Question PC started freezing out of nowhere

sandwater12

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Sep 24, 2020
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I was just casually watching YouTube and out of nowhere my PC was frozen with a humming noise out of my headset. That wasn't new to me so i just restarted the PC and once i got into Windows it froze again. I resettet the BIOS to make sure its no OC thats causing trouble. After some boots, I could actually use the PC for some short time before it froze again. My observations: OCCT and MemTest ran without issues (just for a short time to check for major instabilities). I could run a CineBench 20 run and basically had full power of my CPU. I couldnt start Furmark though and for some reason Chrome doesnt want to open anymore at all. It only got worse and sometimes i can boot, but most times i dont get past the BIOS logo when it starts booting. I havent made any changes to the PC in the last days that could impact it. Bought a new CPU and RAM a few weeks ago but those seemed to be stable. I also tried booting into Linux from a USB drive and its basically the same issue, after some short time it just freezes. I tried using only 1 RAM stick in different slots but still the same. As Cinebench and OCCT ran fine i don't think its the CPU, Memtest ran about 25% of 22GB without any errors and then i stopped it as i would guess id get tons of errors if there was something wrong. Same problem off a USB drive so it shouldnt be Windows nor the SSD.
My Specs are:
-Ryzen 7 3800x
-4x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200 CL16
-Asus Crosshair Hero VI (BIOS 7901)
-MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X
-2x 2TB WD Blue 5400
-Main SSD: Crucial Mx500 1TB
-Mushkin Triactor 500GB
-EVGA Supernova 650 G3 80 Plus Gold

I could be completely wrong but I think from my test it could only be the mb, the gpu or the psu. However I didnt get any artifacts or lines from the gpu.
I measured the CMOS battery at 3.07V.

The mb and psu are about 2-3 years old, the gpu about 3.
 

gabi014

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Jul 10, 2012
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Indeed sounds like faulty motherboard, GPU or CPU, it's less related to PSU problem.
I would go towards faulty MB, due to the fact the CPU has longer life span compared to other components.

I would suggest to RMA the motherboard if it's under warranty.
 
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sandwater12

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Sep 24, 2020
4
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510
Indeed sounds like faulty motherboard, GPU or CPU, it's less related to PSU problem.
I would go towards faulty MB, due to the fact the CPU has longer life span compared to other components.

I would suggest to RMA the motherboard if it's under warranty.
Thanks for the answer, I actually just tested it on an old b350 board with a 1700x. 1 stick of RAM, same psu and the gpu. Tried the same Linux from USB and same problem, once I try to start it from the drive the screen just turns off. Safe graphics mode works though. So as I basically get the same freezing/ crashing with a different mb and even cpu, it must be the psu or the gpu. And yeah, I also dont really think its the psu as it should be pretty high quality and is just 2 years old. I will try to get my hands on a test / replacement gpu but dont want to buy something powerful now as Id like to wait for big navi. Still a very weird way for a gpu to die, if it actually is the problem.
 

gabi014

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Jul 10, 2012
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18,715
Then it sounds like the GPU needs to be replaced.

You could also try to replicate the issue by using Furmark to check if there's any similar symptoms, but it sounds weird that it does not launch.