Strange Computer Problem

[wvjr07]

Recently my computer would lock up, freeze, and crash. ONLY when I exit a game.

If my computer does not freeze or crash after exiting the game, it would act very strange. Keystrokes are very unresponsive and audio has a lot of static when playing any form of audio via soundcard or my usb headset.

I do have the latest drivers on all my hardware and my system is well below thermal limits.

My cpu overclock is STABLE, RAM is reporting no problems. Hard drive is fine, GPU(s) are running games no problem. Only when I exit games, my computer acts up.

A few troubleshooting steps I have taken.
1.Switched RAM, problem still occurs.
2.I have 2 graphics card in SLI, disabled one and ran on both cards, still getting freezes.

One important note, I have my RAM running @ 1245mhz, and if I go a notch up its @ 1600, in which my computer WILL NOT POST or BSOD.

I've noticed after my computer HAVE CRASHED, and I go directly into the BIOS, my RAM is now configured @ 1600, something I did not set.

How is that even possible? Seems like the culprit of the crashes is when my RAM configures itself to run @ 1600. I've tried switching RAM and problem still happens.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, I may have to do a virus scan or fresh install afterwards and will follow up.

Here are my system configuration:
CPU: Core i7 920 @4.14ghz 1.34v
RAM:G Skill 1333mhz 12gb
Graphics card: 2x EVGA GTX 590 Classified
Motherboard: Asus Rampage 3 Black Edition w/ Thuderbolt audio/lan card
HD: Western Digital 1tb
PSU: Corsair ax1200

 

[sportsfanboy]

What's your qpi to dram voltage at?

 

[wvjr07]

At 1.35 volts
I've also set it at auto. Problems still persist.

 

[sportsfanboy]

If you set the lowest ram multiplier does it still freeze?

 

[wvjr07]

Yes, I do have it set on the lowest ram multiplier.
What is very strange is that, after my computer crashes and I reboot, I go directly into the bios, my ram is now configured a notch higher.
Faulty mobo? I have different ram sticks also and both crashes.

 

[Pearlmam]

The only time my computer would reset the RAM timings and multiplier is after a failed overclock. Maybe your overclock isn't so stable? Maybe the voltages do something weird when you exit the game and crash the computer. The voltages fluctuate when at idle and at load and maybe your unique situation, in-between, crashes. Monitor the voltages before, during and on closing the game to see what happens.

The first thing I would do is to see if closing the program crashes at stock settings. this would ensure that it isn't the overclock. Then You can also try updating BIOS. That might stablize the voltages.

 

[wvjr07]

Even with the auto overclock on my Asus board a very small overclock to 3.2 ghz from 2.6. On the i7 920.
The system will hang, freeze, and crash. During a loading screen from black ops, or after I exit the game. Not necessarily black ops but every game I play.

 

[king_maliken]

Again, to isolate a problem you need to have it all at stock to make sure it is not a faulty overclock. If the problem is no more, you can move on by OC'ing one thing at a time. If the problem however persists, you have a different problem on your hands.

 

[wvjr07]

On stock it has NOT yet to crash, reason why I brought this topic onto here is because I highly doubt it was the overclock. I had my system stable prime95 24hrs. I7 920 4.0ghz 1.32v. NEVER had this problem before.
Just out of nowhere, I can't even hit 3.2ghz without the system locking up after I exit a game.
I've done the virus scan and defrag. I've yet to do a full clean install.
If the clean install does not fixes this I'm assuming a faulty mobo or my CPU is dying?

 

[Pearlmam]

It sounds like it IS the overclock. You really need to be realistic about this. Stable during Prime95 does NOT mean a stable overclock. I had a stable overclock during prime for hours but it would crash intermittently during idle. This was due to the voltage fluctuations I referred to earlier. I don't have the answer and maybe reinstalling windows will solve the problem BUT I don't think it is.

I really don't have too much experience overclocking, and I am unfamiliar with degradation of CPUs and what not so I can't really tell you much. What I can tell you is that you need to find what single thing causes the crash. ONE thing at a time that YOU choose. We, or maybe just me, don't know what ASUS's auto overclock does. Run through the whole overclock routine again yourself and find out when it crashes. Use all the tools at your disposal, like voltage monitoring software and whatnot. Are the voltages reading what you think they should? What about the BIOS features that everyone says to disable when you overclock(I don't know them off hand)? What do the voltages do after closing a game during an overclock, if you can see it, and during stock settings. These are the things I would do as painful as they are.

 

[king_maliken]

I agree with pearlmam again, one thing at a time. From my experience, it does not sound like CPU degradation, however it could be your mobo or PSU. I would still think try isolating the issue before concluding anything.

 

[wvjr07]

Alright, after a few more troubleshooting steps. For sure its NOT the GRAPHICS CARD or the HARD DRIVE.

To even add a twist to the problem I'm already having. I've set everything on stock settings. NO OVERCLOCK, I've rebooted the computer and the computer CAN'T even reboot or past POST.

Now this does not happen all the time, only a few occasions. But these few occasion's can turn into headaches in the long run, especially with no overclock.

The computer litterally just hangs on the reboot, I don't even get the POST beep I usually get when rebooting and the computer just hangs there. All my LED FANS are on, my CPU cooler is running, graphics card is spinning. But the computer just won't past boot on a few restarts.

I'm assuming it HAS to be either the motherboard or the PSU.

Has anyone ever experienced this?

 

[king_maliken]

I've seen this years back on an older computer, the PSU was the issue. It had issues with low power output, as soon as the computer would be idle or close to it, the computer would freeze. If you have a spare PSU, I'd advise swapping it in for a test.

 

[wvjr07]

Thanks for the reply guys, its just very unfortunate it was not the PSU.

Got a brand new PSU (Corsair AX1200) problem still persist.

I don't know if this may help, but after I exit a game. The screen freezes, whole screen would be the color grey, then I get a notification about how windows just recovered from a video driver crash.

Along with the static sound during the crash, I now narrowed the culprit to a bad motherboard, or even a dying cpu, and/or my 2 GTX 590's?

 

[scottstankis]

On stock it has NOT yet to crash, reason why I brought this topic onto here is because I highly doubt it was the overclock. I had my system stable prime95 24hrs. I7 920 4.0ghz 1.32v. NEVER had this problem before.
Just out of nowhere, I can't even hit 3.2ghz without the system locking up after I exit a game.
I've done the virus scan and defrag. I've yet to do a full clean install.
If the clean install does not fixes this I'm assuming a faulty mobo or my CPU is dying?

I will go with your CPU is weak I have the same CPU and it won't hit 4.0 to save it's life. If your running that processor at that speed you know it's not going to last forever.


My system is close to your Pampage3black, 920, 1000psu, 1600 corsair, corsair h70 cooler, 2ssd's, corsair box

 

[wvjr07]

I will go with your CPU is weak I have the same CPU and it won't hit 4.0 to save it's life. If your running that processor at that speed you know it's not going to last forever.


My system is close to your Pampage3black, 920, 1000psu, 1600 corsair, corsair h70 cooler, 2ssd's, corsair box

Thanks for your reply!
A question about your 920, what overclock do you have yours on?
I know the 920's are known to be great overclockers, now I can barely overclock it to 3.2ghz.
If worst comes to worst I may have to switch my mobo back to my old one, if I can't find why my crashes only occur during load screens ingame or via game exit.

 

[johnbecker]

I would try a BIOS update if I were you. If there is nothing newer, just reflash the Bios. Bought an ASROCK motherboard yesterday and after fixing everything up, the Computer would not restart, only be able to shut down and then be powered on again after 20 seconds. I reflashed the Bios and everything worked fine
I think the Asus Boards have an instant flash feature where you can flash the Bios from removable media.. Check? It's worth a try.

 

[wvjr07]

I would try a BIOS update if I were you. If there is nothing newer, just reflash the Bios. Bought an ASROCK motherboard yesterday and after fixing everything up, the Computer would not restart, only be able to shut down and then be powered on again after 20 seconds. I reflashed the Bios and everything worked fine
I think the Asus Boards have an instant flash feature where you can flash the Bios from removable media.. Check? It's worth a try.

Thanks for your reply.

I now know, this is NOT a software based problem. As I've just finished a full clean install on my system.

Regarding your suggestion on a flashing my BIOS, unfortunately on my paticular ASUS board there is only 1 BIOS version and my motherboard won't allow me to reflash when its the same version.

My next troubleshooting step is to switch my motherboard to my older one.

I'm kind of frustrated because the 920 is known to be a great overclocker and even with minor overclock's, I really find no reason for it to crash. Especially since I used to have it stable with a MAJOR overclock.

Will follow up.

 

[wvjr07]

Sorry everyone for the slow follow up.

I have finally resolved the issue. I really do hope I'm not speaking too soon, but while I was reseating the the CPU cooler and the CPU on the motherboard.

I've noticed my cpu cooler was NOT making full contact on the cpu itself. The thermal paste left no residue on almost half, of my cpu cooler

CPUID Hardware Monitor was reading my temperatures way below thermal limit, so I thought it couldn't be an overheating problem.

Thank you guys for your inputs, everything here has just been a learning experience for me. Making mistakes, makes you better.