Need help with older pc. random hanging and lagging.

[invision2212]

Specs

AMD FX-8120

16gb DDR-3@1866

PNY 250gb SSD <----- replaced with the same drive

Gigabyte 970A-DS3P MB

Radeon HD7970 3gb

Raidmax 600w power supply

Fresh install Win 10

 

after i had installed windows i downloaded some applications (MSI afterburner, HWmonitor, AVG antivirus, Steam) and all seemed normal. i then started to install a game and started using the internet while waiting, this is when it would start to hang and freeze. when it hangs it stops responding to clicks and after 30 seconds or so the system will recover as it nothing happened. it started happening a lot more so i tried many different things such as checking the hard drive for possible errors, trying power settings, making sure its AHCI mode in bios, and seeing if there were any newer drivers for the motherboard which there wasnt many. i tested the memory too for errors and none.

 

when i boot into safe mode with networking it also hangs and freezes, so i thought maybe its the ethernet port so i got new drivers for it and the problem still happened, i then tried wireless and the problems still there. so i then thought maybe its the SSD drive so i had it replaced and installed windows and the issue still happens. so i then changed the SATA cable to a new one....problem still there.....i changed SATA port.....still there........i changed the power cable....still there......so then i changed out the entire power supply and that still did not fix the problem.

 

this issue seems to happen the most when downloading a big file tho it does hang and freeze sometimes when looking at local folders, if i play a game it will not hang or freeze, even playing online multiplayer games the PC is perfectly fine with no issue. but the moment i stop playing games and back to desktop and do something else it starts to hang and freeze.

 

i have no idea what the issue could be, this PC worked perfectly fine and when i got a new HD for it this issue started happening. but as said replacing the hard drive did not solve the issue.

 

any help would be great as i been at this for 2 days now.

 

 

 

[LivelyCornet640]

Bad ram maybe, try running each stick alone, unless both are faulty, it might work well

[KhakiHat]

Could open up task manager to see what is eating up your resources

[invision2212]

4 minutes ago, KhakiHat said:

Could open up task manager to see what is eating up your resources

 

[invision2212]

11 minutes ago, LivelyCornet640 said:

Bad ram maybe, try running each stick alone, unless both are faulty, it might work well

 

i will give this a shot tomorrow thank you. i have 32gb of ram sticks so ill get a working pair if one is faulty

[doomsriker]

It could be so many things. My immediate thought was badly seated ram. Take out your RAM and carefully clean out the slots with compressed air. Than clean all your RAM   Contacts with a cotton swab and 90% (or more) isopropyl alcohol. My second thought was that your CPU and GPU should definitely get new thermal paste and possibly new thermal pads as needed on the GPU. That GPU runs really hot so if you are still using the stock paste and pads they are almost certainly in need of replacement. This would actually make a lot of sense because it would explain why you are having issues on the desktop and not in games. When you are playing games your GPU and CPU are bound to run pretty hot which would likely give the old dried out thermal paste/pads more elasticity and a better chance of making good contact but than when you hop off the games and are just on the desktop your thermal paste/pads would likely cool down and become ineffective again. Another possibility is that windows might have put some important system files on your hard drive(s). For best results it is always best to install/reinstall windows with all drives (including usb sticks, SD cards etc.) that are not the intended boot drive disconnected. Another consideration is your motherboard’s bios. I actually solved a sound issue on my own pc that had been driving me crazy for three months by simply reflashing my bios so this is always a good troubleshooting step as it really does not take much over the course of many years to corrupt your bios. You could also be looking at a failing GPU; in this case we would be looking at a similar issue to the thermal paste situation were your GPU has failing solder somewhere on the card and when it heats up during games the heat allows this solder to make better contact. Also as a troubleshooting step it is always a good idea to try the GPU in multiple slots on the motherboard. I have seen a few older boards before where all but one of the slots are buggy. You could also be getting power that is just too “dirty” for your aging parts out of the wall; if this is the case some kind of battery bank (forget what it is called) like they use in office buildings for power outages might  help. Definitely start by reseating/ cleaning the RAM, reflasing the motherboard bios (and possibly the GPU bios if you really want to cover all your basses), replacing the GPU/CPU thermal paste/pads, and reinstalling windows with only the C drive connected. 

[invision2212]

of course today i cant get the issue to repeat when it was so easy too yesterday.

but im going to go ahead and reseat and clean the ram slots.

 

i dont think its a good idea to repaste the GPU as i dont have any thermal pads and despite its age never goes above 72c under full load.

 

the CPU was repasted about a year ago and its temps are also good and never goes above 60c.

 

ill report back when done.

[invision2212]

so ive used the pc over the weekend and the hanging still persist.

 

i ran memtest86 and it found 32 errors after 4 passes so i tried stock settings and it still freezes. i then ran stock bios settings to see if that helped and it didnt.

i then replaced the ram with another set and that didnt fix the issue either.

i also tried the other dims slots, cleaning them, and nothing has worked.

 

im at a loss here what the issue could possibly be. 

[invision2212]

im thinking its not the memory as all 4 sticks in every slot tested 1 at a time still freeze and hangs the system.

memtest86 finds errors on all 4 sticks which seems very unusual. faulty MB? CPU? 

i have no way of testing these on another system.