Question PC keeps crashing/freezing and not responding to any shut down commands

[InfamousNathan]

Hi all,

Yesterday my PC randomly froze completely and I had to hold the power button down to get it to turn off. When I got back into Windows my CPU started acting strangely where it was running at 0.54 GHz and not going any higher, this was causing the whole PC to lag and freeze up. After hours of troubleshooting I resolved it by updating and resetting the BIOS. However today I've had two complete freezes again, the first time my screen went completely black, but the PC was still on. I tried holding the power button down again however this time it had no effect and the only way I was able to turn the PC off was to use the power switch on the PSU to cut power completely. Unfortuntely my PC has just froze again and the power button is yet again having no effect.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing the issue? Could it be my PSU failing? Or possibly my motherboard? Or not related to a component failing at all?

Might be worth noting that the first time my PC crashed/froze today was when I was playing a game and the second time I was just watching YouTube videos.

My PC specs are as follows:

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII HERO
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5950x
• GPU: RTX 4080
• PSU: Corsair RM850
• RAM: 32GB G.SKILL Trident Z RGB
• AIO: Corsair H150I PRO XT

Troubleshooting steps I've tried so far:

• Running the sfc /scannow command in terminal to check for any Windows errors - it did find some corrupt files but said it had repaired them
• Checking for any errors with my NVME drives - no errors were found
• Checking my AIO to see if it's still pumping water properly - I couldn't find any issues with it, and the RPM seems fine

I'm also going to run the Windows memory disagnostics tool to check for any issues with my RAM, so I'll update the post if it comes back with anything.

If anyone needs any further info just let me know.

Thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

For the sake of relevance, what BIOS version are you on for your motherboard? How old is the PSU in your build? Did you clear the CMOS after verifying that your BIOS was successfully flashed to the latest version? What OS are you working with? You can rule out your PSU by sourcing(borrow, not buy) a reliably built PSU and then use that to power up your build. If that goes without a hitch, the PSU was the culprit in your build.

 

[InfamousNathan]

For the sake of relevance, what BIOS version are you on for your motherboard? How old is the PSU in your build? Did you clear the CMOS after verifying that your BIOS was successfully flashed to the latest version? What OS are you working with? You can rule out your PSU by sourcing(borrow, not buy) a reliably built PSU and then use that to power up your build. If that goes without a hitch, the PSU was the culprit in your build.

I'm on the latest BIOS version for my motherboard which is 4805. Can't remember exactly how old the PSU is, but it's probably the oldest component in my PC now, so at least 5 years old, possibly older. And I used the EZ flash tool in ASUS AI Suite 3 to update the BIOS, so it may do this automatically, not 100% sure. Also running Windows 11.

 

[InfamousNathan]

Can anyone offer any further advice on this issue please? I did try reinstalling Windows as I thought this could be the culprit, however I've started having crashes again over the last couple of days, so I'm back to square one again now. I can only assume it's hardware related, however I've ran several tests and I've still been unable to identify what's causing it.

 

[drivinfast247]

What are your CPU temps?

 

[InfamousNathan]

What are your CPU temps?

These are the temps without much heavy usage:

 

[drivinfast247]

These are the temps without much heavy usage:

Was this build followed with a fresh install of Windows?

Download and run memtest86. Any more than zero errors is a problem.

 

[Silas Sanchez]

This is the sad reality of todays computers, so much things to go wrong and having pretty much no chance of getting expert help.

I'd say first try swapping the ram and making absolutely sure the cpu cooler is fitted well. Might have to try another PSU. Maybe ditch any thing like rgb as I have seen things like that interfere with my system stability. Keep ram speed stock out of box as messing with it seems to cause instability on my system.

But Id say the real issue is some deep incompatibility/screw up with the motherboard and the parts and windows which you will not be able to overcome, so you may have to start over with another brand and model of motherboard.

 

[InfamousNathan]

Was this build followed with a fresh install of Windows?

Download and run memtest86. Any more than zero errors is a problem.

You mean the PC build itself? I've had some parts of it for several years (I think the PSU is possibly the oldest part now). I've only just installed a fresh copy of Windows as I wasn't sure whether Windows could have been the issue, however the freezing/crashing is still happening so I can only assume it's something hardware related. I did run the memory test on OCCT before and it didn't find any errors, however I'll try memtest86 as well. I doubt it's my memory as they are one of the newer parts in my PC, however I'll see if memtest comes back with anything.

 

[InfamousNathan]

You mean the PC build itself? I've had some parts of it for several years (I think the PSU is possibly the oldest part now). I've only just installed a fresh copy of Windows as I wasn't sure whether Windows could have been the issue, however the freezing/crashing is still happening so I can only assume it's something hardware related. I did run the memory test on OCCT before and it didn't find any errors, however I'll try memtest86 as well. I doubt it's my memory as they are one of the newer parts in my PC, however I'll see if memtest comes back with anything.

@drivinfast247 Just finished the memory test and no errors were found.