'ASUSvM5A99XEVO' Based System Keeps Freezing

[willloughlin]

Hello all,
I've recently built a new home PC. Specs as follows.

-Asus M5A99X EVO
-8gb ddr3 ram (2x 4gb crucial CT51264BA1339.M16F)
-500gb caviar green western digital hdd
-AMD FX (tm)-6100 six-core Processor 3.3ghz
-Radeon HD 6850 2gb gddr5
-500w psu
-Antec h20 Kuhler 620
-x2 additional Chassis fans.
-Windows 7 ultimate 64bit

The issue i'm having with the system is that it freezes completely randomly without any trend in the cause. When it's working it works brilliantly, but will freeze for seemingly no reason. I have run a temperature monitor and observed it freeze while the processor temp was 33 degrees(c) and the motherboard was at 31degrees(c) so i'm not convinced thats the issue either.

I am no expert but have never had problems building systems before, this however completely mystifies me. Bios,MB and GFX drivers are fully updated. I've even reinstalled OS and drivers with no luck. I hope this is some simple mistake i've made but would be very grateful for anyone who could shed light on this mystery for me!

Thank you very much for taking the time to read!

 

[kelthic]

Have you tried running memtest? http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

 

[willloughlin]

Thanks for pointing me to this diagnostic tool it's pretty neat, although my system passed with no errors, so i'm still none the wiser :/

 

[kelthic]

no problem. I noticed you list a 500w psu, but no other information regarding this. Could you provide a link to the model you have? Also, what sort of software are you running?

 

[willloughlin]

Sure, the psu was included with the case which was purchased from here,

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cit-shadow-black-value-mid-tower-case-with-500w-psu-120mm-quiet-fan-atx-mesh-design

Although their details on it are patchy. It says on the unit
atx p4 power supply
AC input-115/230v,5/2.5A,50/60Hz
DC output: +5v +12v -5v -12v +3.3v +5vsb Total
KY-ATX500: 32A 14A 0.5A 0.8A 28A 2A 500W

I hope that's the relevant information you where after?

 

[willloughlin]

Also, the software I'm using varies. Sometimes i'll start it up and leave it idle for a few minutes and it will freeze. Other times i'll be using Illustrator, or playing graphically intensive games like Skyrim. There really seems to be no trend that i can see.

 

[kelthic]

One of the things you should consider is an upgrade to that PSU. These "generic" brand psu's often do not provide the power they claim to. Nor do they provide reliable and steady power, which causes stress on all your system components. I always look for a brand name psu that is 80+ bronze or higher certified (meaning they run a test to make sure that the psu provides the listed powers at 100% load for at least 30 minutes), and has active psu.

Another thought: when your pc freezes, have you checked what your cpu/ram usage are? Based on your specs, i doubt this is the case, but it might be worth ruling out. Does your computer recover from the freeze, reboot itself, or do you have to hard boot the pc?

 

[willloughlin]

I do have a spare PSU (probably better quality, can't quite remember) i'll switch them tomorrow and keep you posted.

I'll leave a CPU/RAM monitor open so next time it freezes I can be sure. And unfortunately when it freezes it does not recover, it has been left for extended times to test this, the only way to resume functionality is to restart by holding the power switch in

Thank you by the way for you're thoughts regarding this!

 

[willloughlin]

So the other powersupply is 550w and seems a generally better build quality manufactured by 'ColorsIT' (It has various quality control watermarks that the other lacks) , and although I have not had the computer freeze yet with this psu, it worked for a few hours before turning itself off it now will not boot beyond the user login screen without feeling the need to restart itself.

Does this behaviour point to anything in particular? or is the mystery becoming even more confusing?

 

[willloughlin]

Update: new power supply as well as powering off also suffers the freeze issue

 

[kelthic]

Some other options you can try:

1) search through device manager to see if any devices show a triangle with an exclamation point, which signifies the device is not functioning properly or there is a driver problem. This can happen even with up to date drivers. If you find any of these, right click and go to properties and you should get an error code and a message that will point us towards fixing that problem.

2) i would make sure you are running at least 3 passes on the memtest, as well as checking the temps on a couple different software programs just to be safe.

3) Run a burn in test such as http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm for a couple hours to determine if a component fails.

4) You could go through http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000690.htm step by step to rule out all those solutions as well, though a lot of that is pretty generic and we've already covered it.