Computer Randomly Freezes

[imail724]

Hello, I hope I'm posting this in the right section, but I've been having a really irritating issue with my PC for a while now and I'm hoping someone can help me. Every now and then (pretty sure only when I'm playing a game or watching a video), my computer will completely freeze on me, leaving me no choice but to hard reset it. I originally started having an issue where my pc would go black and become non-responsive back in February of last year (see thread at techsupportforums), but it has since started to just freeze on whatever screen I am currently on. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this issue? Appreciate any help. Thanks!

· OS - Windows 7 x64
· Age of system - ~ 2 - 2.5 years
· CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
· Video Card - MSI R7770-PMD1GD5 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready
· MotherBoard - GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-USB3 AM3+ AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD
· Power Supply - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series 550W

Happy to provide any additional information.

 

[imail724]

Has anyone else ever had an issue like this that they were able to resolve? Or maybe someone can point me to a better place to post about this issue?

 

[finn281175]

Always difficult to nail down freezing faults as most components can cause this issue in one way or another! You mention it is only when watching a video or playing a game so there could be issues with your video card. Might be worth checking your cpu and gpu temps when playing games too. Error logs could also give some clues as to what is happening with your system.

 

[imail724]

Well I'm pretty much always watching videos or playing games, so it's hard to single that out, but I just bought my graphics card around August/September, and I've been having issues since around February. I think I actually did check the temps a while back and they were fine, but I'll check again. What do you suggest I do specifically in regard to the error logs?

 

[finn281175]

Type event viewer in search:

Event Viewer > Custom Views > Administrative Events

 

[imail724]

Hmm, well looking at the critical event from 1/10 (me manually shutting down the computer), there is this warning 10, but it is from 10 minutes prior so I don't know if it's related:
The driver \Driver\WUDFRd failed to load for the device WpdBusEnumRoot\UMB\2&37c186b&0&STORAGE#VOLUME#_??_USBSTOR#DISK&VEN_HP&PROD_PHOTOSMART_D110&REV_1.00#7&787CFF9&0&CN07NF41W405N9&0#.

Edit: Although, I just looked at another instance of me hard-resetting on 1/2, and 5 minutes prior to that critical error is the same warning so maybe it is the issue. What do you suggest I do next?

 

[finn281175]

I dont think that would be related. Looks like a driver issue with a hp photosmart digital camera? Maybe just complaining because the device isnt connected. I wouldnt worry.

I would suggest updating your graphics card drivers and see if the problem still persists. If it does and you have on-board video I would remove your graphics card and then run your pc for a few days playing videos, games that the onboard graphics can run etc. If the freezing problem disappears then it could point to the card being the culprit.

 

[imail724]

Well I updated the drivers, but last night I had a crash again. This time I wasn't playing any games or watching videos, I was just trying to play a song on Spotify, which I can't imagine would have anything to do with the graphics card. Additionally, this issue began a long time before I ever even installed a graphics card at all, originally I was just using on-board graphics, so I don't think that's the issue.

 

[twelve25]

I would do a long memory test. burn a memtest86+ CD, boot off it and let it run for a long time, like 12+ hours.

 

[imail724]

Had the issue occur last night again so I ran a memtest for over 14 hours and it showed no errors

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Make sure all usb devices except mouse and keyboard are off. I would say that if you know ram is good, check the power supply voltages. If it's not power supply, I would lean toward motherboard.

 

[imail724]

What do you mean by making sure the usb devices are off? I have an external hd that's plugged into one of the usb slots at all times, could that be causing an issue?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Yes, what i meant was unplug all USB devices except mouse and keyboard.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I mean I can't say your drive is your trouble but your error code above although referencing hp also mentions USB and storage volume so I'd start there. Also do you have a USB printer? I've seen USB printers with a small amount of internal storage cause freezes also. Unplug everything except video mouse and keyboard, if stable add 1 device at a time until you reproduce things then you know what component is doing things.

 

[imail724]

Gotcha. And yes the printer is usb. I always leave it on since after a few minutes it goes to sleep, so maybe that is the culprit. I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[imail724]

Best answer selected by imail724.