[SOLVED] PC locks up - Starts as a soft lock and slowly lose total control

[Savage One]

Over the past few weeks my PC has gotten to where it will randomly (more often when idle) lock itself up. I notice because any RGB elements that are controlled are turned off. When it happens I cannot open or close programs, but I can still use any that are open. Eventually no program will respond, then later still I lose control of peripherals. Once it "begins" the only way to shut down or restart my PC is by cutting power, windows will close programs but not actually shut down.

Windows 10
RTX 3080 oc'd
i7-5820k oc'd
NZXT c850W PSU
MSI SLI Plus x-99a motherboard
Kingston 120 GB SSD
Samsun 512 GB SSD
2 Tb WD HDD

All drives are healthy, all CPU / GPU temps are fine.

I reduced my CPU overclock and it seemed to lengthen time between lock ups, but it quickly became more frequent again, I suppose it could be CPU degradation, would be a big help if anyone could confirm, or if this was a placebo.

Windows event viewer is somewhat inconclusive. Last event before the last lockup was *Failed to initialize LanternRock SDK: 0x00040201. Reason: S_NO_OPTIN (telemetry not opted-in) * but I cannot find anything on google about that.

Thanks.

 

[Colif]

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.

if that doesn't help,

does it happen in safe mode?
go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose startup options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

if not, could be a driver.
if it still does, its likely a hardware problem.

how new is the PSU?

does it happen if you remove OC completely?

event viewer never much use figuring out problems really

 

[Savage One]

Try a clean boot and see if it changes anything - make sure to read instructions and make sure NOT to disable any microsoft services or windows won't load right - https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

if clean boot fixes it, it shows its likely a startup program. You should, over a number of startups. restart the programs you stopped to isolate the one that is to blame.

if that doesn't help,

does it happen in safe mode?
go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose startup options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

if not, could be a driver.
if it still does, its likely a hardware problem.

how new is the PSU?

does it happen if you remove OC completely?

event viewer never much use figuring out problems really

I've been trying my own troubleshooting to try to fix this issue as well, if it happens again I will try your method. I'll try to answer the questions I can right now.

I haven't tried safe mode, it takes days some times for my PC to lock up, and I have to use it. So safe mode is kinda hard to do.

I checked drivers and I DID have one outdatd, Nvidia Driver. I'm pretty skeptical, but I updated it and we'll see.

PSU is merely a few months old in my system. I bought it for the 3080 release.

Funny thing about the OC.. as you mention it. I cannot restore my CPU to stock, it will no long run at stock voltage and actually crashes the BIOS if I apply it. I've slowly been lowering clock speed and voltages and it seems to make a variance in the time it takes for my PC to crash.... but it still does nonetheless. If in my limited experience, I was to guess, I think my CPU or RAM is done for.

Thanks for your time, I hope some of this may have been useful?

 

[Colif]

Funny thing about the OC.. as you mention it. I cannot restore my CPU to stock, it will no long run at stock voltage and actually crashes the BIOS if I apply it.

how does it crash the bios??

how long has it been overclocked for?
I see suggestion the cpu might be damaged from the OC and needs more power to run at stock, as the bios would boost power to it while overclocked. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/pc-wont-boot-unless-is-overclocked.2315490/

I suppose it could be CPU degradation, would be a big help if anyone could confirm, or if this was a placebo.

maybe we have 2 signs of this idea. the behaviour that started thread and the fact it won't run unless overclocked.

Now to test it - https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

I don't know if it will show us anything but its worth a try.

 

[Savage One]

how does it crash the bios??

how long has it been overclocked for?
I see suggestion the cpu might be damaged from the OC and needs more power to run at stock, as the bios would boost power to it while overclocked. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/pc-wont-boot-unless-is-overclocked.2315490/


maybe we have 2 signs of this idea. the behaviour that started thread and the fact it won't run unless overclocked.

Now to test it - https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

I don't know if it will show us anything but its worth a try.

I'll give it a try later today and let you know. I was very surprised that the BIOS would crash as well, and just by crash I mean it locks up the second the settings are applied and I never regain control unless I restart my PC. It's also been overclocked about 4 years.

 

[Savage One]

how does it crash the bios??

how long has it been overclocked for?
I see suggestion the cpu might be damaged from the OC and needs more power to run at stock, as the bios would boost power to it while overclocked. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/pc-wont-boot-unless-is-overclocked.2315490/


maybe we have 2 signs of this idea. the behaviour that started thread and the fact it won't run unless overclocked.

Now to test it - https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

I don't know if it will show us anything but its worth a try.

Okay.. the diagnostic tool put a beat down on my CPU but it did pass. I just mean that it got a lot hotter than I expected. However, I did notice that it exhibited some behavior similar to when my pc does lock up. When the CPU was really stressed during the diagnostics, the RGB fans that I mentioned in my post would go out before coming back on. I do think this would suggest my processor is nearing its end. However when my PC locks up the RGB stays off.

 

[Colif]

I will see if anyone else has ideas.

Its possible its the motherboard also. Its difficult to tell. without a spare known working CPU to put in and try to run at stock, you don't know if the problem is possibly physical damage to CPU that the tests didn't find, or the motherboard itself.
Only other way to make sire it is motherboard is test everything else.

 

[Colif]

one suggestion is

I'd reset to the default settings AND increase the CPU core voltage by a few increments and see if it will POST then. If the BIOS is locking up simply by the act of loading the default values, then the BIOS ROM is toast.

 

[Savage One]

one suggestion is

I'd reset to the default settings AND increase the CPU core voltage by a few increments and see if it will POST then. If the BIOS is locking up simply by the act of loading the default values, then the BIOS ROM is toast.

I'd have to manually put my frequency multiplier to stock and leave the vcore about where it is, I'll put it on the list of things to do if it crashes again, fingers crossed, it hasn't happened for a few days, which is an improvement. Last thing I had done was lower the CPU frequency a bit and then I updated an Nvidia driver, either could or could not be a solution. OH I also just remembered, a couple months ago I was playing a game and my PC crashed / locked up. I had to hard reset the PC and when I turned it back on windows came up and said it was repairing the C: drive. It said that it had done so successfully, so I never thought anything else about it. Perhaps that may have something to do with it? These current problems started maybe a week or a week and a half later.

 

[Savage One]

Also just wanted to say thanks for all of your help. Means a lot.

 

[Colif]

is the 120gb ssd your boot drive?
try running chkdsk X: /f on your ssd's (change X to drive letter of the drive) in command prompt (admin).
You will have to agree to running it at startup for C: since its currently running windows.

Kingston don't have any software to run scans on their drives, just check smart - https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager

Samsung Magician - https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

 

[Savage One]

is the 120gb ssd your boot drive?
try running chkdsk X: /f on your ssd's (change X to drive letter of the drive) in command prompt (admin).
You will have to agree to running it at startup for C: since its currently running windows.

Kingston don't have any software to run scans on their drives, just check smart - https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager

Samsung Magician - https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

This is a bit beyond me when it comes to drive management, please allow me to ask : Is it necessary to change my drive letter to do that? Won't it mess up program install paths?

Yes the 120GB Kingston is my windows C: drive.

 

[Colif]

please allow me to ask : Is it necessary to change my drive letter to do that? Won't it mess up program install paths?

no, nothing like that.

You have 2 ssd, I didn't know their drive letters, so I used an X to represent the drive letter.
All you need to do is type in chkdsk and replace the X with the drive letter of one of your current drives.

the ssd is C? so type chkdsk C: /f and press enter
change C to whatever other ssd is to test it.

I guess I wasn't clear enough

 

[Savage One]

no, nothing like that.

You have 2 ssd, I didn't know their drive letters, so I used an X to represent the drive letter.
All you need to do is type in chkdsk and replace the X with the drive letter of one of your current drives.

the ssd is C? so type chkdsk C: /f and press enter
change C to whatever other ssd is to test it.

I guess I wasn't clear enough

LMAO Yeah, that wasn't my brightest moment, should have been obvious. Was worried because I didn't have an x: drive Sorry for not reading thoroughly

 

[Savage One]

no, nothing like that.

You have 2 ssd, I didn't know their drive letters, so I used an X to represent the drive letter.
All you need to do is type in chkdsk and replace the X with the drive letter of one of your current drives.

the ssd is C? so type chkdsk C: /f and press enter
change C to whatever other ssd is to test it.

I guess I wasn't clear enough

When I do this I get
"The type of the file system is NTFS"

"Cannot lock current drive"

""Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process."

 

[Colif]

My fault, I shouldn't keep giving you the shortened version of instructions

when you run chkdsk c: /f and press enter
Two paragraphs will pop up, one with that warning and another asking if you want to run it at start up. Agree to the start-up and restart PC to let it run.
when you run chkdsk on the other ssd, since its not running windows, it shouldn't give you that error.

 

[Savage One]

My fault, I shouldn't keep giving you the shortened version of instructions

when you run chkdsk c: /f and press enter
Two paragraphs will pop up, one with that warning and another asking if you want to run it at start up. Agree to the start-up and restart PC to let it run.
when you run chkdsk on the other ssd, since its not running windows, it shouldn't give you that error.

Okay, I swear it didn't say that last time . I ran it and it DID repair for C: and it took about 30 seconds for it to do.. so.. maybe that's it? I'm cautiously optimistic?

 

[Colif]

30 seconds is a fair amount of time for it to run on an ssd. So we shall see. it might have fixed some sectors on ssd.

I couldn't tell you average time it takes on an ssd as I don't remember. its been a while since I ran it and I don't have the same size ssd anymore so comparison wouldn't work. its also faster. so while bigger, it may take less time.

 

[Savage One]

30 seconds is a fair amount of time for it to run on an ssd. So we shall see. it might have fixed some sectors on ssd.

I couldn't tell you average time it takes on an ssd as I don't remember. its been a while since I ran it and I don't have the same size ssd anymore so comparison wouldn't work. its also faster. so while bigger, it may take less time.

Well I'll get back to you if my issues persist. Marking best answer prevents us from posting more here though correct?

 

[Colif]

no, you can keep posting, it wouldn't close thread until 1 month after its fixed.

but wait and see if it fixes it.

 

[Savage One]

no, you can keep posting, it wouldn't close thread until 1 month after its fixed.

but wait and see if it fixes it.

Okay, well thanks again for spending so much time helping me. This crashing issue sometimes happens multiple times a day, or sometimes a week at a time. So I'm gonna have to be patient.

 

[Colif]

can always look to see what it did - https://winaero.com/how-to-find-chkdsk-results-in-windows-10/

 

[Savage One]

can always look to see what it did - https://winaero.com/how-to-find-chkdsk-results-in-windows-10/

And here I thought you didn't like windows event viewer

 

[Savage One]

can always look to see what it did - https://winaero.com/how-to-find-chkdsk-results-in-windows-10/

I followed that and nothing comes up? https://gyazo.com/829ac4bffb65a370185ddc3503b8c8b7

 

[Colif]

Maybe I should say Event viewer/custom view/admin events isn't overly helpful in figuring out a crash But I am sure Event viewer has its uses, I just don't use it very often myself.
It is best place to read logs.

I don't know why it didn't record anything