I'm using an i7 based Dell Studio XPS 435MT as my main box, there is also an RME RayDAT card installed, all my drivers are up to date.

Have observed a persistent issue using Fireface 800 whereby audio freezes and system locks, usually kicks in at a point somewhere between 45min to 1hour after boot up, but everything functions fine again after a restart, and continues working without issue.

Under Vista, the lock up appeared to happen only when streaming AV from the web, or when using Windows media player.

Initially, I thought this was an issue with my Vista Ultimate 64 install, because my second Win 7 Pro partition, where i run Nuendo 5, had never resulted in this fail, until yesterday.

Recently, I installed VLC under Win 7 Pro and it was while playing audio (not connected to the net), using that software, that the same freeze condition resulted (it also resulted in a blue screen).

When i restart after the freeze everything functions fine, it happens once, at a particular point after start up, and then there are no further issues.

I use Nuendo 4 & 5, Sound Forge, Wavelab, and other pro audio software on the same system, but they have never induced a freeze up.

What might the explanation be? is it a conflict with the native audio settings?

I'm guessing the time delay has to do with some part of the system hitting a particular temperature, which is somehow crashing the unit, but what?

Any insight would be appreciated, thanks.