Question My system becomes unresponsive

Feb 14, 2021
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0
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Started about a month or so ago where I would be gaming (CSGO or AC odyssey) and all of a sudden my monitor would go to sleep but my PC would still be powered on. Did some research and found a problem might be that my system is overheating so I checked temps at regular intervals and my max GPU and CPU temps were 67 and 57 respectively, and it's been happening more and more lately.

Specs:
Ryzen 5 1600
Rx 580
Gskill DDR4 3000mhz
Asus A320m-k mobo
2 128gb SSD's
2 HDD's one is 1tb and the other is 500gb
500 watt antec PSU
 
If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
0
10
If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release. In cases where you DO already have the latest BIOS version, simply resetting the BIOS as follows has a fairly high percentage chance of effecting a positive change in some cases so it is ALWAYS worth TRYING, at the very least.


BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.


Second,

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.



Fourth (And often tied for most important along with an up-to-date motherboard BIOS),

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU



And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way
I have tried everything but the clean install of windows, and the previous solutions did not fix the problem, hopefully the clean install does.
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
0
10
Hi sorry for the long reply, but I reinstalled my OS and the problem still persists and its actually worse now, do you think its GPU related? I did use a previous Windows installation.
 
I would suggest that you try doing this, EXACTLY as outlined:


Followed by immediately doing or checking for ALL of the items I listed above once the clean install is done. Make sure you have latest BIOS version, latest chipset, audio and graphics card drivers, etc.

If you've done all that, including a clean install, not just a refresh or reinstall of Windows over the existing Windows installation, then yes, I'd say SOMETHING among your hardware is having a problem.

I would also try disabling hibernation, which will also disable hybrid sleep. System will still sleep normal if you manually put it to sleep or have sleep timers setup, but should not have any of the problems associated with having hibernation enabled on Windows 8 and 10 systems.

To disable Hibernation:

The first step is to run the command prompt as administrator. In Windows 10, you can do this by right clicking on the start menu and clicking "Command Prompt (Admin)"
Type in "powercfg.exe /h off" without the quotes and press enter. If you typed it in correctly, the cursor will simply start at a new line asking for new input
Now just exit out of command prompt
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
0
10
I would suggest that you try doing this, EXACTLY as outlined:


Followed by immediately doing or checking for ALL of the items I listed above once the clean install is done. Make sure you have latest BIOS version, latest chipset, audio and graphics card drivers, etc.

If you've done all that, including a clean install, not just a refresh or reinstall of Windows over the existing Windows installation, then yes, I'd say SOMETHING among your hardware is having a problem.

I would also try disabling hibernation, which will also disable hybrid sleep. System will still sleep normal if you manually put it to sleep or have sleep timers setup, but should not have any of the problems associated with having hibernation enabled on Windows 8 and 10 systems.

To disable Hibernation:

The first step is to run the command prompt as administrator. In Windows 10, you can do this by right clicking on the start menu and clicking "Command Prompt (Admin)"
Type in "powercfg.exe /h off" without the quotes and press enter. If you typed it in correctly, the cursor will simply start at a new line asking for new input
Now just exit out of command prompt
I did the clean installation yesterday, updated all my drivers and the same thing happened, but oddly enough after disabling hibernation I haven't experienced the problem, I will wait a couple more days, just to confirm if it is actually resolved but thank you so much for your help so far :D.
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
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I will try that, it happened again after I put my acrylic panel on, while it's off it happens but not as frequently, and another thing, while gaming and I'm on discord I am still able to speak to the people on the discord for a couple of seconds then there's no sound, my keyboard stops lighting up as well, but for some odd reason I still hear the game's background sounds
 
I would make absolutely certain that there isn't a newer driver for the chipset, audio or network adapters (Both LAN and WiFi, if present) on the motherboard product page AND also that ALL of your drivers for any peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, printer or any other external devices are also on the very latest drivers available from the manufacturers websites. Do NOT trust to Windows to update drivers. Yes, it will find drivers for many things, but they are usually NOT the best drivers, offering only minimal function and lacking in full features or compatibility with other hardware in some cases.

Usually what you are describing with the audio continuing after the screen has gone off, is a driver issue. Either graphics card or audio chipset.

It might also be worth doing a clean install of the graphics drivers using the DDU. If you wish to do that simply download the DDU, restart to safe mode by pressing the shift button while you click on restart and then following the prompts for "change startup behavior" to lead you into safe mode at startup. Then run the DDU when you get into Windows, then restart, then install the most recent driver available for your graphics card. Removal of display adapter drivers while IN safe mode is important, because there are a lot of files and settings that can't be removed when in the standard Windows mode, so it isn't always as successful when trying to do it outside of safe mode.
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
0
10
I would make absolutely certain that there isn't a newer driver for the chipset, audio or network adapters (Both LAN and WiFi, if present) on the motherboard product page AND also that ALL of your drivers for any peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, printer or any other external devices are also on the very latest drivers available from the manufacturers websites. Do NOT trust to Windows to update drivers. Yes, it will find drivers for many things, but they are usually NOT the best drivers, offering only minimal function and lacking in full features or compatibility with other hardware in some cases.

Usually what you are describing with the audio continuing after the screen has gone off, is a driver issue. Either graphics card or audio chipset.

It might also be worth doing a clean install of the graphics drivers using the DDU. If you wish to do that simply download the DDU, restart to safe mode by pressing the shift button while you click on restart and then following the prompts for "change startup behavior" to lead you into safe mode at startup. Then run the DDU when you get into Windows, then restart, then install the most recent driver available for your graphics card. Removal of display adapter drivers while IN safe mode is important, because there are a lot of files and settings that can't be removed when in the standard Windows mode, so it isn't always as successful when trying to do it outside of safe mode.
Hello, I really apologize for the late response, University has been keeping me really busy, I tried the clean install of the graphic drivers and installing every driver but nothing changed, unfortunately I don't have a spare monitor to test it out on, but I did try it out with my TV and my PC ran just fine, but I didn't use it with the TV for an extended period.

Thank you for the help so far though🙇‍♂️.
 
I think if it ONLY happens when running one specific title, then it's likely that game is to blame.

But power supplies are ALWAYS potentially the problem, for ANY problem, since ALL hardware relies on the power supply in order to function properly.

What is the ACTUAL model of the power supply, exact model, and how long has it been in service?
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
0
10
I think if it ONLY happens when running one specific title, then it's likely that game is to blame.

But power supplies are ALWAYS potentially the problem, for ANY problem, since ALL hardware relies on the power supply in order to function properly.

What is the ACTUAL model of the power supply, exact model, and how long has it been in service?

It's a antec vp500pc strictly power 500 watt, it's been active since September of 2019
 
That PSU is probably both, of mediocre quality, and underpowered. You should be using nothing less than a 550w unit with that graphics card. A GOOD 550w. But I'm not sure that is the cause of your problems. It's always possible though, so replacing it with a better quality unit wouldn't be the worst idea ever.



http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

.
 
Feb 14, 2021
11
0
10
It's just an update, so I bought the PSU but the problem still persisted, so I tried looking on the internet one last time
That PSU is probably both, of mediocre quality, and underpowered. You should be using nothing less than a 550w unit with that graphics card. A GOOD 550w. But I'm not sure that is the cause of your problems. It's always possible though, so replacing it with a better quality unit wouldn't be the worst idea ever.



http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

.
This is just an update and possibly a solution for anyone else facing this problem, I bought the new PSU but the problem still persisted so I tried searching the web one last time and I encountered a post on Nvidia's website and someone who faced the same problem as I did and they solved it by simply changing their GPU's thermal paste and so I gave it a shot, the thermal paste on the GPU was drrrrrrrrryyyyy like really dry so definitely needed to be reapplied , and since then I have not faced that problem since.

Oh and I forgot to mention that when my PC becomes unresponsive my GPU fans spin at 100% so if ever someone is facing a similar problem just change your thermal paste :D
 

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