Question PC suffering from seemingly randoms BSOD, RAM overclocking fails, freezing & not POSTing ?

[Kefla]

Hello everyone and thank you for looking into this thread. As the title states my custom-built computer that I built a few years ago suffers from a lot of BSOD, memory overclocking failures, even recently straight up freezing. I would be playing a game, and it would BSOD, fail to post (with the cpu light on OR with the VGA & DRAM light on with fans on Max). So, I shut down and turn back on then it fails to Memory Overclock, so I would lower the over clocking or up the voltage. I would encounter an issue with hours into a game then randomly happening again while watching a Video, same sort of cycle just a little different variation.
I've done numerous attempts to fix this these issues including:
- CMOS Battery replace
- Memtest86 (Though it never finished cause it froze but showed no errors)
- Bios Update
- Driver hunting with Driver Verifier and removed some drivers.
- Move ram sticks around
- Did the classic windows files repair CMD code

I'm starting to forget what I all did, and it's been happening very frequently recently, I've had issues of BSOD few months ago after my AIO died and even before that I had some trouble where it would load into windows and always BSOD at a certain point (Though clearing CMOS battery fixed that). My Build goes:

Windows 10 Version 22H2 OS 19045.4170
Motherboard: MPG X570 GAMING PRO CARBON WIFI (MS-7B93)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core Processor, 3801 Mhz, 8 Core(s), 16 Logical Processor(s)
RAM: G.SKILL TridentZ Neo RGB 2x16GB DDR4 3600
PSU: GMX 1050W Fully Modular 80+ Gold Certified
GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX Geforce RTX 2070 SUPER
Internal SSD SATA III 6Gb/s M.s 2280 (OS Boot Drive)
1 HDD
1 SSD EVO


I do have some BSOD Mini Dump files as well if that would help. I'm not sure what to do besides doing any other stress tests or minimal boot operation, I just want some direction cause I'm at a loss . Let me know if I missed anything for the deets of my rig, thank you.

​

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the ACTUAL brand and model of your power supply, and how old is it? Because googling what you've posted here brings up nothing and it is entirely unfamiliar to me, and I'm pretty darn familiar with the majority of what's out there. At least in most countries.

If that's a GameMax power supply, well, then we probably don't even need to do much more talking. You should start by simply replacing it, period. I'd suggest you decide if you are going to keep using that graphics card you have now for as long as possible or whether you plan to upgrade it sooner than later?

You should read ALL of these. Thoroughly.

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.

cultists.network

Info - Recommended PSU capacities for gaming graphics cards

Below are my recommendations for PSU requirements on gaming graphics cards. The recommendations are not intended to be "minimum", as there is certainly some overhead built into these recommendations. The reason is twofold. For one, many users will opt for lower quality models regardless of...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Kefla]

GAMEMAX 1050W ATX 3.0 & PCIE 5.0 Power Supply, 80+ Gold Certified, Addressable RGB Sync, Fully Modular ATX Gaming Power Supply, RGB-1050​

I wasn't listed on Newegg anymore but found it on Amazon, apologize. It's also a few years old.

 

[Kefla]

What is the ACTUAL brand and model of your power supply, and how old is it? Because googling what you've posted here brings up nothing and it is entirely unfamiliar to me, and I'm pretty darn familiar with the majority of what's out there. At least in most countries.

If that's a GameMax power supply, well, then we probably don't even need to do much more talking. You should start by simply replacing it, period. I'd suggest you decide if you are going to keep using that graphics card you have now for as long as possible or whether you plan to upgrade it sooner than later?

You should read ALL of these. Thoroughly.

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

PSU Tier List rev. 17.0g - Cultists Network

PSU Tier List will help you to choose the best PSU out of hundreds of models on the market. From budget to the highest end Power Supplies.

cultists.network

Info - Recommended PSU capacities for gaming graphics cards

Below are my recommendations for PSU requirements on gaming graphics cards. The recommendations are not intended to be "minimum", as there is certainly some overhead built into these recommendations. The reason is twofold. For one, many users will opt for lower quality models regardless of...

forums.tomshardware.com

LMAO I Searched it, and it went straight to F . So don't listen to reviews for PSUs got it. Why is it so bad, and why I didn't do more research for PSUs is foolish for me. Hopefully it has broken any modules or components.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Don't fret. Most people don't understand the importance or the differences between good and bad power supplies. Just educate yourself now that you DO know, and don't make the same mistake next time. It's not the end of the world. It's the beginning of knowing more than you did before.

 

[Kefla]

Rolling with the ASUS ROG Strix 750, Figured I'd go extra for future planning. If this thread doesn't continue then the problem was solved.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, let us know either way. Good luck Kefla.

 

[Kefla]

Well, let us know either way. Good luck Kefla.

Well unfortunately I'm back again with good news and bad news. Everything feels faster for powering up, but the bad news is that the memory overclocking failing is still happening.

I manually turned it up to 3600 (From 3200) and left it Auto for Volts and it did the re-cycles and failed. I turned up the voltage to 1.4v and was able to post, I plugged in some extra stuff like an external storage and a capture card than it froze on me. I then dropped it to 3200 and here I am now lol. Maybe my RAM is starting to fail?

 

[Kefla]

Well unfortunately I'm back again with good news and bad news. Everything feels faster for powering up, but the bad news is that the memory overclocking failing is still happening.

I manually turned it up to 3600 (From 3200) and left it Auto for Volts and it did the re-cycles and failed. I turned up the voltage to 1.4v and was able to post, I plugged in some extra stuff like an external storage and a capture card than it froze on me. I then dropped it to 3200 and here I am now lol. Maybe my RAM is starting to fail?

Not too long after while I was watching a video my computer randomly (de-posted?) went straight back to the black screen that has the little white box top left and the VGA light on my motherboard stayed on. I shut it down, moved the RAM sticks around and only has one cause the other one wouldn't post by itself. Apologize for the moment-by-moment update, I just don't want to lose my computer.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is your current motherboard BIOS version?

 

[Kefla]

What is your current motherboard BIOS version?

7B93v1L the most recent version of Bios on MSI's website.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It is, and if that is the version you have installed then I have to ask if you have done a hard reset at any point after ever updating the BIOS? If not, I would try that followed by resetting any required BIOS settings like enabling XMP or fan curves.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

 

[Kefla]

It is, and if that is the version you have installed then I have to ask if you have done a hard reset at any point after ever updating the BIOS? If not, I would try that followed by resetting any required BIOS settings like enabling XMP or fan curves.

BIOS Hard Reset procedure

Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.

Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for about three to five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.

During that five minutes while the CMOS battery is out of the motherboard, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 15-30 seconds, in order to deplete any residual charge that might be present in the CMOS circuit. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.

If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.

Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.

Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.

In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.

It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.

Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.

I'll give this a whirl for sure, I'm currently trying the memtest86 again. I got actual error (31 then froze) with running the RAM I listed at the Overclocked 3600 at 1.4v. I'm trying out a similar kit, same 3600 1.35v but 2x8 and it's nearly passed (3/4). Not sure if I'm even making progress in finding the issue but I've never really removed the RAM I listed entirely and tested it without them.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did I give you my Memtest86 instructions? I didn't did I. Please, use this. It is accurate.

Memtest86​

Go to the Passmark software website and download the USB Memtest86 free version. You can do the optical disk version too if for some reason you cannot use a bootable USB flash drive.


Create bootable media using the downloaded Memtest86. Once you have done that, go into your BIOS and configure the system to boot to the USB drive that contains the Memtest86 USB media or the optical drive if using that option.


You CAN use Memtest86+, as they've recently updated the program after MANY years of no updates, but for the purpose of this guide I recommend using the Passmark version as this is a tried and true utility while I've not had the opportunity to investigate the reliability of the latest 86+ release as compared to Memtest86. Possibly, consider using Memtest86+ as simply a secondary test to Memtest86, much as Windows memory diagnostic utility and Prime95 Blend or custom modes can be used for a second opinion utility.

Click here to download Memtest86 USB package​

Create a bootable USB Flash drive:

1. Download the Windows MemTest86 USB image.

2. Right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract to Here" option. This places the USB image and imaging tool into the current folder.

3. Run the included imageUSB tool, it should already have the image file selected and you just need to choose which connected USB drive to turn into a bootable drive. Note that this will erase all data on the drive.


No memory should ever fail to pass Memtest86 when it is at the default configuration that the system sets it at when you start out or do a clear CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for five minutes.

Best method for testing memory is to first run four passes of Memtest86, all 11 tests, WITH the memory at the default configuration. This should be done BEFORE setting the memory to the XMP profile settings. The paid version has 13 tests but the free version only has tests 1-10 and test 13. So run full passes of all 11 tests. Be sure to download the latest version of Memtest86. Memtest86+ has not been updated in MANY years. It is NO-WISE as good as regular Memtest86 from Passmark software.

If there are ANY errors, at all, then the memory configuration is not stable. Bumping the DRAM voltage up slightly may resolve that OR you may need to make adjustments to the primary timings. There are very few secondary or tertiary timings that should be altered. I can tell you about those if you are trying to tighten your memory timings.

If you cannot pass Memtest86 with the memory at the XMP configuration settings then I would recommend restoring the memory to the default JEDEC SPD of 1333/2133mhz (Depending on your platform and memory type) with everything left on the auto/default configuration and running Memtest86 over again. If it completes the four full passes without error you can try again with the XMP settings but first try bumping the DRAM voltage up once again by whatever small increment the motherboard will allow you to increase it by. If it passes, great, move on to the Prime95 testing.

If it still fails, try once again bumping the voltage if you are still within the maximum allowable voltage for your memory type and test again. If it still fails, you are likely going to need more advanced help with configuring your primary timings and should return the memory to the default configuration until you can sort it out.

If the memory will not pass Memtest86 for four passes when it IS at the stock default non-XMP configuration, even after a minor bump in voltage, then there is likely something physically wrong with one or more of the memory modules and I'd recommend running Memtest on each individual module, separately, to determine which module is causing the issue. If you find a single module that is faulty you should contact the seller or the memory manufacturer and have them replace the memory as a SET. Memory comes matched for a reason as I made clear earlier and if you let them replace only one module rather than the entire set you are back to using unmatched memory which is an open door for problems with incompatible memory.

Be aware that you SHOULD run Memtest86 to test the memory at the default, non-XMP, non-custom profile settings BEFORE ever making any changes to the memory configuration so that you will know if the problem is a setting or is a physical problem with the memory.

 

[Kefla]

Did I give you my Memtest86 instructions? I didn't did I. Please, use this. It is accurate.

Memtest86​

Go to the Passmark software website and download the USB Memtest86 free version. You can do the optical disk version too if for some reason you cannot use a bootable USB flash drive.


Create bootable media using the downloaded Memtest86. Once you have done that, go into your BIOS and configure the system to boot to the USB drive that contains the Memtest86 USB media or the optical drive if using that option.


You CAN use Memtest86+, as they've recently updated the program after MANY years of no updates, but for the purpose of this guide I recommend using the Passmark version as this is a tried and true utility while I've not had the opportunity to investigate the reliability of the latest 86+ release as compared to Memtest86. Possibly, consider using Memtest86+ as simply a secondary test to Memtest86, much as Windows memory diagnostic utility and Prime95 Blend or custom modes can be used for a second opinion utility.

Click here to download Memtest86 USB package​

Create a bootable USB Flash drive:

1. Download the Windows MemTest86 USB image.

2. Right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract to Here" option. This places the USB image and imaging tool into the current folder.

3. Run the included imageUSB tool, it should already have the image file selected and you just need to choose which connected USB drive to turn into a bootable drive. Note that this will erase all data on the drive.


No memory should ever fail to pass Memtest86 when it is at the default configuration that the system sets it at when you start out or do a clear CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for five minutes.

Best method for testing memory is to first run four passes of Memtest86, all 11 tests, WITH the memory at the default configuration. This should be done BEFORE setting the memory to the XMP profile settings. The paid version has 13 tests but the free version only has tests 1-10 and test 13. So run full passes of all 11 tests. Be sure to download the latest version of Memtest86. Memtest86+ has not been updated in MANY years. It is NO-WISE as good as regular Memtest86 from Passmark software.

If there are ANY errors, at all, then the memory configuration is not stable. Bumping the DRAM voltage up slightly may resolve that OR you may need to make adjustments to the primary timings. There are very few secondary or tertiary timings that should be altered. I can tell you about those if you are trying to tighten your memory timings.

If you cannot pass Memtest86 with the memory at the XMP configuration settings then I would recommend restoring the memory to the default JEDEC SPD of 1333/2133mhz (Depending on your platform and memory type) with everything left on the auto/default configuration and running Memtest86 over again. If it completes the four full passes without error you can try again with the XMP settings but first try bumping the DRAM voltage up once again by whatever small increment the motherboard will allow you to increase it by. If it passes, great, move on to the Prime95 testing.

If it still fails, try once again bumping the voltage if you are still within the maximum allowable voltage for your memory type and test again. If it still fails, you are likely going to need more advanced help with configuring your primary timings and should return the memory to the default configuration until you can sort it out.

If the memory will not pass Memtest86 for four passes when it IS at the stock default non-XMP configuration, even after a minor bump in voltage, then there is likely something physically wrong with one or more of the memory modules and I'd recommend running Memtest on each individual module, separately, to determine which module is causing the issue. If you find a single module that is faulty you should contact the seller or the memory manufacturer and have them replace the memory as a SET. Memory comes matched for a reason as I made clear earlier and if you let them replace only one module rather than the entire set you are back to using unmatched memory which is an open door for problems with incompatible memory.

Be aware that you SHOULD run Memtest86 to test the memory at the default, non-XMP, non-custom profile settings BEFORE ever making any changes to the memory configuration so that you will know if the problem is a setting or is a physical problem with the memory.

Hmm, just finished with the other Memory sticks at XMP Profile with 1.35v and it passed, didn't change any Memtest settings. For the other ones I can certainly try it as it's stated here.

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is the way. (Mandalorian giggle, but true)

 

[Kefla]

This is the way. (Mandalorian giggle, but true)

This is the way.

I'll try out the other memory as stated, these other pair seem to be doing the trick. I've always ran my memory at XMP (but always Manual 3600) without even changing the volts for years (Since Mid 2020) even after a motherboard switch 8 Months later. I'll update as I go since now it's Mandalorian themed thread lol.

 

[Darkbreeze]

LOL.