Cannot identify the cause of PC hanging

[Jomi B]

After my PC boots up and loads Windows it winds up hanging within 10 minutes - sometimes immediately.

What happens is one of two things:

■It will load Windows fine, allowing me to work normally for anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes, then it will become partially unresponsive. I can close a window, get to the ctrl+alt+del menu, or load the start menu and type in the search bar, but these things have limited functionality. For example, typing in the search bar won't result in the program opening (like if I type taskmgr), and in the ctrl+alt+del menu if I choose Task Manager it will return to my desktop but never load Task Manager. After a few seconds it becomes unresponsive so while I can move the mouse I can't click on anything, and keystrokes do nothing. If I try to reboot my computer, it will remain on "Logging off..." forever.
■It will load Windows, but then be immediately be unresponsive. The mouse will have an hourglass whenever it's moved over the task bar, the start menu won't load, and attempting to load any programs results in nothing but an hourglass icon.

The computer works perfectly fine in Safe Mode though, and when this first happened it resolved itself for no apparent reason and worked fine for over a week before the issue returned.

I have tried the following:

• ■Format and reinstall - Once I start installing programs on it then the problem returns.
  ■Clean boot method - Hangs still occur even with all non-Microsoft startup items and services disabled.
  ■CHKDSK - No problems found
  ■Seatools Hard Drive Testing Utility - No problems found
  ■Memtest86 - Both sticks tested independently with no problems found
  ■Running on a single RAM stick - No change
  ■Took PC apart and gave it a thorough cleaning - no effect
  ■Replaced HDD - New HDD experienced the same hangs after ~9 hours of use
  ■Replaced PSU - Hangs still occurred
  ■Checked Voltages with Multimeter - All voltages within the allowable +/-5%
  ■Used different electrical outlets - No effect
  ■Removed GPU and used onboard video - No effect
  ■Used CPUID HWmonitor & OCCT to monitor temperature/voltage - Their voltage readings were inaccurate (different from multimeter), and the CPU temperature didn't go above 50C during testing (idle is 38C).
  ■Check temperatures/voltages in BIOS - Voltages are same as multimeter readings, and temperature is in the 30s.
  ■Checked motherboard for visible signs of failures - None visible

The only programs I had on the PC when it began to free were...

• ■AVG 2014 Free Edition
  ■Comodo Firewall (Free Edition)
  ■Mozilla Firefox w/ DownloadHelper, Adblock Plus, & NoScript addons
  ■Internet Explorer 11
  ■VideoLan
  ■Winrar
  ■Shockwave Player

The system has hung after a format with nothing yet installed on it, so I doubt it's any of those programs.

System specs are...
CPU
Intel Core2Duo E7200 @ 2.53GHz
MOTHERBOARD
ASUS P5B-VM SE
HDD
Western Digital WD Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
GPU
ATI Radeon 4850HD 512MB
PSU
Rosewill CAPSTONE-650 650W Continuous @ 50°C ATX12V
RAM
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Any ideas what could be causing this, based on the description of what is happening and testing I've already tried?

 

[Pinhedd]

After my PC boots up and loads Windows it winds up hanging within 10 minutes - sometimes immediately.

What happens is one of two things:

■It will load Windows fine, allowing me to work normally for anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes, then it will become partially unresponsive. I can close a window, get to the ctrl+alt+del menu, or load the start menu and type in the search bar, but these things have limited functionality. For example, typing in the search bar won't result in the program opening (like if I type taskmgr), and in the ctrl+alt+del menu if I choose Task Manager it will return to my desktop but never load Task Manager. After a few seconds it becomes unresponsive so while I can move the mouse I can't click on anything, and keystrokes do nothing. If I try to reboot my computer, it will remain on "Logging off..." forever.
■It will load Windows, but then be immediately be unresponsive. The mouse will have an hourglass whenever it's moved over the task bar, the start menu won't load, and attempting to load any programs results in nothing but an hourglass icon.

The computer works perfectly fine in Safe Mode though, and when this first happened it resolved itself for no apparent reason and worked fine for over a week before the issue returned.

I have tried the following:

• ■Format and reinstall - Once I start installing programs on it then the problem returns.
  ■Clean boot method - Hangs still occur even with all non-Microsoft startup items and services disabled.
  ■CHKDSK - No problems found
  ■Seatools Hard Drive Testing Utility - No problems found
  ■Memtest86 - Both sticks tested independently with no problems found
  ■Running on a single RAM stick - No change
  ■Took PC apart and gave it a thorough cleaning - no effect
  ■Replaced HDD - New HDD experienced the same hangs after ~9 hours of use
  ■Replaced PSU - Hangs still occurred
  ■Checked Voltages with Multimeter - All voltages within the allowable +/-5%
  ■Used different electrical outlets - No effect
  ■Removed GPU and used onboard video - No effect
  ■Used CPUID HWmonitor & OCCT to monitor temperature/voltage - Their voltage readings were inaccurate (different from multimeter), and the CPU temperature didn't go above 50C during testing (idle is 38C).
  ■Check temperatures/voltages in BIOS - Voltages are same as multimeter readings, and temperature is in the 30s.
  ■Checked motherboard for visible signs of failures - None visible

The only programs I had on the PC when it began to free were...

• ■AVG 2014 Free Edition
  ■Comodo Firewall (Free Edition)
  ■Mozilla Firefox w/ DownloadHelper, Adblock Plus, & NoScript addons
  ■Internet Explorer 11
  ■VideoLan
  ■Winrar
  ■Shockwave Player

The system has hung after a format with nothing yet installed on it, so I doubt it's any of those programs.

System specs are...
CPU
Intel Core2Duo E7200 @ 2.53GHz
MOTHERBOARD
ASUS P5B-VM SE
HDD
Western Digital WD Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
GPU
ATI Radeon 4850HD 512MB
PSU
Rosewill CAPSTONE-650 650W Continuous @ 50°C ATX12V
RAM
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz
OS
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Any ideas what could be causing this, based on the description of what is happening and testing I've already tried?

Download and burn a Linux LiveCD such as xUbuntu 13.10. Play around for a bit and see if the hangs persist.

If it runs from a LiveCD for a while without failure, and does not crash or burn during Memtest then my suspicion is that the chipset may be failing. That's a rather old system so ASIC failure is a possibility.

 

[Som3one]

What Pinhedd said.

Also, my first instinct on such failure descriptions (besides a possible software issue of course) is always suspecting a RAM issue.

 

[Jomi B]

Download and burn a Linux LiveCD such as xUbuntu 13.10. Play around for a bit and see if the hangs persist.

If it runs from a LiveCD for a while without failure, and does not crash or burn during Memtest then my suspicion is that the chipset may be failing. That's a rather old system so ASIC failure is a possibility.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot once my Memtest cycles are complete. I've been running the testing again with still no errors showing up there :\

I've never used Linux or xUbuntu so forgive me if this is a dumb question, but should I expect the hangs to still occur there if Windows can run without hanging in safe mode?

 

[Pinhedd]

Download and burn a Linux LiveCD such as xUbuntu 13.10. Play around for a bit and see if the hangs persist.

If it runs from a LiveCD for a while without failure, and does not crash or burn during Memtest then my suspicion is that the chipset may be failing. That's a rather old system so ASIC failure is a possibility.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot once my Memtest cycles are complete. I've been running the testing again with still no errors showing up there :\

I've never used Linux or xUbuntu so forgive me if this is a dumb question, but should I expect the hangs to still occur there if Windows can run without hanging in safe mode?

Windows does not handle system drive malfunctions very well (or any device on the critical path to the storage device). If the system hard disk becomes unreachable it will result in symptoms like those that you describe where you can move the mouse but Explorer and other applications become unresponsive. Safe mode is a little more lenient as it places less stress on the storage controller.

A LiveCD loads the entire filesystem into a RAMDisk and runs it from there. The hard disk may still be loaded, but if it becomes unreachable the OS will not be affected.

As for using it, it's pretty straightforward. I'm sure that you'll be able to figure it out.

 

[Jomi B]

The memtest cycles I was waiting for last time encountered a complete error with like 300,000+ errors in the test so now I'm trying to repeat those results. Good chance this is what was causing me all the grief. If so, I wish the testing I did weeks ago would have caught it!

 

[Pinhedd]

The memtest cycles I was waiting for last time encountered a complete error with like 300,000+ errors in the test so now I'm trying to repeat those results. Good chance this is what was causing me all the grief. If so, I wish the testing I did weeks ago would have caught it!

Well there ya go!

 

[Jomi B]

Well there ya go!

Unfortunately I couldn't get it to repeat the error. I swapped the RAM out for older sticks I have that I know are good, and the PC hung like before. So not RAM I guess... or at least not solely due to it

With the new RAM in there it hung like before, and one time stayed running but extremely slowly to the point of minutes in between response time, with some processes not bothering to respond at all. I could see Firefox in Task Manager, but the program itself wouldn't appear anywhere on screen.

I've got another HDD arriving next week that I can test just to rule out HDD issues (the one I used as a replacement had been used in another PC of mine). If the hangs happen on the new one coming I'm going to know it's not GPU, not RAM, not PSU, and not HDD.

 

[Pinhedd]

Well there ya go!

Unfortunately I couldn't get it to repeat the error. I swapped the RAM out for older sticks I have that I know are good, and the PC hung like before. So not RAM I guess... or at least not solely due to it

With the new RAM in there it hung like before, and one time stayed running but extremely slowly to the point of minutes in between response time, with some processes not bothering to respond at all. I could see Firefox in Task Manager, but the program itself wouldn't appear anywhere on screen.

I've got another HDD arriving next week that I can test just to rule out HDD issues (the one I used as a replacement had been used in another PC of mine). If the hangs happen on the new one coming I'm going to know it's not GPU, not RAM, not PSU, and not HDD.

At this point I'm going to point at the motherboard. It's old and probably degraded enough that it's become unstable.

 

[Jomi B]

Yeah, I'm going to have to replace it if this upcoming HDD hangs too. If so I'm going to get a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM rather than replacing the one I have with the same model. If I've got to spend the cash I may as well make sure it will be good for the next 5 years.

I'm going to try that Xubuntu suggestion to see how that goes, but right now I'm expecting I'll need to replace those parts. Ah well, thanks for the help!

I'll be sure to pick the solution once I get that HDD and Xubuntu test done.

EDIT: Xubuntu froze on me within 5 minutes, yet I know that RAM I've replaced in there is good, so it's got to be a motherboard/CPU issue. Looks like a new PC for me