PC freezes ONLY ONCE A DAY. But never more than once. How come?

[tvladov]

Hi there.

I'm not sure which category my issue belongs to - I suspect the Graphics Card, but that's only a vague guess. Now for the problem - as 3D visual artist, I use a render machine - a custom build, I put together in 2015. Here the specs:

Motherboard : MSI X99A SLI PLUS
BIOS : v1.70 02/09/2015
Processor : Intel Core i7-5820K @ 3.30 GHz
Memory : 32 GBs, Quad Channel - Rows 0, 4, 8, 12; 1066.7 MHz (15-15-15-35)
Video : EVGA e-GeForce GTX 970
Audio 1 : Intel Wellsburg PCH - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio 2 : Nvidia GM204 - High Definition Audio Controller
Primary Drive : Crucial SATA 500GB, 6GB/s
Output : Dual Monitor - HDMI + Analog
Power : bequiet Dark Power Pro 550 W

Now to the problem: the machine freezes once a day. That's the strange thing - it would freeze ONLY ONCE A DAY.. I would open Chrome to listen to some online radio and my 3D software to work on a smiple model and it freezes - in a couple of minutes or in an hour of that usage. [Maybe important: Sometimes however (seldomly), it doesn't.] But after the freeze, I could simultaneously use Chrome with 50+ tabs open, render a heavy still and play Crysis and it wouldn't freeze anymore that day. Not even once.
I would be very glad if you could help me with that issue, as my google searches don't help me any further.

Thanks in advance
Shane

 

[marksavio]

can you open your event viewer (press winkey+xv). tree navigation. custom view. adminstrative. scroll down to the times where you have your pc hang/freeze, check to see if there are any errors/warnings. also, try to do a "sfc /scannow" in your command console, we just wanna make sure your windows isnt corrupted.

 

[tvladov]

can you open your event viewer (press winkey+xv). tree navigation. custom view. adminstrative. scroll down to the times where you have your pc hang/freeze, check to see if there are any errors/warnings. also, try to do a "sfc /scannow" in your command console, we just wanna make sure your windows isnt corrupted.

Here You are:
https://imgur.com/a/lyGYM

Sorry, it's in German, but I guess it's pretty self-explainatory. It's always this Critical Error - Kernel, ID 41... Do you any any other info?

PS_ the "sfc /scannow" goes so quick after being run, that, I can't see anything. It's just a window, that opens and closes in a blink of an eye...

 

[marksavio]

nvm mind about the sfc scan. we confirmed that its in your hardware and not in your OS. you have to open the console first by pressing "winkey+xa". and then you type your command. this process will probably take 10mins.

as for the kernel 41. its definitely an error happening on the hardware/bios level. it could be any of the issues below

• 
  overclocking -- try resetting back to stock speeds
  overheating -- check temps in your hardware. using HWmonitor can give you a quick overview of your system temps.
  ram -- do a memtest. or you can do a quick check by swapping out rams. and see which rams arent working.
  powersupply -- try to check on it

my guess its your RAM failing. the memtest will take time to process and can be complicated for the inexperienced. you can however just test out each RAM one at a time to see if your system will boot normally.

 

[tvladov]

Oh, I see. Thanks, I'll do that right now. In the meantime, here's a pic of the recent warning: Screenshot

 

[marksavio]

im only interested in the errors that happened before the Kernel 41 error occurs. there are some errors on windows that can be ignored.

 

[tvladov]

• 
  overclocking -- try resetting back to stock speeds
  overheating -- check temps in your hardware. using HWmonitor can give you a quick overview of your system temps.
  ram -- do a memtest. or you can do a quick check by swapping out rams. and see which rams arent working.
  powersupply -- try to check on it

my guess its your RAM failing. the memtest will take time to process and can be complicated for the inexperienced. you can however just test out each RAM one at a time to see if your system will boot normally.

All right. Thanks.

sfc /scannow : test is through, everything seems to be alright here
overclocking : I didn't (at least not intentionally) overclock; the MSI control panel has its default settings?
temps : I guess they're all right also -

memtest : I'll try running one

 

[marksavio]

also another cause for the freeze are your drives failing. damaged HDD will cause your computer to freeze. you can run the command below on command console. this process will mark all bad sectors in your drive to prevent another freeze.

• 
  chkdsk /f /x d:

d: is the drive letter you want to do the check on. to do a chkdsk on your system drive c:. will alert you to give a restart on your PC to do it on boot time. this process will take a long time depending how big your drive is.

 

[tvladov]

also another cause for the freeze are your drives failing. damaged HDD will cause your computer to freeze. you can run the command below on command console. this process will mark all bad sectors in your drive to prevent another freeze.

• 
  chkdsk /f /x d:

Thank you once again. I'll test D:/ now and run a memtest at night. But isn't it somehow funny, that the freeze occurs only once a day? No matter how much stress and load you put on the PC afterwards, it runs stable and without freezes...

 

[marksavio]

yah iknow rofl. lets hope its not a virus. i usually just do a fresh install of windows all over again to eliminate everything and if it still happens at least i know its on a driver or hardware. and its NOT a virus.

 

[tvladov]

yah iknow rofl. lets hope its not a virus. i usually just do a fresh install of windows all over again to eliminate everything and if it still happens at least i know its on a driver or hardware. and its NOT a virus.

But do you wipe everything away or just repair / install over the existing instalaltion? The thing is, I would also gladly reinstall windows, but don't really have the time to reinstall all my software and stuff - it takes a day or two to do so...

 

[marksavio]

yes i wipe everything. and yes it sucks to reinstall drivers and software for everythign all over again. but i dont think we need to go this extreme coz your system based on your event logs have a hardware failure. which is a common symptom with the kernel 41 error.

 

[tvladov]

I also don't think it's a virus or Windows. I had the same issue also before switching from Win 7 to Win 10... If I remember correctly, someone even suggested running a memtest, which I later did, but without any revealing outcome. That's why I tend to the power supply or the graphics card... The thing is, before installing Win 10 the problem seemed to happen while booting, so I'd often boot to a bluescreen. Now I always successfully boot, but it freezes often that one time a day...

UPDATE | Here's a link to the thread from 2 years ago - memtest run for 11 hours didn't bring results. User Quixx was pretty sure it was the power supply...
Link to thread from 2015

 

[tvladov]

So, the morning after:

. chkdsk c: & d: - no issues;
. memtest - all good;

What now? Maybe it really is the power supply or the main board? But how am I supposed to test these?

 

[marksavio]

if thre is a shop nearby, who can test your PSU for you before replacing it. maybe that could be your last option.

 

[tvladov]

if thre is a shop nearby, who can test your PSU for you before replacing it. maybe that could be your last option.

I have 5 year guarantee on the PSU, so I can send it for a checkup and - if needed - a replacement. Today I called the guys from bequiet and they seemed to hear such a problem for the first time. This makes me think it's maybe the mainboard then. Maybe it's not even a faulty motherboard but some unlucky setup in the Click BIOS - the false XMP or something...

 

[marksavio]

well maybe it could be a BIOS bug related to a hardware. or a device controller that needs an update someday. i guess youll have to live with "that" for the meantime man.

if ever it happens again, try checking on your event viewer if you find something new. if hardware degrades over time, probably the OS will catch a more clearer bug.

 

[tvladov]

well maybe it could be a BIOS bug related to a hardware. or a device controller that needs an update someday. i guess youll have to live with "that" for the meantime man.

if ever it happens again, try checking on your event viewer if you find something new. if hardware degrades over time, probably the OS will catch a more clearer bug.

I called MSI and the support guy said I should update my 1,5+ year old bios to the current version via m-flash. I did and now have to wait and see what happens in the next days. When I get some free time on my hands, I'll have to reinstall Win10 in order for the mainboard and bios to cooperate with the OS the most optimal way possible. Maybe, in the end, that would be enough to do the trick...