Computer has problems locking up (becoming absolutely unresponsive)

SilverFang

Honorable
Sep 24, 2015
9
1
10,515
I've recently moved to a new country and with this move I needed to pack up and transport my computer as well. My computer was custom built only about a week or two before I moved so it's very new. I removed my computer's GPU, RAM, Wireless Card, and HDD. The CPU and motherboard remained in the computer. It was wrapped very well with tonnes of bubblewrap and paper and packed compactly. We put fragile stickers all over it. The components that I removed I wrapped very carefully and took them with me as hand luggage (my computer (the case with the CPU and motherboard) was check in). The transportation went very smoothly and I'm 98% certain no parts were damaged. (My brother has done this many times before and his computer has never failed him). When I put my computer back together again, and turned it on for the first time after about one minute of it functioning normally it just froze. I couldn't move the mouse, the keyboard wasn't responsive etc. etc. I turned it off and on again and then it worked fine for a while. Ever since I've reassembled my computer it's been locking up randomly like that. I've made 100% sure all my drivers are updated, I've checked my computer for memory errors which showed that it had none. Interestingly, it's never happened while I play video games. The freeze is accompanied by an audio distortion, it almost feels like just before a blue screen appears that distorted BRRRR sound. Sometimes it just a small audio distortion which is barely noticeable. Sometimes when I'll game though (I mainly play League of Legends which is definitely not graphically challenging) and the game will freeze extremely briefly accompanied by the same audio distortion I was talking about before and then continue working perfectly. Another symptom my computer displays is sometimes when I close a window the audio will become distorted until I click away to another window.

Here are my computer specs:

GPU: AMD Radeon Dual - X R7 370 2GB DDR5
CPU: AMD i7 FX 6300 six core
Motherboard: MSI 970a-G43
Hard Disk: WD 1TB 7200 RPM
RAM: 16BG (2 x 8)
Case: Cooler Master CM force 500
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD RW

My computer had no such issues before the move it only started after I moved and reassembled my computer. I've tried putting the RAM in different slots to no avail. I've also tried swapping some of the powering data cables that go into my HDD also to no avail. I suspect that it is most likely a hardware issue. Thanks for the responses ahead of time.
 

SilverFang

Honorable
Sep 24, 2015
9
1
10,515

I tried that and it told me a fatal error occurred while it was trying to clean up. I tried again a couple times and it kept giving me that error.
 

WinOutreach2

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Mar 3, 2011
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0
19,160
I would have guessed from your initial description regarding the first time you booted it back up reassembled that you had a heat issue, like your CPU heatsink being improperly seated. Since you can play a game (put the computer under stress), I doubt that is the issue.

The next thing I would guess, especially with the inconsistent behavior, is the hard drive having been damaged during the move. If your drive was damaged, it could affect only some files or components like the audio driver or core Windows files for the Desktop Window Manager. I would run chkdsk /r to verify the integrity of the hard disk. For good measure I would also run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to verify the integrity of core system files (or SFC /RunNow for Windows 7 or older).