So, I decided to make esports my career - and I've run into a problem. Not with esports, but with my hardware.
I received the following computer as a gift for Christmas 2016.
ASUS Rampage V Motherboard
Intel i7-6900K @ 3.2 GHz
32 GB RAM across 4 sticks
1x ASUS ROG STRIX 1080
EVGA 750W PSU
A few months prior to DreamHack Winter 2017, I began seeing problems. It would no longer boot directly into the boot drive. I had to do it manually from the BIOS every time. No problem, strange, but as long as I could play CS, I was fine. There were a few other issues, which I had written down. You can find them at the bottom of the post if you wish to read them. At the actual event, I was using a wireless headset (which was plugged in to charge), and due to the massive overloading of the 2.4GHz bandwidth, I had to be close to the dongle to hear anything. So I placed the computer between my legs. My restless leg syndrome kicked in, and the friction between my sweatpants and the metal case of the computer created a load of static charge. I noticed some weirdness with the computer. The screen would cut out every once in a while. Oddly enough, every time I sat down. I thought it was the cable. When I stood up and touched the metal of my chair, ZAP. PC is dead. I take it to the DreamHack IT center and they singled out the issue - they told me the motherboard was fried and needed to be replaced. So I replaced it and did a fresh install, and wouldn't you know, every single problem was gone! Wonderful.
Until now. At seemingly random intervals, my computer will crash, hard. Without warning, both screens, my keyboard, my mouse, and the RGB lighting in the computer go dark, before I can even react. The fans go silent. After a few seconds of silence, the fans spin up again and the computer boots up on its own, with no sign of anything having gone wrong besides Chrome telling me it closed unexpectedly. I don't even know how to begin diagnosing this problem, so some help would be appreciated.
Note: It's not thermal, as the CPU temp after restart was a normal 40C. I recently cleaned out my PC and its filters of dust and grime, and the problem still persists. I haven't changed the thermal paste in a while, but still, HWMonitor shows regular temps.
Here is the old Problem List pre-DHW17
List of Problems with my PC, DXDIAG file found at the bottom.
- Stuttering problems, which tend to occur upon:
1) first start of the day
2) extended periods of running the computer
3) when downloading things like movies, videos, etc, especially after #2
4) Paint.NET is unusable, completely stutters.
- Recently
1) seemingly randomly, the desktop toolbar stops working. will not hide when I fullscreen & nothing is clickable.
2) seemingly randomly, the search button and start button cease functioning.
3) upon a particularly bad stutter, my computer bluescreened and crashed, restarting.
4) plays.tv has stopped saving clips to my local drive despite still being set to do so.
5) bad performance in games. today I played some scrims with my CS team, consistently under 144fps on certain angles, whereas I expect 300+.
6) continued desktop toolbar problems.
7) a lot of time passes before tabbing out. I will press alt+tab and it will not even try until a few seconds have passed
8) takes time to tab back in, generally slower tab times
9) certain programs will slow down to monumental proportions. completely unresponsive without going "unresponsive."
10) search still doesn't work
11) windows button doesn't work, must shutdown/restart manually by physical button
12) unable to open desktop toolbar options. what the F is going on?
13) I have found out that #9 is slightly different. programs will simply stop "existing", unable to click on them, despite
them being visible on the screen. I.e. I can click on and move the program shortcut icons on the desktop behind the window.
This has so far happened with Spotify, FACEIT client. Possibly happens only when in fullscreen mode. EDIT: wrong.
14) FACEIT client has now crashed 3 times while attempting to queue for Swedish Pro League.
=============================================================================================================================
Things that for sure WILL NOT fix the problem:
- Closing background programs. This PC is too powerful for that to be an issue. It was never an issue before I got my M.2 SSD
and plus, the problems persist even with minimal programs open.
=============================================================================================================================
Things I have Tried to Fix Stuttering:
Things I have Tried to Fix Taskbar:
- Windows Troubleshooting
1) Systemunderhåll (did not come up with anything)
2) Search and Indexing ("Hittade problem, felaktiga behörigheter för Windows Search-kataloger")
Felsökningen har slutförts
Det gick inte att åtgärda alla problemen automatiskt i felsökaren. Du hittar mer information
nedan.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Hittade problem │
│ │
│ Felaktiga behörigheter för Windows Search-kataloger Inte åtgärdat X │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3) Windows Updates
Felsökningen har slutförts
Det gick inte att åtgärda alla problemen automatiskt i felsökaren. Du hittar mer information
nedan.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Hittade problem │
│ │
│ Eventuellt fel i Windows Update-databasen upptäcktes Inte åtgärdat X │
│ Windows Update-komponenter måste repareras Åtgärdat ✓ │
│ Kontrollera om det finns väntande uppdateringar Åtgärdat ✓ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
4) Drivers
a) Okänd enhet
Felsökningen har slutförts
Det gick inte att åtgärda alla problemen automatiskt i felsökaren. Du hittar mer information
nedan.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Hittade problem │
│ │
│ Okänd enhet har problem med en drivrutin. Inte åtgärdat X │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
X Restarting explorer (did not fix the problem)
X Restarting WSearch (did not fix the problem)
? Checking page file size. (Could be the problem? Did not try to fix in fear of breaking something.)
┌ Total växlingsfilstorlek för alla enheter ─────────────────────────┐
│ Minsta tillåtna: 16 MB │
│ Rekommenderad: 4980 MB │
│ Aktuell: 34816 MB │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
I received the following computer as a gift for Christmas 2016.
ASUS Rampage V Motherboard
Intel i7-6900K @ 3.2 GHz
32 GB RAM across 4 sticks
1x ASUS ROG STRIX 1080
EVGA 750W PSU
A few months prior to DreamHack Winter 2017, I began seeing problems. It would no longer boot directly into the boot drive. I had to do it manually from the BIOS every time. No problem, strange, but as long as I could play CS, I was fine. There were a few other issues, which I had written down. You can find them at the bottom of the post if you wish to read them. At the actual event, I was using a wireless headset (which was plugged in to charge), and due to the massive overloading of the 2.4GHz bandwidth, I had to be close to the dongle to hear anything. So I placed the computer between my legs. My restless leg syndrome kicked in, and the friction between my sweatpants and the metal case of the computer created a load of static charge. I noticed some weirdness with the computer. The screen would cut out every once in a while. Oddly enough, every time I sat down. I thought it was the cable. When I stood up and touched the metal of my chair, ZAP. PC is dead. I take it to the DreamHack IT center and they singled out the issue - they told me the motherboard was fried and needed to be replaced. So I replaced it and did a fresh install, and wouldn't you know, every single problem was gone! Wonderful.
Until now. At seemingly random intervals, my computer will crash, hard. Without warning, both screens, my keyboard, my mouse, and the RGB lighting in the computer go dark, before I can even react. The fans go silent. After a few seconds of silence, the fans spin up again and the computer boots up on its own, with no sign of anything having gone wrong besides Chrome telling me it closed unexpectedly. I don't even know how to begin diagnosing this problem, so some help would be appreciated.
Note: It's not thermal, as the CPU temp after restart was a normal 40C. I recently cleaned out my PC and its filters of dust and grime, and the problem still persists. I haven't changed the thermal paste in a while, but still, HWMonitor shows regular temps.
Here is the old Problem List pre-DHW17
List of Problems with my PC, DXDIAG file found at the bottom.
- Stuttering problems, which tend to occur upon:
1) first start of the day
2) extended periods of running the computer
3) when downloading things like movies, videos, etc, especially after #2
4) Paint.NET is unusable, completely stutters.
- Recently
1) seemingly randomly, the desktop toolbar stops working. will not hide when I fullscreen & nothing is clickable.
2) seemingly randomly, the search button and start button cease functioning.
3) upon a particularly bad stutter, my computer bluescreened and crashed, restarting.
4) plays.tv has stopped saving clips to my local drive despite still being set to do so.
5) bad performance in games. today I played some scrims with my CS team, consistently under 144fps on certain angles, whereas I expect 300+.
6) continued desktop toolbar problems.
7) a lot of time passes before tabbing out. I will press alt+tab and it will not even try until a few seconds have passed
8) takes time to tab back in, generally slower tab times
9) certain programs will slow down to monumental proportions. completely unresponsive without going "unresponsive."
10) search still doesn't work
11) windows button doesn't work, must shutdown/restart manually by physical button
12) unable to open desktop toolbar options. what the F is going on?
13) I have found out that #9 is slightly different. programs will simply stop "existing", unable to click on them, despite
them being visible on the screen. I.e. I can click on and move the program shortcut icons on the desktop behind the window.
This has so far happened with Spotify, FACEIT client. Possibly happens only when in fullscreen mode. EDIT: wrong.
14) FACEIT client has now crashed 3 times while attempting to queue for Swedish Pro League.
=============================================================================================================================
Things that for sure WILL NOT fix the problem:
- Closing background programs. This PC is too powerful for that to be an issue. It was never an issue before I got my M.2 SSD
and plus, the problems persist even with minimal programs open.
=============================================================================================================================
Things I have Tried to Fix Stuttering:
- Restart computer ("works" temporarily, sometimes)
- Defragmentation of both drives (did not come up with anything)
- Optimization of both drives (did not come up with anything)
- Malwarebytes Scans (did not come up with anything)
- ZoneAlarm Scans (did not come up with anything)
Things I have Tried to Fix Taskbar:
- Windows Troubleshooting
1) Systemunderhåll (did not come up with anything)
2) Search and Indexing ("Hittade problem, felaktiga behörigheter för Windows Search-kataloger")
Felsökningen har slutförts
Det gick inte att åtgärda alla problemen automatiskt i felsökaren. Du hittar mer information
nedan.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Hittade problem │
│ │
│ Felaktiga behörigheter för Windows Search-kataloger Inte åtgärdat X │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3) Windows Updates
Felsökningen har slutförts
Det gick inte att åtgärda alla problemen automatiskt i felsökaren. Du hittar mer information
nedan.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Hittade problem │
│ │
│ Eventuellt fel i Windows Update-databasen upptäcktes Inte åtgärdat X │
│ Windows Update-komponenter måste repareras Åtgärdat ✓ │
│ Kontrollera om det finns väntande uppdateringar Åtgärdat ✓ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
4) Drivers
a) Okänd enhet
Felsökningen har slutförts
Det gick inte att åtgärda alla problemen automatiskt i felsökaren. Du hittar mer information
nedan.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Hittade problem │
│ │
│ Okänd enhet har problem med en drivrutin. Inte åtgärdat X │
│ │
│ │
│ │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
X Restarting explorer (did not fix the problem)
X Restarting WSearch (did not fix the problem)
? Checking page file size. (Could be the problem? Did not try to fix in fear of breaking something.)
┌ Total växlingsfilstorlek för alla enheter ─────────────────────────┐
│ Minsta tillåtna: 16 MB │
│ Rekommenderad: 4980 MB │
│ Aktuell: 34816 MB │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
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