P67A-G65 (b3) - Hard Lock Problem

Question

I recently built a new machine (specs at the bottom of the post), and am experiencing random hard locks that I can't figure out. The locks generally happen 30-60min after booting up the computer, and seem to happen more often when idle than when in use, but I can't confirm that. I have tried turning off XMS and other overclocking on my memory, as well as doing a new install of Windows, but it still seems to be happening. I have updated all my drivers, and my BIOS is v1.8, so it's up to date with the current stable release version. I still need to try individually testing my memory sticks, but if anyone has any other suggestions that might help, they would be very appreciated.
Here's the hardware I'm using:
MSI P67-GD65(B3)
Intel Core i7 2600
8GB (2x4) Corsair XMS3 Memory (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9)
Corsair 750TX 750w PSU
ASUS PCE-N13 PCI Express Wireless Adapter
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB HDD
MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Video Card
Windows 7 64bit

Answer 1

I'm not picking on these specific posts but there is something that needs to be said about the tendency to look for problems in the motherboard or other components when things go wrong.  It's really important to understand that a lockup, random reboot, BSOD, etc. is simply what happens when any of a thousand things go wrong with a computer build.  It's similar to a car that won't start - it could be a failed electrical system, mechanical system or it could just be out of gas.  Because of this, it doesn't help to search for a common thread, you need to look at each problem individually to understand the root cause.
It's also important to understand why computers from Dell, HP or any other manufacturer doesn't have the same problems you see when you purchase your own parts to build a system.  These companies have research groups who are constantly working with different motherboards, RAM, video cards and other components to determine which ones are most reliable and more importantly, which ones work best together.  When developing a new model, these people carefully select from the parts they have tested to design the new model including all the different video card options, drive options, RAM, etc.  In addition, these systems are always configured to the safest specifications with no overclocking or anything else that could potentially cause a flood of support calls. Then each of these systems are built and tested using a long burn-in period with multiple copies of each system to make sure any potential issues are found and fixed.  All of this is done before a new computer is sold to the public by one of these companies.
When you build your own system, you must perform these tasks yourself or your chances of success are very low.  You can't just buy components based on what is popular or appears to be the best in class.  You must carefully crosscheck every component to make sure they will (probably) work together.  Finally, you need a systematic approach for assembling and testing your system one step at a time so if a problem occurs you will know what has probably caused it.  
Just like the companies that sell full computer systems, all reputable computer component companies are also experts at designing and testing the parts they sell.  They know that anytime a component has a problem there is lots of negative publicity, recalls and other consequences they all want to avoid (e.g. the recent Intel problems).  So when you have built a computer that is randomly failing in some way, don't start by looking for problems with the parts you bought.  This will only distract you from finding the real cause because 99.99% of all problems with new computer builds are caused by assembly errors or misconfiguration.  
There are lots of people on this forum and others willing to help with build problems but you need to start with the assumption that something is wrong with your assembly or configuration and follow the posting guide.  A simple step-by-step troubleshooting approach will save a lot of time in the long run.  
- D