Complete System Freeze

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
I'll begin with stating that I'm troubleshooting a friend's PC and not my own, so updates in response to actions to take may take a bit. For reasons that I have not been able to explain his system will completely freeze at random and loop static until the system is hard restarted. I'll detail what we've tried so far and other information that may help. As it stands now I'm pretty stumped. System specs:

CPU: FX-6300 (not overclocked)
Heatsink: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+
Moterhboard: Gigabyte GA-990FX-UD3
RAM: Patriot Viper 8 GB DDR3-1600
HDD: Seagate 7200.11 1 TB
GPU: eVGA GTX 770OC 2GB (have also tried a GTX 560 Ti)
PSU: Corsair CX-600M
Wireless NIC: Unknown make (not currently being used, used when in a wifi enviroment)
Case: InWin GR One (switched from a previous case)
OS: Windows 7 Pro x64

System Temps

CPU (idle): 45 degrees Celsius
CPU (load): 60 - 74 degrees Celsius
GPU (idle): 56 degrees Celsius
GPU (load): 72-76 degrees Celsius

What's been tried

1) At first we thought it may be the PSU was being overtaxed. Previous one was an OCZ 500 watt PSU so it was replaced. Did not fix the issue.

2) Thought it may be due to the system overheating. Temperatures for this system have typically been on the high side due to the enviroment but always within tolerance. This prompted moving to a better case than the previous one, should have also eliminated any issues from motherboard mounting causing shorts as the system had to be transferred. Issue persisted.

3) As part of moving the system from one case to the other the heatsink was removed, paste was cleaned off and a new thin layer was applied and the heatsink re-seated.

3) All drivers (motherboard chipset, GPU, sound, etc) have been updated on this system. The BIOS has also been flashed to the most recent version of the BIOS. No change.

4) The system ran HCI memtest overnight (approximately 8 hours, if not more) and did not display any error messages at all.

5) Various CPU stress tests have been used. System has been pegged to a full load on the CPU and run for an hour with the CPU maxing at approximately 90 degrees Celsius without crashing

6) It was posited that the system was not getting clean power as well. As such an APC UPS was installed and is being used. It should be noted that the wiring fault light has lit on the unit but the person I'm troubleshooting this for lives in an apartment complex where the units do not have individual breaker boxes so fixing any wiring issues would not be easy. It should be noted that during these crashes the UPS has not given an audible beep and switched to battery power.

Additional notes

1) I'm beginning to think that this may potentially be a motherboard issue however I'm not sure. After one of the crashes the motherboard gave a BIOS beep for a failed RAM stick. After multiple power ons & offs an offending stick was removed and the beeps did not resurface. I thought it might be the slot itself but my friend tried a known good stick in the slot and it did not trigger the error.

2) On occasion there have been graphical artifacts on the windows wallpaper that are displayed but go away after the wallpaper changes. This does not always cause a crash.

At this point I'm really not sure what's causing the error. Nothing shows up in the windows event logs to further point in one direction or another which would really help but we'll just have to deal with it. So if you folks have any ideas as to what else should be tried it'd be appreciated.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
So, I see:
- system freeze
- artifacts
- failed RAM stick code

So, I am seeing a lot about what you have been doing to try to fix it, but not a lot about what is happening.
Do you ever see a blue screen?
How often does this problem happen?
What is being done on the PC when the problem occurs?
Does this only occur when the system (CPU or GPU) is under load?
Does the battery backup have AVR?

One thing I would point out with the information provided is to not rule out the hard drive. Seatools is very good for testing this (I prefer a bootable CD) and don't discount the SATA cable/port.
 

PhIlLy ChEeSe

Senior member
Apr 1, 2013
962
0
0
Temps seem high, make sure memory is running at default settings, in the new case make sure the Motherboard screws are not too tight (back them off). Case Fans? Try another hard drive?
 

Smoove910

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2006
1,235
6
81
what voltage is the ram running at? I've seen 1600mhz ram running at 1.5v when it should be 1.65v. Just a thought of something to investigate.
 

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
So to respond to the questions so far:

No, he has not ever seen a BSOD and as such we have no minidump files to analyze.

The problem doesn't seem to have a set timeframe at all. He's gone days without it occurring and there have been days when it's occurred several times sometimes multiple times within the hour.

Generally game playing is occuring, it can occur with any game be it Guild Wars 2, League of Legends, Planetside 2 or other games.

It does only seem to occur when the system is under a load. He states he hasn't had it happen when he's just browsing the web or doing other light duty tasks like writing Java code.

Unfortunately the battery back up does not have AVR. It's one of the things that I should have told him to look for but forgot to do so. The model he purchased is the BackUPS 600G.

Case fan wise he's running with 6 case fans. The two fans on the front are blowing in, two on the top are exhausting, one on the back is exhausting and the one on the side is blowing in over the GPU.

The screws securing the motherboard are as loose as they can be without the motherboard not making contact with the standoffs.

The RAM is running at the default voltage at 1.5V.

I will have him run SeaTools to see what it returns, unfortunately he doesn't have a spare hard drive sitting around.
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
Good info. If it is only crashing during games, it is doubtful the hard drive is the issue.

Based on what you said, and the temperatures you have posted, your friend seems to be suffering from heat issues. 74 degrees is too hot for a 6300. You really do not want it to go over 62, 63. If you are having trouble doing it with the stock cooler, you may want to look into the case cooling, reseating the stock cooler, or buying something aftermarket.
 

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
Pardon, I was incorrect on his temps. I just had him load up another game and read back temps and while running Guild Wars 2 it's sitting under load at 45 degrees Celsius. I did have him run SeaTools for DOS and it did find errors that it was not able to repair. We tried using a different cable and different connections on the motherboard and it still returned that it found errors that it could not repair. So it looks like he'll at least have to replace the hard drive that is unfortunately out of warranty. If there's anything else that should be looked at feel free to let me know but for right now it's probable that we've found the cause it's just solving it will take some time since he doesn't have the funds immediately available.
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
Pardon, I was incorrect on his temps. I just had him load up another game and read back temps and while running Guild Wars 2 it's sitting under load at 45 degrees Celsius. I did have him run SeaTools for DOS and it did find errors that it was not able to repair. We tried using a different cable and different connections on the motherboard and it still returned that it found errors that it could not repair. So it looks like he'll at least have to replace the hard drive that is unfortunately out of warranty. If there's anything else that should be looked at feel free to let me know but for right now it's probable that we've found the cause it's just solving it will take some time since he doesn't have the funds immediately available.
Hard drive
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
Pardon, I was incorrect on his temps. I just had him load up another game and read back temps and while running Guild Wars 2 it's sitting under load at 45 degrees Celsius. I did have him run SeaTools for DOS and it did find errors that it was not able to repair. We tried using a different cable and different connections on the motherboard and it still returned that it found errors that it could not repair. So it looks like he'll at least have to replace the hard drive that is unfortunately out of warranty. If there's anything else that should be looked at feel free to let me know but for right now it's probable that we've found the cause it's just solving it will take some time since he doesn't have the funds immediately available.

Ah, those temps sound much more reasonable. Yep, I think you nailed the problem.
 

inachu

Platinum Member
Aug 22, 2014
2,387
2
41
It is rare but I have seen some guys buy hard drive heat sinks.

Some pc cases never seem to vent out the heat from the hard drive.