[SOLVED] I've come to live with this problem

[Flars]

I've had a problem with my computer since the day I built it.
Whenever I play a game the computer locks up. Complete freeze and a buzzing sound loop (of whatever sound that was playing) trough the speakers. The computer isn't under a heavy load when it freezes. It could freeze in the most simple games.

This forces me to do manual restart of the computer. After the "first" freeze and restart the computer works fine.

But when I turn it off, let it sit for a day, the problem returns.

I've read countless threads about people with the same issue. But none of them can fix the problem with a simple restart.
It's weird because its so persistent. Only one crash per session. After a restart it seems fine.


Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 5820K @ 3.30GHz 50 °C
Haswell-E/EP 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Unknown @ 1066MHz (15-15-15-36)
Motherboard
MSI X99S GAMING 7 (MS-7885) (SOCKET 0) 36 °C
Graphics
BenQ LCD (3840x2160@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (EVGA) 49 °C
Storage
55GB INTEL SSDSC2CT060A3 (SATA (SSD))
55GB INTEL SSDSC2CT060A3 (SATA (SSD))
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EACS-00ZJB0 (SATA ) 34 °C
372GB NVMe INTEL SSDPEDMW40 (Unknown (SSD))
417GB Microsoft Storage Space Device (TMax (SSD))
931GB Seagate Expansion USB Device (USB (SATA) ) 31 °C
59GB SDXC Card (USB )
Optical Drives
ASUS DRW-24F1ST a
Audio
NVIDIA High Definition Audio
PSU
Corsair TX650W

Please help me

 

[RodroX]

- Whats your CPU cooling solution?, and When was installed?

- When did you build this computer?

- When was the last time you did a clean Windows 10 install?

- What case do you have?

- Have you tried to remove all unnecesary USB devices (other than mouse and keyboard)?

 

[Flars]

Stock Cooling, installed around 2014-11-01

Built same time, around 2014-11-01

Fresh Windows-install 2015-07-01 (but the problem dates before this)

Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl

Yes

 

[boju]

Locking up or freezing does sound like ram. Try a single stick and go from there. Single stick in A2, second slot from cpu and test test test. Try each stick.

Run prime95 v26.6. Version is important as later versions use AVX instructions and add unnecessary extra heat. Although can disable AVX in later builds editing a txt file but it's up to you. A quick search will show you what to edit.

You want to try crash the system on purpose to test it's reliability.

 

[RodroX]

Besides what boju wrote, I would said is not a bad idea to take a look at CPU temps too (hwmonitor for example could help you with that).

Your CPU, as far as I remember does not come with a stock cooler, so you are either using some other "stock" intel cooler which is most likely not the best option, or you do have an aftermarket cooler.

A PC built in 2014-11, thats more than 5 years ago, Do you clean the internals of your PC often, to remove dust, hair, and what not from the heatsinks, fans, etc.?

Wait, so you have this problem since 2015, wow, then yeah as boju wrote you should start by testing the RAM ASAP.

 

[Flars]

I've been at this problem for 6 years. I believe I did a stress test with all the RAM in. Ran the test for several hour without a crash.
I'll run it again, but how long would you say I'd run in before calling quits if no freeze occurs?

Would the crash be more frequent if the system was running on one faulty RAM stick?

 

[boju]

If one of the rams are faulty, you'll know about it pretty quickly in Prime95. Set it so it uses large chunks of ram. Let it go for 10 passes or so.

That's not to say if Prime95 does crash means faulty ram. It could be CPU or motherboard as well.

Have you checked for bent CPU pins?

Further troubleshooting ram and using memtest,

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Flars]

I havn't checked for bent CPU pins. But wouldn't that be problem not solved by a restart?

 

[boju]

I havn't checked for bent CPU pins. But wouldn't that be problem not solved by a restart?

Yeah forgot about that part sorry, probably is not the issue but with computers who knows for sure.

 

[Flars]

Someone told me to check if the CPU-fan stops working right before the crash.
But that is impossible. The freezes isn't that persistent.

It's just one time after the computer been dormant for a while. Usually in a game, but I believe it has happened watching video also.

I feel I need a hardware monitor software that has a record function. Keep that on at all time and read the log after computer freeze.
any recommendations?

 

[boju]

Think Msi Afterburner can record stats but not sure. Can use it to display stats while gaming, like those numbers you see in benchmark videos.

Out of gaming, use Coretemp for simplicity to monitor live temps and speeds.

HWinfo64 is another good diagnostic program but is more involved.

 

[Flars]

So I've ran the stresstest for a while without any freeze.
MSI Afterburner installed and logged the monitoring.
Got the computer to freeze playing Gwent. GWENT!
I was hoping to see something in the log explaining the problem right away, but no.
All temps are low GPU at 63C and CPU at 53C.

I have a weird hardware error with my screen. it's rare, but sometimes graphical artifact and stripes blinking across the screen.
This happens with my playstation and my chromecast, so it's not isolated to my computer.

Could the screen be causing problems my graphic-card?

 

[boju]

Doubt the monitor would cause lockups.

At this stage, it's possibly psu related or motherboard.

Is bios on the latest version?

 

[Flars]

Doubt the monitor would cause lockups.

At this stage, it's possibly psu related or motherboard.

Is bios on the latest version?

So the bios is updated.
Last update was from 2015.

Now wait and see if the problem returns.
Thanks for all the help ❤️