Please help with my troubleshooting

[m__cini]

I’m having issues with my new computer consistently freezing (doesn’t crash, just kind of pauses and I can’t move the mouse or type until I restart).

 

Parts: MSI Z790 Tomahawk, i5 13600k, Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR5, Samsung 980 Pro, Corsair 1200W PSU

 

It started out well, everything was going smoothly and I was able to boot into the windows installer and even install windows. It wasn’t in windows long before it froze. I thought it was XMP so I made sure to turn that off but it was still freezing. I tried updating the bios to the latest version & resetting all settings in bios, still freezes. I tried a different PSU, no bueno. CPU temperature is ~ 40 degrees, so it’s not overheating. I thought maybe it was an issue with the Samsung drive or windows itself so I attempted to do a fresh install, but that just made things worse because it froze mid install and I haven’t been able to get past the boot loader since (I wiped the drive from the bios thinking that would help). I don’t have an extra drive to fully rule out the m.2 ssd. 

 

I did some digging and ran memtest86 & I wasn’t able to actually finalize the test (it just kept freezing). I played around with different slots on the motherboard and ended up going out to buy new ram in the hope that’s what was wrong. In that pursuit I’m confident that my old ram was faulty as memtest showed errors (& froze) when I placed the old ram in the very first slot on the motherboard (each old stick gave numerous errors on memtest). The new ram doesn’t give any errors but still freezes and I tried numerous slots. It shows up correctly in my bios and all my testing is with XMP off. I googled and it should be supported by the motherboard (especially with the updated bios version I installed). 

 

At this point, I’m pretty sure it’s either the motherboard itself or the CPU on top of the faulty ram which I’ve now replaced. It could also still be the m.2 but memtest runs off the USB so I’m not sure how the SSD would cause it to freeze. I’ve taken the CPU out and inspected and don’t see any clear defects on it or the motherboard. Problem is, I don’t know of any way to isolate the problem further because I don’t have another motherboard or CPU to test. I bought the CPU at Canada Computers and I know they have a diagnostics service but I’m pretty sure it costs money and would probably take a couple days. I’ve also read some not so great reviews online. I’m not sure if I can just ask them to verify the CPU works because I have the receipt, I’ll have to call them later. Amazon is awesome and is able to refund the motherboard if required. 

 

Before I do any of that I wanted to ask here to see if I’m clearly missing something. I’m going to try to test the windows boot loader in my old PC a little later to see if maybe it’s just the stupid USB sticks (I don’t think it is because I’ve used two different ones during this whole process). I’m way out of my depth so any help is appreciated!

[_Omega_]

have you tried re installing windows?

[m__cini]

11 minutes ago, _Omega_ said:

have you tried re installing windows?

Yeah, but unfortunately it just kept freezing during the install process. 

 

Early in the morning yesterday I was able to install windows and THEN in froze. But in my attempts to solve the issue I decided to reinstall windows and it just kept freezing during the install process. I wiped the drive through the bios, so no operating system currently and no way to get one on. 

[johnno23]

Next time just do the following

 sfc /scannow 

open search type cmd and run as admin. type or copy paste the above and let it run as it can fix any windows files that got corrupted.

Anyways you seem to be back to square one which is not really a big issue just time consuming.

I would suggest you format the thumb drive go to the microsoft website and download the windows installer again. then place that on your newly formatted USB drive.

just remember that windows install via USB likes to see a USB 2 slot. it can work witrh USB 3 but USB 2 works best in my experience.

then just reinstall as you have everything fresh without any corruption or left over files from other sources.

 

[m__cini]

49 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

Next time just do the following

 sfc /scannow 

open search type cmd and run as admin. type or copy paste the above and let it run as it can fix any windows files that got corrupted.

Anyways you seem to be back to square one which is not really a big issue just time consuming.

I would suggest you format the thumb drive go to the microsoft website and download the windows installer again. then place that on your newly formatted USB drive.

just remember that windows install via USB likes to see a USB 2 slot. it can work witrh USB 3 but USB 2 works best in my experience.

then just reinstall as you have everything fresh without any corruption or left over files from other sources.

 

I wish I had more time yesterday to play around in windows, I'll save that info just in case I need it in the future (hopefully I won't lol)

 

I've been using two different USB drives and attempted both the windows 10 & 11 installers. Both of them had the same issue. I didn't know about your USB 2 point, but I don't think my new motherboard has a USB 2 slot so I don't think I could plug it in anyways.

 

I attempted to load my windows 10 USB on my old computer and played around with it this morning (I didn't install but literally just moved the window around because on my new components that was enough to freeze it) and it seemed to work fine.

 

I was trying to plug it in to different USB slots on the back because maybe one would work, but it looks like it doesn't even want to post this morning.

 

I found my receipt for the CPU and it looks like I should be able to exchange it, so I think I might just have to try a new CPU/Motherboard.

[m__cini]

Update: it was the CPU!

 

I went to Canada Computers and they exchanged my CPU. They couldn't test my old CPU because they didn't have the right test bench, but when I put in the new CPU I was able to load windows without any freezing.

 

I ran a few CPU tests and there were no freezes/crashing!