Freezing, posting problem... really WEIRD, Please help!!!

[matharmony]

Hey there everyone. Everytime I come to the boards I've been blessed to have solved my previous problems.

Here's a new one, I'll explain. I'm building a rig for a friend. Alot of components were carried over from my previous build and the rest of the parts were purchased online used/new.

It worked perfectly first 8 hrs of use, went through windows installation perfectly. However after using the computer for some time (on youtube, playing miniclip online games) the computer randomly freezes. It does this every single time, and after a restart the computer would either post and freeze at the Gigabyte boot screen or just be blank and not beep (post). This would REPEATEDLY happen every attempt.

However... after about 5 minutes after hiting the switch on the back of the power supply on and off and letting the system be off for a few minutes the computer would marvelously pass the post, boot screen, and start working again.

I've gone ahead and replaced the power supply first, but now the new one is in there and this has still happened. CPU is an e4300 and HWmonitor shows its two cores at 50-60, and cpu temps are high 30's to mid 40's and system temps never float over mid 40.

What could it possibly be? This seriously sucks :*(

Thanks in advance THW community!!!

 

[zerapio]

The fact that if you wait the rig works again screams that it's a temp problem. If it isn't the CPU temp I'd think it's the HD that's overheating. Make sure it receives enough air.

 

[matharmony]

Thanks, do you think it could have to do with Gigbabyte energy saver? I installed it but never touched it and it boots up everytime I turn on the computer. I will try removing it. BTW the mobo is a Gigabyte GA EP35-DS3L

 

[zerapio]

I don't know what that is. To pinpoint the problem faster, remove any unnecessary parts. Leave the PSU, CPU, mobo, Video Card, HD and RAM in. I'd do only 1 stick of RAM too; preferably one that from another system you know works solid. Disable any custom settings in the BIOS leaving only the default multiplier for your CPU and boot device (HD 1 for example). If the system is still unstable after a few minutes try swapping parts from the solid system. This process is a pain but work. Good luck!

 

[BeardedTuna]

I'd agree that it sounds like a heat problem. If it's reporting 50-60 for the cores on idle then that's way too high. Check the core temps with a recent version of coretemp as some monitoring software reports temps 15degs lower than they really are.

I didn't realise for quite a while that my heatsink was badly seated (those pushpins can be a real pain, I almost broke my mobo)