My computer keeps locking up and freezing randomly

[Lewisgray]

Basically so far I have spent over £200 by sending my computer to the store to get it fixed, and each time they say that I have a faulty part. The first time it was a motherboard then again apparently my motherboard was broken. Then after that they told me that my Graphics card was faulty so I replaced that, then after I did some research online I came to the conclusion that my RAM was faulty and replaced that. The problem basically is that when I am using my computer it seems to just randomly freeze, this will occur when the computer is on stand-by and also when the computer is under a lot of stress. It seems to happen faster if I am playing a game, ( But that is not certain). When the computer freezes it basically looks like someone has taken a screen shot and you can't do anything except for turning off by the power button.
Things I have Tried:
Installing windows on 2 separate hard drives and running them separately.
Ram in all 4 slots different configurations.
Reinstalling windows several times.
Run Scans even though all my computer parts were bought last June. I must have put over 50 hours of research trying to fix this problem but my computer is still useless. I hope someone can give me some suggestions anything would help thanks.

Pc Specs:
AsRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard
GTX 670 Graphics card
8GB corsair vengance ram 2x4
I5-2500k 2.3ghz processor
CPU FAN: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Corsair TX750V2 Enthusiast Series 750W ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze PSU
OCZ AGT3-25SAT3-120G Agility 3 120GB SATA III 2.5 inch SSD
Seagate Barracuda 3.5 inch 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB 6GB/S Internal SATA Drive

 

[TenPc]

There is not a lot to go by but thanks for including the specs however, could you be more specific about the ram speed?
Do you overclock anything?

Freezing usually (but not altogether exclusively) refers to the wrong type of ram, like speed, latency, or even brand name.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/?cat=Memory
Is your ram listed in the memory QVL list?

 

[Lewisgray]

There is not a lot to go by but thanks for including the specs however, could you be more specific about the ram speed?
Do you overclock anything?

Freezing usually (but not altogether exclusively) refers to the wrong type of ram, like speed, latency, or even brand name.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Extreme4/?cat=Memory
Is your ram listed in the memory QVL list?

Thanks for the reply and I had a look at the list and it doesn't appear to be there, could that be causing the freezing? And i havent overclocked anything
Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B 8GB 1600Mhz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Module Kit

 

[clutchc]

I would first eliminate the possibility of faulty RAM. That is one of the most often reasons for freeze ups. Run make a bootable CD with the memtest .ISO and have it run at least one full pass. It is usually best to do it with one stick in the first slot; one stick at a time so you can easily tell which is the bad stick if it finds errors.
http://www.memtest.org/

How long have you been using the PC?

 

[Lewisgray]

Quick update my computer keeps freezing but after it did I went into the BIOS and found that my HDD was no longer their on the boot options, does that mean that the HDD is the culprit?

 

[clutchc]

It could. Especially if you can no longer boot to windows. Does it show up at all in BIOS? In the list of available SATA or IDE drives.

 

[Lewisgray]

I'm almost certain it's not my ram as I got it replaced just 5 days ago but I will run the test anyway as my ram isn't on the qvl list thanks for the help

 

[clutchc]

Even new RAM is occasionally bad. Probably not the problem, but worth verifying. So, can you still boot to windows?

 

[Lewisgray]

yes i can boot to windows fine everything is fine and it can work for almost 3 hours if im lucky, or it can freeze after 10 mins

 

[Lewisgray]

My windows 7 was installed to my SSD so that is why i can launch windows, but i have tried my computer with just the SSD drive and I have also tried it with just the HDD and it is still freezing.

 

[clutchc]

If you can boot from that drive, it should show up in BIOS. Do you have the latest BIOS?
Once you prove the RAM is good, the next likely culprit would be drivers; the graphic driver foremost. I would uninstall the gfx driver, boot to Safe Mode (F8) and run Driver Sweeper. Have it remove any Nvidia, AMD, and ATI graphics driver remnants it finds. Reboot to Win7 and install the latest driver for your card/OS.
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4266-driver-sweeper.html
Then run CCleaner to rid your system of junk files, registry errors, and other crap.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
Lastly, check MSCONFIG/Start UP and see if you can eliminate as many TSRs as possible. For comparison, I only have 6 items checked to boot with Win7.

 

[clutchc]

My windows 7 was installed to my SSD so that is why i can launch windows, but i have tried my computer with just the SSD drive and I have also tried it with just the HDD and it is still freezing.

Oh! Did you follow proper guide lines when install Win7 to a SSD. There are a few pitfalls you can run into along the way if you aren't careful. I always recommend going with a tutorial like this one: http://www.computing.net/howtos/show/solid-state-drive-ssd-tweaks-for-windows-7/552.html
If you feel it's worth it, maybe you should do a clean install using the guide.

 

[Lewisgray]

the things is though, when i installed windows 7 on my HDD it also froze up on me aswell, which is the part i dont understand

 

[clutchc]

the things is though, when i installed windows 7 on my HDD it also froze up on me aswell, which is the part i dont understand

Ahh, more information trickles out...
Now it is beginning to sound more like a hardware issue, rather than a software issue. But I would still give the above two pgms a run unless you want to just start over with a clean install.

Btw, have you ever run a stress test with something like prime95 or Furmark? When prime95 finds errors, it sometimes lists what they are.
Prime95 will stress test most components in the PC except the gfx card. I use Furmark for that.

(how well do you trust the folks that "fixed" your PC?)

 

[Lewisgray]

thats the thing they seem nice but i dont think they did that much, ill run those two thanks, and i doubt its me graphics card as that was only replaced 5 days ago but ill give it a go

 

[clutchc]

It would be highly unusual for 2 MBs in a row to be bad. Or two cards in a row. But good luck with your testing. Let us know what you find.

 

[Lewisgray]

Just ran Prime 95 for 30 mins with no faults decided to stop it even though it was a short test, the temps never got over 47 degrees. But about 30 seconds after i stopped my computer froze up. And when it froze both my temps were stable

 

[Lewisgray]

the crashes are becoming more regular now, the max up time i have had is about 50 mins, but it has started freezing every 10 -30 mins now

 

[clutchc]

Man, that sure has all the earmarks of bad memory. I used to have that problem with an old Asus P5Ne-SLI MB. If I populated all 4 slots with the fastest memory they'd accept, it would do that. Obviously that's not your issue with 2 sticks of RAM.

However, You might still try memtest or the built in Windows Memory Diagnostics. Or even try just one stick in the machine for awhile and see if you can make it crash. Then swap sticks. I would definitely eliminate the memory first.

 

[Lewisgray]

alright ill test the memory out for the rest of the day. thanks for your help. And would the fact that my memory is not in the QVL list have any effect on how my ram is running? otherwise i have played around with 1333mhz and 1600mhz and they both dont seem to work

 

[clutchc]

What are the specs of your memory? 1600MHZ/1.5V/9-9-9-24? Should be fine.
The QVL is simply the memory the manufacturer used during testing to prove out the MB. So they only guarantee it with those brands/specs. I've never had an issue using memory that wasn't on the QVL. And I've built a bunch of PCs.

 

[clutchc]

the crashes are becoming more regular now, the max up time i have had is about 50 mins, but it has started freezing every 10 -30 mins now

Sounds like the warmer something gets, the sooner it crashes.

 

[TenPc]

The ram seems to be good. The QVL ram list is a guide only, not all ram can be tested, too many brands but it is a good indication. Your ram is standard so I doubt that it is the issue.

Does the PC crash without any hdd's (SSD) attached?

What is your OS?
Your motherbard supports up to Windows 8 x64 but the SSD doesn't list Windows 8 at all as a supported OS.
Windows XP 32-bit /64-bit; Windows Vista 32-bit / 64-bit; Windows 7 32-bit / 64-bit; Linux; Mac OS X
http://ocz.com/consumer/agility-3-sata-3-ssd

If you had problems instaling the OS on the SSD, it could be (possibility) that the hdd is not suited to your OS, if in fact that you have installed Windows 8.

Is your SSD set to IDE or AHCI mode? Check bios.

 

[Lewisgray]

The ram seems to be good. The QVL ram list is a guide only, not all ram can be tested, too many brands but it is a good indication. Your ram is standard so I doubt that it is the issue.

Does the PC crash without any hdd's (SSD) attached?

What is your OS?
Your motherbard supports up to Windows 8 x64 but the SSD doesn't list Windows 8 at all as a supported OS.
Windows XP 32-bit /64-bit; Windows Vista 32-bit / 64-bit; Windows 7 32-bit / 64-bit; Linux; Mac OS X
http://ocz.com/consumer/agility-3-sata-3-ssd

If you had problems instaling the OS on the SSD, it could be (possibility) that the hdd is not suited to your OS, if in fact that you have installed Windows 8.

Is your SSD set to IDE or AHCI mode? Check bios.

Its set to AHCI mode

 

[Lewisgray]

Updatee: tested it this morning with all 4 ram sticks in the computer, ran fine for 3 hours. Then i gave it a break launched it again and it froze after after 30 mins. Tried again where it lasted probably the same amount of time, but this time the screen went black and the computer shut down.