Computer randomly freezes and unfreezes

I woke the computer from sleep mode today and was at the log in screen. I entered my password and it just sat there for several minutes and never went into windows. Reset the computer and it loaded right up. It hasnt been getting a lot of use though, keeping this ram in untill at least tomorrow. Running through the computer now playing a game and what not to see if it locks up again.
 
Ok, got home from work woke the computer from sleep mode and started messing around with it. Clicking any icon on the desktop didnt do anything, nothing would open. When I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del the computerstarted thinking, the mouse turned into the blue wheel and after a few seconds the screen went black and the mouse turned back to the pointer. A minute later an error window foped up saying error: failure to log in or something like that. I had to reset the computer. For now it is unplugged because once again I have to move it because of my roommates, im hoping to have it up tonight with the other 2 sticks of ram in it.
 
oh, when I woke the computer it was still in windows, not at the log in screen like it should have been.

Edit... Hmm, I guess I had the ram plugged into slot 1 and 2 instead of 1 and 3 or 2 and 4. I dont know if that could cause any issues. I swapped the chips anyway and the computer is booting up now.
 
It should not make much difference if you have the sticks in 1 & 2 or 1 & 3 as that simply changes it from single to dual channel mode.

If you are noticing a marked improvement with the other pair of sticks then now try putting them into slots 1 & 2 and see if that causes the same issues.

Another thing you could try is running it in safe mode and see if that shows the same problems, or not.
 
woke the computer from sleep, entered password to log in and the system froze. I gave it about 5 minutes then rebooted. So both sets of ram have produced the freeze. What should I try next?
 
Ok, certainly sounds like we can cross RAM off the list of possible causes.

I would now suggest doing a full test on the hard drive, as follows:

Identify the make of your hard drive and then use the appropriate link below to get the manufacturer's diagnostics.

These are direct links to the download (apart from Western Digital) so the download will start as soon as you click on the link.

These diagnostics are only available as ISO images to burn to CD except for Excelstore who also provide a download for a USB flash drive. Please note that this USB version is only for use on Excelstore hard drives.

Excelstore ISO for CD Or USB flash drive (instructions included in Readme.txt file)
Hitachi/IBM
Seagate, Samsung, Maxtor & Quantum
Western Digital Click on the Download button next to Diag504fCD.iso

NOTE: For Toshiba/Fujitsu, or any make of drive not listed, use the diagnostics from the Seagate link.

For the downloads that are in a .zip file, right click the file and select Extract Here and burn the image to a CD. (A re-recordable CD will be fine).

In Windows 7 right click the extracted file, select Open With, then select Windows Disc Image Burning Tool then follow the prompts.
For all other versions of windows (if you do not have an ISO burner) download this free software. ImgBurn Install the program and start the application. Select the top left hand option to Write image file to disc and then on the next window click on the small yellow folder icon and browse to the file you have downloaded from the links above. Then click on the two grey discs with the arrow in between (bottom left) and leave it to complete the operation.

Boot the PC into the Bios setup and set the CD/DVD drive to 1st in the boot sequence. Insert the disk in the drive then reboot and the disc will load into dos. Always select the Extended Test where available.

NOTE: Unfortunately the hard drive is the one item in your PC that will fail, it is not a case of if but a case of when. It is an electrical/mechanical device and therefore it will wear out. Hence the need to keep regular back ups of all your important data to an external source, DVD's or Blu-ray discs are the most dependable but if you have 1000's of GB's of data then an external hard drive would be a better choice, unfortunately that drive too will eventually fail, so DVD's or Blu-ray discs are the safest option for crucial data that you would be devastated to loose.
 
Ok, downloading the WD file now. The hard drive in the computer is not the same one from when I started this thread. That hard drive is in the computer I built in November and is working great. Th hard drive in the computer now is an older one...4 or 5 years old.
 
Ok, try this next and post the logs for me to see.

OCCT Instructions
  • Download OCCT and save to the desktop.
  • Extract the contents of the zip file to the desktop.
  • Double click on the OCCT folder to open it and then double click on the OCCT icon
    URL]
    to run the program.
  • Click on the CPU: OCCT tab. Check the Automatic and the Error check buttons, set the duration for 1 hour and leave the rest
    set at default. Click on the green ON button and leave the test to run. Make sure all programs and your browser are closed and
    do not use the PC during the test.
  • When the test ends click on the OFF button to close the software.
  • The Results window should open, if not open Documents > OCCT. You should find a folder with todays date on it. Zip the folder and send it as an
    attachment with your next post.
NOTE
If the test stops before the set time this will indicate it has detected a fault. The program will still save a results folder for you to post.
If the tabs for the PSU and GPU are greyed out it means your DirectX 9 version is too old. OCCT requires DirectX 9.
You can manually check it easily : just look for the file d3dx9_37.dll in the following folder C:\Windows\System32
If it is not present, just download the latest
Direct X9 Update for your OS and everything should run fine afterwards.
 
I dont see an "Error Check" button... Just Automatic, Infinite and Use All Logical Cores. Going ahead with the automatic and 1 hour duration
 
Ooops, the error check button is not available in the CPU test, thanks for pointing that out, I will update my canned instructions.

So, that test all went well and the results don't show anything suspicious. Now run it again and use the GPU 3D tab, post the results as before.
 
GPU 3D Scan Results I had to run the scan twice so I dont know if there are duplicated logs or partial logs in there or if the first ones were overwritten.
 

Attachments

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Ok, no sign of any problem so far, now try the PSU tab.

Although the memory has also been tested you could also run the CPU: LINPAK test which will stress the memory.

After the PSU test, rename the results file so the logs stay seperated.
 
The only thing I am seeing in these results is the CPU temp is going way over its maximum recommended temperature. The CPU specs state 60ºC as the max, the logs show it is hitting 80ºC. This could be a poor sensor reading but you should check the CPU cooler is properly seated, the thermal paste is covering the entire surface of the CPU and the fan is running well. As the logs show no errors I suspect the temperature sensor is giving a false reading as it should be cutting out at temperatures above 60ºC. In addition, this would not explain the freezes when the PC is idle/sleeping as the CPU will no doubt be a lot cooler during that period.

Just to update the present state of the PC, is it only freezing when coming out of sleep or does the problem occur at other times.
 
Its now mostly when its coming out of sleep, Ive only gotten it to freeze up once or twice after loading windows.
 
Ok, I think we have pretty much proved all the hardware is ok.

Try changing this setting and see if that helps stop the crash on awake problem.

1. Click Start, Control Panel, Power Options.
2. Click Change Plan Settings on the Balanced (recommended).
3. Click Change Advanced Power Settings.
4. Click on the + next to Hard Disk and then the + next to Turn off Hard Disc after.
5. Click on the blue writing X Minutes and set the time period to 0
6. Click on Apply > OK and close all the windows.

Let it go to sleep and see what happens on awake.
 
Didnt work... type in password and hit enter and it just hangs there still.

edit 10:18pm Ive tried it a few times now...still freezes up upon coming out of sleep
 
Doesnt look like you can put it to sleep in safe mode, just turn off the display.

Edit - Let the computer sit for a few hours in safe mode, messed with it for a little bit, no freezing but it never went into sleep. Took it out of safe mode and as soon as it went to sleep and I woke it...frozen.
 
Try the suggestions in the second post in this thread: System hang on awake

If that does not work: Make sure that your BIOS is set to S3 Sleep Mode in Power settings it may be set to S1 & S3 which could cause a problem.

If that doesn't work then try selective startup to see if there is a particular process or service that is causing the problem.
If the problem stops with all the services and processes stopped then re-enable the services or the processes and test again. This will quickly establish if it is a service or process that is causing the problem.
You can then re-enable the entries in groups rather than one at a time to save time and quickly track down which entry is causing the problem.
Selective Startup
 
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