[SOLVED] PC randomly hangs

[rekkerbekker]

Hello,

Not sure if this is a hardware or software issue but I'm leaning on software.
Recently, I upgraded my PC build from i5 to Ryzen 7, also replaced the Motherboard, GPU, RAM, and PSU.

Ever since the upgrade, my PC keeps hanging randomly. It usually lasts for 10 - 30 seconds but is really annoying. I can still move my mouse just fine so it seems to be the software that's hanging.
This happens when I'm just browsing the web, but is especially prevalent when running an executable that I just downloaded (there's this obvious lag and is just not as responsive as it used to be).
When I play video games, it will hang once or twice during a 4 hour session.

I thought it might be a driver incompatibility issue so I downloaded drivers and kept my Windows up to date.
I even did a factory reset but this issue is still prevalent. As I'm typing this, my Chrome just hanged with a "Not Responding" before going back to normal.

Any ideas as to what could be the issue? Any suggestions appreciated - I'm happy to provide more information if needed.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Can you list those new specs? Hard to rule out the hardware side of things if we don't know exactly what we're dealing with.

 

[rekkerbekker]

Of course, my new specs are:
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ Amd Radeon RX 5700 XT 8Gb GDDR6
PSU: Gigabyte G750H
RAM: TEAM T-FORCE VULCAN Z 3000MHZ (2 x 8GB)
Cooler: SILVERSTONE PF-SERIES 240MM LIQUID COOLER

Also have 2 SSDs and 1 HDD.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Thanks!

The first three questions I have are:

1. When you switched from the i5 over to the Ryzen 7, did you do a fresh install of Windows 10? Also, what version and build are you on?

2. Is your BIOS up to date? If you aren't sure, either check in Windows by right clicking your Start button and selecting "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" and then entering the command (you can copy/paste from below):

Get-WmiObject win32_bios

Or if you prefer to just reboot and access your BIOS to check there, that works too.

The BIOS section of your motherboard's download page currently lists "7C02v36" as the latest. If you are not on 'v36, I would flash the update. There are PCI-E and NVMe compatibility updates showing up in the changelogs, and the AGESA updates can really help too.

3. Have you checked for newer firmware updates for your SSD's? I assume your Windows install is running on one of them, and not your hard drive, correct?

 

[rekkerbekker]

Hey there,

Thanks for the quick response!

1. I didn't do a fresh install, only a system reset - I looked it up and it seems like it doesn't achieve the same effect as compared to a clean install - I'll try that out. To answer your question, I'm on version 10.0.18362 Build 18362.

2. My BIOS isn't up-to-date either!

3. You're right and I also haven't checked for newer firmware updates.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try them out.

 

[rekkerbekker]

Hello again,

I did a clean install of Windows, updated my BIOS, and there's no firmware updates for my SSD - it's already the latest.

Unfortunately, I still get this random hanging when playing games and general browsing.

Any other ideas as to what's wrong or what I can do to identify the issue?

 

[howtobeironic]

A clean install threw the virus/corrupt system chance out of the window, so it wasn't a virus. Probably not software.
BIOS, SSD and chipsets are up-to-date. Also probably not firmware.
What left to blame? Hardware. Though I suspect the RAM. It's not on the QVL list of your motherboard (though that only means that manufacturers did not test it, doesn't mean any incompatibility.)

Take this as a second opinion, though I don't give a lot chances to memory corruption since it was newly built. You are sure about the quality of the build (parts seated rightly and you did not forget a cable) right?