Random freezes and/or pc reboots

[The Obsydian]

Hi everyone, Obsy here. PC user, but PC tech noob. Sorry in advance for the long post, I tried to use spoilers.

 

My specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K

MB: ASRock B150 Pro4/3.1

HDD: WDC WD1003FZEX-00MK2A0 1TB

SSD: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB

Fan: Alpine 11 GT Rev.2

RAM: Adata XPG Z1 AX4U2400W8G16-DRZ (2x8GB)

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX970

PSU: Sharkoon WPM700 Bronze (700W)

OS: Windows 10 version 1909. 64 bit

Bios: American Megatrends Inc. P1.60, 20-4-2016. (It is old, but then again if you try to update it, it says, this update might destroy your entire pc, so I have not done so...)

 

 

For some time now my screen has been freezing up at the most random of moments. It could be during a game (Minecraft / GTAV / Civ 6), or opening a tab in a browser, watching a youtube video, writing in word or simply idle. Alternatively, it would crash when my foot accidentally bumped into it, or when I unplugged a USB. It used to be that the audio would also 'crash' causing a loud noise. Atm the audio keeps running (as if the pc kept running as normal). Sometimes the PC makes the 'USB has disconnected' sound followed by a 'Windows notification' sound. This is accompanied by the 'your monitordriver has not started'. Occasionally, the pc reboots itself after a short while, otherwise it remains frozen indefinitely, at which point I need to reboot it manually. When I reboot it manually, the fans start whirring lights go on, the peripherals seem to connect, but often times the screen remains black. This is solved either by rebooting it manually for a period of time, or leaving it be for some time and then trying. Both 'solutions' have mixed succes.

 

Some history

This Pc was custom made by a PC workshop about 4 years ago. After a few years I started having similar problems, so I brought it back to the pc workshop for repairs. They told me they were not able to find any problems and lo and behold, the problems were gone. Fast forwards a year again and my pc would not get out of sleep mode anymore. Brought it back to pc workshop: they told me they had not been able to find any problems and to avoid sleep mode. I have fully disabled sleepmode now on my pc. Again I was problem free for quite some time. Now, since around February, the current problem has appeared. For all instances of the problem the same order applies: it happens once in a few weeks, then gradually happens more frequently, until the point that it happens multiple times a day. Throughout this time the PC has stayed the same, with the exception of the added SSD after the 'sleepmode problems'.

 

What I have done so far

- Update Windows (version 1909)

- Update drivers using Driver Booster 7
- Switched from DVI to HDMI.

- BitDefender scans for virusses.

- CCleaner cleanup.

- Stresstest CPU with PowerMax. No issues. Temps reached a max of 75 degrees Celcius

- Stresstest GPU with FurMark. Crashed once, near the end. No problems another time. No anomalies. Temps    reached a max of 76 degrees Celcius.

- Stresstest RAM with memtest64. Crashes here, but at different times, which makes me question if this is really the problem, or that it just coincides with something else that goes wrong.

- While on the subject of RAM. I tried reconfiguring the cards. They are in slot 1 and 3, so I tried putting them in 2 and 4. PC booted, but froze after about 1 minute. Tried single slot in slot 2 with either cards and they had exactly same result as the 2 and 4 slot set up (I am highly suspicious of the RAM, but the randomness of the circumstances make me want to exclude anything else, before I buy new RAM sticks).

 

One thing I have not done is to unplug and plug all cables inside my pc, cause I am really not comfortable taking it apart. It is all a bunch of hocus pocus in there.

 

My question is whether anyone knows of an issue that explains the seemingly random crashes and what the best course of action is from here. I would be more than happy to provide any other information to you guys. Every time this problem arose, I tried my best to search for solutions in forums, but I was never able to find anything. The PC workshop I go to cannot find anything either. Yet the same problem keeps coming back and tbh, I am starting to think about buying a new rig altogether, which would be a right shame, cause the components (to my knowledge) are still good for todays games.

 

Massive thanks in advance:
Obsy

 

[WambleCropped]

I would 

1. Try clearing CMOS 

2. See if you can swap out your RAM (either buy a new kit or use a friends or one from another in the house)

3. Stress test the new ram and run some games and see if it crashes

4. Swap out the PSU( This is probably a shot in the dark however.)

 

Sidenote: If you arent getting the frames you want or the prefromance is subpar for your standards you can always upgrade or just build a new rig. We are in a pretty exciting time with new RTX 3000 and Ryzen 4000 in the pipeline.

[The Obsydian]

Hi @WambleCropped,

 

Thanks for your reply!

I will try to clear the CMOS (after some reading I figured out what it is and how to do it, like I said PC tech noob).

 

As for points 2-4 and your sidenote: If i were to upgrade, it would be to be able to run Cyberpunk 2077 on its highest settings. As I do not have any spare RAM available, what would you recommend I do?

[The Obsydian]

@WambleCropped

 

I tried clearing the CMOS. Unplugged everything to be safe, everything went smoothly and I booted the system. Realised I had forgotten to plug in the ethernet cable, so I plugged that in. It crashed on plugging in the ethernet cable... I rebooted the sytem and tried unplugging and plugging the ethernet cable again. It crashed again. I got rather excited cause for the first time I had created a replicable error trigger. So rebooted one more time, unplugged and plugged the ethernet cable... nothing happened. Everything ran fine. Tried every USB (webcam, keyboard, mouse, headset), all fine. Audio Jack? Also fine.

 

So.. no replicable error trigger, but still some additional information that might give a clue as to what is going wrong? It is not the first time that plugging something in caused the freeze to occur.

 

Edit: before the CMOS attempt I tried to play some Divinity: Original Sin. The game crashed within 1 minute and I tried to make a screenshot. I just remembered to see if it did anything. There is indeed a screenshot in my folder, but its completely black.

Edited May 13, 2020 by The Obsydian
Additional info

[WambleCropped]

2 hours ago, The Obsydian said:

@WambleCropped

 

I tried clearing the CMOS. Unplugged everything to be safe, everything went smoothly and I booted the system. Realised I had forgotten to plug in the ethernet cable, so I plugged that in. It crashed on plugging in the ethernet cable... I rebooted the sytem and tried unplugging and plugging the ethernet cable again. It crashed again. I got rather excited cause for the first time I had created a replicable error trigger. So rebooted one more time, unplugged and plugged the ethernet cable... nothing happened. Everything ran fine. Tried every USB (webcam, keyboard, mouse, headset), all fine. Audio Jack? Also fine.

so that sounds like its a driver issue, gimme sometime to research and I will get back to you. I think you should reinstall your mobo drivers and ethernet drivers (they might be pachaged)

[WambleCropped]

5 hours ago, The Obsydian said:

@WambleCropped

 

I tried clearing the CMOS. Unplugged everything to be safe, everything went smoothly and I booted the system. Realised I had forgotten to plug in the ethernet cable, so I plugged that in. It crashed on plugging in the ethernet cable... I rebooted the sytem and tried unplugging and plugging the ethernet cable again. It crashed again. I got rather excited cause for the first time I had created a replicable error trigger. So rebooted one more time, unplugged and plugged the ethernet cable... nothing happened. Everything ran fine. Tried every USB (webcam, keyboard, mouse, headset), all fine. Audio Jack? Also fine.

 

So.. no replicable error trigger, but still some additional information that might give a clue as to what is going wrong? It is not the first time that plugging something in caused the freeze to occur.

 

Edit: before the CMOS attempt I tried to play some Divinity: Original Sin. The game crashed within 1 minute and I tried to make a screenshot. I just remembered to see if it did anything. There is indeed a screenshot in my folder, but its completely black.

 

ok so

1) do like I said before and reinstall mobo and/or ethernet drivers

2) if there is still problems i think it might you might have to replace your mobo. Can you try wireless? I have a good feeling that it might just be a driver issue and not a mobo one.

[The Obsydian]

@WambleCropped

 

Thanks very much for your help and suggestions.

 

Last night I mustered up the courage to take apart and reassemble my pc for the first time. Cable management was a bit of a mess and my SSD was just hanging by it's wires. I am unsure whether this was already the case, or whether I caused it rummaging around, but the SATA cable connecting to the SSD was loose. Some other cables were also very squished.

 

After rebooting I tried to stresstest my RAM. It did 20 loops within 15 minutes no problem. I would have let it run overnight, but temps spiked to 93 degrees Celcius at some point and I didnt want to risk it overheating while I was sleeping. Just now after work I did another CPU, GPU and RAM stresstest and nothing happened. I played some games and all was well. I even unplugged and plugged all my peripherals and nothing happened. Everything works fine.

 

So, possible solution: check the SSD SATA connection, I guess.

 

Solved for now