is my cpu going bad? windows hanging and freezing.

[tgorfid]

What's up to all. I need some help and suggestions if anyone has any. A couple weeks ago I started getting a weird glitch while useing my work program. The Windows thinking/saving circle is constantly flashing while I am typing and then when I click out of an addendum the program is freezing. It happens the worst when I am using my work software but it does happen when using some other programs. I have uploaded a video of what is happening so please give me your thoughts.
See YouTube link below.

http://youtu.be/yanX9hEeZV4

No hardware or software changes were made in the weeks before this started. I took out my second video card and ran each of them independently but it didn't help. Today I put a new power supply which didn't help. Installed a new mobo and it didn't help... Here is what I have tried so far..Today, 10:30 P
Thank you play you have been a big help even though it is still not running properly.
I swapped out the motherboard after I started having issues and did a fresh install of Windows and formattedmy main drive. After that didn't work I reinstalled the original mobo. I updated the bios quite awhile ago to A06 and I'm almost positive that is the most current one available for that mobo. I have seen people post about A11 but it isn't available for board . I replaced the ram with corsair vengeance when I bought the computer in 9/2011 so maybe it's going bad but I ran the Windows memory check and one other which bothresults showed no issues. I also replaced my 16gb with 8gb from an x-51 and for some reason it ran much worse. I did forget I have the original ram sticks that came with the computer in the Corsair package so I will swap that in tomorrow. I replaced the main hard drive with a corsair force 3 240 ssd when I bought it. I also replaced the GPU with 2 amd Radeon hd 6780's and added a blu ray /DVD writer. But all that was done years ago. When the issues started I updated the firmware on my ssd and did a secure wipe followed by another fresh install of Windows. I also swapped the Sata cables to make sure I wasn't on a bad one.

Since all the hardware changes were done a few years back I don't think it's a compatibility issue unless a Windows update took place that caused it and I wasn't aware of the issue. I also have this lagging freezing problem in safe mode. Anyway I talked with a couple guys at the local tiger direct and they would charge $180 for diagnostics. Don't know any of the other small shops as I have never taken my computer to get fixed. Always been lucky enough to figure it out with some internet research. I will repost this on the main board to see if someone else has ever run into something similar.

I am pretty much only left with replacing the GPU or my SSD. The solid state drive did test as a healthy drive on the Corsair toolbox and at tigerdirect.

Any help would greatly appreciated!

 

[Shaina11]

Have you replaced your hard drive recently? It could be that the hard drive is failing. You can download crystaldiskinfo and run it to check your hard drive's health.

Download from here: http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/crystaldiskinfo_portable

Let me know your results. Hope I can help you to solve the problem!

 

[Shaina11]

Also forgot to mention that it also depends on the drives speed/brand/model number as well, when I say speed I mean like RPM/read write speed.

 

[tgorfid]

That was the first thing I thought of however I ran corsair ssd toolbox as it is a corsair force series 3. The drive check utility came back healthy and the read/write speeds were 6 & 5. I also had a tech run test at tigerdirect and he received the same 6 w & 5 r. He did say that testing a ssd was a little different and harder to diagnose but if my read/write speeds were that high the drive should be fine. I also did a secure wipe, updated the firmware and reformatted twice when I reinstalled Windows 2 times.

Is it possible for a ssd drive to test as a healthy drive but still be faulty?

 

[Vitric9]

how often and frequent does this happen? It sound software related but if not what CPU is it? I saw a few different sites having different specs on the X51.

 

[Vitric9]

If you do think it is a CPU issue try running Prime95 stress test.

 

[tgorfid]

how often and frequent does this happen? It sound software related but if not what CPU is it? I saw a few different sites having different specs on the X51.

It is happening constantly. It shows up the most when I am using my work software. At first I did think it was that software but after multiple re-installs of the program and re-installing windows twice I am pretty sure it is hardware related. The sputtering/freezing happens in other programs just not as bad, IE 11, mapping programs and word..etc.

It is an Alienware Aurora R3 from 2011. I know i could have built one for half the price but I do like the case and lighting effects. Next one will be a build though. I am running the i7 2600K with 16 gb of corsair vengence 1600mz. I just reset the bios and put back in the stock ram this morning to double check the memory and clock/voltage settings. But no change. I changed out the motherboard which didn't help so i put the stock mobo back in.

If it is a software issue I will be furious after all the uninstalling and re-installing! But the best way to describe the problem is that is just seems like the computer is lagging behind and having some trouble saving. As i am typing now in IE 11, the mouse cursor is not blinking and showing the windows save/thinking circle like it does in other programs (see the linked video) but other times it does happen. I have multiple folders open, my work program, pandora streaming and a few not pads...nothing to strenuous.

My first thought was the SSD but would the read/write tests be lagging if that were the case?

 

[tgorfid]

If you do think it is a CPU issue try running Prime95 stress test.

I will try this as soon as i get done with work. Thanks!

Didnt seem to have any issues. I only ran prime for a about 3 to 4 hours but restarted once as i forgot the hibernate mode was on since the last re-install of windows over the weekend. Here were the results.
Should i run the torture test or could that be fatal if something is failing?


Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
CPU speed: 3392.48 MHz, 4 hyperthreaded cores
CPU features: Prefetch, SSE, SSE2, SSE4, AVX
L1 cache size: 32 KB
L2 cache size: 256 KB, L3 cache size: 8 MB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
TLBS: 64
Prime95 64-bit version 27.9, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 768K FFT length: 4.661 ms., avg: 4.714 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 5.582 ms., avg: 5.747 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 6.291 ms., avg: 6.419 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 8.082 ms., avg: 8.136 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 9.900 ms., avg: 10.077 ms.
Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
CPU speed: 3392.37 MHz, 4 hyperthreaded cores
CPU features: Prefetch, SSE, SSE2, SSE4, AVX
L1 cache size: 32 KB
L2 cache size: 256 KB, L3 cache size: 8 MB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
TLBS: 64
Prime95 64-bit version 27.9, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 768K FFT length: 4.663 ms., avg: 4.726 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 5.572 ms., avg: 5.815 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 6.289 ms., avg: 6.361 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 8.103 ms., avg: 8.312 ms


I dont know if the work to do text means anything but this is what was listed.

[Worker #1]
DoubleCheck=47C905D72F4FA51282A9F98D6DCDD279,36280487,71,1

[Worker #2]
Test=97A979D84DBF960036801613DEF9D36B,69995461,74,1

[Worker #3]
Test=8A8162F393E95B2A7B4FAA419697DA18,69995603,73,1

[Worker #4]
Test=EDB4A66B70D67F5BDEB32B4ED566CCCB,69995689,73,1

 

[Vitric9]

Sorry I forgot to mention earlier some Third Part Diagnostics Tool like PC Health Doctor I think is one though there are a few names with PC Health in the title. Also Better know HW Monitor is good and SpeedFan is great for just keeping an eye on Temps and Fan speeds Aslo you can configure it to your Motherboard. But for Prime95 Worker just means Core so Worker #1 would be Core 0. Usally Error messages and warning would appear if something is off or bad. Often it is due to Voltages and Frequencies as P95 is a good test for Overclocking as well. The last number there looks like your Temps which are good so That's good. But still the answer eludes me so I will actually have to look into it myself based on what you have written, which is quite detailed BTW;p, But if there is anything else that seems significant please tell.

 

[tgorfid]

I think I've pretty much included everything I can think of. One weird thing was when I swapped the new power supply and put back my second GPU it seemed worse. I took the 2nd card to lighten the load on the PSU. But I can't think of any other details but my original thoughts were the hard drive was having issues. Has anyone had a SSD test healthy but still be bad? This is driving me nuts. I guess I should just bite the bullet and swap the drives but that is such a pain when it's your main drive.

Any suggestions on the best disk cloning or imaging software that have the least amount of issues when swapping to the main os drive?

 

[Vitric9]

I would say Acronis Tue Image off the top of my head. Though I am not a big fan of cloning I can't say anything bad about it. I am really not sure if The CPU is Bad. A CPU can be slightly faulty and still perform normally as long as it is a minor issue. The only other thing I can suggest as far as CPU goes would be a DPC Latency Test for the CPU. If you this test, look up one that you like the best and try it. There is an older one called DPC checker, I am not sure if it works to well with Windows 8 and Windows 7 should be fine for it.

 

[tgorfid]

It was my GPU. I was running 2 HD 6870 and ran each of them separately but still had issues, however I did not use my secondary card alone after installing a new PSU. Internet explorer was a black screen so I had to switch to software rendering from GPU rendering in internet options and then explorer ran fine...so I put my secondary card back in and most of my issues were gone. It still is a 5 year old card with only 1 gb of memory so there was still some lagging and freezing but much better overall! Yesterday I purchased a R9 270x only to find it wasn't compatible with an Alienware aurora R3 motherboard... which sucks as for $200 you can't beat that card. So last night I picked up a GeForce GTX 760 and everything is running great now! why oh why didn't I try swapping video cards after the new PSU swap!