Desperate for help with Win 10 crashing

[TwoSpoons100]

I have a real problem with a Win 10 build crashing repeatedly, and I've run out of ideas.
Its my daughters PC, and its becoming a major problem, as she is in an Overwatch team and can't afford to crash in a tournament.

Its a newly re-built system:
Ryzen 5 1500X,
ASRock AB350M mobo,
8GB Ripjaws ram,
500GB Crucial SSD,
GTX660 GPU,
650W PSU.
Win 10 64 bit home edition

The GPU and PSU are the only parts from the old system They should be in perfect working order.

This setup worked perfectly for about 2 months, under heavy gaming loads.

In the last few weeks its been showing an ever increasing tendency to crash, with the crash being total lockup with a frozen screen, requiring reboot. There are no error messages. Crashed mostly during gaming, but also at login too.

So far I have tried:
- updated all drivers to the latest versions, including a clean install of the video drivers
- updated the BIOS
- full blowout with an air compressor (all heatsinks, and PSU)
- reseated GPU and RAM
- Ran a memory test (no errors)
- removed anti virus (Norton)
-turned off fast boot
- increased paging file size
- attempted to rollback to before April update, which I couldn't do as it was more than 10 days since the update
-tried win 10 "reset" , which is a reinstall of win 10.

Is there anything else I can try?

I'm wondering if its just been messed up by the April update of w10, I see a few people complaining about that. Is there any way to get rid of that update at this late stage?

Hell, I'd put Win 8.1 on the machine as a last resort, if I could find a licence. Win8.1 runs smooth as butter on my PC.

Tearing my hair out with this one.

 

[datoasteroven]

Hi, If you have Windows 10 installed on your SSD, you might experience random freezing on your computer due to older firmware. To fix it, just install the newest firmware on your SSD.

1) Open your advanced power plan settings.
2) Change Plan Settings
3) Change Advanced Power Settings
2) Expand open Hard disk and Turn off hard disk after, SET TO NEVER, and click/tap on OK.

 

[Doctor Rob]

I had an similar issue with the same motherboard on my wifes computer.. for the first few weeks it ran great with the ram at 3200Mhz.. then it would lockup without reason.. or not come out of sleep..

What i did with hers to fix it and its been stable since (about a month now) without issue. was leave the ram timings / voltage / etc.. but only run at 2800 or 2900.. the one step below 3000Mhz (forget the exact) I went to like 2800 or what ever for about a week without any issues and then after a week I went to the speed 1 or 2 below the 3200 the ram should work at.. I have not moved it back up to the full 3200 (and don't plan to) I am not sure if the board is just not too good OR if its the ram.. but being it runs a little slower then the specs of the ram will run on the board I figure I am good to go as it is not a big difference. I though about RMAin the motherboard but its not that big of a deal for me.

I would try it at a slower spec even though it seems to run with no errors at what you run now.. I am not sure why but it works for me. (I have windows 10 home on it)

 

[Doctor Rob]

I should have said I had the EXACT same issue.. and that just moving the ram to a lower speed fixed it. I have the G.SKILL Flare X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) CL14 ram in it. (run the same ram in my main computer at the 3200 speed without any issues but its the asrock x370 chipset)

 

[datoasteroven]

Great idea Doctor Rob this could definitely and probably is the issue/solution.

 

[TwoSpoons100]

I've already checked the SSD firmware and its up to date. I have also changed all the power settings as recommended on various websites. Sorry, should have mentioned this in OP but I've tried so many things its hard to remember them all.

Currently testing with another GPU (radeon 480 so its completely different video drivers)

Slowing the memory is something I haven't tried - I just let the BIOS set the timings. That will be the next thing I try if I get another crash.

Thanks for the comments so far.

 

[TwoSpoons100]

Well, two days and no more crashes with a new video card. Either the old card was reaching end-of-life, or AMD's drivers are more stable than NVidia's (*ducks for cover*).
I guess there's a possibility the dead mantis I found next to the GPU could have been stuck in one of the fans, leading to overheating and damage to the old video card. Can't be bothered re-inserting the card to test if the fault comes back, though I know I should just to be sure.

 

[TwoSpoons100]

Spoke too soon. Still getting regular crashes, even with slowing the memory from 2400 to 2133. And I've bumped up the memory voltage to 1.3V.

It never crashes during any of the stress tests I've put it through.

I am now completely out of ideas. I now hate windows 10.

 

[TwoSpoons100]

Final answer for anyone stumbling across this thread: There was no solution - nothing suggested did anything to fix the issues. On the ASRock forums there were a lot of people having the same issue with this motherboard - so I guess I'm just one of the unlucky ones and got a dud.
In the end I RMA'd the mobo, CPU and RAM (they were sold as a set) and bought a Ryzen 2600 with a Gigabyte AORUS x470 mobo and 16GB of G.Skill FlareX RAM.
Working perfectly.