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Computer Randomly Freeze While Makes Loud Noises

I

icu222much

Junior Member
Every now and then my computer would randomly freeze for a few seconds while making a clicking noise. This is most noticeable while gaming as my game would be frozen for a few seconds. When this happens, I noticed that my Skype, Windows 7, and Chrome is not frozen. This lead me to believe I have a bad hard drive as my games are installed on a HDD, and my other applications are on a SSD. I ran CrystalDisk which reported that all of my drives are in a Good condition. I do not see any other issues of symptoms and am unsure what my next step to debugging would be. Any suggestions?

Windows 7
i5 - 4670K
7970 3GB
4 x 4GB DDR3
AsRock Z77 Extreme 4
Intel 335 240GB (SSDSC2CT240A4K5)
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (ST2000DM001)
Seagate Barracuda 500GB (ST3500320AS)
 
When you tested, did you just test SMART or did you run an extended test? I just replaced a hard drive not 3 days ago for a friend that SMART said was perfectly fine but which froze up and threw an error about 3/4 of the way through testing Western Digital's manufacturer diagnostic extended testing. I would recommend doing a backup, if you don't have a good one, in the event it fails during testing.

Also, are you running any type of temperature monitoring software? It might not be a bad idea to check your CPU and GPU temps right after one of these episodes.

If you don't find a hardware cause, you might want to try to upgrade your video drivers. Or, if you are running the newest driver, try to uninstall it and downgrade to a slightly older one in case you have a bug.
 
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Steltek said:
I don't know of any brand that is truly reliable anymore. Having a good backup regimen is your best friend.
Click to expand...

I've always been a WD fanboi myself.

Paying a bit more for a Black is usually a good thing.

Still have about four old WD 1 TB RE3's in a hardware RAID array for a very long time now.

Have just had Barracudas die on me in the past, same reason with some of the Gigabyte Mobos lately I see.

Just person experience and my opinion.
 
Last edited:
Steltek said:
When you tested, did you just test SMART or did you run an extended test? I just replaced a hard drive not 3 days ago for a friend that SMART said was perfectly fine but which froze up and threw an error about 3/4 of the way through testing Western Digital's manufacturer diagnostic extended testing. I would recommend doing a backup, if you don't have a good one, in the event it fails during testing.

Also, are you running any type of temperature monitoring software? It might not be a bad idea to check your CPU and GPU temps right after one of these episodes.

If you don't find a hardware cause, you might want to try to upgrade your video drivers. Or, if you are running the newest driver, try to uninstall it and downgrade to a slightly older one in case you have a bug.
Click to expand...

I just ran a SMART test. What tool would you recommend me run that allows me to run an extended test?
 
Perhaps it's the fan on your video card?

Can you run GPU-Z and see what's going on with the video card when the computer acts up?
 
LTC8K6 said:
Perhaps it's the fan on your video card?

Can you run GPU-Z and see what's going on with the video card when the computer acts up?
Click to expand...

+1

Also, are you monitoring CPU temps? What you are seeing could be a symptom of CPU throttling if it is overheating. Another thing to check might be to run an SFC /SCANNOW check from an elevated command prompt to check for system file corruption that could be dragging down your system performance.
 
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I haven't had time to game this week, but I'll try to put some hours in over the weekend and let you guys know what I find.
 
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