FX 6350 freezing system at random times

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namfad

Commendable
May 31, 2016
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1,510
I've had an AMD FX 6350 for about 2.5 years, and since I've had it my system seems to randomly freeze from time to time. It will freeze the screen entirely and the only way to fix it is to reboot from the power button on the computer.

It happens when it's sitting idle, or when I'm playing games or watching something. It appears to be completely random, sometimes it won't happen for a week and then happen two or three times in one day. I've check the Event Viewer logs after it crashes and nothing comes up in there at all.

I've been slowly replacing components in my machine over the last year in the hope that it would fix the problem, but after changing almost everything the freezes still happen. The only thing I can really think of is that there is something wrong with the CPU.

Things I have tried so far -
-New SSD
-Completely new, clean install of Windows (tried both Windows 7 and 10)
-2 new sticks of RAM (not using the original one at all)
-New power supply (was a Corsair CX600M, just installed an Antec True Power Classic 600W)
-new CPU cooler (was using the stock AMD one but have just moved to an Arctic Freezer 13 today)
-New case (in the hope it might keep the temperatures down)
-Countless driver updates for Windows, GPU (AMD R9 270X)
-I'm about to borrow another GPU to check if it's that but I doubt it is the problem.

I am pretty much out of ideas, and wondered if anyone could offer some advice about what could be causing this.

I should also note that I know basically nothing about overclocking, motherboard/cpu voltages and what they should/shouldn't be at!

System specs:
CPU: AMD FX 6350 (no overclocking)
Mobo: Asus M5A97 R2.0
RAM: 16GB Crucial Ballistix (2x8GB)
GPU: MSI R9 270X 2GB
SSD: Crucial BX200
PSU: Antec True Power Classic 600W
Arctic Freezer 13 CPU cooler

Thanks!
 
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Dunlop0078

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namfad

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That's a really useful link, thanks very much! Even covers the exact motherboard I have. I am pretty sure I have tried Prime95 in the past, but I will give it another try. What's confusing to me about this issue is that the CPU utilisation can be <10% sitting idle and it will still freeze, so I'm not sure it's down to load. I will still test this out though
 
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Dunlop0078

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No problem. Yeah give it a shot. Also you might want to try Tradesmen1's advice. Could be as simple as something not getting enough voltage.
 
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namfad

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May 31, 2016
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Finally got a chance to boot up my PC and have a look at the BIOS. I managed to find the DRAM and CPU/NB voltage settings, but I'm a little confused as to which ones I need to change.

I'm assuming for DRAM voltage, I need to increase it to 1.505v?

For the top CPU/NB setting, the two options are 'Offset mode' and 'Manual mode'. If I change this to manual, do I need to change the 'CPU Offset Voltage' or the CPU/NB Offset Voltage'?

Here's a pic of the settings I have on the BIOS: https://i.imgur.com/1ki5A9R.jpg.

Sorry if these are stupid questions, just I don't want to accidentally make this a lot worse by changing the wrong thing.
 
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Dunlop0078

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Switch it to manual mode, change cpu/nb to 1.25v, and DRAM voltage to 1.55v. Leave everything else at auto for now.

And no problem I was a bit nervous messing around in the BIOS when I first got my pc too. Read the manual it should go over every setting in there and give a description of what it does, my ASUS manual did anyway.
 
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Dunlop0078

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Also you may want to try disabling HPC mode in cpu configuration under advanced it is known to cause random freezing on some systems. However do that at your own risk from my understanding disabling HPC mode will disable throttling if cpu socket temp gets too high, so basically if your cpu should overheat for any reason it will not try to cool itself down and you could burn up the cpu or motherboard socket. If you do disable that feature keep an eye on your cpu temps. I keep it off never had an issue but my system never overheats.
 
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namfad

Commendable
May 31, 2016
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Ok got those voltages set now. Going to monitor it for a day or two and see if there are any improvements. If not, I will try out disabling the HPC mode and then test again. Thanks for all the info this has been really helpful so far :)

Are those voltages the maximum that I should try? Or could I try slightly higher if there are still problems?
 
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namfad

Commendable
May 31, 2016
7
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1,510
I've been running my PC with the increased voltages for a few days now, but while I was using it it has done the same freezing problem again. As far as I remember I only had Chrome and Spotify open, and it wasn't under a lot of load.

Would it be worth increasing the voltages slightly higher and seeing if that helps? Or go straight to disabling HPC mode?
 
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namfad

Commendable
May 31, 2016
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1,510
After some more searching around, someone has suggested that I should try updating the BIOS. As far as I can tell, my current BIOS is from 2012 (but does support my CPU). All that it tells me on the ASUS website is that the newer BIOS 'Improve system stability' which is pretty vague. If anyone could tell me if its a good idea to try updating it or not that would be great, as it seems it's somewhat risky to do and I don't want to if there's not going to be any improvement.
 
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