Question PC Freezing seemingly randomly / No sign of hardware failure

[ImKrowe]

This issue has plagued my computer for 5 months now and I just cannot seem to figure out what's causing it. My computer will be running fine and suddenly it freezes, and stays frozen until a power off. It's unpredictable, and happens randomly. I've ran so many diagnosis checks and they all tell me the same thing; There is no issue with my hardware. I've reset my computer twice so there is no chance it's malware or a virus. My temperatures are never above 70c either so it isn't overheating. This problem has been so frustrating to deal with that I broke today and decided to post on many forums in hopes of getting help.

My specs;
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3500Mhz
GPU: XFX Radeon RX580 8GB
Memory: CORSAIR 16GB DDR4 RAM 2400Mhz
Drive 1: KINGSTON SA400 SSD 120GB
Drive 2: TOSHIBA HDWD110 1TB HDD
PSU: 650W GAMDIAS 80 Plus Bronze

 

[PC Tailor]

Welcome to the forums my friend!

What diagnostics have you ran (as to avoid us suggesting the same things)?
Do the freezes happen during certain applications or certain times (I.e. is it always under load?)
Does anything appear in your event manager outside of just the hard reboot / power loss?
What is your PSU make and model?
Is your BIOS up to date and equally are all drivers up to date with it?

 

[ImKrowe]

HI!

I've ran some of AMD's diagnosis tools, stressed tested my system with BurnInTest, powerMAX and a few benchmarking tools (which strangely enough didn't freeze my system) , memtest, system checkdisk checks, scanned for malware\viruses using malwarebytes, and inevitably used windows' own disk repair tool.
Freezes happen completely randomly, both when the hardware is stressed and when idle.
Nothing but power loss and reboot cycles appear in event log.
My PSU is the GAMDIAS 80 plus bronze 650w supply.
My Drivers are up to date, I don't know about my BIOS though.

How does one go about updating the BIOS? Would that make a difference?

 

[MEETWIIT]

HI!

I've ran some of AMD's diagnosis tools, stressed tested my system with BurnInTest, powerMAX and a few benchmarking tools (which strangely enough didn't freeze my system) , memtest, system checkdisk checks, scanned for malware\viruses using malwarebytes, and inevitably used windows' own disk repair tool.
Freezes happen completely randomly, both when the hardware is stressed and when idle.
Nothing but power loss and reboot cycles appear in event log.
My PSU is the GAMDIAS 80 plus bronze 650w supply.
My Drivers are up to date, I don't know about my BIOS though.

How does one go about updating the BIOS? Would that make a difference?

i had that problem too and some other problems so i fixed it with updating BIOS
which mobo u have ?

 

[PC Tailor]

How does one go about updating the BIOS? Would that make a difference?

It can make a huge difference, nearly all random problems that are encountered, the first step is often to update BIOS and drivers once you've eradicated the obvious. BIOS updates come with improvements and patches that can significantly help your hardware and software depending on what the problem is.

You will find the instructions in your motherboard manual, what MB do you have?

Equally I know GAMDIAS, but can't say I know the quality of their PSUs...

 

[ImKrowe]

I have updated my mobo to its latest version as suggested, My board is a ASRock AB350M. I'll have no idea if this fixxed my issue until a few days have passed or it freezes again, since it is unpredictable

Thank you!

 

[ImKrowe]

Ahhh, As I thought my issue was fixed, it froze again.
Guess we're back to square one.
I did notice some oddities when it froze, however. Audio was still playing as normal when watching a YouTube video. My input froze, but the video didn't until several seconds later. It was unrecoverable from then and I had to restart.

 

[MEETWIIT]

if the mouse and keyboard still works "like when u touch the num lock bottun it ON/OFF so it can be the problem in monitor "

 

[PC Tailor]

malware\viruses using malwarebytes

Whilst I wouldn't think this is a virus (whilst it can be) - Malwarebytes isn't an antibirus per se. A reputable antivirus alongside malwarebytes would help eradicate all malware issues. All viruses are malware, but not all malware are viruses in a sense.

Based on your previous comments, have you run an SFC and CHKDSK in an elevated CMD prompt?
Could you also confirm if the freezes still occur in safe mode?

There is every possibility this could be hardware, a poor quality PSU can even cause these kind of system freezes, but we can try and eradicate software first.
The memtest, whilst not guaranteed, is generally enough for me to think RAM isn't the issue at the very least.

 

[ImKrowe]

Yes I have ran SFC and CHKDSK, many times. No issues were ever reported.
I have used safe mode to uninstall drivers to see if the problem persisted, it did. Even in safe mode it froze.

 

[PC Tailor]

If the issue still occurs in safe mode, then it is more likely hardware. Especially if the SFC and CHKDSK have come back clean.

• Poor quality PSUs can quite easily cause this issue - are you able to swap out the PSU to test?
• Does CrystalDiskInfo identify any potential issues with your storage drives?
• You stated you have already performed memtest.
• If you are able to do a clean install of windows, this would pretty clearly identify if it is hardware or software, and likely remove the issue if it is software.
• Are you running any OC at all?

 

[mdd1963]

FInd a friend willing to swap RAM with you for a few days of testing...select a conservative speed/profile for testing...(2133, 2400 MHz, etc)

Memtest passing for -x- amount of time still does not mean the RAM is not causing your occasional freezes..

(Was this a new build with a full fresh install, or an upgrade using a previous install of Windows?)

Kingston SSDs are not 'unknown' in for potentially causing a few random freezes out there in the hardware world, so you might try borrowing a $50-$60 Corsair MX500 from someone....; it would be a shame to waste so many hours of testing if this were just a Kingston bug

 

[ImKrowe]

• I cannot swap out the PSU currently
• CystalDiskInfo does not indentify a problem with both drives, both work as should
• I've re-installed windows 3 times
  Can you explain what "OC" means?

 

[PC Tailor]

Overclock. Are you overclocking any components at all?
The fact you've reinstalled a few times would indicate hardware.

I would be going down the route of swapping the PSU and potentially swapping the RAM first to see if the issue disappears.

 

[ImKrowe]

Nope! I don't overclock at all

I will hopefully get back to you soon when I end up swapping my RAM and PSU

I might just send my PC to a professional too because this is getting too technical for me (idk how to swap out a PSU)

 

[ImKrowe]

I've come to a certain conclusion, one I'm not too happy about.
But it seems that my computer crashes when the CPU is fully utilized or under a lot of stress. Like when streaming or rendering video.
But my computer would work fine during gaming are rarely crashes then.
Do I need to get a new CPU?