The Issue:
I have had an issue with a PC I built freezing for seemingly no reason for years and have never been able to solve the issue. It is very hard for my to troubleshoot since there have been times where it didn't freeze for months and others times when it would freeze three times in a day.
There are a few different ways it goes about freezing:
-I'm playing a video game and it locks up. A few times with horrible audio noises. (This was always most common with Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and DotA 2.) Any of those games played for a few hours was certain to freeze.
-The PC went to sleep and I can't wake it up.
-Random programs(VLC, Bnet client, Displayed Fusion) crash, throw up some nonsense error and the PC immediately freezes.
-There have been a few freezes while working in 3DS MAX
-Only a few times has it frozen while I'm just at the desktop or in Chrome
The one thing that remains consistent is that whatever was on the screen at the time remains on the screen until hold down the power button. It usually freezes in an instant with no warning. There have one been one or two time where I experienced a bit of lag, followed by a freeze up 30 seconds or so later. It does appear to freeze more often when the system is being stressed which makes me think processor or video card, but they are expensive to replace and I can't be sure.
What I have tried:
Prime95: I ran it for 18 hours until it froze (I have a hard time seeing this for sure as the issue since it would might freeze if I did anything that intense for 18 hours.
Furmark: Ran for a few hours with no errors
MemTest: Ran for over 24 hours with no errors
Fresh OS Install(Windows 7): Issue remained
Monitored hardware temperatures: My PC runs very cool during most activities aside from stress tests
Updated all drivers to my knowledge: Issue remained
My Specs:
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770 @ 3.40GHz
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V LK (LGA1155)
Graphics
VE248 (1920x1080@60Hz)
Acer V173 (1280x1024@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti (Gigabyte)
Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKX-00ERMA0 (SATA)
111GB KINGSTON SH103S3120G (SSD) (OS Installed Here)
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224BB
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro
PSU
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W ATX12V v2.31
My Question:
What is my best course of action from here? I don't have any spare parts to test with and I don't want to potentially over $1000 randomly buying new parts and hoping it goes away. It appears to be freezing more than usual now to the point that I can't just live with it anymore, but its hard to know for sure since it's so random. What is the best way to go about solving this issue?
I have had an issue with a PC I built freezing for seemingly no reason for years and have never been able to solve the issue. It is very hard for my to troubleshoot since there have been times where it didn't freeze for months and others times when it would freeze three times in a day.
There are a few different ways it goes about freezing:
-I'm playing a video game and it locks up. A few times with horrible audio noises. (This was always most common with Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 and DotA 2.) Any of those games played for a few hours was certain to freeze.
-The PC went to sleep and I can't wake it up.
-Random programs(VLC, Bnet client, Displayed Fusion) crash, throw up some nonsense error and the PC immediately freezes.
-There have been a few freezes while working in 3DS MAX
-Only a few times has it frozen while I'm just at the desktop or in Chrome
The one thing that remains consistent is that whatever was on the screen at the time remains on the screen until hold down the power button. It usually freezes in an instant with no warning. There have one been one or two time where I experienced a bit of lag, followed by a freeze up 30 seconds or so later. It does appear to freeze more often when the system is being stressed which makes me think processor or video card, but they are expensive to replace and I can't be sure.
What I have tried:
Prime95: I ran it for 18 hours until it froze (I have a hard time seeing this for sure as the issue since it would might freeze if I did anything that intense for 18 hours.
Furmark: Ran for a few hours with no errors
MemTest: Ran for over 24 hours with no errors
Fresh OS Install(Windows 7): Issue remained
Monitored hardware temperatures: My PC runs very cool during most activities aside from stress tests
Updated all drivers to my knowledge: Issue remained
My Specs:
Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7 3770 @ 3.40GHz
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8Z77-V LK (LGA1155)
Graphics
VE248 (1920x1080@60Hz)
Acer V173 (1280x1024@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti (Gigabyte)
Storage
465GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKX-00ERMA0 (SATA)
111GB KINGSTON SH103S3120G (SSD) (OS Installed Here)
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224BB
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro
PSU
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W ATX12V v2.31
My Question:
What is my best course of action from here? I don't have any spare parts to test with and I don't want to potentially over $1000 randomly buying new parts and hoping it goes away. It appears to be freezing more than usual now to the point that I can't just live with it anymore, but its hard to know for sure since it's so random. What is the best way to go about solving this issue?