PC crash while gaming or watching movies

[Ozkavosh]

Pc specs:
* AMD FX 8120 8 Core 3,1Ghz
* 8 GB 1600 RAM (2 Dimms)
* AMD HD 6870 (with a coolermaster 212EVO cooler)
* 650W PSU
* 120GB Kingston HyperX SSD (2 days in use)
* Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 motherboard
* Windows 7 Pro OS
I built this PC almost 1 year ago and it has been working flawlessly till now. 3 weeks ago it started having some blue screens, which after some digging proved it was a hard disk problem. The disk was an OCZ Agility 3 120 GB SSD which I replaced with the Kingston.
After the change to Kingston the SSD system ran fine for about 10 hours and 3 games of Dota 2. After its shutdown I started playing Dota and since then I'm getting screen freezes and a weird sound (the sound of crashing).
Sometimes just dota crashes and geos to desktop while I can still press skills and the sound is playing. RAM is brand new (changed them too). It is the first time this problem happens to my pc. I solved the blue screens and now I'm getting crashes (only in game and sometimes on movies or youtube).
I have formatted my PC like 10 times, on windows 7, 8 and 8.1. The same problem occurs in all OS. I am installing the right drivers for the graphics card (14,4 Catalyst (Not the beta)). I have run chkdsk multiple times with no errors, memtest86 with no errors.
PC idle temperature: CPU 38-39 Celsius
GPU 39-42 Celsius
and when gaming: CPU 45-50
GPU 60
What do u guys think the problem is? I will keep updating with info.

 

[jungleexplorer]

I would think that the kingston SSD might have a defect since the problem started after you installed it. If it is still in warranty I would do an RMA and get a new one.

 

[Ozkavosh]

I had the OCZ Agility 3 and that disk had some issues so i returned the drive with its warranty,then the shop i bought it from told me they dont have this model anymore so they delivered me that brand new Kinkston SSD which i pulled out of a new box(its 3 days old) so i suspect its not a faulty drive ;/

 

[jungleexplorer]

As Spock would say, "Once you of eliminated the plausible, the implausible, however improbable, must be considered." I have had defective brand new out of the box electronics drive me crazy for weeks before. But if you were having similar problems with the OCZ drive that you are now having with Kingston drive, then by the laws of reasonable deduction, we could assume that neither of the OCZ drive or the Kingston drive were the problem to start with, and you should look elsewhere.

Since you have re-installed windows multiple times and that did not fix the problem, I think reasonable to assume that the problem is not software related and must be hardware related. Removing the HD off the table for consideration, let's look at the next candidates that could cause this type of problem. The first that comes to mind is overheating. Is it possible that your CPU fan or your GPU fan went out and you are not aware of it. Most people never try looking at the inside of their tower when it is running. Try this and make sure that all the fans are running. The PSU (Power Supply) gets a lot of crud in it and few people ever blow them out. Try cleaning it out with canned air. If all your fans are running and your system is clean, then we are looking at hardware failure. The PSU is the first suspect because PSU don't just die, they get sick for a while before dying. A sick PSU can cause all sorts of random problems that look like something else. The PSU would be the first piece of hardware I would replace if all else fails. If that does not fix the problem, then look at the GPU. If it is not the GPU, it could be the Mobo. Hope this helps.

 

[Ozkavosh]

Before changing hard disk i was getting blue screens with KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR which after some digging it let me to the hard drive,after i changed the drive i stopped getting blue screens and now im experiencing freezes/crashes.The problem isnt showing on Event Viewer.and i dont get a restart with these freezes,it just stays there the whole time frozen to what it showed before the crash.I checked all the fans and are working fine.So my No1 suspect is the PSU.But can a PSU alone deal that kind of mess?

 

[jungleexplorer]

.But can a PSU alone deal that kind of mess?

It sure can because it can provide improper reduced voltage to any component causing it to freeze up.

 

[Ozkavosh]

Apparently it wasnt a PSU problem,i changed my PSU with another one and the problem still persists :/

 

[jungleexplorer]

Okay. Let's try another route. Go over to Gigabyte update the bios and make sure you have all of the latest MB drivers. Here is a direct link: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3908#dl See if this fixes the problem. If it does not here are some more things you can try.

Were are going to try two things to determine if the problem is hardware related. First w are going to try a very small CD based operating system called Puppy Linux. This operating system loads from a CD in to ram memory and can run a system that does not even have a HD installed. Running Puppy Linux for a while will test all hardware except for the SSD. It is quite fun to use and run as it is lightening fast because it runs totally from the ram. You can do most normal things like browse the web and stuff. Try doing as much as possible in puppy and see if you have any crashes. If all goes well and you have no crashes, then you can assume that you that your hardware is not the problem. Here is a direct link to Puppy Linux:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/wary-5.5/wary-5.5.iso Download this files and burn it to a CD, pop it in the CD/DVD drive and restart you computer. Press F12 after the post and boot from the cd/dvd drive. It takes while to load, so be patient.


Okay. Assuming all went well with puppy we are now going to try a full fledged version of linux called Ubuntu. Since you have no problem installing OSs, you should be able to do this.

Download the ubuntu ISO here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop. Burn the ISO to a DVD. Even though you have the option of run Ubuntu as a live CD (like Puppy) and installing it from within windows, for this test you need to install it as dual boot OS option. Use this guide to do this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot.

Ubuntu is very much like the Android OS in that it has an app store from which you can download thousands of programs for free. Try finding the most graphically intense game in the Ubuntu software center and try playing it for a while. Many windows programs can be installed and played within Ubuntu use the WINE feature, so you might even be able to play some windows games. You can do a google search to see one of the games you will work in WINE.

Using Ubuntu will put a much heavier load on your system then Puppy and playing graphically intense games will test out the GPU. Installing it as a dual boot OS should test out the SSD.

If your run all of these test and you do not have a freeze up, then you know that the problem is not hardware related. If you experience a consistent failure at some point you know the problem is hardware related or possibly driver related to a certain piece of hardware. Since you have eliminated the PSU as the problem, the three next candidates are the CPU, the GPU or the Motherboard.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ozkavosh]

Thanks for all the help you gave me.It seems that my GPU is overheating even though it gets to only 70 degrees celsius max....i just use the manual fan speed to 100% and get no crashes.I got only 1 crash in 2 days now .Thanks for the help ,it did matter !

 

[jungleexplorer]

You are very welcome.