Question New system having problems

[John Etihad]

Hello,

I recently ordered a new gaming desktop with a GTX 3070, Ryzen 7 5800x, 500Gb SSD (not sure of make/model), not sure of motherboard model at the moment.
Trouble is it keeps on freezing up when the SSD is being written to consistently for a period of time. So, that means when installing larger games, or copying large directories. I am in the process of experimenting to see if it the same amount of time for each freeze - if so, it could be some kind of scheduled system activity such as sleep mode.

Usually when I first realise it's frozen there is still some "activity", eg the mouse pointer will still respond, but Windows 10 won't respond to mouse clicks. After a minute of trying the mouse pointer will freeze too....... the PC will not shutdown via the normal shutdown menu. Even the clock freezes, even the RGB LED fans stop colour cycling. The only thing remaining active are the fans themselves, they still spin, and the HDMI output to the monitor.
My only option is to use the reset button on the case.

When I first got the system a week ago, it froze like this four times in as many hours. Customer support from the vendor suggested it was a hardware fault, possibly the SSD drive.
So they offered to rebuild a new system to same spec whilst I sent the first one back.
The second system arrived damaged though! That's not the issue here however.
The third system arrived fine, but is suffering identical issues. Third time not lucky (yet)!

I'll not name names, but though the system hasn't behaved itself so far, the custumor service has been the best I have even seen!
They are currently working hard to solve this issue, going well more than the extra mile!

I see no harm in asking around and researching the issue myself as well though.

PS/ I am in the middle of trying again with "Bullguard" disabled as one suggestion has been the AV maybe causing issues.
Edit: It's not Bullguard, nor a scheduled system event, froze after 50 minutes of downloading/installing "Wolfenstein : The Old Blood" from Steam, as opposed to 30 the previous time, and with Bullguard AV uninstalled.

Any other suggestions welcome!

Thanks!

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Is it a sata ssd or pcie?

 

[John Etihad]

Is it a sata ssd or pcie?

I have not got a clue! How do I find out?

 

[John Etihad]

As also advised I have also tried setting power settings to "Best Performance" and disable sleep modes both for the PC and the monitor. Problem still persists just as before. Am now trying a test install of GTA-V from Steam, has froze THREE times, each approximately 20 minutes in. Three times and GTA-V is still only 25% complete. That means an estimate of 9 more freezes before it does install. (Steam picks up again from where it left off if the system crashes - but other installers do not).

The DxDiag file highlighted what seemed to be APPCRASH reports for a program called "Armoury Crate" - which is meant to be an official ASUS program for controlling fan speeds, fan LEDs etc. Have unistalled that even though it is something that would want to use. DxDiag didn't tell me the make/model of the SDD or motherboard or whether it's SATA or PCIE.

Edit: As I type this on another PC, it has crashed a FOURTH time while downloading GTA-V, after a mere 12 minutes. The problem seems to worsening.

I think I will abandon SSD drives full stop, and have the vendor swap it for a traditional HD. And if that ends up as strike four, I will ask for full refund.

Very unlikely, but is it the wireless mouse? Is it's signal interfering for some reason? Can't test this as I don't have an alternate mouse.
Is the old surge protector plug I'm using? It was fine when last used, but that was 10 - 15 yrs ago!
Is it the latest updates for Windows 10 causing problems?

Another edit: Crash again after just five minutes this time.

BTW the motherboard manual says "Tuf Gaming X570-Plus" and the SSD is a WD Blue SN550 NVMe. The PSU is a Corsair CV650.

The vendor has supplied me with a complimentary 1TB HDD. It still crashes in exactly the same manner when writing a lot of data onto that too! However the frequency of the crashes is lower, but it is still unnacceptable for a system costing £1849. It simply is not fit for purpose as it is. They even supplied me with a newer keyboard and mouse instead of my rather old ones. The keyboard was 12 years old. But this of course has made no difference to the freeze ups - as I expected really.

Any suggestions are still welcome.

 

[bprescot]

Hi John,

I'm sure if anyone had some really concrete advice they'd chime in. The reality is that this doesn't seem to be a common issue, and you've tried most of the things that others might suggest.... I mean, you've gotten a BRAND NEW machine... with different models and, indeed, type of storage media...

If it were me, I'd be thinking software or drivers, at this point, not hardware.

And I'd probably start with:

1.) clean install of windows without any bloatware that you might get from a pre-build company. (you haven't named the company so I don't KNOW that they installed their own nonsense software, but many do.)
2.) Driver/Bios Updates: Standard advice, here. Anytime there's something really crazy, always best practice to ensure drivers are all updated and check to see if there is a new BIOS available.
3.) RAM: There is NOTHING to suggest it has anything to do with the Ram. Nothing at all. But I've had some REALLY weird stuff happen with with Ryzen and AMD chipsets with certain ram kits, so if it were me personally, I might either swap in a different ram kit or just try removing a stick to see if anything happens. It takes no time at all to do, which is GREAT, since, again, it's a long-shot think to check.

The reality is that there isn't a lot of info here to dig into.

I assume you've checked Event Viewer to see if Windows captured the type of error? It's doubtful that it will give you any really helpful information, but it can't hurt to check.

 

[DSzymborski]

Wait, the vendor gave you a 3070 with a Corsair CV? That's enough to make me not trust whatever this company is.

In any case, it's their problem to fix, not yours. If they won't, demand a refund. Them trying to fix it is not going the extra mile, it's their basic legal requirement. And that they seem incompetent to fix it means it's bad customer service, not good.

 

[John Etihad]

Now I am worried! It has also now just froze in the same manner whilst typing this very reply right here - I mean the previous attempted reply! All previous freezes seem to have been when the system is performing SSD and HDD writes. More frequent with SSD writes. This time there was no writing going on unless it was a background W10 system thing. If it going to do this under such circumstances then this system is simply unusable. What if it does this during windows updates or something?

When I rebooted and got back here this auto-filled in this message box:-

ghghghghghgsdjkjsdfkjdsfgjklfggf

It seemed to remember the keys I was tapping away to see if it would wake up before I rebooted.

The current theories I'm getting is that it is a voltage issue, which I'm looking into.

But you have worried me there...... what is wrong with the Corsair CV650w? I have not noticed any particularly bad reviews about it. Whenever I've read recently about other peoples custom builds, no-one seems to go for anything less than 750w. I ran a PSU calculator with this PCs specs to the best of my limited knowledge. That gave me a "needs 623w" and I have had assurance that 650w should be plenty enough.
I notice you have an 850w, but you're CPU and GPU are higher rated.

 

[DSzymborski]

Now I am worried! It has also now just froze in the same manner whilst typing this very reply right here - I mean the previous attempted reply! All previous freezes seem to have been when the system is performing SSD and HDD writes. More frequent with SSD writes. This time there was no writing going on unless it was a background W10 system thing.

When I rebooted and got back here this auto-filled in this message box:-

ghghghghghgsdjkjsdfkjdsfgjklfggf

It seemed to remember the keys I was tapping away to see if it would wake up before I rebooted.

The current theories I'm getting is that it is a voltage issue, which I'm looking into.

But you have worried me there...... what is wrong with the Corsair CV650w? I have not noticed any particularly bad reviews about it. Whenever I've read recently about other peoples custom builds, no-one seems to go for anything less than 750w. I ran a PSU calculator with this PCs specs to the best of my limited knowledge. That gave me a "needs 623w".
I notice you have an 850w, but you're CPU and GPU are higher rated.

The problem isn't the wattage, it's the quality. It uses cheaper parts that aren't ideal for handling something as robust as a high-end GPU. It's not that it's a bad PSU, but it's one for inexpensive builds. Consumer reviews don't actually mean anything with PSUs.

We house a curated PSU tier list in our Power Supplies forum. For a GPU that costs $1000, you shouldn't be venturing out of Tier A.

 

[John Etihad]

And could this cause the kind of "random" unexpected freezes I'm experiencing? BTW, strangely, so far, it has not done this when the CPU/GPU are working harder, ie when actually playing a game - which is "Wolfenstein : The Old Blood" at the moment. With the exception of it freezing as I typed just 15m ago right here, it has been while installing/downloading/copying or anything that involves prolonged write operations. Times to freeze have varied from a mere 5 minutes up to 50 minutes. Once it did fully install GTA V from Steam, taking 2hrs+. But just once - that was onto the HDD I was given. Since then it has not managed to keep GTA V installing for more than 30m without freezing, whether onto the SSD or HDD!
It has also froze when downloading "Empyrion", "Wolfenstein : TOB" and "Arma 3" from Steam as well as "GTA V". It is not just Steam though, for example it did so as I said before, right here right now when not installing anything, and did so when downloading Space Engine from it's own website while downloading the many "Solar System HD & UHD" addon files.

 

[DSzymborski]

And could this cause the kind of "random" unexpected freezes I'm experiencing? BTW, strangely, so far, it has not done this when the CPU/GPU are working harder, ie when actually playing a game - which is "Wolfenstein : The Old Blood" at the moment. With the exception of it freezing as I typed just 15m ago right here, it has been while installing/downloading/copying or anything that involves prolonged write operations. Times to freeze have varied from a mere 5 minutes up to 50 minutes. Once it did fully install GTA V from Steam, taking 2hrs+. But just once - that was onto the HDD I was given. Since then it has not managed to keep GTA V installing for more than 30m without freezing, whether onto the SSD or HDD!
It has also froze when downloading "Empyrion", "Wolfenstein : TOB" and "Arma 3" from Steam as well as "GTA V". It is not just Steam though, for example it did so as I said before, right here right now when not installing anything, and did so when downloading Space Engine from it's own website while downloading the many "Solar System HD & UHD" addon files.

It can also be a drive issue. You could also have multiple issues.

The goal here is to remove possibilities. This one is a no-brainer to remove.

 

[John Etihad]

That's the trouble! I am a "no-brainer" when it comes to hardware. At the moment it is not wise to fiddle with the hardware myself, I would not anyway, I have zero skill at such.

 

[DSzymborski]

That's the trouble! I am a "no-brainer" when it comes to hardware. At the moment it is not wise to fiddle with the hardware myself, I would not anyway, I have zero skill at such.

Unfortunately, none of us are physically at your PC! This hobby does include the need to learn how to do basic maintenance like swapping out a PSU or a drive. There's no quick fix; you'll either have to do some of these things yourself or send it back to your builder from the year or so you have a warranty for and a local shop after that.

 

[John Etihad]

Just to update. I'm not the only one with this issue.
https://linustechtips.com/topic/130...w-5800x-system/?tab=comments#comment-14481633
Common denominator seems to be the Ryzen 7 5800x CPU.
From that, the vendor has suggested altering the voltage settings in the BIOS, but I've heard this can fry things. I that happens I'll be likely goosed completely. So I am not going to try it.
They are also offering an alternative system with a Corsair RM750 PSU this time, an Intel i7-11700 CPU instead of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800x. Also a different mobo, a TUF-590 instead of the TUF-570. However I was informed it is a more expensive system. Looking at their website the nearest pre-built system to this "non-standard" one they are offering is £1999. I paid £1849 for the one I already have. That now also has acomplimentary gratis 1TB Seagate HDD, TUF gaming keyboard and mouse. Probably worth £100 altogether. This £1999 system doesn't have the keyboard/mouse but does have the HDD.
BUT "PcSpecialist" (who are not the vendor I'm dealing with and I won't name who I am with whilst having dealings with them) have a near identical custom PC for £1877 WITH the same keyboard/mouse. I have had recommendations against using "PcSpecialist" though.

The i7-11700 CPU gets lower benchmark scores than the equivalent class of AMDs as far as I have seen online - and isn't it just 2.5GHz instead of the AMD's 3.8GHz?
Speed is worthless if the CPU just keeps crashing every 20 minutes though.

If the current vendor asks for more money with this "new system" I'm going to refuse and go for full refund - and start again from square one. If they send it with no quibble I might give it a try.
PS/ I'm not being charged any extras for it, so I will accept their offer. This is absolute final chance though!!!!

The vendor have also removed the exact pre-built system that's been trouble from their site. Though other systems with the 5800x are still up.

I should have heeded what I've been seeing in GOG and Steam forums for years. Wherever there are problems, the name "Ryzen" is usually not far away.