Computer freezing(With no BSOD, no Dump File, and Audio Stutter/Buzz/Loop ). Can't figure this one out. Help please!

ryanmr94

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Hey guys, I'm new to this forum, so please forgive me if this isn't posted in the appropriate section. I am generally a very tech savvy guy who can solve most problems, especially being a computer science student, that's why this problem has me stumped. Mainly because it's difficult to replicate.

I recently rebuilt my pc. Keeping a few components. I replaced the mobo, the ram, and power supply. This never happened on my old setup.
Current components:
-CPU: AMD Phenom II x6 1090t black edition
- MOBO: Gigabte 990FXA-UD3
-RAM: G-skill 16gb (2x8). Forget the exact model.
-VIDEO CARD: Galaxy GeForce GTS 250
-POWER SUPPLY: EVGA 600B

Here's the problem:
- This happens randomly. It usually always involves, youtube or another video playing.
- I will be on my pc, either gaming, browsing the web, or working in a DAW. I usually multi-task and always have a video playing in the background.
-Randomly, I can't figure out why it happens, my pc hangs, it doesn't crash, and about 80% of the time, there is an audio buzz coming from my speakers, not the pc itself. Which has me thinking its an audio stutter of whatever was playing, however it is most likely only a few milliseconds looped, because it just sounds like a buzz.
- During this pc hang. Nothing works. Mouse/keyboard unresponsive. Only thing I can do is a hard restart. And everything works fine again.
- Why is this so hard to replicate? Because it DOES NOT happen everytime I watch a video. It happens maybe once every 2 days. And I use my PC pretty heavily. But it ALWAYS happens when there is some sort of video or game involved.

What have I done so far? :
-Ran memtest for 12 hours. Everything checks out with no errors.
-Updated Graphics Driver
-Updated sound card/switched sound cards
-Updated bios.
-Re-seated video card.
-Edit: Temps are fine, and are always running cool. I always monitor them.

I really need help guys. This is so annoying. Especially since I can't really replicate it. I plan on using the onboard graphics and see if that fixes anything. But I really wanted to avoid that. Because that means no gaming for a while haha. Any idea how to fix this. Also does anyone have any tips on creating a manual memory dump when it hangs, or is that even possible, since nothing responds? Thanks guys, I would love to hear your thoughts. Sorry for the long post. I was trying to be a descriptive as possible.
 
Solution
Frustrating problem!

Some thoughts- it could be the graphics card on the way out (as it's hanging on vids)- I mean a GTS 250 is *not* a new card and I had similar issues with an old Geforcce 2 TI card that had long time served. As an experiment, you could try changing your settings in your browser to disable hardware acceleration (as a Phenom II X6 should be plenty fast enough to decode most video streams without assistance anyhow). If that cures the problem it's most likely the video decoder block of the GPU dying.

Another thing that could be an issue- a faulty motherboard (or specifically the audio processor), also worth considering updating audio drivers (although the buzz is probably more likely a sympton of the crash than the cause but worth a look I guess).

Final thing I can think of is check the temps. Whenever I've had a machine hang like that (without an obvious cause like a buggy game) then I tend to open up the side and feel the heat-sinks for the cpu and graphics card (if safely accessible). If one or the other is notably hotter than it should be then it's likely your culprit. Also keep an eye on the motherboard VRM's and the heatsink for the southbirdge (which I guess is where the audio processor would be on an AM3+ board?).

Edit: Oops just re-read your post and noticed you've looked at the sound card already.

Edit edit: also a thought, as you've rebuilt the machine did you replace the thermal paste between the cpu and heat sink? If the cpu temps are high and you haven't might be worth investing in some new paste as it can help temps quite a lot.
 

ryanmr94

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Sorry forgot to mention the graphics card was one of the components I kept! Haha x) Bought it when I was 16-17? I'm 20 now, so she's got a few years on her. Haha. Also forgot to mention temps are perfectly fine. I had redone the thermal on both the CPU and GPU when I rebuilt it. Not sure if is worth mentioning, but when I decided to re-apply thermal paste for the gpu, upon opening it, there was like nothing on it. Haha. Which probably isn't very good for the card xD. Yeah but temps are perfectly cool. I generally always monitor them on my 2nd display. Thanks for taking the time to real all of that I'll update the post. So you think it may be the video card?
 


Sounds like the most likely culprit to be honest. As an experiment you should try running a heavy cpu test and see what happens. If the machine passes that then you can be fairly sure your Phenom is fine (I still have a 1055t running nicely after many years of use, so I doubt it's the cpu but worth ruling out).

The only common theme you've identified is related to video so it sounds like the card. Given your other components you could really benefit from a faster GPU anyway, and most modern cards can outrun the GTS 250 these days (as a minimum you should be looking at either a gefroce GTX 750ti, or a Radeon R7 260X to get a noticeable boost from the 250).
 
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ryanmr94

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I haven't touched the memory clock speed at all. The stock speed is 1333MHz, It's running slightly quicker, at around 1340 mhz. I figured that amount would be negligible though. Thanks for the reply btw! Have any other thoughts?
 

ryanmr94

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Hahaha yeah xD, I've been meaning to get a new one, but damn, this card served me well. Handled gw2 on ultra settings, and most games pretty high graphics, so I guess I figured there was no need. But yeah I agree, It's definitely time for an upgrade. *Digs in my wallet*. Haha
 

eightdrunkengods

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You're welcome. I've had this problem before and it drove me mad. For me, the error was caused by having my memory clocked to 1600. Now I kind of doubt it's your memory clock, though. The Phenom II memory crash usually occurs when all four RAM slots are populated or if there are different types of RAM installed. I'd probably back off on the memory clock just to test, though. Why is yours running slightly fast? Do you have the bus clock turned up a little? If so, set everything (bus, CPU mutliplier, etc) to stock. Basically, check the easy stuff first if you haven't already.

If it crashes with everything at stock clocks, I think the video card is the next likely candidate. Can you borrow someone else's card and check?

This is obvious but: I suggest trying to find a situation that triggers the crash problem reliably. Since it happens inconsistently, it's hard to reliably test for it (as you said in your original post). For me it was alt+tabbing out of Crysis. That caused a crash every time until I turned my memory clock down to stock.

Hope this helps.
 

ryanmr94

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So around the 15th of January I picked up a new video card (Asus 750ti). Been running my PC with it for a weeks for reassurance that this has been the solution. And I'm gonna go ahead and conclude that the new video card fixed my problem, as I had first thought! Thank you guys for the help. As for anyone else having this problem, searching for answers, hopefully this helps!