Strange freeze issue new PC PLEASE help

[anherox]

Hey guys I'm having a serious issue with my new computer and I am completely stumped at the moment. I built my new machine around christmas and it has been working flawless..until last night. I had the machine running while I was watching tv and I heard it make the windows startup noise. I went to check to see if it had installed any updates and restarted itself but when I tried to login but couldn't click in the password field. Then the screen turned on and off and showed a few characters I typed for my password and then nothing again. I was unable to click the power button or get into windows normally so I tried safe mode which worked fine. I tried disabling all startup programs and attempted to login normally with the same results. I decided I'd reinstall windows 7 since I didn't have anything important to lose. I also updated to the latest BIOS. After install I got into windows fine, installed my LAN drivers and windows installed an update for me and asked to restart so I did. Now I am faced with the exact same problem as before on a fresh windows install. It boots straight to my desktop since I no longer have my password and I am unable to interact with the desktop.

If anyone could PLEASE give me some help I would appreciate it so much. If it sounds like a hardware issue and I posted this in the wrong place please direct me to the appropriate forum. Sorry for the long post and thank you so much for your time.

SPECS:
MOBO-Asus P8Z68-V Pro
CPU- Intel Core i5 2500k @ stock
RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws X 8gb DDR 3 1600
SSD- 128gb Crucial M4 0009 firmware
HDD- Western Digital Caviar Black 1tb for storage
GPU- AMD Sapphire Radeon 6950 2gb Dirt 3 edition
PSU- 850w Cooler Master Silent Pro M 850w
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

 

[captjack5169]

Hey guys I'm having a serious issue with my new computer and I am completely stumped at the moment. I built my new machine around christmas and it has been working flawless..until last night. I had the machine running while I was watching tv and I heard it make the windows startup noise. I went to check to see if it had installed any updates and restarted itself but when I tried to login but couldn't click in the password field. Then the screen turned on and off and showed a few characters I typed for my password and then nothing again. I was unable to click the power button or get into windows normally so I tried safe mode which worked fine. I tried disabling all startup programs and attempted to login normally with the same results. I decided I'd reinstall windows 7 since I didn't have anything important to lose. I also updated to the latest BIOS. After install I got into windows fine, installed my LAN drivers and windows installed an update for me and asked to restart so I did. Now I am faced with the exact same problem as before on a fresh windows install. It boots straight to my desktop since I no longer have my password and I am unable to interact with the desktop.

If anyone could PLEASE give me some help I would appreciate it so much. If it sounds like a hardware issue and I posted this in the wrong place please direct me to the appropriate forum. Sorry for the long post and thank you so much for your time.

SPECS:
MOBO-Asus P8Z68-V Pro
CPU- Intel Core i5 2500k @ stock
RAM- G.Skill Ripjaws X 8gb DDR 3 1600
SSD- 128gb Crucial M4 0009 firmware
HDD- Western Digital Caviar Black 1tb for storage
GPU- AMD Sapphire Radeon 6950 2gb Dirt 3 edition
PSU- 850w Cooler Master Silent Pro M 850w
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

I know this sounds silly, but what do you have for a keyboard and mouse, are the gaming sets with extra buttons and functions, if so try a different one. Other than that, If its doing it after you rebuilt it, I would do a memtest and see what you get for results, and test the os drive as well.

 

[anherox]

Thanks for the reply. I think I figured out the problem. I've been doing some troubleshooting and thought it might have been my SSD, so I unplugged it and reinstalled windows again on my HDD. Same thing happened again. I booted into windows after installation and after I restarted the same symptoms occured. I got a message saying the video driver stopped responding so I removed the video card and rebooted with my monitor plugged into the onboard video on my z68 motherboard and now I'm able to get into windows just fine. I tested with the HDD then the SSD and both work. Guess I'm going to have to replace my video card?

 

[inanition02]

What driver were you using? Latest Catalyst?

 

[anherox]

I believe I was using 11.1 or 11.2. I hadn't had any problems with either though. Like I said it just happened out of nowhere and I wasn't even using my computer at the time. Heard the windows startup noise, looked at computer and couldn't use it. Went through everything I previously wrote and after removing the card and using onboard video everything works just fine. What do you suggest I do? I just emailed newegg support to see if I can get a replacement but I got the card in November so I may have to go through Sapphire if an RMA is my only option.

 

[inanition02]

You said that it happened whenever there was an update installed - which update?

 

[anherox]

Well the first time I'm not sure if it was an update or not, but the other 2 times it happened after I reinstalled windows and restarted soon after windows installed its first updates. I'm unsure of the exact update but all I know now is that everything is working just fine without the video card in.