Full system crash, hard reset required.

[MrCatBus]

I purchased a new PC three or four days ago (custom built) and I'm having issues with the PC freezing up. Everything crashes the only way to get it back is by resetting the machine. It can happen at any time, I've experienced it during gaming, browsing the net, talking on Skype and so on. I would appreciate some input, I've checked pretty much everything I can think of. Checked the HDDs, the RAM, I've been monitoring the temperatures, checked the PSU connections (though the PSU might be a bit low). The PC has also started to exhibit some HDD "clicking" which wasn't there before.

Specs:
i7 2600k - 3.4GHz
8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM 1600 MHz
1MB Asus GTX560 TI
Seagate 1TB Sataii HDD
Samsung 22x Sata DVDRW
TP-Link 150MPS PCI-Express Wireless Card
OCZ 700W MOD XStream PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium (SP1)

I know you probably don't need to see everything but since I think it might be a PSU issue then it's good to know what exactly is running on the PSU.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

HD "CLICKING" is normally a sign of HD failure.... test it in dos with ONTRACK or Hirens...NOT in windows...

All the best Brett

 

[dan macduff]

well mrCatBus it looks like you have a faulty hard drive if your hearing clicking. also if your computer is freezing check all the cables to see if they are loose or have a rip causing a short. do you have a warranty for your computer if so send it back to wherever you bought it or the company that made it. another thing to do is either a virus scan or check disk. but most likely it is your cpu or hard drive.

good luck
Dan

 

[MrCatBus]

I've checked the cables and it doesn't seem to be a faulty connection. I forgot to mention that the CPU is OC'ed to 4.3GHz and I have serious doubts about their stress testing. It was claimed they did 24 hours of stress testing (which is still low but I checked for reviews pre-purchase and nobody had any problems) however my machine was shipped within perhaps 3 days of my order and I fail to see how they couldn't notice this during testing.

I have a two year hardware and labour warranty, I'm just worried that they'll try to say it's a software problem. I'm not feeling very trusting at the moment. I've got anti-virus and spyware protection but I've not really done anything but play games on it for the last few days so I doubt it's that however I will run it to be sure.

 

[dan macduff]

if the hard drive is clicking it is faulty hardware and your store or manufacturer should be able to replace it

 

[MrCatBus]

Thanks for the information, I appreciate the replies! Do you think this HDD failure would manifest in this way?

 

[dan macduff]

if you can hear the clicking they should hear it too and should cover it

 

[MrCatBus]

I've got a very good warranty from the company I bought the PC from. If it doesn't work properly within the first 28 days they'll replace the entire machine apparently. I'm just asking if the HDD failure is what is causing these crashes.

 

[dan macduff]

do you get any errors before the crash

 

[dan macduff]

yes the hard drive most likely is the culprit. Do you have anything magnetic close in range (e.g. sub-woofer, microphone, phone headset, speakers, radio)?

 

[MrCatBus]

Nope, there's nothing close enough to cause that sort of damage to a HDD. Especcially not in the space of a day.

 

[dan macduff]

my advice is to send the computer back and get the replacement. also if you don't have a windows 7 CD you should buy one. another possibility is during shipping it could've bounced around causing some minor damage. also the circuit board of the hard drive(where you plug the ribbon cable and power source) has a burnt out terminal resulting in an open circuit that causes skipping. do you have another desktop computer with a hard drive similar to the one in your computer if so you can take the board off it and put it on your other hard drive it might be repaired(you need a t-9 torx bit or screw driver. hope this helps

 

[floatpoint]

As everyone has already mentioned, your HDD could be at fault here. If possible why not also reset the bios back to stock since you say your system is overclocked (just make sure to take down all the current bios settings for when you need to revert back to the overclock, cause thats what you paid for), and check if it runs stable then. In the end when you have only had the pc for a couple of days and it is already giving you headaches, it should be well within your right to demand a replacement or refund.

If you do decide to send it back, keep it as is - dont uninstall any software unless it is pirated. Software from my experience doesn't normally cause hard reset issues, mostly just BSOD's, or the application crashes itself.

Where I did experience exactly what you are mentioning with random lockups regardless of what I was doing, is with a particular combination of hardware, in my case, a phenom 550, OCZ 4GB memory kit and an ASUS MB - I suspect the memory was at fault in that combo.