BSOD on reboot after CPU overclock, possible PSU failing

[Dstroya]

1. OC’s CPU to 4.3 GHz 1.3 Volts. Tested with Prime 95 temps did not exceed 80 degrees. Tested with intelburntest temps reached but did not exceed 90. Dropped to 4.1GHz just to be safe.

 

2. Played Guild Wars 2, listened to music from google play on chrome, for 2 hours. Real temp never reported temps higher than 65 degrees. Stopped playing and computer froze. Had to power down with case’s power button.

 

3. On reboot- It got to the windows loading screen, froze, BSOD and rebooted faster than I could read if there was an error message. Then it said “Preparing automatic repair,” froze, BSOD and rebooted. 

 

4. went into BIOS and reset to factory. Rebooted and got same as #3

 

5. went back into BIOS and 10 sec in Bios froze. I turned everything off and unplugged machine.

 

6. Cleared CMOS- was able to boot into BIOS and mess with settings- left everything at stock, CPU Stock speeds, no freezes in bios. Attempted to start up, and got to the windows loading screen, froze, BSOD and rebooted. Then it said “Preparing automatic repair,” froze, BSOD and rebooted.

 

7.  Tried to use windows live disc to boot from disc, got boot from CD/DVD prompt, then from CD windows loading screen, disc began to spin up and stopped, screen froze, BSOD, and rebooted.

 

8. Disconnected everything.  Posted with CPU, MB and tested each stick of RAM alternating Sticks and Slots till all combos tested. Then just left one stick in, with SSD, HDD, and optical drive (individually and in combinations).  Once drives reinstalled, same problem. Freeze at windows screen, BSOD and reboot. Did not reinstalled GPU.  

 

9. Rebooted into BIOS, sat there idle while searching for answers on phone when machine shut off CPU Temps were idling at 30 degrees. The computer was unresponsive to pressing power button.  Unplugged, waited 5 minutes and plugged back in. I was able to boot back into BIOS. Os still froze etc.

 

10. Tried Ubuntu live cd. Disc drive spun up, was able to access menu. Clicked Try Ubuntu without Changing PC” option. Went to loading please wait screen, Disc spun up, then stopped spinning and screen hung at loading please wait.

 

11. I turned everything off. Unplugged machine.  

 

So here is where I think I stand (please correct me if my assumptions are incorrect)

 

1. The CPU, motherboard, RAM, and CPU cooler are most likely fine- I wouldn’t be able to get into BIOS otherwise and temps would not be under control.   Also I wouldn’t get any info from the optical drive to the monitor if the MB was fried, right?

 

2. I’m leaning toward my PSU dying. I think this due to the random shut down while idling in bios, and the optical drive quitting at full spin up.  If my PSU was under powering my SSD and HDD, it could cause the OS from loading, correct?  I also know that it’s possible, if the PSU crapped the bed, that the other peripherals could be fried, I hoping not though.   

 

3. I need advice on what to do next. I don’t have spare parts to replace out. Do you think getting a power supply tester would be a good next step- or should i just get a new PSU? Does it seem like I’m on the right track, or am I way off?

 

System specs

OS: Windows 8.1 64bit

CPU: Intel i5-3570K (Stock up until friday then 4.3GHz at 1.3 v then back to stock when system started acting up)

Cooler: Corsiar H80i

MB: Asus  P8Z77-V LK

RAM: 16gb (4x4GB) Corsair Vengeance @ 1600MHz 9-9-9-24

GPU: GTX 970 Gigabyte Windforce G1 (no OC)

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB

SSD: OCZ 128GB Vertex 4 series

Optical Drive: Lite-ON ihbs11204 Blueray/dvd/cd burner/player

PSU: OCZ ModXtream Pro 700watt  EVGA SUpernova G2 850

 

Update 6/8/2015
I made a Lubuntu live USB, with persistence and was able to access the SSD and HDD from a different computer (an 11 year old Dell that's been collecting dust) by removing the HDD in the dell and running linux off the USB drive and connecting the drives from my main computer. The USB also has memtest on it, so I ran memtest on my ram while sitting in the busted gaming PC. Memtest ran fine, no errors in the memory. (I couldn't do this in the old machine because it used DDR2 memory) I also removed the H80i and replaced it with the stock intel heat sink to make life easier, and re-seated the CPU during the process to cover my bases. I even disconnected the front IO and was using a screwdriver to turn on the computer. I got a new power supply, an EVGA Supernova G2 850W. With the new PSU in the system, the problem persists.

So set up the new PSU. Only connected the 24pin MB, 8 pin CPU, one stick of ram. booted up and got the beep from MB speaker that it posted (one short beep). Turned it off. 

Took out RAM. Powered on, and got the MB alarm for no RAM. Turned it off. 

Reinstalled the RAM, then Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor . Post, then was able to get into BIOS. no freezing. 

Rebooted, this time into the live usb. I was able to actually get into the OS for the first time. About a minute into messing around (opening folders) the whole thing froze on me. I shut it down. 

Then, to be thorough, I reconnected the SSD with windows on it and it still froze at he windows splash screen. 

I tried one last thing before giving up. I took the old HDD (Windows XP) out of the dell and installed it in the new machine. I got a BSOD after passing the bios screen with an actual error code this time. STOP: 0x0000007B (0xBACC3524, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
now this looks like a boot drive error, but i know the HDD works. I had been screwing around with the dell without a problem all week. 

So, at this point, I think I'm looking at a borked MB or CPU. 
What confuses me, is that I'm able to run memtest and get proper alarm codes from the MB but it just refuses to boot into any OS for more than a couple of seconds.

[Sn4tchBandicoot]

Highly doubt that you're PSU is dying, that config only needs like 400W.

Could be the disk drive is dying, causing bad readins from a CD, BSOD's are only tied to Windows meaning there is an issue with the Windows install for sure, whether it is corrupt or bad driver or what have you. It's possible that you overheated the HDD and caused either physical damage or corruption.

[Dstroya]

Highly doubt that you're PSU is dying, that config only needs like 400W.

Could be the disk drive is dying, causing bad readins from a CD, BSOD's are only tied to Windows meaning there is an issue with the Windows install for sure, whether it is corrupt or bad driver or what have you. It's possible that you overheated the HDD and caused either physical damage or corruption.

Thanks for the reply. To rule out the drives, yesterday disconnected the SSD, HDD and Optical drive. Then tried booting with a persistent live Ubuntu usb drive that I made at work. (I tested the stick at work, so I know the usb stick works). With the USB stick, I get past POST, then boot from the stick. I can still click try Ubuntu, as it loads Ubuntu.it freezes after about 10 seconds and reboots.   

 

The reason I was leaning towards PSU failure is that I read on [H]ardOCP that it was a shotty PSU (after all this mess started of course). 

[Dstroya]

Update 6/8/2015 in OP. I can access drives from a different computer. I got a new PSU. Problem persists. I'm now thinking MB or CPU. Any advice?