How do I figure out what's causing my computer to crash?

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imail724

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I have been having an issue for a while where my computer would completely freeze up and the monitor would go black, but the computer would still be running, leaving me with no option but to hold in the power button. Back in august I bought a graphics card and started having a similar issue except the screen wouldn't go black it would just remain on whatever screen I was on, completely unresponsive. Yesterday I took the graphics card out and went back to on-board graphics and low and behold, screen blacks-out again. I have run memtest and hdtest in the past and both have passed. Is this a motherboard issue?

OS - Windows 7 x64
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
RAM - 8 gb G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM

Does anyone have any experience with this motherboard? I see it is now discontinued on newegg and only has 86 reviews.

Edit: I just found out I don't have the latest BIOS installed, could that cause issues such as this or is that irrelevant?
 
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I'm not sure why they dropped it. Maybe just marketing and the introduction of the cheaper CX line. I never heard bad things about it or anything. Generally you should replace a power supply after 5-7 years though. I have an old 750TX myself. One of the first gen ones from 2007 I think. I am doing some upgrades soon and that is on the list. I'm not really worried about it having some capacitor aging though as I bought a 750w unit to Sli with and never did so I'm way overpowered.

It would be worth trying to borrow one if you can. A random error thing can be PSU related.

Try clearing CMOS. It might help.
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imail724

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I have since updated bios and have been experiencing bsods like crazy since. as of right now the cpu temps is normal, but the computer was shut down for a while. I'm pretty sure i have checked the temps in the past though (i had core temp installed already) and they were normal.
And the video card can't be overheating since it is sitting next to me on my desk ;). I wish I had a known working mobo sitting around I could throw in there to see if that helps before shelling out the money for a new one..
 
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imail724

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It turns out the issues I have been having were from defective RAM I had installed right before I started having issues. Since removing the additional sticks everything has been running normal. I'm going to RMA the RAM to G. Skill this week if now further issues arise.
 
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imail724

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I was wrong about my problem being resolved and am still experiencing random total freeze-ups. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Bad mobo? Incompatible RAM? HD? PSU? I'm getting desperate and am willing to buy any new parts I need, I'm just worried that I'll buy a new mobo and it'll turn out the psu was the issue, or I'll buy new RAM and it'll be the mobo, etc.
 
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Run memtest, 8 to 10 hours to test 8GB fully. Any errors at all mean something is wrong.

http://www.memtest.org/
 
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imail724

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I tested it over night once and it returned no errors. I recently discovered that the RAM I have installed isn't listed in the mobo's memory support list: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-880gma-usb3.pdf

but a similar one is. Could that cause freeze ups?
 
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Very doubtful if it passed an overnight memtest. I see now in your first post you ran it. But then you confirmed you had memory issues later? How did you decide you had bad RAM if memtest had no errors?

Are the errors completely random?

Are you overclocking anything?
 
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imail724

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CPU temps are fine too, I set Core Temp to alert me when the cores get too hot and it never has prior to a freeze up. GPU isn't a factor because I've experienced freeze ups with the gpu installed as well as uninstalled using only the onboard graphics
 
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imail724

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That was the strange part. At one point I started getting BSODs every time i would turn the computer on. I then removed 2 sticks of RAM (4 gigs), and haven't had any more BSODs. I've been running 4 gigs since then. The RAM I removed was brand new too.
Yes, the errors are always random, therefore, difficult to troubleshoot.
I am running the listed timings on the memory. I believe I tried lowering the voltage at one point but it didn't fix anything.
 
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Raising the voltage would help more than lowering it generally. Have you tried to clear CMOS? Either use the jumper on the board or take the battery out for 10 minutes or so.
 
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imail724

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I don't. I had someone who said he was gonna let me use his but he never came through. Do you know if it was discontinued because of issues or just because its outdated/obsolete?
 
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imail724

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I may have raised it, I'm not sure, I've been dealing with this problem for so long now (almost 2 years), that it's hard to remember all the things I've tried thus far. The only thing I know for sure I haven't tried is replacing parts (outside of swapping the RAM with 2 more sticks of the same RAM).
I don't know if I cleared CMOS, what is that exactly? I updated the BIOS at one point, would that automatically clear it, or is it something I have to do physically inside the case? I assume by battery you mean psu?
 
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I'm not sure why they dropped it. Maybe just marketing and the introduction of the cheaper CX line. I never heard bad things about it or anything. Generally you should replace a power supply after 5-7 years though. I have an old 750TX myself. One of the first gen ones from 2007 I think. I am doing some upgrades soon and that is on the list. I'm not really worried about it having some capacitor aging though as I bought a 750w unit to Sli with and never did so I'm way overpowered.

It would be worth trying to borrow one if you can. A random error thing can be PSU related.

Try clearing CMOS. It might help.
 
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Clearing CMOS will revert your BIOS to factory default settings but will not change your BIOS version. This will make sure it's not any settings made by you causing the errors.

There is a jumper on your motherboard or take the small battery out of the motherboard for 10 minutes or so.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/clearcmos.htm

http://www.howtogeek.com/131623/how-to-clear-your-computers-cmos-to-reset-bios-settings/
 
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imail724

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Ok, I'm going to clear the CMOS later today to see if that helps and I'm still going to try to get that psu from my friend at some point.

You don't think the board itself could simply be defective? Or perhaps the processor or hd?
 
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You can test your hard drive. A program called Speedfan will monitor SMART values and can test your drive. SMART is basically just a way for your drive to self report errors to any program that can read it.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

A bad motherboard is possible. A bad CPU is extremely unlikely.
 
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imail724

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Okay, so I cleared the CMOS and ran the SMART extended test which returned no errors. But something that has been occurring since the freeze ups started happening happened, so I'm assuming they're related and therefore my issue is not resolved. If I leave my computer idle with a window open, after the screen saver runs, rather than the monitor going completely to sleep, the screen just turns black but with a cursor on top of it. I have no idea what this means, but if I let the computer idle while on the desktop it does not do it. No idea what to make of that but I always assumed whatever is causing my system to freeze every now and again is the cause of that as well.
 
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I'm assuming you are still having random crashes?

Unfortunately this is turning into one of those problems I'm not sure can be fixed without starting to replace components. I'm really out of ideas. You could always take it to a computer repair shop and see if they can fix it but that could end up costing more than replacing parts.

As I see it the power supply or the motherboard are the two most likely culprits. I would start with the power supply as it will be cheaper and easier to replace.
 
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imail724

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That's what I was afraid of. I just cleared the CMOS today AFTER a freeze up, so we'll see, but I'm not holding out much hope.
So aside from the PSU and motherboard, I can pretty much safely rule out the other components?
 
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A bad CPU would be causing errors all the time if working at all and the odds of getting one are way less than 1%.

You said it crashes both with and without the graphics card.

RAM has passed memtest twice.

Hard drive passed extended testing and all the SMART values are good.

A short somewhere would probably not be causing issues like this.

Pretty much has to be a bad PSU or board.

You get no bluescreens right? Just freeze ups?
 
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