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Question PC locking/freezing during heavy games without BSOD or crashdump

Krag89

Reputable
Jan 4, 2021
7
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4,515
Hi, I've been having issues with my PC for years, and it has more or less bothered me depending on what I was doing or playing.

What happens is that the 2 screens freeze, the audio stops, the mouse and keyboard stop responding but all the lights are still on, and all I can do is push the power button to turn it off and on again.

It only really happened in games or software that push my system, but it doesn't happen systematically. I can play the same game for days without it happening and then it'll happen 15 minutes after starting the next day, and maybe the day after too, and then I'll uninstall a couple things and updates some drivers or something and it won't happen for a week or two, then it'll happen randomly again and now I'm finally writing this.

CPU: Intel Core i9 9900K
CPU cooler: Corsair Hydro Series - H100i Pro RGB
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE AC
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 32GB (2x16) 3200MHz CL16
System SSD: Crucial MX500 - 500 Go
Case: Be Quiet Silent Base 601 TG - Orange
PSU: Corsair HX750 - Platinum
GPU: ASUS Dual NVIDIA RTX 4060 OC Edition 8GB
+ a bunch of other HDD and NVME for storage and games

Everything other than the RAM, GPU and System SSD are from 2019 while and the issues were already happening before that.

I haven't done any overclocking or tweaks other than enabling XMP and ERP ready (to turn off the PCIE lights if I have to leave the PC on at night), I tried to undervolt the CPU in the past but it kept giving me BSOD even with minimal values.
I've never noticed any sign of overheating of any part, the CPU has basically never been pushed to 100% in a real situation and when I did push it to test for errors or crashes it never overheated.

All drivers should be up to date, I double checked and did some updates with a utility called SDIO, but the issues were happening before that and they still happen now.

I'm completely out of ideas.

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Have you tried running memtest86?
It tests for bad ram, just try it out to strike off ram from your list.i know you mentioned issues were there before installation but it would not hurt to try it out.
 
Have you tried running memtest86?
It tests for bad ram, just try it out to strike off ram from your list.i know you mentioned issues were there before installation but it would not hurt to try it out.
I haven't but I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks.

Edit: I let it run overnight and it gave me no error.
 
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I haven't but I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks.

Edit: I let it run overnight and it gave me no error.
Sorry for the late response, Try sending your PSU to a shop to get it checked. If the issue is not with the PSU , try making a system restore point and run Driver Verifier, to force the system to crash, so it can produce a dump file (just in case a driver is the culprint) . I am not an expert but I have experienced issues like these before and these were the first steps I took to fix them.

Also after you changed your SSD, did you migrate windows with it?
 
@Krag89

Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer.

Either one or both tools may be capturing some error codes, warnings, or even informational events regarding the screen freezes.

Event IDs can be used to help discover possible causes.

Forced shutdows can and do corrupt files.

Run "dism" and "sfc /scannow" - they may find and fix something.

FYI:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

With a five year old system the PSU is also a likely suspect. May be at or nearing its' designed in EOL (End of Life).

PC:

Another thing you can do is to power down, unplug, and open the case.

Carefully clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Install a new CMOS battery as instructed by by the motherboard's User Guide/Manual.