Computer freezes randomly

adrimus

Prominent
Sep 25, 2018
11
0
510
Hi

When I'm using my pc in Windows 10 the display will freeze, the keyboard or mouse will not respond. I have to them power off the pc.

I have run Memtest for several hours and it did 4 passes successfully. I have removed the graphics card and it hasn't frozen yet. I'm not sure if it's the graphics card or power supply.

This is my build :

Intel - Core i7-6700K 4GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor
OcUK - 240mm Extreme CPU Cooler
Asus - Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
5 different HDD used in Windows 10 storage spaces mirror
Asus - GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card
Cooler Master - HAF X ATX Full Tower Case
Super Flower - Leadex Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

Thanks
 
Solution


A single x16 card such as a GPU should be in the first slot. But, it also shares IRQ resources with other hardware in which this may be the source of system instability.

You mentioned this occured after updating the BIOS. I recommend clearing your CMOS settings so that the IRQ resources get shuffled arround properly. I'm thinking there's resource conflict that didn't' get set properly after the BIOS update. Once cleared, you can go back and set up the MB with the settings you need.

adrimus

Prominent
Sep 25, 2018
11
0
510
Hi, it didn't use to do it, I have the latest BIOS version. It actually started happening after the update. I actually replaced the bios chip. However now that i removed graphics card and using onboard graphics it hasn't happened again.
 

stdragon

Admirable
Is it locking up under a specific task or heavy load? If not, it's possible the issue is in fact the SATA SSD.

I recommend checking the health of that drive with the Samsung Magician utility. If you want to go really far, ensure you have a full system level backup. Next, perform a full factory reset of that SSD drive with the Magician utility, then restore from a system level backup.
 

adrimus

Prominent
Sep 25, 2018
11
0
510
It can lock up when it's idle, no specific task. I have installed that software and no errors are reported. Perhaps I'll try a factory reset of the ssd, however i have tried installing windows on a hdd and it's still locked up. However the ssd was still attached to the pc.
 

adrimus

Prominent
Sep 25, 2018
11
0
510
I have now tried the graphics card in the second PCI slot and it hasn't frozen yet. I used to have it on the second slot and never had this happen. It started happening when on the first slot. What could that mean?
 

stdragon

Admirable


A single x16 card such as a GPU should be in the first slot. But, it also shares IRQ resources with other hardware in which this may be the source of system instability.

You mentioned this occured after updating the BIOS. I recommend clearing your CMOS settings so that the IRQ resources get shuffled arround properly. I'm thinking there's resource conflict that didn't' get set properly after the BIOS update. Once cleared, you can go back and set up the MB with the settings you need.
 
Solution

adrimus

Prominent
Sep 25, 2018
11
0
510


I have reset the CMOS using a jumper on a couple of pins according to the manual, I'll confirm if that works in a couple of days, thanks
 

adrimus

Prominent
Sep 25, 2018
11
0
510
After a few months of the PC working normally with no freezes I had to enable virtualization technology in the BIOS to use Hyper-V and then the system froze again, no BSOD, no mouse or caps lock response.

As soon as I disabled this feature my PC is stable and no more freezing, therefore it seems to happen with this enabled.

But I need to use this feature, after a few web searches some was suggesting that some people have had problems with Bluetooth adapters and Virtualization. The 2 things are not related but I have tried removing the Bluetooth device and the drivers and then enabled virtualisation again, so far there has been no freezing. The Bluetooth adapter is a cheap one I found on ebay and the drivers where generic so not sure if that would affect the system in any way.


I suppose that when I reset the CMOS using the jumpers, as stated in the solution a few months ago, that this reset the BIOS hence disabling the virtualisation, that's why no more freezes were happening.