Computer freezing randomly - unknown cause.

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Mycrodeeth

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Aug 15, 2013
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Alright, so this June I built myself this computer ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-do-it-yourself-computer,3364.html ) that the site specced out for its quarterly system build marathon.

All was well for about a month, after which the machine started randomly freezing up on me, usually while playing games such as Team Fortress 2 or Skyrim, but occasionally while just surfing the Internet or staring at the desktop.

I tried fiddling with the drivers, re-installing Windows, and more fiddling with the drivers before I figured out apparently it was a hardware issue. Worked for some time on a dead-end suggestion that the power supply wasn't beefy enough for the GPU but eventually memtest86 came up with errors when one of my two RAM sticks was in the second slot on the motherboard.

After rearranging the sticks so that they weren't using the second slot, it worked fine for about another three weeks and just a few days ago has started acting up again. Memtest isn't showing any errors at all no matter the configuration or number of sticks and so far I've tested it on Skyrim and TF2. Apparently I can run TF2 but not Skyrim.

What the devil's going on with this machine and how do I fix it?
 
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jamesg2571

jamesg2571

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Apr 6, 2012
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I had this problem before, turns out i had a faulty ram chip i found this out by removing one of the 2 i had installed and checked to see if it would freeze then when i found the one that was causing the freezing i replaced and its not fine!
 
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Mycrodeeth

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Alright, I think I've already tested that but I can try again after school to be sure. I know for a fact that at least one of the chips on its own will crash, because I was running Skyrim as a litmus test and forgot to put the other stick back in. Should be fairly simple to see if that's the problem.

On the other hand, if both of the RAM sticks crash, does that mean they're both fouled up or is it the mobo?
 
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Mycrodeeth

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Aug 15, 2013
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According to the customer reviews on Newegg the motherboard of this particular build has a nasty habit of simply ceasing to work after a bit...Though this doesn't sound necessarily like the problem I'm having, since in most cases the computer won't boot up at all whereas mine will boot up pretty reliably but then will crash within seconds of logging into Windows or randomly thereafter.

Will someone please help me out here? I'm sick of wasting time trying to fix my computer instead of using it to play games.
 
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jamesg2571

jamesg2571

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Apr 6, 2012
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do you have a place where you can test the ram to see if it works in another computer, and if it crashes on that computer as well then it means those ram sticks are dead but if they work and work fine just like any other perhaps your mobo is dead.
 
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Mycrodeeth

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Unfortunately no, my computer is the only desktop model in the house; every single other computer is a laptop, in most cases laptops that the owners of which would be quite upset with me if I dismantled them even temporarily. Are there any other options or do I just have to replace the components and see if that fixes it?
 
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jamesg2571

jamesg2571

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Apr 6, 2012
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If that's the case then the only option is to replace the ram and see if that fixes the problem, if that doesn't solve the issue then your only fix would be to replace the motherboard
 
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Guest

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I had a problem similar to this. It took me a lot of digging, but I finally got it fixed. My pc started doing this a few months after I got it from newegg/ibuypower. I even replaced the hard drive and reinstalled windows to no avail. I finally updated my intel inf files. You should be able to download the files from their site, go into your devices, and update from that file. There's an easier way though. They have a program that checks for you and installs the file you need. I'll put a link below. You can download their program or use their product search to find what you need.https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx?lang=eng
 
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Guest

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The easiest way is to download the program on the left side of the page. After that, run the program. It will check and download any updates you don't have.

Intel Driver Update Utility
 
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Mycrodeeth

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Aug 15, 2013
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It didn't download anything; nothing popped up on Chrome's little downloads bar. What I did get was an Intel webpage talking about the same thing, updating drivers and whatnot, which would then scan my computer. It scanned it and didn't recognize any of my hardware, even though I have an Intel processor. How do I go about manually finding the inf file and updating it?
 
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Guest

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You're using this motherboard, right?

ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP

If so, you have onboard intel chipsets.
Go to the motherboard's web site, and check for any driver updates they offer. You can also see what intel chipset the board uses. You can look it up on that intel site I gave you. Just use the product search. Download the file. Then, look for your intel device under devices and update from the file you downloaded.
 
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Guest

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Is it intel or realtek? Something else? Look at it under devices to see the brand. You can go to that brand website to download the driver.
 
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