Hi all,
Around February I got a new system built for me by a local computer shop - I gave them a list of parts and they assembled. But the computer has been locking up apparently randomly ever since I've had it. I've done lots of testing and many parts have been replaced but few months later I can't find the problem. Since the problem is so intermittent and many many parts have been changed already I want to try fixing it at home first because the local shop won't be able to do much.
Specs:
i5 6500
Gigabyte H170-D3H
Gigabyte GTX 960 2GB G1 Gaming
2 x 8GB Kingston KVR21N15D8/8 DDR4 2133 Mhz RAM
Kingston 240GB SSDNOW V300
Seagate 3TB HDD
Antec True Power Classic 650W PSU
Asus DVD Drive
Coolermaster K350 Case
Windows 10 N
I also had 2 of my old drives in the computer from previous system. One SSD and one HDD.
There are no BSODs, the screen just freezes, audio cuts out and cursor is stuck in place. All my fans are still spinning inside the case and my keyboard and mouse lights are still on when it freezes. Waiting for some time doesn't resolve the problem - I have to hard restart the computer using power button.
I've had it happen when I'm playing games, when I'm watching a video, when I'm doing nothing but Skype.
Here's what I've tried so far:
- My old drives were disconnected, did not help.
- Memtesting overnight for both sticks. Came back fine. They replaced memory anyway.
- Updated BIOS to F3.
- Computer shop first thought it was a video card problem - they subbed in GTX 750? 760? and it did not crash when they ran stress testing overnight. Initially I had a GB G1 R9 380 so they offered me the chance to replace it with the also brand new 960. Lockups persisted.
- Stress testing sometimes managed to crash the computer but I think this was more coincidence, like it was going to crash anyway. Computer shop once formatted the computer, went to download some stress test software and computer locked up again. Sometimes I'd run unigine heaven overnight and it'd come back fine, sometimes not. Temperatures look fine too. As far as I can remember, GPU reached a max of 67-70 degrees celsius. I also have a side case fan so I think it's less likely to be a temp problem. I don't think the CPU got very hot either, but I don't remember the exact number. (I thought my problems were gone until a few days ago).
- Motherboard was replaced with another one of the same model. (Brand new).
- OS was reinstalled twice - lockups persisted.
- Power supply was thought to be the problem, when I first got the system it had an Antec Neo eco 620C, new. Replaced it with the true power classic and problems persisted.
- Only the kingston SSD was kept connected to the computer, everything else was disconnected but left inside. Problem went away at this point for a few weeks.
- Old drives were reconnected, seagate excluded. Problem did not come back. Used computer for 1-2 weeks like this and no problems.
- I assumed it was the seagate drive so I had the shop replace it for me. I got a new one back - sealed in packaging, connected it and maybe a week later computer is crashing again. However it is crashing a lot less often. Previously I could get 2-3 crashes a day. I could lockup, hard reboot and then lockup 5 minutes later. Now it's a few days between crashes and because its a brand new drive I don't think its that likely for two brand new drives to cause the same lockups. What could the problem be?
Video card drivers are up to date as well.
Could it be a problem with the seagate drives themselves? I know seagate drives aren't particularly reliable but to crash a computer twice, and its not even the C: drive? But then I don't remember the computer crashing when the seagate is disconnected either, unless I just got really lucky.
The Seagate is a ST3000DM001-1ER166 model, revision (firmware?) CC25.
Any thoughts?
Around February I got a new system built for me by a local computer shop - I gave them a list of parts and they assembled. But the computer has been locking up apparently randomly ever since I've had it. I've done lots of testing and many parts have been replaced but few months later I can't find the problem. Since the problem is so intermittent and many many parts have been changed already I want to try fixing it at home first because the local shop won't be able to do much.
Specs:
i5 6500
Gigabyte H170-D3H
Gigabyte GTX 960 2GB G1 Gaming
2 x 8GB Kingston KVR21N15D8/8 DDR4 2133 Mhz RAM
Kingston 240GB SSDNOW V300
Seagate 3TB HDD
Antec True Power Classic 650W PSU
Asus DVD Drive
Coolermaster K350 Case
Windows 10 N
I also had 2 of my old drives in the computer from previous system. One SSD and one HDD.
There are no BSODs, the screen just freezes, audio cuts out and cursor is stuck in place. All my fans are still spinning inside the case and my keyboard and mouse lights are still on when it freezes. Waiting for some time doesn't resolve the problem - I have to hard restart the computer using power button.
I've had it happen when I'm playing games, when I'm watching a video, when I'm doing nothing but Skype.
Here's what I've tried so far:
- My old drives were disconnected, did not help.
- Memtesting overnight for both sticks. Came back fine. They replaced memory anyway.
- Updated BIOS to F3.
- Computer shop first thought it was a video card problem - they subbed in GTX 750? 760? and it did not crash when they ran stress testing overnight. Initially I had a GB G1 R9 380 so they offered me the chance to replace it with the also brand new 960. Lockups persisted.
- Stress testing sometimes managed to crash the computer but I think this was more coincidence, like it was going to crash anyway. Computer shop once formatted the computer, went to download some stress test software and computer locked up again. Sometimes I'd run unigine heaven overnight and it'd come back fine, sometimes not. Temperatures look fine too. As far as I can remember, GPU reached a max of 67-70 degrees celsius. I also have a side case fan so I think it's less likely to be a temp problem. I don't think the CPU got very hot either, but I don't remember the exact number. (I thought my problems were gone until a few days ago).
- Motherboard was replaced with another one of the same model. (Brand new).
- OS was reinstalled twice - lockups persisted.
- Power supply was thought to be the problem, when I first got the system it had an Antec Neo eco 620C, new. Replaced it with the true power classic and problems persisted.
- Only the kingston SSD was kept connected to the computer, everything else was disconnected but left inside. Problem went away at this point for a few weeks.
- Old drives were reconnected, seagate excluded. Problem did not come back. Used computer for 1-2 weeks like this and no problems.
- I assumed it was the seagate drive so I had the shop replace it for me. I got a new one back - sealed in packaging, connected it and maybe a week later computer is crashing again. However it is crashing a lot less often. Previously I could get 2-3 crashes a day. I could lockup, hard reboot and then lockup 5 minutes later. Now it's a few days between crashes and because its a brand new drive I don't think its that likely for two brand new drives to cause the same lockups. What could the problem be?
Video card drivers are up to date as well.
Could it be a problem with the seagate drives themselves? I know seagate drives aren't particularly reliable but to crash a computer twice, and its not even the C: drive? But then I don't remember the computer crashing when the seagate is disconnected either, unless I just got really lucky.
The Seagate is a ST3000DM001-1ER166 model, revision (firmware?) CC25.
Any thoughts?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram