Win 8.1 issues, is this hardware related?

[Sicarius]

SPECS:

CPU: I7 4770K @stock

MOBO: MSI Z87 GD65

RAM: 8GB Corsair Platinum @1600MHz

SSD: 120GB Samsung 840 evo

HDD: 1TB WD Black

GPU: MSI GTX 970

PSU: 850W EVGA Supernova G2

 

WIN 8.1 Enteroprise (EVALUATION) (I need to save a little more for a full version, got 30days left ^.^)

 

Hi all, I have tried my best to fix this issue alone but I am really struggling now. I have had my new rig for a while, I have a had a few minor issues which have all seemingly been fixed now. The main one was my old win7 install; before I grabbed my new GPU if I were to game using integrated GFX I would occasionally crash; my board would refuse to boot with both sticks of my memory and I would need to try them one by one to get them to boot. All of a sudden they like each other again and will boot together; may have been due to them being clocked wrong as I forgot to enable X.M.P in the BIOS. Anyway, on to today's issue. I have my SSD for ~2months now, I grabbed Windows 8.1 straight away and installed it; all is going well and I love it. Only issue is, after a windows update my system will occasionally go through POST ok, when it comes to the phase where the OS should load and take over, it re-boots. It would do this 2, maybe 3 times and sometimes would boot into the login screen all ok; others it would go into start-up repair where I can click cancel and end up in my OS all fine. This in itself is strange, but then I have another problem.

 

When I eventually get into my OS (even when it doesn't want to keep re-booting) I will login, the OS will load me into my desktop and it will jsut hang there and do nothing; simply crash. When I move my mouse over certain icons it will highlight them; but I can not do anything and must reset my system from my motherboard's internal reset button as the front panel buttons are un-responsive.

 

I re-installed win 8.1 today, after having enough and once all my drivers are installed and I reboot; the re-boot loop happens again. I load into safe mode and try to 'refresh' my PC. This works ok and I install all my drivers but one called MSI fast boot, which seemingly allows me to use win 8's fast boot mode. Now the re-boot loops seem to be gone, but I still occasionally get the hanging at desktop; it is worth noting CTRL+ALT+DEL works; but if I press anything it simply hangs and does nothing.

 

Now, if this is a software issue I am not bothered; this can be fixed. But I need to rule out any hardware. This can't be my motherboard can it? As it POST's fine? My CPU wouldn't pick and choose a time and date to work would it? If it were faulty it would simply not work at all correct? As for RAM; I'll be running memtest tomorrow for a good 6+ hours. And now for storage; is there a possibility this is my SSD? 

 

Has anyone heard of anything like this? Is there any logs I can look at? 

[Altecice]

yep start by running Memtest on each ram dimm at a time (take the rest out) and test each ram stick on its own.

[Sicarius]

yep start by running Memtest on each ram dimm at a time (take the rest out) and test each ram stick on its own.

Yep, that's tomorrow morning. But as far as the CPU and Mobo go, can't be those can it? I mean the board POST's and I have never heard of a CPU only not working randomly when it doesn't want to.

[Altecice]

Yep, that's tomorrow morning. But as far as the CPU and Mobo go, can't be those can it? I mean the board POST's and I have never heard of a CPU only not working randomly when it doesn't want to.

 

It wont be a CPU issue as it either works or it doesnt, you get very VERY low failure rates of  CPU as they are so well tested in the factory. Motherboard is a possibility but start with RAM and report back

[Sicarius]

It wont be a CPU issue as it either works or it doesnt, you get very VERY low failure rates of  CPU as they are so well tested in the factory. Motherboard is a possibility but start with RAM and report back

Sweet, thing is I tested my RAM a while back for 6 hours and it was fine, I am going to test again just on the off chance. You spend thousands on a machine for it not to work, mad world hah

[Sharp_3yE]

Def look over the mother board while you're at it and heck the parts with similar parts on your mobo and see if any of them look different. Check to see if anything looks broken and def check on the capacitors for them not to be exploded. Once you check those two hardware things (ram and check on parts) then maybe reinstall windows. That's all I have for yea.

[Sicarius]

Right, I can not test the RAM today as I have just realised I am behind on an assigment due for tomorrow (oops). I will be running it from 7am to 10pm tomorrow, that should be enough for both 4gb sticks I'd imagine? As for the the capacitors, all is good there. Non are blown. My POST code is A0/A2 so that's good; although I do RARELY get a 04 (south bridge initzalized too early). 

 

I am using the latest BIOS too... Any other ideas?

[Sicarius]

Tested RAM for 16 hours with no errors... Any way to test the board?