Computer randomly freezes or wont boot

[Blancher]

Hello, I just recently built my new build, and I have been having problems with my computer freezing. Sometimes it boots fine and when i'm doing something it will randomly freeze and all input/ouput will be cut and i eventually get no signal from monitor. keyboard stops working, mouse, sound. my dvd drive does open tho..

when this freezing happens im forced to restart my computer. sometimes when i do that, it doesnt boot. i turn it on and my cpu fan doesnt spin but everything else does and i get no signal from monitor. other times my cpu fan doesnt spin, but also my video card fan spins at full speed and doesnt stop...and my computer doesnt boot (when i say boot i mean nothing...no post or anything) and i get no signal from monitor. and sometimes it doesnt freeze on startup, the screen just immediately goes black, it sounds like its restarting and I get no signal.

it takes a while to get my computer back up and running sometimes, but then itll randomly freeze when it wants to again. ive had it last 4 days without freezing...sometimes its 2 mins, 5 mins 1 hour 5 hours, etc. its random...

AMD x4 965 3.4ghz
MSI 790fx-G70
4GB OCZ Platinum 1600MHz DDR3
Corsair 650W PSU TX Series
XFX HD 4890 XT 1GB GDDR5
HAF 932 Full Tower case

any help on this would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

p.s. ive had it freeze during startup in random place like windows loading screen, even during a fresh windows install it froze durin that..and even durin a system restore. it doesnt care when it happens, its random :s oh and according to BIOS nothign is overheating and when I DO GET A CHANCE to play a game vid card is only at 50..sometimes even lower..and cpu is at 35 ish

 

[Blancher]

Ok I think i might of found the problem...please help me verify if this is indeed what is causing my problem because I am pretty sure it is.

I downloaded SpeedFan.

I opened it up.

Read the voltages at the bottom...

AND..

My +12V was sitting an a constant 0.44V...
So does that mean its like dead or something?

Everything else was lower than it was supossed to be as well.

My +5V was at 3.5V which is low i think.. and ya... so i think this might be it.

I also went into the Monitor tab on Speed Fan or whatever, and monitored the +12V rail. It showed a realtime graph. And it was a flat line on 0.44V not doin a single thing..

Post your help on this please.

 

[Ritwik7]

My +12V reading in Speedfan is 4.86V. I'm not too sure if that is the problem.

However, try running your PC with a single module of RAM. See if you have similar issues.

 

[almcneil]

First suggestion is to monitor your CPU temp and see if it rises significantly and then the comptuer freezes. That would indicate overheating.

Also, check for overclocking. I recently had a customer who computer randomly froze. I noticed in the BIOS the CPU clock was set to the higher setting (overclocking) I reset to default and his freezing hasn't happened againg (although it was less than a week ago and he's been away this week)

Next, if that isn't the problem, try resetting all BIOS settings to defaults (usually F9).

I have some more suggestions but let's try the above ones first. Repost with results.

-- Andy

 

[Blancher]

Here are some pictures of things that might help. These were taken while running a game.(Been working for 50 mins no freezing so far, but it will eventually do it.)

 

[Blancher]

Here is speedfan as well. I also went into BIOS before I booted fully and changed settings to "Load Fail-Safe Defaults". They were already at default but I made sure anyways. 55 mins without freezing. This is one of the longer durations it goes without freezing. Had it to 4 days before:suspiciou. This is all really weird considering how random it is..and all temps are staying within 1-2 degrees of what the pics state. They aren't moving.

I'm still concerned about that 12V rail though. I thought it was supossed to be as close to 12V as it could get. Like +/- 10% or so. It's almost at a constant zero.

 

[Blancher]

Just did a scan with Spybot, SuperAntiSpyware, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
Only thing it detected was tracking cookies which is normal.
It's been 2 hours now. No freeze. Today might be one of those "lucky days"...
I'm in the process of De-fragmenting my Hard drive. Lots of red chunks during analysis.
Finding out the problem means everything to me, I'm so desperate..

 

[Tmagic650]

"I thought it was supossed to be as close to 12V as it could get. Like +/- 10% or so. It's almost at a constant zero"...

Speedfan doesn't report many motherboard voltages correctly... You can be assured that the 12 volts is fine. What concerns me is your hard drive. Defragging is not what you should do yet. You should set a Windows disk check/repair on reboot first. Go to My Computer, right-click on the C drive, select Properties, Tools, Check disk for errors, check the automatically fix errors and set a repair on reboot. If the disk check shows a lot of problems, the hard drive may be going bad

 

[Blancher]

I just finished my chkdsk and there was no errors. Drive was clean. Computer has been running for quite some time now. Last time it went this long, I got my hopes up and it still froze randomly in the future.

 

[Tmagic650]

Well that's good news... Keep us posted on the random freezing... The freezing is so random, have you tried different memory?

 

[Blancher]

Could you provide me some info on how i would go about doing a memtest. i have tried to do one but i can only test a certain amount of my total 4 gigs with it. says like 950mb or something...

 

[Tmagic650]

How much memory are you running, and how is the memory configured, meaning how many modules and what size are they? If you can, swap the first memory around. It probably isn't the first memory module (Slot 0 or 1), but one of the other modules could be causing this

 

[Blancher]

I'm using 2 sticks of 2 gigs each running in Dual Channel, for a total of 4 gigs.

 

[Tmagic650]

I hope the 2 memory modules are from the same manufacturer, type and speed. Swap the modules and see if the freezing continues

 

[Blancher]

Yes they are the same type make and speed etc. And what do you mean swap modules? like put them in the blue slots instead of black slots or just switch them but keep em in the name colour

 

[Tmagic650]

Keep them in the same color slots just swap the modules

 

[Blancher]

Ok i will try that when it decides to freeze again, its been 6 hours with nothing yet again its lasted for 4 days so..

 

[tillertowe]

Stumbled over this topic through Google, as i have the exact same problems here.
Only, my system has worked without a problem since i bought it a few months ago.

I've however recently started to use a dual screen setup, does that use more power (GPU)?
I had no problem when only my flatscreen TV was connected to the PC.

I've had Everest running throughout the night to log the system with a slight load.

My main concern is the power/volt.
I'm no expert on this, but both +3.3v and +12v seems low and fluctuates a lot?

My specs :
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 Black Edition 955, 3200 MHz (16 x 200)
Motherboard: ASRock A790GXH/128M AM2+
Ram: Corsair XMS2 CM2X2048-8500C5C (5-6-6-18 2T @ 533 MHz)
GPU: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
Playing sound through ATI HDMI and onboard realtek Network

The PSU is an Energon 650W with these specs:

Any help is appreciated

EDIT: I've tried swapping Ram Modules and have disabled the Cool'n Quiet feature, as it doesn't work with all ram modules and/or PSU's, I'm going to continue to log with Everest until this problem occurs again (as i see no diff. in voltage atm.)

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes dual screen setups draw more from a GPU and power supply. If you really want to do something, install a better known power supply. something like this:
Corsair 850 Watt

As I said earlier, motherboard voltage program accuracy can be limited by hardware and other software configurations

 

[WildeMan]

Dumb solution, but worth a try?

I am or was having exactly the same problem. My PC would boot after 3 our of 4 tries. And once it booted it would be stable for like 5 minutes and BAM! But after that it would be stable until I would shut it down... (Like 6 to 7 hours...)

It was annoying, but I didn't have time to look into it.

Anyways. Problems started to occur the first time after I tripped over an USB cable, (Yes, I know... Stupid me.) My computer went flat out immediately and I tried to reset my BIOS and unplug all my USB devices, and after I did all these things it would boot normally for a time, but after a while the symptoms would (re)occur.

By now, it seems that the sole problem is/was, that my video card (Sapphire HD 4870 512 GDDR5) doesn't fit perfectly into my PCI-e slot. It's not fully inserted on the mobo at the rear side of my computer case, because the length of the iron thingy at the back of the card, where you put the screws to attach it to your computer case is a few millimeters short...

After I have pushed it firmly into the motherboard, the system seems to be stable again. Of course it is quite difficult to prove that it is stable, but I'm still waiting for my first freeze...

Also worth mentioning is the fact that my system seemed to be more unstable when it was cold, and was getting more stable with increasing temps... (With the volume of copper being smaller with lower temps this actually might make some sense.

I know it sounds crazy, but it is such an easy solution that you wouldn't think of it, and it actually was quite an easy fix for me. ;-)