Hard- or Softwareproblem?

[Rheinwasser]

I've had this problem that this pc would crash randomly (or freeze, or bluescreen). The crashes got more and more until it wouldn't even boot anymore.

I eventually fixed it by swapping the ram stick that was in there before.

After some time the same problem came back, until then it had been fine (it took about two weeks).

I fixed it by resetting the bios (before that i got a no vga card error once).

 

Now my question: What do you think, is this a hard- or a softwareproblem? And if it is a hardwareproblem, mainboard or cpu (i use an APU)?

BTW: It seems like the crashes always appeared when using a specific online streaming service.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

A8 6600K
FM2A55M-HD+
4GB Kingston HyperX Blu 1333Mhz CL9
Kingston V300 120 GB
Thermaltake Munich 430W
Windows 7 HE 64 Bit

[Indus Monk]

blue screens are usually attributed to HWare...... but u also wanna try a os reinstall..... see if that works or not. but usually it is caused by overheating or dying hardware

[Sauron]

Have you tried running a memtest? If it fails it's a memory problem. It could also be caused by cpu overheating, but swapping ram around wouldn't have fixed that...

[Rheinwasser]

blue screens are usually attributed to HWare...... but u also wanna try a os reinstall..... see if that works or not. but usually it is caused by overheating or dying hardware

os reinstall is not really an option since this is not my pc.

nothing is overheating, i am sure.

 

Have you tried running a memtest? If it fails it's a memory problem. It could also be caused by cpu overheating, but swapping ram around wouldn't have fixed that...

that's what's weird.

i doubt that two ram sticks in a row are faulty.

cpu is not overheating either.

[Sauron]

i doubt that two ram sticks in a row are faulty.

 

It's still possible, or maybe the motherboard's ram slots are defective. I'd run the memtest just to make sure.

[Rheinwasser]

It's still possible, or maybe the motherboard's ram slots are defective. I'd run the memtest just to make sure.

i've tried both.

its a very strange problem, i agree.

 

i think that there is something about the iGPU or the motherboard since sometimes when you boot it up the monitor stays black and once there was a no vga card error. could this be the case that it sometimes works and then stops working again after some time?

but if that would be the case, i dont understand how using another ram stick or resetting the bios could fix the issue.

[Mistgrim]

Use a live USB to troubleshoot

[Rheinwasser]

Use a live USB to troubleshoot

what should i troubleshoot?

ram doesnt make sense, and you can't really troubleshoot a motherboard or a cpu or and apu.

 

and i dont now how to troubleshoot a potential windows issue.

[Mistgrim]

what should i troubleshoot?

ram doesnt make sense, and you can't really troubleshoot a motherboard or a cpu or and apu.

 

and i dont now how to troubleshoot a potential windows issue.

The use of a live USB is to distinguish between hardware or software issues as all software is on the live usb; if the usb works without issue then your issue is software related and vice versa

 

Though from your symptoms i would say mobo or cpu, cpu failure being the more rare of the two

[Rheinwasser]

The use of a live USB is to distinguish between hardware or software issues as all software is on the live usb; if the usb works without issue then your issue is software related and vice versa

 

Though from your symptoms i would say mobo or cpu, cpu failure being the more rare of the two

ok, i think i'll change out the motherboard.

 

well, i doesnt crash immediately, last time it worked for two weeks before there were any crashes. so its kinda hard to tell whether its software or not. thanks though!