Computer Freezes in Windows

[Garyuutensei]

I got my PC from a friend. He was only using Linus on it. After I got it, I installed a new SSD drive and install both Linux and Windows 10 as dual boot. Linux seemed mostly fine, except it would freeze rarely during boot. On Windows 10 on the other hand, playing a game, or watching a video on Youtube, would freeze the PC at a random point in time.

Since the PC came with a 'fake' nvidia graphics card, and the problems seemed like occuring when doing gpu intensive work, I decided to buy a new nvidia gtx 960 card. Unfortuantely, the problem persisted and also a new problem showed up. The PC would sometimes freeze on POST without any beeps.

I then decided to install Windows 7 instead. At first I thought the problem went away, but it just became less frequent. I also tried running prime95, which didn't show any problems except one time where some of the cores showed errors. Memtest86 runs fine for at least one day, but if run in parallel, it freezes the PC. This might be related to this issue.

I also monitored temperatures closely and they seemed fine, even before the freezing occurs.

Since I can not consistently reproduce the problem, it seems very hard to pinpoint what causes it.

Here are my specs:

PSU: Inter-Tech Combat Power 750W
Motherboard: Asrock 970 Extreme 3 (with latest BIOS 1.8 2013)
CPU: AMD FX-8350
GPU: MSI Gaming GTX 960
RAM: 2x 4GB G.SKILL (F3-10666CL9-4GBNT)
HDD: Samsung 850 EVO SSD 250 GB

 

[IsaacCarl]

Is the CPU overclocked? Try going into the BIOS and setting everything to default and try booting. If the problem continues try re-applying thermal paste as the CPU may be over heating.

 

[Garyuutensei]

Is the CPU overclocked? Try going into the BIOS and setting everything to default and try booting. If the problem continues try re-applying thermal paste as the CPU may be over heating.

No, the CPU is not overclocked, I've reset everything to default in the BIOS, and have also tried removing everything from the motherboard and putting it back together. I also re-applied thermal paste. That didn't make any difference.

 

[IsaacCarl]

Is the CPU overclocked? Try going into the BIOS and setting everything to default and try booting. If the problem continues try re-applying thermal paste as the CPU may be over heating.

No, the CPU is not overclocked, I've reset everything to default in the BIOS, and have also tried removing everything from the motherboard and putting it back together. I also re-applied thermal paste. That didn't make any difference.

Have you tried flashing the BIOS with an older version of the firmware? Although it does sound like it is CPU related. Do you know anyone that has an AM3+? You could swap it out and see if it is CPU. Just to start ruling things out. Maybe also try another PSU as it may not be feeding the CPU with enough power. These are just ideas. It also might be a good idea to time it until it freezes. Let me know if any of this helps.

 

[Garyuutensei]

Have you tried flashing the BIOS with an older version of the firmware? Although it does sound like it is CPU related. Do you know anyone that has an AM3+? You could swap it out and see if it is CPU. Just to start ruling things out. Maybe also try another PSU as it may not be feeding the CPU with enough power. These are just ideas. It also might be a good idea to time it until it freezes. Let me know if any of this helps.

I haven't tried, but I will. I guess the easiest is to find an AM3+ compatible CPU and try it out, this might be a bit difficult though. A PSU might be easier to get might hands on.

Timing is totally random. It can take anywhere between 5m-6h. Although when idle it doesn't seem to freeze.

Couldn't also be a motherboard issue like in the link I posted?

 

[Calvin7]

G.SKILL Value 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBNT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231423

1) not a matched pair.
"run in parallel, it freezes the PC", could be incompatible with each other. It probably wants to run at a slower memory clock than 1333MHz.

2) wrong memory clock speed for FX-8350

FX CPU support:
1866MHz with one DIMM per channel
1600MHz with two DIMMs per channel.

 

[Garyuutensei]

G.SKILL Value 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBNT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231423

1) not a matched pair.
"run in parallel, it freezes the PC", could be incompatible with each other. It probably wants to run at a slower memory clock than 1333MHz.

2) wrong memory clock speed for FX-8350

FX CPU support:
1866MHz with one DIMM per channel
1600MHz with two DIMMs per channel.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with 'not a matched pair'. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but FX8350 supports memory clocks of up to 1866MHz, meaning it should also support 1333MHz.

 

[DSzymborski]

G.SKILL Value 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBNT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231423

1) not a matched pair.
"run in parallel, it freezes the PC", could be incompatible with each other. It probably wants to run at a slower memory clock than 1333MHz.

2) wrong memory clock speed for FX-8350

FX CPU support:
1866MHz with one DIMM per channel
1600MHz with two DIMMs per channel.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say with 'not a matched pair'. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but FX8350 supports memory clocks of up to 1866MHz, meaning it should also support 1333MHz.

Non-identical sticks very frequently do not get along, even if each individual one is supported on its own. Identically manufactured memory from the same batch is frequently sold in kits for very good reasons.

 

[Garyuutensei]

Non-identical sticks very frequently do not get along, even if each individual one is supported on its own. Identically manufactured memory from the same batch is frequently sold in kits for very good reasons.

But they're the same brand and model. Am I missing something?

 

[DSzymborski]

Non-identical sticks very frequently do not get along, even if each individual one is supported on its own. Identically manufactured memory from the same batch is frequently sold in kits for very good reasons.

But they're the same brand and model. Am I missing something?

Looking at what you wrote, I thought you were questioning unmatched pairs generally.

For your situation, I'd swap out the PSU first, I think. It may not be the specific problem here, but if you're going to trial-and-error -- which a lot of PC fixes come down to -- might as well go for the low-end part that ought to be replaced in any case.

 

[Garyuutensei]

It has been a while. I haven't managed to try different PSU and or Motherboard, but I have tried different memory modules without success. In the meanwhile, I had a 64GB Sandisk SSD lying around so I decided to install windows 7 on it and see if I get any freezes. It has been a week now without any problems, which makes me conclude that the Samsung SSD might be the culprit. Any suggestions on how to continue from here?