Weird freeze up issue

BayouL

Member
Dec 9, 2000
38
0
66
I'm having an odd freeze up issue with one of the pc's in my house and would like to get some help and opinions.

Here are the key components in the pc:
CPU: AMD 965BE with V8 cooler, not overclocked
MB: Asus M4A97T Deluxe, latest BIOS installed
GPU: MSI N570GTX OC, no additional overclock applied
RAM: 2x4 Mushkin Redline 1600MHz 8-8-8-24, BIOS setup to match ram timings and voltage
Power supply: 1000w, don’t have the name handy, but I think it's a Thermaltake, it was new and free when installed
2 500GB hard rives
2 DVD drives

The issue:
Since being built almost two years ago, whenever my kid plays a game, like WOW LOL, the machine will freeze up between 30-45 minutes into the game, no bsod, no black screen, or restart, just a freeze with the screen showing the last game image displayed. No issues are ever encountered doing desktop activities; office apps, interneting, photo, and music apps, just games.

Now this only happens once during a session. After the pc is restarted, the same game, or others can be played without issues. We’ve left the machine on for days and the freeze didn’t reoccur. It only occurs after an initial cold start, during the first game that is played.

The following has been tried:
1. Prime95 has been ran many times, a few runs 20-24 hours, without failure
2. Memtest 86+ has been ran many times successfully
3. Kombuster runs without issues
4. Unique Heaven runs without issues
5. DX has been reinstalled
6. Other GPU drivers were tried; full clean-up using driver sweeper before each install
7. CPU voltages have been adjusted, but the condition still occurs
8. Other BIOS settings have also been tried

The ram and GPU listed above were not in the original build, but were added as replacements to see if they were the issue. The original ram was a 4x2 set of Kingston 1333, 9-9-9-27, and the original gpu was a 285GTX. The OS has been reinstalled a few times, with a full format of the drives being done before the install.

Has anyone heard of this type of issue? I’ve seen the ones where the computer freezes more or less continually, not just once and where after a restart all is fine until the next cold start.

Thanks,
BayouL
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
HI. the only thing i can see with all the test you did.your HDD is starting to act up.saw it few time on WD HDD it's not the drive.but all electronic arroud it.
 

BayouL

Member
Dec 9, 2000
38
0
66
HI. the only thing i can see with all the test you did.your HDD is starting to act up.saw it few time on WD HDD it's not the drive.but all electronic arroud it.

I didn't think of that on it's own, just the drive as a whole. I've run chkdsk /R several times, but like you said, it could be the electronics and not the platters.

I'm down to the drives and the CPU/MB combo. I don't there are any significant kinks in any of the SATA cables, but I'll check that too.

Thanks for the input, I may just try a hard drive replacement to see what happens.

~BayouL