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My PC randomly freezes and turns off! What's wrong with it?

Tags:
  • Blue Screen
  • Graphics
  • Displays
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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February 2, 2014 10:56:56 AM

My PC lately has been freezing (display turns black or just freezes) and must be restarted to use it again. If that doesn't happen a BSOD would sometimes occur with messages like: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR. I'm not sure what was happening so I refreshed my PC through Windows 8.1 troubleshooting options, which deleted all my installed programs but kept its files. At first it was caused by overheating but I applied thermal paste and the cpu stayed around 40-45C max. My current build is:

AMD Phemon II X4 955
Radeon HD 6570
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 HDD
Delta Electronics PSU 300w
Two Patriot Memory G2 Series 2GB Ram Sticks(1600 MHz)
Asus M4A785T-M Motherboard

This would occur after playing League of Legends at medium gfx or anytime even not playing, just on Facebook or watching anime.

I recently vacuumed out the whole computer including the inside of the PSU in hopes that would solve the problem. I also tried reseating the ram sticks, heat sink, graphics card, and all the other cord that connected to the motherboard.

More about : randomly freezes turns wrong

February 2, 2014 12:20:57 PM

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR is a error generated by the CPU, most often because of a error detected in the cache memory inside the CPU.

generally, it is caused by overclocking or incorrect voltages applied to the CPU or to the CPU cache memory controller
It

the most common solution is to update your BIOS if it is out of date. (clearing the BIOS back to defaults)
if the error continues you will want to run some hardware tests on the machine/cpu/power supply
(also, blow any dust out of your graphics card and make sure your fans are spinning)
In your case I would suspect your power supply is underrated, when you run your graphics card your power to the motherboard might be dropping below spec which in turn causes your CPU power to drop too low and in turn caused the CPU memory controller to not have proper power to its cache memory, the memory is then not written correctly the memory controller detects a write errror, tells the cpu, the CPU calls the bugcheck.

best solution: Do not overclock, clean dust out of fans of graphics card, and power supply. or buy a better rated supply.
(also a better brand, one that actually checks itself for proper voltages)
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February 2, 2014 12:24:49 PM

Try resetting your motherboard's BIOS or replacing your PSU. Have you overclocked recently? Double-check your voltages. Other than that, do what johnbl has told you to do. Grab some compressed air and clean out all of the fans of your PSU, CPU, and GPU. Do you want PSU recommendations?
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February 2, 2014 2:30:49 PM

No I have never overocked anything. The graphics card is new so I don't suspect it to be the problem.

I'm not familiar with using the BIOS settings, so I'm unsure how to update it or reset it back to factory settings.

Any PSU recommendations would be helpful as well!
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February 2, 2014 2:40:40 PM

the Radeon HD 6570 spec recommends a 400 watt or above power supply
you might want to look at reviews and prices http://www.newegg.com/
seasonic used to be a good brand (they even make some of the other brands)
I generally find that going up a little on the power (550 to 650watts) tend to have the best price and more good deals
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February 2, 2014 3:08:41 PM

Alright I'll check on new PSUs and get back to this.

Although my Graphics Card does not have an external connection to the PSU, (just sticks onto the motherboard) does it really take 400w to power it to its minimim?
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February 2, 2014 3:29:05 PM

no, it will take a lot less but people get cheap power supplies that have 30% power loss so the manufacture just recommends a worst case number. in your case the graphics card will pull a lot of power directly from the mother board PCI slot. When this happens and the power supply can not keep up the motherboard will just reboot and it will start a BIOS startup again every time you start 3d graphics. In your case (I am guessing) you have almost enough power but your power to your CPU drops down just enough to give low power to your CPU memory controller and cause errors. But not down enough to cause the motherboard to reset the CPU.

Note: this is also because the power supply you have is a liar and fakes its power ok signal to the motherboard.
The cheaper power supplies fake the signal and save money on electronics (for them) and most people will never figure out the cause of their system problems.

karulisasian said:
Alright I'll check on new PSUs and get back to this.

Although my Graphics Card does not have an external connection to the PSU, (just sticks onto the motherboard) does it really take 400w to power it to its minimim?


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February 2, 2014 4:52:48 PM

Do you personally recommend any PSU around 400-500 watt ($25-50).
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Best solution

February 16, 2014 5:47:48 PM

There's an EVGA 430W which seems pretty good for around $40 right now. Check out the CX430(M) too. To reset your mobo, you can go into the BIOS or SETUP and find the 'reset' option. This varies for all computers from different brands.
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