Computer freezes beginning of games and with stress test

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xerofinite

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Apr 3, 2014
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I recently built a computer with the following specs:

OS: Windows 8.1
CPU: AMD FX 8350 8 core
PSU: Rosewill HIVE-650W
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 2x4096MB
GFX: Radeon Sapphhire Dual-X R9 270
Mobo: ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0
Fan: Zalman CNPS 10X Performa w/Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste
1 TB of HD space

This build is about 3 months old and now experiences a hard sudden freeze whenever I step into a game (BF3 or BF4) or attempt a prime95 stress test. I can load the games but once I step into it, the computer freezes. It also lasts about 10 seconds on the stress test. Freezes include no screen movment, no mouse movement, no sound from speakers, no response from NumLock on keyboard, just a hard freeze. CPU temps run 34C, GPU 45C max, normally run lower. There are no unusual sounds coming from the tower. Avast and malwarebytes both turned up nothing. As of recently, starting up has a little more lag.

BIOS settings are all set to default. No overclocking or 'performance' settings. Did a system restore to a point in the past without problems but it didn't help.

I changed the SATA cables to the HD and then tried different ports on the mobo, changed out the cables for HD, secured all connections, changed out cables for PSU, checked for dust, followed all antistatic procedures, still no improvement.

UPDATE: Updated BIOS, reseated RAM, still no improvement.

I really have no idea what to try next? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Solution
techgeek
No I think we have determined that the problem isn't RAM. If Memtest ran that long without errors, I am confident that your RAM is in good shape. Remember initially I thought it was PSU, but we checked the RAM because it didn't cost anything to check it.

Since your crashes don't just occur in games, I think we can eliminate a bad graphics card. I really think you PSU is giving you trouble. Do you have a spare, or one you can borrow to test with? Short of that you may have to bite the bullet and buy one to see if that's your problem. The supply you have shows up in Tier 3 of this PSU list:

PSU List

While it's far from the best, it's not the worst either. I have always recommended people to stay away from Rosewill...
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techgeek

techgeek

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Apr 11, 2004
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If it was just games I would have said either the PSU or graphics card. However since it happens in Prime95, that narrows it down to the PSU.

Does it crash any other time? What are you running when you run Prime 95, small FFT's, blend, or large FFT's?
 
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xerofinite

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Apr 3, 2014
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It froze once in the middle of nowhere, completely unexpectedly, but Windows showed up and said "Your PC encountered a problem and needs to restart" then rebooted automatically. I'm running a blend/default test. Why would the PSU create this problem?

Also updated BIOS and reseated RAM, reran prime95, no change in symptoms. In the past, the computer has sometimes failed to read the boot device and prompts for input, but after changing the cables this hasn't happened.

Thanks for replying!
 
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techgeek

techgeek

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Well for the most part it's stable until you load it. You've already eliminated overheating as the problem. The load is independent of graphics, so it's unlikely that it's a failing graphics card. That leaves the PSU.

There is an outside chance that it's RAM though. Download the ISO of Memtest and burn it to CD, boot off of it and let it run overnight. You need to let it run a long time. Sometimes memory doesn't start to error right away and may take a few hours before it does.
 
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xerofinite

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Apr 3, 2014
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Oh I see... It has no problem with large programs like Photoshop, although that might be a memory issue and not a loading of the PSU?

The computer froze with Memtest86 at T=23 seconds. The cursor at the bottom left like | was flashing on and off but the progress and time trackers both stopped. NumLock also froze. Could not press Escape to get out of the Memtest.
 
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techgeek

techgeek

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Apr 11, 2004
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That is odd, I've never had Memtest freeze. It uses so little memory that it's likely run directly from the CPU cache, so if you have memory problems it will still run.

I assume you have more than one DIMM? Could you remove all but one and test them one at a time?

I wouldn't think that Photoshop puts a large load on the CPU. Prime 95 will definitely stress the CPU and cause a large power load. Games like BF3 and BF4 will put a substantial load on the CPU and really load the GPU putting a very large combined load on the PSU.
 
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xerofinite

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Apr 3, 2014
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I tried testing one DIMM at a time, but memtest froze at 11 and 12 seconds respectively with cursor on left still blinking. Then I changed memtests to the one from memtest.org by copying the unzipped iso file for prebuilt http://puu.sh/7V1hU.png (first zip file) and tried the USB one after that since the computer didn't read the USB stick when I tried to boot up with it. The USB only has http://puu.sh/7V1nm.png on it. Am I using the right Memtest86+?
 
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xerofinite

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Apr 3, 2014
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Oh man whoops. I have now burned it to a CD/DVD as an image file and am running it.

I think the first time the Memtest wasn't the updated version (was 2009!) so it wasn't supported by the new system. Now it's running fine. It's at Pass 53%, no error. I think it's the first pass so far? Still ongoing.
 
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xerofinite

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Alright ran through 21 passes, no errors in eleven hours. Still has the same lagging problem and the sudden hard freeze when prime95 or a game is run. Should I try reseating the RAM in different slots?

 
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techgeek

techgeek

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Apr 11, 2004
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No I think we have determined that the problem isn't RAM. If Memtest ran that long without errors, I am confident that your RAM is in good shape. Remember initially I thought it was PSU, but we checked the RAM because it didn't cost anything to check it.

Since your crashes don't just occur in games, I think we can eliminate a bad graphics card. I really think you PSU is giving you trouble. Do you have a spare, or one you can borrow to test with? Short of that you may have to bite the bullet and buy one to see if that's your problem. The supply you have shows up in Tier 3 of this PSU list:

PSU List

While it's far from the best, it's not the worst either. I have always recommended people to stay away from Rosewill. Personally I have always stuck with the accepted good names in supplies: Seasonic, PC&C (before OCZ bought them), Antec (some supplies), Corsair (some supplies), etc. I think you have enough power, but maybe just a flaky supply, 650W should be plenty to power that system.
 
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xerofinite

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Apr 3, 2014
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Yeah, it was a PSU problem. My friend tested my system with his 700W PSU and it worked perfectly. It shouldn't be a wattage problem as my brother runs a more advanced version of my setup with the same PSU. I'll be warrantying the Rosewill HIVE 650W and will update when the part comes back.

Thank you very much, techgeek, for helping me out!
 
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FinKone

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Jun 27, 2014
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Currently dealing with a similar issue. I am getting complete freeze random times (running stress test, playing games, even randomly on boot-up if I start doing a lot of tasks while not letting windows completely boot/load startup programs.)

I have a additional PSU laying around I'll be putting in tomorrow and I'll report back to add to the thread.

Temps are good (50 CPU on Star Citizen, 60 on GPU, normal ranges for me even with bad cooling). Was unable to complete stress tests because power draw. I don't think its bad RAM (I did put in 2 sticks I had laying around...)


Main reason I'm posting is our system is pretty much the same, I'm running a 7850 instead of a 270. Just upgraded to a 8 core CPU.
 
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