Ok, let me start by saying I work in IT and I thought I had seen everything before I ran into this problem that I can not solve for the life of me. I will start with my PC specs and then go into problem detail:
custom built:
GPU- GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16
CPU- i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core
PSU- 650W ATX 12v Crossfire
SSD (OS and programs)- Sandisk 240GB
HDD - Seagate SV35 series 500GB 7200rpm 16mb cache
RAM- 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 SDRAM
MOBO- Intel DH77EB LGA 1155
Problem:
This all started when I upgraded from my HDD to SSD. About once a month or so I would get a random BSOD with my HDD and I noticed that it was starting to slow down as this PC is about four years old so I figured I would invest in an SSD since I was going to have to reinstall windows most likely to get rid of the BSOD's on my HDD. So I bought a new SSD and reinstalled a clean version of windows. In the process of doing all this I decided to upgrade my BIOS firmware (mainly because it wasn't recognizing my keyboard before windows splash screen) which fixed that problem. After everything was installed and all my programs were back on the clean install about two or three times a day, at no specific time or specific program open, my PC would freeze and lock up completely. my keyboard and mouse were unresponsive and I would hear the last second of sound repeated in my headphones very loudly. the monitors displayed the last image right before the freeze happened. The only way to fix the problem was to do a hard reboot. Let me also say that while my PC is running everything seems to be working smoothly. I don't see any lag or any issues running multiple programs. Runs fine.
Along with those type of freezes that happen two or three times a day. I also get BSOD's about once every other day. Seems to be a different error message with each one. A couple of the error message I have received before are "PFN LIST CORRUPT" and "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA". Based on my research both of those are related to my page file.
Steps taken to resolve with no success:
- Some research has mentioned that freezing is usually caused my bad drivers. So, I went to the device manager and made sure everything was updated. I had no yellow squares telling me any drivers were having any issues but I still went through and "update using the internet to search" on every single device. A couple found updates but nothing out of the ordinary.
-Returned my SSD and replaced it with a new one. When this all started I just assumed I had received a bad SSD but after replacing it with a new one the same problems are happening.
-Based on my research those BSOD errors listed above are related to my page file. Since I have 16GB of ram and never reach that limit I tried disabling the page file. Didn't fix the issue.
-cleaned the entire PC of dust with an air can. Overheating was never a problem as this was custom built and it has more fans then I can count and is located in an open area. Also, I installed some programs to check the heat of components (MSI Afterburner) and everything seemed to be running normal
-checked the event viewer. there are no error messages related to when my PC freezes. The only error message at the time of the freeze are telling me the machine shut down unexpectedly. nothing out of the ordinary.
-Ran the Memtest under Administrative Tools. No errors.
-Ran Memtest86 for 8 passes. No errors.
Conculsion:
I have not yet replaced any hardware but that is the only next logical step in my mind. But that is part of why I am posting here. To see if there are any other suggestions before I start doing that. I don't even know what parts to replace first because it could literally be any of them and with my luck I would replace every part in my PC before I found the one causing the problem which I DO NOT want to do. I'd rather just build a new PC.
The freezes can happen anywhere from once an hour to right back to back. Yesterday my PC ran for 12 hours straight with no freezes but today I have had 4 freezes in 4 hours.
Any suggestions would help. Thanks.
custom built:
GPU- GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16
CPU- i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core
PSU- 650W ATX 12v Crossfire
SSD (OS and programs)- Sandisk 240GB
HDD - Seagate SV35 series 500GB 7200rpm 16mb cache
RAM- 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3 SDRAM
MOBO- Intel DH77EB LGA 1155
Problem:
This all started when I upgraded from my HDD to SSD. About once a month or so I would get a random BSOD with my HDD and I noticed that it was starting to slow down as this PC is about four years old so I figured I would invest in an SSD since I was going to have to reinstall windows most likely to get rid of the BSOD's on my HDD. So I bought a new SSD and reinstalled a clean version of windows. In the process of doing all this I decided to upgrade my BIOS firmware (mainly because it wasn't recognizing my keyboard before windows splash screen) which fixed that problem. After everything was installed and all my programs were back on the clean install about two or three times a day, at no specific time or specific program open, my PC would freeze and lock up completely. my keyboard and mouse were unresponsive and I would hear the last second of sound repeated in my headphones very loudly. the monitors displayed the last image right before the freeze happened. The only way to fix the problem was to do a hard reboot. Let me also say that while my PC is running everything seems to be working smoothly. I don't see any lag or any issues running multiple programs. Runs fine.
Along with those type of freezes that happen two or three times a day. I also get BSOD's about once every other day. Seems to be a different error message with each one. A couple of the error message I have received before are "PFN LIST CORRUPT" and "PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA". Based on my research both of those are related to my page file.
Steps taken to resolve with no success:
- Some research has mentioned that freezing is usually caused my bad drivers. So, I went to the device manager and made sure everything was updated. I had no yellow squares telling me any drivers were having any issues but I still went through and "update using the internet to search" on every single device. A couple found updates but nothing out of the ordinary.
-Returned my SSD and replaced it with a new one. When this all started I just assumed I had received a bad SSD but after replacing it with a new one the same problems are happening.
-Based on my research those BSOD errors listed above are related to my page file. Since I have 16GB of ram and never reach that limit I tried disabling the page file. Didn't fix the issue.
-cleaned the entire PC of dust with an air can. Overheating was never a problem as this was custom built and it has more fans then I can count and is located in an open area. Also, I installed some programs to check the heat of components (MSI Afterburner) and everything seemed to be running normal
-checked the event viewer. there are no error messages related to when my PC freezes. The only error message at the time of the freeze are telling me the machine shut down unexpectedly. nothing out of the ordinary.
-Ran the Memtest under Administrative Tools. No errors.
-Ran Memtest86 for 8 passes. No errors.
Conculsion:
I have not yet replaced any hardware but that is the only next logical step in my mind. But that is part of why I am posting here. To see if there are any other suggestions before I start doing that. I don't even know what parts to replace first because it could literally be any of them and with my luck I would replace every part in my PC before I found the one causing the problem which I DO NOT want to do. I'd rather just build a new PC.
The freezes can happen anywhere from once an hour to right back to back. Yesterday my PC ran for 12 hours straight with no freezes but today I have had 4 freezes in 4 hours.
Any suggestions would help. Thanks.
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