Random and Infrequent System Freeze

AlishaA · Apr 15, 2015

I have an ongoing problem with my computer freezing completely, seemingly at random. It doesn't happen that often, only 2 or 3 times a week at most despite constant use. There is no pattern as to when it occurs, it can be during heavy use or even before I've opened any programs.

I've had this PC for around a year and had no problems prior to this issue that started about a month ago.

I've tried all the stuff that was obvious to me, such as malware/virus scan, updating drivers, system restore, reinstalling windows, checking temperatures (all normal), testing RAM etc.

Windows 8.1 Pro (64)
AMD FX6350 (3.9GHz)
8GB Dual-Channel DDR3 Kingston RAM
Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
250MB Samgsung SSD 840 EVO
1GB Seagate SATA
ASUS Xonar DG Audio

Can anyone offer me some advice on what I can do to try and diagnose and/or fix this problem?

I can't even work out if it's software or hardware related.

Thanks,

PreyTheSun · Apr 15, 2015

Wow, a system restore, reinstallation of windows and STILL the same issue? That tells me it's at least a hardware issue, so I would boil it down to that. Is it a custom built rig or prebuilt? That's a really nice build regardless and I'd hate to see it go to waste with such an issue.

AlishaA · Apr 15, 2015

PreyTheSun :

Hey,

It was custom built for me by a friend but unfortunately they have since moved away and are unable to help.

PreyTheSun · Apr 15, 2015

AlishaA :

Alright, well I would first start by testing out that Samsung SSD. That might be causing the main freeze ups, especially since they're inconsistent. What makes me think it's a hardware problem is the fact that you restored and attempted a full wipe and reinstall of windows 8.1, which would solve a software issue from fresh boot.

Maybe Windows 8.1 is causing some problems as well. Have you read reviews on your SSD drive, seeing if anyone else had a similar issue/if it's the SSD?

AlishaA · Apr 15, 2015

PreyTheSun :

There are numerous other posts on blogs/forums with people having 'random freeze' problems with Samsung 840 Evo SSDs, so I will investigate this a bit further and see what I can do.

Thanks

PreyTheSun · Apr 15, 2015

AlishaA :

PreyTheSun :

There are numerous other posts on blogs/forums with people having 'random freeze' problems with Samsung 840 Evo SSDs, so I will investigate this a bit further and see what I can do.

Thanks

Looks like we found the culprit,

.. You're welcome.

AlishaA · Apr 16, 2015

I backed up everything from my HDD and formated it, then cloned the SSD onto the HDD. I've unplugged the SSD now and I'll keep using the pc for a few days to see if the problem still occurs. (It was a lot easier than expected considering I hadn't done anything like this before.)

If it all works fine then it confirms that the samsung SSD was the culprit.

I was amazed by how much slower the system boots now, I didn't quite realise how much faster SSDs were.

entropy4money · Apr 16, 2015

AlishaA :

Just out of curiosity. Did you contact Samsung or whoever sold you the drive about this? did you have to go through RMA? if you had to, please let us know how the RMA process was and if your problem was solved.

PreyTheSun · Apr 16, 2015

AlishaA :

Sounds like you're making some great progress,

! Yes, the SSD is a night and day difference in speed over any HDD, it's great, isn't it? Okay, so let me know after a few days if the problem keeps occurring. I'm glad the reformat went well and was easy for you!

AlishaA · Apr 17, 2015

It lasted 21 hours. Then hit the same problem. And this time the SSD was sitting on my desk so it can't be blamed.

I think this is turning out to be a complicated issue, any ideas?

entropy4money · Apr 17, 2015

AlishaA :

Are you over-clocking your video card or processor? Does the computer screen goes black or blue after the system freeze?. The reason I ask is because it could be that the processor or the video card get unstable, it is quite common and really hard to diagnose. I would suggest you run a benchmark program for your video card for at least an hr and see if anything happens. Do the same for the processor.

When the system freezes, does everything seems to be working fine? or does the computer shuts down by itself?. I have a gut feeling that this is the video card.

AlishaA · Apr 17, 2015

entropy4money :

There's no black/blue screen, it literally just freezes and is unresponsive to keyboard and mouse. It doesn't shut down by itself, it just remains constantly in the frozen and unresponsive state until I manually turn it off.

Neither the CPU or video card are overclocked.

I will try benchmarking.

Thanks

entropy4money · Apr 17, 2015

AlishaA :

Ok try that and let me know what happens. The point is to put a constant high load on the video card, or the processor. If instability is an issue, then the benchmarking will hopefully cause the system to become unstable and freeze. This works most times, but not all, so that's why you should run the benchmark for a reasonably long time, and maybe do it more than once.

A lot of times the issue is not the video card or processor directly but a fault PSU. that's why you should consider buying a PSU tester, they are very easy to use and would tell you if there is anything wrong with your PSU. Another thing you should also consider buying is a wattage meter. A wattage meter measures how much power your whole system is consuming, if you are reaching 80-90% of max load you should consider buying a more powerful PSU.

Just out of curiosity, what PSU do you have powering your system?. Also, exactly what model of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 do you have? Sometimes they make these "BIOS O.C." versions and sell them as "guaranteed stable", and a lot of times they're not stable.

AlishaA · Apr 17, 2015

entropy4money :

GTX 770 is labelled as Palit Microsystems. I know nothing more than that.

I know the PSU is 650W, but I would have to check what model etc.

Benchmarking currently in progress, graphics has got up to around 75-80°C now, but no freeze yet.

entropy4money · Apr 17, 2015

75-80 C is a bit high but it is still normal under high loads for your model. Are all of the fans in the video card working? keep monitoring the temperature, if it doesn't go beyond that, then over-heating is not the problem. Again, since the problem happens randomly (even when idle to my understanding) I am not worried about overheat but instability. Remember to do the same thing on the processor.

AlishaA · Apr 17, 2015

entropy4money :

All fans working fine, 80C is the highest it got, still no freeze despite a few hours of heavy graphics load.

I'll try benchmarking the processor next.

entropy4money · Apr 17, 2015

May I aske what you did to test the RAM? did you use memtest86? the reason I ask this is that the first thing to do when you get random freezes is to test the RAM memory. Since you said you already tested it, I didn't propose doing this. But I am curious of what you did to test it.

AlishaA · Apr 17, 2015

entropy4money :

Yes, I used memtest86 and ran it for almost 24 hours and found no errors.

I have 2x 4GB, so I think I'll remove one of them for a few days and see what happens and then switch them over and try the other one.

entropy4money · Apr 17, 2015

AlishaA :

I am sorry you're having to do such tedious troubleshooting!. PSU fail more than you might think, so consider checking that.

Random and Infrequent System Freeze

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