PC Crashes When Installing Games/Programs. Hard Boot Required

[Triarii]

Specs:
CPU: Intel i5-3550 @ 3.30GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 660Ti 2GB
MOBO: Asus P8Z77-V LK
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB
Power Supply: Corsair HX 650 80 PLUS GOLD

-

This is a 3 year old custom PC I put together myself. I have been having issues with it for a while now. The system basically crashes every now and then and I have to do a hard reboot. I have tried many options for diagnosing/repairing it. I have RMA'd the GPU and MOBO. I have done stress tests for my CPU and memtest for my RAM, I've switched out the hard drive for an SSD, I have done clean installs of windows many times and the problem still persists. I also have updated drivers for everything including BIOS and chipset. Anyways, long story short, I am thinking that this is a software issue. I cannot seem to pinpoint any errors in the event viewer for windows.

As of now, my PC crashes while I install large file games. I usually install games from steam but tested it externally and it still freezes. The weird thing is that I booted up in safe mode (with networking) and installed a large game with absolutely no crash/freeze. Can anyone please help me pinpoint and address this issue? Thanks.

(My PC is optimized as well. I have tried registry cleaners and optimizes like CCleaner and IObit. I also don't have any viruses/malware.)

 

[Paul NZ]

Dont use reg cleaners. They do nothing and will make things worse

 

[Triarii]

Dont use reg cleaners. They do nothing and will make things worse

It's just a desperate attempt. Any suggestions?

 

[Flyfisherman]

Hi,
I agree, don't use any such thing as reg-cleaner s/w. Not necessary at all.

When you are in Windows safe mode very few drivers and services is loaded and none external autostart s/w.
So it could be a driver issue, a service but also a memory problem.

But while in Safe mode: Run System File Checker (sfc /scannow) it will check the integrity and try to repair system files
Guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2895-sfc-command-run-windows-10-a.html

After that you can try (still in Safe mode):
If Windows 10
Start > type cmd > in the list right click on CMD.EXE and chose 'Run as administrator' >
copy and paste this or just type it: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Press Enter

Next:
Click Start > type Power > in the list right click on Power shell > run as Administrator > copy this exactly:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml"}
If you right click in the Power Shell window the test string will automatically copy itself into Power Shell.
Press Enter

Best regards from Sweden

Btw. Please come back and tell us the result of each of them.

 

[Flyfisherman]

And I almost forgot: check the file system
Start > type cmd > in the list right click on CMD.EXE and chose 'Run as administrator' > type chkdsk /f and press Enter

 

[Triarii]

And I almost forgot: check the file system
Start > type cmd > in the list right click on CMD.EXE and chose 'Run as administrator' > type chkdsk /f and press Enter

Working on it. Please standby for results.

 

[Triarii]

Hi,
I agree, don't use any such thing as reg-cleaner s/w. Not necessary at all.

When you are in Windows safe mode very few drivers and services is loaded and none external autostart s/w.
So it could be a driver issue, a service but also a memory problem.

But while in Safe mode: Run System File Checker (sfc /scannow) it will check the integrity and try to repair system files
Guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2895-sfc-command-run-windows-10-a.html

After that you can try (still in Safe mode):
If Windows 10
Start > type cmd > in the list right click on CMD.EXE and chose 'Run as administrator' >
copy and paste this or just type it: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Press Enter

Next:
Click Start > type Power > in the list right click on Power shell > run as Administrator > copy this exactly:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml"}
If you right click in the Power Shell window the test string will automatically copy itself into Power Shell.
Press Enter

Best regards from Sweden

Btw. Please come back and tell us the result of each of them.

Alright so for the link you sent, I am having trouble inputting the correct drive. Please see screenshot:

https://gyazo.com/170bc006056b14ef461c91f9cb05ac5f

For the following steps you mentioned, I tried and all came back okay except for the chkdsk /f. Please see screenshot below:

https://gyazo.com/9e0db97bbad8289667ba6ceffabd9bbc

Update: chkdsk /f did work upon restart. It just checked the disk and booted up normally.

 

[Flyfisherman]

Ok:

The first one? ehh? Diskpart, never do that.
I'm not sure where you are at, but if it is sfc /scannow

Ok. In Safe mode > Start > type cmd > in the list right click on CMD.EXE and chose 'Run as administrator' > type sfc /scannow Enter

The last one with chkdsk /f
Yes, type Y then Windows will restart and the file system check will then start.
Best regards from Sweden

 

[Triarii]

Ok:

The first one? ehh? Diskpart, never do that.
I'm not sure where you are at, but if it is sfc /scannow

Ok. In Safe mode > Start > type cmd > in the list right click on CMD.EXE and chose 'Run as administrator' > type sfc /scannow Enter

The last one with chkdsk /f
Yes, type Y then Windows will restart and the file system check will then start.
Best regards from Sweden

Tried both sir. Both came up with okay results.

 

[Flyfisherman]

I'm sorry, I am so tired now and need to place myself in a horizontal position. The time here is now 4:16 in the morning....
We have to check this out later, perhaps other will come in with suggestions or tips.
Best regards from Sweden

 

[Triarii]

I'm sorry, I am so tired now and need to place myself in a horizontal position. The time here is now 4:16 in the morning....
We have to check this out later, perhaps other will come in with suggestions or tips.
Best regards from Sweden

No worries. I appreciate the effort man. Whenever you are available tomorrow, please help me pinpoint this. Goodnight and thanks.

 

[Flyfisherman]

Hi again,

I'm sorry, I've been away, out of town for a while (riding MC).
Even more fun than playing Crysís 3, BF4 or Far Cry4 hehe

Ok. where are we at now?
I've no clue at all where to start, since I do not believe in a corrupted Windows system files.

Can you check what the memory dump file is saying?
Make sure it is activated: How to Configure Windows 10 to Create Dump Files on BSOD

Download and run Free BlueScreenView http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
In the File menu you can save the data as a text file and post in your next answer. In the file menu there is also options to directly Google search for the Error and the Bug check string.

There is also another good free s/w which give you some hints directly what to search for:
WhoCrashed in one of its menus: http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed
Remember to uncheck any third party s/w during installation.

Run memstest86+ - for thoughtfully memory check:
Download and install Memtest86+ it's a free s/w http://www.memtest.org/
Create a bootable CD/DVD or USB-stick, it is a very small program, it will easily fit on a CD.

Then boot the computer from this, memtest86+ will automatically start, and don't worry - it will not in any way compromise nor touch anything on the hard drives.
You must run memtes86+ until at least pass 8,9,10 and 11 (it uses different test pattern then) and for 8GB of memory with an Intel 2600K it will take the whole night, approx 4-5 hours, if 16GB memory - twice as long.
If an error occur, You can just shut it down. Then You know that it is a serious problem with your memory's.

Take out all memory stick but one and run the test again - it will be much faster.
If no problem, replace the memory stick and run memtest86+ again so that you now which memory stick is faulty.

Best regards from Sweden

 

[Triarii]

Hi again,

I'm sorry, I've been away, out of town for a while (riding MC).
Even more fun than playing Crysís 3, BF4 or Far Cry4 hehe

Ok. where are we at now?
I've no clue at all where to start, since I do not believe in a corrupted Windows system files.

Can you check what the memory dump file is saying?
Make sure it is activated: How to Configure Windows 10 to Create Dump Files on BSOD

Download and run Free BlueScreenView http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
In the File menu you can save the data as a text file and post in your next answer. In the file menu there is also options to directly Google search for the Error and the Bug check string.

There is also another good free s/w which give you some hints directly what to search for:
WhoCrashed in one of its menus: http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed
Remember to uncheck any third party s/w during installation.

Run memstest86+ - for thoughtfully memory check:
Download and install Memtest86+ it's a free s/w http://www.memtest.org/
Create a bootable CD/DVD or USB-stick, it is a very small program, it will easily fit on a CD.

Then boot the computer from this, memtest86+ will automatically start, and don't worry - it will not in any way compromise nor touch anything on the hard drives.
You must run memtes86+ until at least pass 8,9,10 and 11 (it uses different test pattern then) and for 8GB of memory with an Intel 2600K it will take the whole night, approx 4-5 hours, if 16GB memory - twice as long.
If an error occur, You can just shut it down. Then You know that it is a serious problem with your memory's.

Take out all memory stick but one and run the test again - it will be much faster.
If no problem, replace the memory stick and run memtest86+ again so that you now which memory stick is faulty.

Best regards from Sweden

Hey, sorry for the late response. I have tried memtest dozens of times. As far as the dump files/logs. Windows does not have any dump files because my PC doesn't blue screen. Nonetheless, I downloaded the programs and neither show a recent crash.

 

[Paul NZ]

If there are no dmp files the PSU maybe faulty

 

[Triarii]

If there are no dmp files the PSU maybe faulty

This is what I'm beginning to think too. I purchased this from amazon a while back:

https://www.amazon.com/Alicenter-Supply-Tester-Checker-Computer/dp/B01JVTQU8G/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1471828565&sr=8-4&keywords=psu+checker

I don't know if its a reliable test or not but it came out okay.

 

[Paul NZ]

Look in event viewer under windows logs / system I think. Look for Event id: 41(63). This is a possible sign the PSU is the prob / faulty

Thats if you didnt press the reset button which will do the same thing

 

[Triarii]

Look in event viewer under windows logs / system I think. Look for Event id: 41(63). This is a possible sign the PSU is the prob / faulty

I spotted two of them as my PC did freeze twice while gaming. Could this come up because I perform a hard reboot after my system crashes, or it's more than likely what is causing it?

 

[Paul NZ]

If you press reset I'm pretty sure the same event error will appear

 

[Flyfisherman]

I'm sorry for my very late response, but I' been busy mostly with my MC.
How is everything going on?
Best regards from Sweden