Friend's computer freezing on windows install.

[MilkJugg24]

So my friend's computer was acting very strange last night. We tried literally everything, switching RAM slots, resetting CMOS, windows restore, factory reset... so many things. 

 

When he went to login or start windows it would freeze at the login screen, sometimes BSOD with a different error than the last, and he would have to force restart it.

 

So now we're trying to reinstall windows and it froze on the installation window. 

 

So I'm 99% sure this is a motherboard issue, but does anyone have any idea? 

 

He could login once and play Overwatch for like 10 minutes before crashing so it's not his CPU, GFX Card, RAM, or his SSD/HDD.

 

Would a PSU cause system hangs like that and BSODs?

 

My friend and I are very flustered and need some opinions. Thanks!

[StainlessSR]

windows 7/8/8.1/10?

[MilkJugg24]

1 minute ago, StainlessSR said:

windows 7/8/8.1/10?

10.

 

It was working fine for about 2 months on it.

[Naeaes]

A broken PSU won't cause bluescreens. Too little power= instant shutdown and too much power = instant shutdown. 

Since it's a different stop code each time I'd be willing to bet it's bad or incompatible RAM / wrong settings / bent pins or TIM on the CPU socket or DIMM slots/ bad mobo / bad CPU. In that order, but anyways, RAM-related.

[Belgarathian]

Could be CPU, could be RAM, could be Mobo, could be PSU.

 

run memtest on the RAM for 2+ passes, if that's not it then really it's just process of elimination. Do you have another computer that you could use to test the rig you're having issues with?

[manikyath]

so... i had this mobo a while back, we couldnt figure out what the hell was wrong with it, but it'd hang at random times, corrupting files that werent even being written, and just general disaster.

 

a friend of mine figured it out a few months back:

he tossed out the ram sticks, and tried with some verified good ones, and found the following:

- powercycle with no ram sticks

- powercycle with stick 1 installed

- powersycle with stick 1 and 3 installed

- powersycle with stick 1, 3 and 4 installed

- system works

- put stick 2 in

- system is ded

- pull stick 2 out

- system still ded

 

conclusion: swap out the mobo even just for a tester, and try what gives.

[MilkJugg24]

1 minute ago, Naeaes said:

A broken PSU won't cause bluescreens. Too little power= instant shutdown and too much power = instant shutdown. 

Since it's a different stop code each time I'd be willing to bet it's bad or/ / bent pins or TIM on the CPU socket or DIMM slots/ bad mobo / bad CPU. In that order, but anyways, RAM-related.

incompatible RAM --- ram is fine

wrong settings --- reset cmos, and it just freezes on boot disk

bent pins or TIM on the CPU socket or DIMM slots --- it's possible, but i don't have the device with me so i couldn't tell.

bad mobo --- it shipped and had 2 bad RAM slots but worked fine with the other two so he stuck with it (this is probably the beginning of the issue)

bad CPU --- it was fine before last night... 

[Belgarathian]

3 minutes ago, Naeaes said:

A broken PSU won't cause bluescreens. Too little power= instant shutdown and too much power = instant shutdown. 

Since it's a different stop code each time I'd be willing to bet it's bad or incompatible RAM / wrong settings / bent pins or TIM on the CPU socket or DIMM slots/ bad mobo / bad CPU. In that order, but anyways, RAM-related.

Bad PSU would cause blue screens and system hangs if it is not supplying stable voltage or has inconsistent power delivery to the CPU or GFX card

[MilkJugg24]

2 minutes ago, Belgarathian said:

Could be CPU, could be RAM, could be Mobo, could be PSU.

 

run memtest on the RAM for 2+ passes, if that's not it then really it's just process of elimination. Do you have another computer that you could use to test the rig you're having issues with?

Sadly we can't even get the computer to boot properly now...

[MilkJugg24]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

so... i had this mobo a while back, we couldnt figure out what the hell was wrong with it, but it'd hang at random times, corrupting files that werent even being written, and just general disaster.

 

a friend of mine figured it out a few months back:

he tossed out the ram sticks, and tried with some verified good ones, and found the following:

- powercycle with no ram sticks

- powercycle with stick 1 installed

- powersycle with stick 1 and 3 installed

- powersycle with stick 1, 3 and 4 installed

- system works

- put stick 2 in

- system is ded

- pull stick 2 out

- system still ded

 

conclusion: swap out the mobo even just for a tester, and try what gives.

We just filled out an RMA ahead of time to hopefully get the ball rolling on that.

 

He's super upset cuz now he has to go back to his garbage $300 netbook. I feel bad for him.

[Belgarathian]

1 minute ago, MilkJugg24 said:

Sadly we can't even get the computer to boot properly now...

That's a bit of an issue... If you can get access to another computer and a USB drive see if you can create a bootable USB

[MilkJugg24]

1 minute ago, Belgarathian said:

That's a bit of an issue... If you can get access to another computer and a USB drive see if you can create a bootable USB

I don't think he even has a flash drive...

 

If he were at my house it'd be done in a second.

 

I think we're just going to RMA the motherboard and go from there.

[MilkJugg24]

So his MB had two bad RAM slots to start off with.

 

And now it's not booting from either of the good ones now.

 

I think the MB is just strictly dead now.

 

rip

[StainlessSR]

13 minutes ago, MilkJugg24 said:

bad mobo --- it shipped and had 2 bad RAM slots but worked fine with the other two so he stuck with it (this is probably the beginning of the issue)

 

5 minutes ago, MilkJugg24 said:

I think we're just going to RMA the motherboard and go from there.

Best course of action on this one.

[Naeaes]

1 hour ago, Belgarathian said:

Bad PSU would cause blue screens and system hangs if it is not supplying stable voltage or has inconsistent power delivery to the CPU or GFX card

I see what you mean, but I actually did mean broken, not bad. An incompatible or insufficient or overheating PSU can have DC ripple which can lead to a BSOD or hang but I've literally never seen a PSU, that once worked in the setup and the environment and that broke down, do nothing but shut down without a BSOD or any errors. I'll give you that I've only worked with either ATX or EPS -specified or at least CE-certified units and only been in the business since LGA775 but still, it must be at least a case of 99.99% PSUs don't break down in a way that starts causing bluescreens.

[Belgarathian]

19 hours ago, Naeaes said:

I see what you mean, but I actually did mean broken, not bad. An incompatible or insufficient or overheating PSU can have DC ripple which can lead to a BSOD or hang but I've literally never seen a PSU, that once worked in the setup and the environment and that broke down, do nothing but shut down without a BSOD or any errors. I'll give you that I've only worked with either ATX or EPS -specified or at least CE-certified units and only been in the business since LGA775 but still, it must be at least a case of 99.99% PSUs don't break down in a way that starts causing bluescreens.

Yeah, you're probably spot-on there. I had an older Thermaltake 700W power supply that looked OEM and when I hooked up the second 280x I used to get BSODs and system hangs all the time while playing games. Replaced it and all my problems went away!