PC Completely Freezing

SemkeHG

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Aug 18, 2015
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This problem first started on 28/07/2018 (07/28/2018 for you NA guys) while I was live streaming before my PC began lagging up for 10 seconds, after that it fully froze everything I was doing and stayed there, I waited for a while waiting for a blue screen but even that didn't happen so I just manually switched it off using the power button and turned it back on, it then ran with no problems for 4 whole days where the same exact problem occurred however this time with barely any load compared to the first time, I was simply watching a YouTube video when it froze up again. Today it happened once again while streaming and now i'm starting to get worried. Here is a link of the freeze happening live, the stream ends just before everything freezes up.

I have attempted to manually activate this lockup however with no luck and no known triggers I was unable to. I tried to look into this problem by doing temperature benchmarks using 3DMark and didn't notice anything wrong there, I also ran a MemTest for 4 passes which I know is not enough for conclusive results and it came back with 0 errors. Other than that im running out of choices and im not sure what to do or how to find the root of this problem. I have had suggestions to begin changing out parts however I do not know if that will help simply because I do not have a way to trigger the freezing in the first place to test this. The most peculiar thing I have noticed is when I checked the system logs after each freeze, they show nothing of importance before the freeze happens.

*I did temp tests of my usual activity after a full cleaning of the PC, this includes Streaming Fortnite at 720p60fps @ 6000 Bitrate where the CPU temps maxed out at 68C/69C and GPU stayed around 76C. Note: This is with quite high room temperatures due to the ongoing heatwaves, not sure how much that affects my temps.*

I appreciate any help or advice with how to carry on with this or how to find the root of the problem.

PC Specs:
CPU : i7 8700k OC'd @ 4.8GHz
RAM: G. Skill Trident Z RGB 16GB 3200MHz
Graphics Card: Gigabyte Windforce GTX 1080
MOBO: MSI Z370 Tomahawk
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB + 2TB Seagate Barracuda
Cooling: Corsair H100i V2 240mm
PSU: Corsair RM750x
OS: Windows 10
 
Have you checked the event viewer to see if nay errors are there?

Does the sound start skipping, keep playing or does it just stop?

What is your motherboard?

Have you tried pulling your GPU, using the built in GPU and see if it still happens?

Have you updated all the drivers with the latest stable driver from the manufactures (i.e. Intel, nvidia etc)?

I would say its a possible GPU issue. Heat might not be the problem, it could be a fault memory module on the GPU or another failing part. Still there is a lot of diags you can run.

Also you can try having the task manger open when it happens to see if there is a spike in any activity.
 


- Event Viewer shows nothing of importance before these freezes
- The sound skips with the dropped frames before the initial freeze and stops together with the freeze
- MSI Z370 Tomahawk
- No I have not tried any hardware removals etc simply because I don't know how to trigger these freezes to test it.
- Drivers are up to date as last checked.
 


Just use it for a day if it freeze you know it wasn't that part if it does then you've got your answer
 


Nothing in event viewer. Then its a hard freeze and doesn't actually get to dump the memory.

While you can't trigger" the issue pulling the GPU and using it like normal might still allow the issue, if it is not the GPU, to happen. What I used to do is run Furmark and Prime95 (maxing memory out on that) so the GPU, CPU and RAM were being hit hard. That should cause something to happen if its going to.

You can also load a program like HWINFO and monitor the voltages of the PSU, mainly 12v as thats the one used by most devices, and see if it drops below 12v. Not by a little as the 12, 5 and 3 volt rails will fluctuate slightly above and below but if you see a big drop that could indicate faulty PSU.

Also do you have Intel Rapid Storage installed? Its a nice utility that can sometimes detect errors on hard drives. Not as sure on SSDs but its worth having to see if it finds anything.

One last thing to try, update the BIOS. Might help might not.

I still think it could be the GPU though. Do you have a spare to test with?
 


No spare GPU but i'll just try running tomorrow on integrated graphics and use the programs you suggested and let you know how it goes, thanks
 


Just ran Prime95 and FurMark maxing out CPU, RAM and GPU for 5 minutes with the GPU in. Didn't trigger any freezes, stopped after 5 minutes just cause its quite scary to see everything running at 100 for so long. What do you suppose I should do? Run the same thing for longer?
 


Already ran an 8 pass memtest with no errors found
 
I would run it for at least 8 hours. Used to have to run them for quite a while.

Did you use HWINFO to check the voltages? Did any of them seem to drop at all?

I did have one system one time that wouldn't crash even when stressed out however if I ran a game it would. GPU had one fan bad and part of card was overheating.
 


I had another freeze last night and managed to get task manager up before it froze up and saw RAM being maxed out however there were no applications actually filling it up, I was simply playing Overwatch when it happened. I took the easy route and just contacted G.Skill RMA.