Frequent computer freezes even after reinstall!

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PresidentDylan5

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Apr 30, 2013
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I am being driven insane by this. After a lot of troubleshooting that just led me in false directions, I still haven't got anywhere. My computer has completely random freezes. It ranges from time to time how often it is. Just now it lasts a few minutes so I can't do a resource scan.
I have completely reinstalled the operating system.
Resource scan showed everything fine.
I think it is hardware related, perhaps my AMD CPU. I am having some heating problems (massive lag spikes) which I pretty much got rid of with a hair dryer (was getting freezes as well) but was still planning on redoing paste and stuff soon. Maybe it's not a coincidence that these two issues arose at once? The lag spikes appeared before the freezes, which would make sense. However, HW monitor (in the brief time before a freeze just now) said my proccesor was at 30C!
A friend told me that a common windows problem is Ram, and another (who basically copied my build:) has the same ram and motherboard. He was getting blue screens and stuff which he managed to fix through voltage settings.
I was playing Titanfall beta all afternoon today with no problems whatsoever but (this could be coincidence) when my friend called me on Skype IT CAME BACK. I reinstalled OS for no reason. It was the refresh feature on windows 8 by the way.

Someone please help me!

Fx 8350
GTX 770
ASRock 970 extreme 4
(Ram has really strange name but it is corsair veangance)
SSD vertex 3
Caviar blue 500gb
Black 1tb
Zalman z9 plus
 
Solution
gumbykid
Since it failed, return the RAM settings to normal. As nostall suggested, if you haven't already, reset everything to default. This should be under Exit>Restore Default Settings.

Then reboot. If it crashes, change the Command Rate to 2T (I didn't see you post that you tried this).

I agree with nostall as well about the PSU, it's just I'd rather try the little things before making you spend money or have a non-functioning computer while you're waiting for the replacement to come.

Swapping out PSUs should take about 15 minutes if you're semi-experienced with it, could take up to 45 if you're really incompetent (it's just remembering where the cables used to be then plugging them back in).

Did you run the two tests I suggested? They're...
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You will get, or may have already gotten, an email with directions and probably a shipping label. Follow the instructions and send off your PSU. You'll be without the pc for a few days, at least, but I would think that would be better then the continual frustration you have been going through.
What did they say? Did you mention the RAM?
 
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Oh I got a response saying to attach the receipt, which I just did. There wasn't much room for me to give a description; I might have missed the option as I was making the ticket and now it won't let me edit it in. I don't think it will matter too much as on 'select a problem', my problem was actually listed as 'not outputting the right voltages'.
 
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That seems to be a common issue with the CX series so they probably won't give you any hassle about it. It might take awhile to get your new PSU because they won't send it until yours is received and tested. Once they determine its faulty they'll replace it which will take typically 3-5 business days to ship to you.

These are all estimations but just be aware that you won't have a computer for over a week.
 
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Thanks for the help guys, really appreciated. Took a while before someone actually started helping me and it has been made a lot easier now. As you know it will take a while for the PSU to get replaced so I will get back to you when I have installed the new one, for better or for worse :). This time if it doesn't work the entire universe will be annihilated with my rage, so let's hope that it works. 😀 Please check back every know and again in case I have posted!
 
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Just replaced the power supply.... It froze after 5 minutes. OMG WHAT CAN I DO??!?!!??!
I also redid the thermal paste by the way.
I checked the 3.3 rail and it showed 3.264V. Right after the freeze I checked and it was still exactly that.


Ok new update after that initial freeze it didn't freeze again at all. I played Battlefield for about 20 minutes, then Fallout 3 for a bit and then Bad Company 2. Also my CPU temperature hasn't exceeded 59C! Maybe it was just a thing?
 
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3.3 voltage is o.k., that's about 1% out of spec. and is about .02 more then my 3.3 rail.
Don't know what would have caused the freeze, but if it is working, keep playing for awhile. Try skype.
 
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Afterwards I looked in HW monitor and it showed what I thought to be the 3.3 rail. It said that the minimum was 3.264 but current and Max was 3.280V. I will continue to play games tonight, sounds easy enough 😀. I was on Skype with my friend as well, I forgot to mention.
Maybe it was the thermal paste settling on something?
 
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Maybe. But in my experience Thermal Paste doesn't need to 'settle'. That first freeze could have been from almost anything; perhaps/possibly something as simple as the PC's equipment getting good clean power after struggling with the old PSU's failings; Kinda like "resetting itself" for lack of any other words.
Glad it is working.
 
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I hope it's actually fixed this time. Problems like this often come back just to piss you off a day later. And 59C is high for a CPU temp (not dangerously high though), so that could have been the issue.

@nostall
From what i've seen, thermal pastes have a small burn-in time which typically consists of just heating it up then letting it cool down a few times (such as running Prime95 tests). After this the temps tend to reduce by a couple degrees. I don't think it would have been a big enough of a drop to be the reason behind the first freeze. The PSU transfer you described sounds more likely.
 
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OK thanks I will give more feedback later. "59C is high for a cpu temp" This is AMD we're taking about! 😀 Since before the Max temp was 72 C, I'd say the heat problem is out of the way.
I managed not to go nuclear when it froze, and my hope is somewhat restores since it didn't freeze at all afterwards. I can say for certain that would never have happened before.
 
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I'm reluctant to get my hopes up but I think it may actually have worked! I've just played Battlefield 3 for 40 minutes and Call of Juarez (which also crashed after 5 minutes) for 15 minutes. No freezing! HW monitor is still showing 3.280V. I'm guessing that's normal?
Anyway, if it turns out that it's not fixed, I'll post back so I don't know if you have email notification or something.
Thank you both so much for the help! I probably would have ended up paying someone £50 or something to fix it otherwise. It's always been reassuring that I can't type to you the latest news and you'll give me something to do. I'd be completely lost otherwise! Only problem is... Can I pick both of your answers as 'the solution'?
 
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There's a chance it's actually fixed. Computers are weird, you never know what they're planning on doing. Either way we'll both be here if it freezes again. Best solution doesn't really matter, we're just here to help people. Nostall is the one who diagnosed the problem right so if it's for anyone, choose him.

Just post back here if anything comes up.
 
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I can't seem to pick a solution. I tried picking the answer where nostall actually said the 3.3 rail was a problem; perhaps it needs to be the latest post. Nostall post something! :) I think this forum would be very valuable for anyone with the same problem, so it will probably help if it shows as 'solved' on the website.
Again thanks for the help. Have you gone back and looked at how long the forum is?! 😀
 
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PresidentDylan5, thanks for choosing my answer as the best, but in all honesty that honor should go to Gumbykid; Therefore I will mark his as the solution, since it isn't letting you do so.
Yes, it is a long post with lots of troubleshooting, and down the road I am sure it will help someone.
If you don't agree with my reasoning for best answer PM me:For obvious reasons I can't select myself but you may be able to change it.
DO REPOST here if the problem returns, but it does look like it is fixed.
 
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AH HELLLLPPP!!!!!! 😀
Right ok, I went back and played Borderlands 2 and the cpu temperature, just after I launched it, was 62C. I'd thought the Battlefield made my cpu temperatures the hottest, but it turns out I was wrong. I expect it got hotter as I went along. After about 10 minutes it froze. Now, when I immediately rebooted HWmonitor read my voltage as 3.248V, lower than what we've seen since the new paste and psu.
This definitely seems related to the CPU temperature, which seems to affect the 3.3 rail voltage.

Possible Solution: Upgrade to Intel :)

Seriously what do you think? I haven't played Battlefield for a prolonged length of time (as in over an hour) but I haven't had a single freeze on that, or of course any other game, and it seems that a game that appears to be cpu intensive made my computer freeze.

PS: Sorry you've been summoned again! 😀
PS 2: Maybe it wasn't even the new psu that helped the issue, but the fact that I reapplying the paste, and properly this time. I thought that maybe it was something to do with the case fans so I checked them just now with computer on desktop and didn't see anything out of the ordinary; the pc froze randomly after a few minutes, like it did on first boot with new psu.
 
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62C shouldn't be causing crashes, it just isn't a safe temp to stay at. My AMD cpu crashes at 81.5C.

The FX 8350 starts to have issues at 70C. Run Borderlands but keep hwmonitor up to see how high it goes.
 
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