Random system freezing

[l33tmaan]

Hi there, I recently just had some hardware issues with my computer. I'm on a new motherboard with a new CPU, PSU, and heatsink.

For some reason, whenever I'm doing something (almost always playing a video game), my computer will just freeze. The sound stops, the screen freezes, I can't make any more inputs, and nothing happens until I turn off my computer. Other than this happening, everything else is working great. I figured, okay, maybe I've got some bad RAM. I get a couple new sticks and swap them out and I'm still having the same issue.
I've even tried running HeavyLoad to push my CPU, memory, and GPU, and I was able to run at 100% for a few minutes without freezing. I'm at a loss here.

MOBO - ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura
CPU - AMD FX-9590
GPU - GeForce GTX 970
RAM - Corsair Vengeance DDR3
PSU - Corsair RM 650i

 

[l33tmaan]

Hahahaha, I had the exact same motherboard on hand, so I swapped it out, and for good measure I detached my HDD too.
Now my computer won't post at all, all I get is a red CPU LED. I've messed around with enough ASUS motherboards to suspect that either the new motherboard I have is crap, or the CPU is crap. Or perhaps I didn't put it in right? My heatsink is a pain, but I was able to get everything in there seated fine with a nice amount of thermal paste.
How annoying. Any input?

Oh, to top things off: I can't get an AM3+ CPU anywhere near me. Either nobody carries them anymore or they're all sold out. I guess it's time to call it in and just rebuild it, huh?

 

[l33tmaan]

Well, I put in the old motherboard and... now I'm typing at you from my computer. I guess the new motherboard was crap.
I've put in a new order for a bunch of parts, I'm going to be rebuilding this thing mostly from scratch (all I'm keeping are peripherals and my drives). I probably should have just done this in the first place, but whatever.
Oh, and I did try booting on just my SSD, but I got the message "Reboot and Select proper Boot device". Not quite sure why I can boot with my SSD + HDD, but I'm too aggravated with the motherboard to care at this point.

 

[l33tmaan]

Hey, good news! I did a little more researching, and it seems like the AMD FX 9590 is plagued with stability issues unless you have a specific setup, plus it eats up power. I'm confident that's the issue now, it's just a shame that it took me longer than 30 days to figure it out. Nice CPU, AMD.

 

[mwryder55]

I hope that is the real problem. I have personally never had a problem with the CPU, even going back to the 8080 days, but I know how annoying troubleshooting a problem like you experienced can be.

 

[l33tmaan]

I haven't had CPU problems like this before either, but a fair amount of people with the same chip have left reviews saying the same thing. Random freezing during games or resource intensive activities, the fact that it eats up power and farts out so much heat you need an intense fan on top... it explains a lot. Just the CPU and heatsink combine to make 440 out of my 650 volts.
While I'm waiting for the new PC (which I can hopefully return), I'll order a simple chip that I've actually confirmed works with my setup (thanks PCPartPicker). It won't be here until next week, but I'll swap the CPUs out and report back. I'm actually fairly certain this is it.
I know I sort of figured this out on my own, but I appreciate you helping me out, it's been good for my sanity. 😀

 

[HamBown81]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from l33tmaan : "AMD FX 9590 Freezing Randomly"

After a month of pulling my hair out trying to figure out why I've been getting random freezing when I play games or do other resource-intensive activities, I've finally pinned it down to this pesky little CPU. As you can see from my parts, I don't really have the setup to make this CPU work. I assembled most of what I have now in a panic after I came home one day to the smell of burnt rubber, so I didn't do my research properly.

MOBO - ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura
CPU - AMD FX-9590
GPU - GeForce GTX 970
RAM - Corsair Vengeance DDR3
PSU - Corsair RM 650i

I know the CPU isn't exactly the most efficient for this setup, but I've got a simpler chip on the way right now. My problem is that it won't be here until next week, and I'd like to make my system more stable in the meantime. What's the best way to make this CPU use less power? Would that make it more stable?
Any help is appreciated.

That particular chip is notoriously power hungry and very hot. What type of cooling do you have? Is the processor OC'd?

Further, your power supply may not be able to handle that chip under load. The draw on the 12v rail is very high.

 

[l33tmaan]

I'm running a Hyper 212 EVO. It doesn't run super hot, I stay at around 50 C when playing most games... before it freezes. And no, it's not OC'd at all, I've never felt comfortable messing around in the BIOS enough for that.
I'm pretty sure my 650i doesn't have enough power to run it, unfortunately.

 

[HamBown81]

I'm running a Hyper 212 EVO. It doesn't run super hot, I stay at around 50 C when playing most games... before it freezes. And no, it's not OC'd at all, I've never felt comfortable messing around in the BIOS enough for that.
I'm pretty sure my 650i doesn't have enough power to run it, unfortunately.

You could try slightly undervolting the processor if you are pretty sure that the PSU is the issue. At stock clocks you should be able to get away with less than stock voltage. With the BIOS settings on AUTO, that chip will run at 1.5v or more when it doesn't need to.

I would suggest:

• 
  ■ Load "Optomized Defaults" in the BIOS and manually fix the CPU voltages rather than leaving them on AUTO
  ■ Turn OFF Turbo Boost in the BIOS so that you run at a fixed clock speed

Changing BIOS settings can be intimidating but as long as you are careful, don't touch what you don't understand, and don't change too many things at the same time it is not overly "dangerous"

 

[l33tmaan]

Well, part of the problem is that the CPU is too good for my motherboard. According to PCPartPicker, "CPU thermal design power (TDP) of 220W exceeds motherboard maximum of 125W." I have a feeling that my issues are tied to when the AMD FX-9590 tries to draw more than 125W from the system. But yeah, let me try undervolting the processor, that still sounds right.

 

[HamBown81]

Well, part of the problem is that the CPU is too good for my motherboard. According to PCPartPicker, "CPU thermal design power (TDP) of 220W exceeds motherboard maximum of 125W." I have a feeling that my issues are tied to when the AMD FX-9590 tries to draw more than 125W from the system. But yeah, let me try undervolting the processor, that still sounds right.

I was thinking about that too. There aren't many AM3+ board that officially support AMD 9000 series for that exact reason.

If the VRM on your board is overheating, which mine definitely was on an ASUS M5A97 EVO with that chip, then you could be having issues due to that.

Seeing as this is a temporary fix, my suggestion remains the same. Reducing voltage fluctuations and overall draw will lower your thermal load. Adding fans onto or directing air flow towards the VRM heatsink and CPU socket will also help that big time.

 

[l33tmaan]

I *think* I just turned off the turbo boost setting. However, I'm not sure exactly which voltage setting I should be messing with or how much to turn it down by.

 

[HamBown81]

I *think* I just turned off the turbo boost setting. However, I'm not sure exactly which voltage setting I should be messing with or how much to turn it down by.

Please don't touch anything in the BIOS that you are not sure about. If you only "think" you did something please load the default settings and I will post some screens of the BIOS later.

EDIT: The Turbo is an easy one. In the AI Tweaker tab there is an option for AMD Turbo CORE Technology, just change that from AUTO to OFF

EDIT: For the CPU voltages you will have to change AI Overclock Tuner to either Manual or D.O.C.P. which will open-up the voltage options at the bottom of that tab. Please post a picture of that area (where the voltages are) and I will tell you what to change

 

[l33tmaan]

Okay, cool, that's the one I changed. It was the only thing that said "Turbo", so... yeah. Funny enough, I've already gotten two freezes this morning, and I haven't even finished my coffee yet.

 

[HamBown81]

Okay, cool, that's the one I changed. It was the only thing that said "Turbo", so... yeah. Funny enough, I've already gotten two freezes this morning, and I haven't even finished my coffee yet.

I edited my previous post again

 

[l33tmaan]

The pic I took with my phone has trouble showing the exact numbers. The CPU Bus Frequency is 200 and the PCIE Frequency is set to Auto. If I had to guess, it's the CPU Bus Frequency?
http://i.imgur.com/g6QPlz9.jpg
Oh, I've got an AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-Core on the way. I'm fairly certain that should work with my motherboard, but do you have any input?

 

[HamBown81]

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3889/15237547312_7b7e683804_c.jpg

This photo is all drawn on by somebody, but this is the screen you are looking for to adjust voltages.

The set-point are the values in the boxes and the grey numbers to the left are actual values. I would pull your CMOS battery and drain the caps again, then start from optimized defaults and reboot.

Once back into the BIOS, disable the Turbo again and then find this screen. I can't recall if Manual and D.O.C.P. both give access (I think they do). I know D.O.C.P. is usually the easiest way to get an XMP profile loaded for the RAM.

Anyways, once you are in there everything should be on AUTO and there will be the grey numbers on the left.

For the values CPU Manual Voltage, CPU / NB Manual Voltage, and CPU VDDA voltage just enter into the box whatever the grey number to the left is. In the photo, for example, you would set the CPU Manual Voltage to 1.404v. Don't worry if the value changes slightly from what you enter, there are set steps in the voltages.

Without changing anything else, these settings should at least prevent the CPU from pulling insane amounts of current.

If you are still having issues, you can start slowly lowering the CPU Manual Voltage by one or two notches at a time and stability testing with your weapon of choice until you run into issues.

From there you could also underclock the CPU by adjusting the CPU Ratio on the screen that you sent a picture of. Again, this should be done gradually and testing along the way.

 

[l33tmaan]

Well, my CPU finally came in today. Took long enough.
Of course, when I pop it in and get the fan back on, I get a red CPU LED and it won't boot. Alright, fine, I just put the damn 9590 back in.

For the past week, I've been sitting at 170 on my CPU Ratio. That's the only setting I changed, as I couldn't find the voltages you were talking about. I did that after you posted, and I haven't had a single freeze since. Admittedly, I haven't been trying to play anything too intense on my computer, but I DID just run the Heaven Benchmark. I got an average of 100 FPS and my MOBO was chilling at 55 C. I guess that's all I needed to do this whole time, so thank you for the help!
No idea why the other CPU isn't working, but as long as something works, it doesn't matter too much.

 

[HamBown81]

Do you mean that you changed the CPU Bus Frequency from the default of 200MHz, down to 170MHz?

If you did this without changing anything else, it will downclock the processor to 4GHz (170 x 23.5). That number also affects your HT Link and CPU NB frequencies, as they are multipliers of the CPU Bus Frequency as well.

EDIT: This video is pretty good, it should at least show where everything is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvhgH3bOW8A

The settings aren't too bad even, but every system is different so you can't just cut and paste

 

[l33tmaan]

Yeah, that's all I changed. I haven't noticed any performance issues or anything.

 

[HamBown81]

Yeah, that's all I changed. I haven't noticed any performance issues or anything.

Hey, if it works then it's all good. I added a link to the previous.

 

[l33tmaan]

I'll try some more intense things to test it, but yeah, it's all good for now! Thanks for your help. Funny enough, my last CPU was from 2011 and only 3.2 GHz. Even gimping this uber-CPU is still faster than what I had before.