Random PC freezes with weird clicking/buzzing sound

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Belgrade

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Jul 27, 2012
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10,510
Hello,

I am having trouble with my PC randomly freezing while playing Dota 2. I just formatted my HDD and have fresh Win7 64bit installed. I cleaned my PC from dust etc.

When the freeze occurs I hear weird click/buzzing sound from my case, and my screen freezes while anything in background i.e. Skype works fine and I can talk, hear what other people say. This freeze lasts about 1-5 minutes and rarely requires manual reset.


I already had this problem and I solved it with replacing my HDD, now after 6 months problem started happening again. It was all fine until a week ago. I thought there was some software/virus problem so done a complete wipe of system.


The overheating of CPU and GPU I think is not the problem having 4 12" fans in my case and Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler.

Did not run any diagnose.



My specs are


AMD FX 4100 @4.00 GHz
AMD HD 6850 ( Stock )
6GB RAM ( Kingston @ 1333 )
And Asus M5A78L-M LX
PSU 600W if I am not wrong.


Any help would be appreciated.
 
Solution
InvalidError

There is no 100% certain quick check but if Prime95 runs fine on its own and FurMark works fine on its own but running both together causes a nearly instantaneous reboot, there is a very high probability it is due to the PSU being unable to cope with the combined load.

Blueberry sounds like a generic brand, which automatically makes it a prime suspect.
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Is there any way to test it to see if problem is really with PSU?
 
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There is no 100% certain quick check but if Prime95 runs fine on its own and FurMark works fine on its own but running both together causes a nearly instantaneous reboot, there is a very high probability it is due to the PSU being unable to cope with the combined load.

Blueberry sounds like a generic brand, which automatically makes it a prime suspect.
 
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Solution


Thank you for replies, I will see to check everything.
 
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Missed the bit about buzzing. Yes, that would be a possibility.

Two HDDs dying half a year apart sounds like awfully bad luck... unless something, like excess vibrations or bad power, is making them fail prematurely.

Simple test for the HDD: install HDTach and see what the HDD's SMART stats have to say about it. If the HDD is starting to die, there should be a few performance counters going to warning or critical status.
 
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Check your Windows event log. Since you said Skype continues working while the screen is frozen, you might see messages telling you that the GPU (or its drivers) has locked up and the drivers have been reloaded.

Dirty power can cause that.

I looked around a bit for reviews of Blueberry-branded PSUs but did not find any. I did see comments about them and those said the brand is almost as bad as Diablotek. In case you did not know already, Diablotek is frequently referred to as one of the absolute worst computer PSU brands on the market.
 
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I will try checking Windows Event log, and what do you day about my HDD scan?

Also can I open my PSU to clean it up?


Edit : Freezes now happen when I startup my PC and run any program.
 
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Not much to say about the HDD scan... if the surface test turned out OK and the SMART ("Health") status is also ok then the drive itself is probably ok.

Opening PSUs to clean them is something I do almost every year on my PCs. Just keep in mind that it takes 15-30 seconds for the PSU to discharge its line-input capacitors so do not stick your fingers in there within ~30 seconds from unplugging it from the wall. If you do open it, check the output filter caps for bulged-out tops or yellow/orange/brown flaky/powdery/brittle crust on top - that would be the caps' electrolyte leaking out. (This can be confused with small globs of cement-like adhesive used to protect chunky components from vibration damage.)
 
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I am now 99% sure that my PSU is causing all the troubles. It just caused my PC to reboot and gave me BSoD. I checked all other partitions of my HDD and they all turned out fine. GPU drivers + temp. are normal ( even less than I expected them to be). Can anyone suggest my new PSU ~600w for my case Blueberry MC42?
 
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The only yellowish lump I see in that image is between two coils. Electrolytic capacitors are the tall cylindrical devices on the board and the two I can see on the image appear to still be (visually) ok as far as I can tell through the blur.

The problem with (really) low quality PSUs is that they often start having problems even before components start showing obvious signs of abuse.
 
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I already started looking for new PSU and what do you guys think about
CHIEFTEC
GPS-600A8?

I am open to any suggestions and I wish to keep the price under 65€.


Thank you all.
 
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Chieftec is one of those many generic PSU brands that get stuck in cases they have no business in. If that is the best you can get, you might as well stick with what you already have.

For 65 EUR, you should be able to get something much better like a XFX 450W or 550W... or some other variant of quality designs from good ODMs like Seasonic and Delta.
 
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