Question PC restarting and freezing within minutes(sometimes BSOD). Lots of solutions haven't worked

[Kodmes]

Hello.
My PC has a pretty big problem and I'm running out of things to try.

The computer does 1 of 3 things:
1. Restarts instantly, blink and its on mdp input message booting up
2. Freezes. Everything is frozen, can't move or interact in any way. Only way out is holding power button
3. BSOD. Stop codes have been mostly "memory management" some "watchdog violation" and one "0xc000021a" after a freeze. Maybe important but while semi frequent before, once my PC starting restarting and freezing I have gotten only 1 BSOD and no more.
Restarting used to be the most frequent but freezing took over. I am not doing anything I'm just letting it sit idle.
The bigger problem with these is that they happen generally within 10 minutes very consistantly. There are sometimes longer breaks but I have in 2 days not gone more than 60 min maximum. It is very difficult if not impossible for me to do anything on the PC due to the machine gun frequency of these issues.
System is under no extra load from me. I am letting it sit idle. Load does not seem to affect much as I can be using the browser, moving folders around and the PC can end up running longer than sitting idle on desktop.

What I have tried that has not solved the issue:
Updating GPU drivers
Updating chipset drivers
Reseating cables
Cleaning
Taking out each stick of RAM to try the other
Replacing RAM with older sticks I had
Trying different RAM slots
Disabled XMP, haven't turned back on
Replacing PSU with older one (CX750M). This is working on my fathers PC.
Replacing GPU with older one (GTX 1080). Was working when I upgraded 2023
Booting in Safe Mode. It still froze
Removing CMOS battery and reinserting it
Removing drives
Removing OS drive and replacing it with another Windows 10 drive (old, from 2021). Still froze
Updating BIOS (now latest version available)
Switching to a different powerstrip
Unplugging all USB devices (aside from monitor)
Lowered GPU clock in Afterburner
Updating Windows (There is a security update that keeps failing for a while, not sure if relevant)

The only hardware I don't have on hand to try replacing is the Motherboard and CPU.

I don't know how much I can try software wise since I can't trust the PC to run for 4 minutes.
Currently it does freeze every 2 minutes.
So far it hasn't had problems sitting in BIOS, so I will try updating BIOS tomorrow.
Temperatures on Hwinfo has shown sub 50c for CPU when frozen. Very cool temperatures outside and indoors this month.

The thing that makes me doubt it being software related is that it still froze even with a different Windows and drive.

Specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte b550 Aorus Pro v2 rev 1.0 (from 2021, BIOS ver F12)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900x (paste is stock Noctua unchanged from 2021)
PSU: Corsair RM850X
GPU: EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3 8GB
RAM: G.skill Ripjaws V 32GB DDR4 3600
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Case: Phanteks P500A
OS drive: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD

Assembled myself in 2021. Haven't overclocked anything.

 

[Grobe]

You put up a good description on what you have tried and your hw speccs, we should be able to get to the bottom of this.

Ok, So I was first thinking maybe an XMP issue, but you say you haven't overclocked, so that's out of the question. Then I have a couple of questions:

This is your daily used computer, so asking for no usb devices connected isn't reasonable. But, you haven't tried to replace all the usb devices, have you?

About the windows thing, you have two drives having Windows installed. Was windows installed (both drives) while those storage devices was inserted in this same computer ?

 

[Kodmes]

You put up a good description on what you have tried and your hw speccs, we should be able to get to the bottom of this.

Ok, So I was first thinking maybe an XMP issue, but you say you haven't overclocked, so that's out of the question. Then I have a couple of questions:

This is your daily used computer, so asking for no usb devices connected isn't reasonable. But, you haven't tried to replace all the usb devices, have you?

About the windows thing, you have two drives having Windows installed. Was windows installed (both drives) while those storage devices was inserted in this same computer ?

The Windows I tried was from a previous prebuilt I got back in 2018. I took the 2 drives (for some reason the vendor managed to install the OS such that it needed both SSD and HDD at the same time) and plugged them in. All previous drives were removed.
These two (technically 3) drives, as in the current OS SSD (A) and previous one (B) have had absolutely no contact and this PC has only known this one (A) OS drive.

XMP has been turned off for a while now just in case. I'm not sure if any of the components have come overclocked out of the box? I haven't OC'd though.
I haven't actually tried removing any devices. I'll try removing mouse and keyboard, other than that the only other USB left is my monitor that I kind of need.

If worth mentioning this system was built in 2021 with everything except the GPU and RAM, both of which were installed Feb 2023

 

[Kodmes]

Tried removing all USB devices.
PC seemed to run for 40+ minutes then seems to have frozen at some point once I checked at the hour mark. Hard to say since without any input it sits in the Windows login screen and monitor goes to sleep. Pressing power button woke it up but I'm getting just a black screen when pressing it now. Monitor is getting no input and when I plug KBM back in they're not turning on (no LED's on). PC is running though, light on, fans spinning.

 

[Grobe]

The Windows I tried was from a previous prebuilt I got back in 2018.

Ok, I don't know what previous setup and it have obviously worked for some time for you. However, it's not recommended to re-use an old Windows installation on different hardware.

(for some reason the vendor managed to install the OS such that it needed both SSD and HDD at the same time)

Probably because they did the classic mistake of installing Windows while both storage devices was connected. That means the boot loader may actually reside on the hdd and not the ssd.

XMP has been turned off for a while now just in case.

Let it be turned off and don't turn it on again.

 

[Kodmes]

I updated BIOS with latest stable version, updated Windows (2024-06 Cumulative Update Preview, security update keeps failing) and used a different powerstrip. All of which still didn't resolve it, the crashing continued. Also lowered GPU clock just in case in MSI Afterburner but I don't think I have it applied on launch so probably isn't in effect without Afterburner active. However right now the PC has been running normally for 3 hours now, beating the almost 1 hour limit so far.
I hope it's fixed but if it is I'm not sure what actually solved it since everything individually still crashed.

 

[Grobe]

I hope it's fixed but if it is I'm not sure what actually solved it since everything individually still crashed.

Well, this is sometimes the case - especially as this, when you're not able to pinpoint one single point of failure.

 

[Kodmes]

Well, this is sometimes the case - especially as this, when you're not able to pinpoint one single point of failure.

Actually seems like I spoke too early in a very cruel case of irony. It just restarted at the 3 hour 10 minute mark. Will try setting FCLK to 1800? Saw someone mention that online.

 

[Grobe]

Before pointing some stiff fingers on the motherboard on this case, I'd strongly recommend you trying to wipe and re-install windows. Just remember to make backup of personal files, and also to disconnect the hard drive when installing windows.

 

[Kodmes]

Before pointing some stiff fingers on the motherboard on this case, I'd strongly recommend you trying to wipe and re-install windows. Just remember to make backup of personal files, and also to disconnect the hard drive when installing windows.

Do you think there's a high likelihood of it being the motherboard? One IT repair guy I asked thought there was a "89% chance of it being motherboard" granted he only listened to me explain the crashing nothing in detail.
Also do you think there could be a good chance of it being the CPU? I'm OK with trying a new motherboard but it would be a shame if I got a new mobo and it was the CPU instead.

I'll try doing a clean install. You think its still worth trying even after I removed all my current drives and replaced them with a different Win10 drive? I assume that would be near identical to a different OS install. Again I'll give it a shot just a smidge attached to some of my programs on this drive.

Edit: Extra also it hasn't so far crashed or had any problems sitting in BIOS for hours multiple times, could that mean its more likely to be software related and not hardware? Apologize about all these questions I'm clueless when it comes to computers.

 

[Grobe]

Do you think there's a high likelihood of it being the motherboard?

Could be of course. However, changing software is considerable more easy compared to replace the motherboard. That said, in both cases the OS must be re-installed.

 

[Kodmes]

Before pointing some stiff fingers on the motherboard on this case, I'd strongly recommend you trying to wipe and re-install windows. Just remember to make backup of personal files, and also to disconnect the hard drive when installing windows.

Did a reinstall of Windows 10. Had a "There was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made" so I installed it via USB. Crashed (restart) once during installation. Once installation and setup was finished, crashed (restarted) again. Then I installed the Windows updates, which also gave me trouble for some reason and I still can't download the Security update. Some of the updates despite being ready hadn't installed after restart. Installed chipset drivers and GPU drivers.
Had one BSOD when I was moving files from SSD to HDD
"SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION"
Two times file transfer dropped to 0 and didn't resume, couldn't close transfer window either.
Nothing seems to have changed. PC still restarts and freezes even on new Windows.

 

[Grobe]

Ok, then I'd suggest there is a failure on the motherboard itself. Possible the CPU, but that is very rare.

There is one last thing you can try (if you want, but it's pretty clear by now that there must be something faulty with the motherboard):
Go get a Linux ISO file (e.g. Linux Mint <link to download site>) - use a appropriate tool to flash the iso image to a USB stick, and then boot into the Live Desktop (i.e. trying and see how it feels, not installing). Test if you can browse the web (using Firefox that is pre-installed) over an extended period of time and see if it still crash on you.

Reason for this is so you get to test the computer with a completely different OS, but think it still crashes.

 

[Kodmes]

Ok, then I'd suggest there is a failure on the motherboard itself. Possible the CPU, but that is very rare.

There is one last thing you can try (if you want, but it's pretty clear by now that there must be something faulty with the motherboard):
Go get a Linux ISO file (e.g. Linux Mint <link to download site>) - use a appropriate tool to flash the iso image to a USB stick, and then boot into the Live Desktop (i.e. trying and see how it feels, not installing). Test if you can browse the web (using Firefox that is pre-installed) over an extended period of time and see if it still crash on you.

Reason for this is so you get to test the computer with a completely different OS, but think it still crashes.

I might try that then. Assumed it would lead to CPU + Motherboard. Hopefully Motherboard but I've seen it be CPU in similiar sounding cases online.

I ended up running Memtest86 and with my G.skill sticks individually got 1000+ errors per pass. Tried previous Ballistix 8GB sticks and the two I tested passed without any errors but still cause crashing, so that's something I guess. I'm aware Memtest still uses CPU and Motherboard so its most likely one of those.

Shame it needs to be taken to a shop because they charge hourly and the PC can run for 3 hours if it feels like it, but don't want to blind buy either so whaddya gonna do.

 

[Kodmes]

Slightly speculative update.
It *seems* disabling C-states got rid of the crashing? Not sure yet, but the PC ran without issue for 5 hours twice and both times I shut it down to plug my HDD's back in. Enabling C-states again still ran for 3 hours but then froze again for the first time today.
Which I assume means its the CPU. And the RAM too then, considering I got 5k errors per stick in memtest86 on my Ripjaws and 0 on Crucial Ballistix.
I've turned off C-states again and also turbo so it won't boost past base clock because it was permaboosting to 4+ GHz and temps were idling at 60C.