent one week trying to figure out which program was behind my problem, to no avail. But yesterday my computer would not perform any restorations and refused to start. Reluctantly, I decided to reinstall windows. To my surprise, even with nothing else than windows, I still have problems. Sometimes I cannot open the configuration panel or it freezes while browsing the files... I've given up. I have no idea what to do next. My conclusion is that there must be a hardware problem and not a software problem. I will bring the computer back to the PC store where I bought it.Maybe I should not have bought a new computer and stuck with my old P4 computer with windows XP. It has worked fine for 6 years, not 2 weeks.

Since you said you have an overclock, do you know if you have sufficient vcore to maintain that overclock because if you don't, your computer will lock up as you mentioned and even refuse to boot sometimes. Save your current bios settings to the CMOS and reset to default bios settings to see if your problem is fixed. Then you will know the culprit and can proceed to fixing your saved overclock.

Since you said you have an overclock, do you know if you have sufficient vcore to maintain that overclock because if you don't, your computer will lock up as you mentioned and even refuse to boot sometimes. Save your current bios settings to the CMOS and reset to default bios settings to see if your problem is fixed. Then you will know the culprit and can proceed to fixing your saved overclock.

Things to run before you can confirm you have a stable computer:3D Mark 11Memtest - one complete test up to 100%, best overnighter...Linx - 100 runs 4096mbPrime95 - 6 hours at least, overnight bestIf all tests are successful, and only then, you are stable. Then it's a moment to look for other culprits, clocking down etc...My guess also, Vcore or bad settings for RAM.

thank you guys.Yes, like you, I suspect an overclocked induced instabilty. It was a specialized computer shop which overclocked the PC. I don't know how to do it. The PC is still under warranty. I hope they will do it right this time.

thank you guys.Yes, like you, I suspect an overclocked induced instabilty. It was a specialized computer shop which overclocked the PC. I don't know how to do it. The PC is still under warranty. I hope they will do it right this time.

When you get it back, you can still run those programs to insure stability. If it doesn't pass either of those programs you can return it under warranty - if they provide "overclocking warranty" though... that's important.

Yankee,you should post your specs so we know what type of hardware you're working with (use my signature as a template, for example). Somebody here probably has the same motherboard and could walk you through your bios settings. These chips are really easy to overclock, it really wouldn't take much to explain it to you.

Yankee,you should post your specs so we know what type of hardware you're working with (use my signature as a template, for example). Somebody here probably has the same motherboard and could walk you through your bios settings. These chips are really easy to overclock, it really wouldn't take much to explain it to you.

Hi,Thank you for your suggestion. I appreciate it.Nevertheless the computer being under warranty including the overclocking, I prefer let the technicians sort out this problem. I contacted them and they agreed to do it, as expected.Take care. Thank you again.