Hello. I have been having problems with my pc freezing and I can't figure out what the root cause is. The behavior changes depending on windows 10 version...
Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-6700k
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H110i GT
GPU: EVGA GTX 970
RAM: G.Skill TridentZ 16gb DDR4 3200
MOBO: MSI Z170A Gaming M5
PSU: Corsair HX 1000W
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 256GB
HDD: WD Blue 500GB
Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540
OS: Windows 10
Symptoms:
Starting probably a year ago, system had been randomly locking up once every few days. About 2 months ago I finally decided to reformat my OS drive and reinstall Windows 10 (latest being creators edition, which I didn't previously have installed). This is where things got worse.
Upon first getting to the desktop after going through the Windows 10 install screens, my system was completely frozen and required a power button reboot. After that, it consistently would freeze within 10 minutes every single boot. The freezing wasn't 100% instantaneous either; by that I mean that if I had a browser open and some other programs open, I might be able to move around my browser window but my desktop / other programs would be completely frozen. Anything not frozen would slowly freeze. Within a minute from the initial symptoms, the whole system would be frozen and require a reboot.
I tried reinstalling windows again probably 20 times. Every time I tried different sequences of things, such as:
Every single boot, it froze within 10 minutes. Being unable to roll back from the creators edition since I did a full reformat, I had to go searching on MSDN for a previous build of Windows 10. I snagged an ISO from ~ June 2016 and installed with that. That installation worked much better than the creator's update, however my problem is still here. I freeze consistently once per day, maybe twice on a bad day. It freezes in the same slow manner that I experienced on the creator's update, just not nearly as frequently.
Also, if I leave my PC on over night, I have roughly a 50% chance that it reboots and I wake up to my BIOS screen. When this happens, I notice my SSD isn't listed in the hardware list. As many times as I try to directly exit bios and launch OS, it will fail because it won't see SSD. However, if I cut the power and boot up from that point, it loads into windows just fine.
I've tried a bunch of random things after searching online such as:
I'm at a complete loss on how to further troubleshoot and diagnose the problem here. I can't find any pattern in the freezes occurring. It strikes me odd that its every 10 minutes on the creator's update, and once a day on an older build. If it were a hardware issue, why is this behavior present? Only other thing I can think of is that my PSU is 7 years old (every other component was purchased within the last 2 years). If it were a PSU issue, why would it behave differently depending on the windows 10 version though?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Specs:
CPU: Intel i7-6700k
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H110i GT
GPU: EVGA GTX 970
RAM: G.Skill TridentZ 16gb DDR4 3200
MOBO: MSI Z170A Gaming M5
PSU: Corsair HX 1000W
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 256GB
HDD: WD Blue 500GB
Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540
OS: Windows 10
Symptoms:
Starting probably a year ago, system had been randomly locking up once every few days. About 2 months ago I finally decided to reformat my OS drive and reinstall Windows 10 (latest being creators edition, which I didn't previously have installed). This is where things got worse.
Upon first getting to the desktop after going through the Windows 10 install screens, my system was completely frozen and required a power button reboot. After that, it consistently would freeze within 10 minutes every single boot. The freezing wasn't 100% instantaneous either; by that I mean that if I had a browser open and some other programs open, I might be able to move around my browser window but my desktop / other programs would be completely frozen. Anything not frozen would slowly freeze. Within a minute from the initial symptoms, the whole system would be frozen and require a reboot.
I tried reinstalling windows again probably 20 times. Every time I tried different sequences of things, such as:
Install windows and nothing else
Install windows and gpu drivers
Install windows and gpu / mobo drivers
Every single boot, it froze within 10 minutes. Being unable to roll back from the creators edition since I did a full reformat, I had to go searching on MSDN for a previous build of Windows 10. I snagged an ISO from ~ June 2016 and installed with that. That installation worked much better than the creator's update, however my problem is still here. I freeze consistently once per day, maybe twice on a bad day. It freezes in the same slow manner that I experienced on the creator's update, just not nearly as frequently.
Also, if I leave my PC on over night, I have roughly a 50% chance that it reboots and I wake up to my BIOS screen. When this happens, I notice my SSD isn't listed in the hardware list. As many times as I try to directly exit bios and launch OS, it will fail because it won't see SSD. However, if I cut the power and boot up from that point, it loads into windows just fine.
I've tried a bunch of random things after searching online such as:
RAM torture tests - no issues found
Hard drive health checks - no issues found
Disable CStates in bios
Update to latest bios
Remove any overclocks (both CPU and RAM running at default speeds)
Re-seat every hardware component and rebuilt the entire system
Monitored temps - no issues
Moved ram to 2/4 slot instead of 1/3 slot
Switched out sata cables and sata ports being used
Checked windows event viewer after every incident and found nothing but normal windows warnings I get on every boot
I'm at a complete loss on how to further troubleshoot and diagnose the problem here. I can't find any pattern in the freezes occurring. It strikes me odd that its every 10 minutes on the creator's update, and once a day on an older build. If it were a hardware issue, why is this behavior present? Only other thing I can think of is that my PSU is 7 years old (every other component was purchased within the last 2 years). If it were a PSU issue, why would it behave differently depending on the windows 10 version though?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
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