Need help with new build PC freezing

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Topper Harley

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Jun 19, 2014
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My brother gave me his old PC which I have refurbished so that it is now almost new.

The specs are:

Asus P5n-D motherboard, updated to lastest bios. 550W PSU

I have replaced the hard drive with a brand new 2GB 7200rpm Seagate drive and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7, and run windows update to get it up to date.

The PC came with 4gb DDR2 800mhz RAM, I have added another 4GB (4 x 2GB sticks)

It came with an Intel Q6600 processor, I have changed this to an Intel Q9650. (cleaned off old thermal paste and applied new stuff.)

It had an old Geforce 9500GT graphics card which I have replaced with a Geforce GTX 660 TI 2GB.

When I run speedfan it shows that the GPU temp is 40C idle, 50C ish under load, CPU 47C idle, 58C ish under load.


Everything seems to run fine and quickly, but the system randomly freezes and becomes unresponsive. The screen freezes and the keyboard and mouse don't work, although the power light on the keyboard stays on. I can't CTRL - ALT - DEL. I just have to turn it off then back on again.

This seems to happen randomly - could be when playing a game, although it also happens when just browsing the internet.

I have the lastest copies of AVG, Spybot, and Malwarebytes anti malware and all of them show the PC is clean.


Anyone have an idea what could be causing this?
 
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lukegorman

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Jun 19, 2014
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SImplify the system to identify problem.

pull out all unnecessary peripherals. remove extra RAM modules (ensure the remaining ones are inserted into the correctly paired slots). re-set the graphics card, check all power connections.



 
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Topper Harley

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Jun 19, 2014
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I don't think it could be a corrupted windows file, as I installed it on a completely new hard drive offline. I online updated windows after installing antivirus protection.

I haven't done any overclocking.

The power supply is a HEC-550TD-PTE ATX 550W.
 
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Topper Harley

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I've tried it with the old graphics card and the problem is still occurring. New graphics card ruled out.

So what could it be - CPU needs a better heatsink and fan? (the one in it is stock that came from MESH and is 4 years old)
New PSU?

everyone's suggestions are appreciated, thanks
 
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David093

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Dec 17, 2013
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Have you checked the temps of everything? PSU, MB Chipset... Just to discard overheating from a specific piece of hard. But I think as some of who answered before me that the problem could be the Power Supply Unit that may not be giving a stable power input to your hardware. Sorry for my bad english, I hope this has been helpful.
 
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Topper Harley

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I put in a new case fan and heatsink fan for the processor. This brought the temperatures of the CPU and GPU down by about 10 C.

I put on battlefield 4 to stress test it, and I thought it was fine because I played it for over an hour with no issues then all of a sudden same thing happened - it froze.

Does it now seem very likely it is the PSU? Just cause it's not the cheapest thing to replace
 
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Topper Harley

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Jun 19, 2014
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I have now put in a 750 W PSU, made by CIT. It has been working fine in another PC so pretty sure it is okay.

Still got the same problem though - random freezes.

Feel like I've tried everything, new PSU, new bigger case fan, new heat sink and fan for CPU. None of it has made a difference.

I have even tried it with the old graphics card and it still happens. I've tried removing the new RAM and only using the original stuff and it still happens.

This is driving me mad how long this is taking to resolve. Any ideas for what to try next?
 
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David093

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At this pont ive barely run out of ideas, but one idea is to look if that CPU is overclocked and, if it is, leave it at stock frecuencies and try if it is solved. Dont know what else could be at this point, sincerely. Hope this helps you.
 
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David093

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Dec 17, 2013
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Hmmm, if I were you I'd try every single thing that I could, for example replace the little battery on the motherboard, try with the old hard drive (I dont think it would be that but who knows hardware can be crazy sometimes), I dont know, try to attach the least to the MB (USB's, sound cards, I don't know, just in case...) :S
Hope you can solve this mate, good luck!
 
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Topper Harley

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Jun 19, 2014
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This problem is driving me mad.
I ended up explaining the problem to a local PC repair guy. He said I had already tried everything that he would have done, and suggested maybe the motherboard was at fault. Since I have literally run out of ideas and wouldn't mind upgrading anyway, I bit the bullet and bought a new motherboard, CPU and RAM from Dabs.

So now I have a Gigabyte Z87-D3HP motherboard, Intel i7-4770K processor and 8Gb (2x4GB) of Corsair DDR3 1866MHz RAM
I assembled this new rig and added my recently purchased 2TB seagate 7200rpm hard disk, again with a completely fresh install of windows 7, and my Geforce GTX 660 Ti Gainward Phantom 2GB graphics card. 750W CIT PSU.

Surely I thought, this must fix the problem? Well no it didn't!

I have installed the latest geforce drivers and I still get the problem that whenever the PC does anything demanding it dies. It is fine for browsing the web, but any kind of demanding game like Battlefield 4 will last only 10-15 minutes before it gives up. It fails in a slightly different way now - before the screen would freeze. Now the screen goes black and the PC restarts itself with no warning.

I ran Prime95 which lasted about 2 hours before dying and causing a restart.
I ran Furmark to stress the GPU and it literally only lasted about 6 minutes before dying and causing a restart.

So now I'm wondering - is it the graphics card that is the problem? I even used some program to underclock the GPU by 40mhz as someone on another forum suggested, and it had no effect.

But a brand new i7 4770k shouldn't be dying and causing a restart either should it? So maybe the PSU isn't up to the job?
The thing thats so frustrating about this is I don't see anyway of being sure what's causing the problem and I don't want to buy expensive new parts on the off chance they might help.

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful to hear them. Thanks!
 
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Topper Harley

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Jun 19, 2014
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To try and check if the graphics card is the problem or not I took it out and put it in another, older PC - Q9550, 4gb RAM, windows vista 32 bit, old 550W PSU. I was kind of expecting it to crash and that would confirm the graphics card was the problem.

It ran perfectly though. Tried out Metro 2033 for over an hour - absolutely fine. I tried furmark (which crashed on this new build within 6 minutes) it just kept going so I turned it off after 50 minutes.

I guess this confirms that the graphics card isn't the problem. The 750 PSU I'm using definitely works, as I got it from another PC that has always run without problems.

So if it's not the graphics card or PSU, what could it possibly be? It seems like I've investiaged all potential hardware issues. What could be causing this problem?
 
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David093

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Dec 17, 2013
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Hey, I haven't been on the forum for a week or so because of work, hope you had solved the problem but if you don't, I will throw you an advice: That PSU Brand is not very good and tends to fail to deliver enough power on the +12V rail (GPU), I've read a few people saying that they had freezings and unstability with that PSU and that it got solved when they bought a good brand one, like Corsair for example.
 
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