System freezing with strange sound

[alc0]

Hi everyone!

I have read a lot of threads about system freezes written by others the last couple of months. I've been experiencing the same issue myself for more than 6 months now, and I believe I have some "new" information to this issue.

This is my build:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
Asus Formula III
Corsair Dominator 1600 MHz
Radeon HD 4890/ nVidia GTX 560 ti

When the problem started to appear 7-8 months ago, I was using my HD 4890 card, got a lot of blue-screens as well, so normally I thought it was related. After a couple of weeks AMD came up with a driver update that solved the BSOD issue, but the freezes maintained. Two months ago, I bought the nVidia GTX 560 ti. My system still freezes for less then a second to several seconds at the time. The length of the spike seems completely random. It also gives CPU spikes at about 60% of CPU usage. I have also read about people experiencing the same issues with different CPU's. The freezes occur while I watch low resolution TV-series, and while playing more demanding games like BF3. Another thing worth mentioning is that my temperatures on both CPU and GPU are both low, so temperatures doesn't seem to matter either.

My conclusion:

Since the issue appears exactly the same way with both an old Radeon card AND a newer nVidia card, both with updated drivers, I would think its safe to say the GPU is not the problem. That leaves me with three core components witch could interfere, unless the problem is software based. These components are: motherboard, memory, and CPU. My system is three years old, and the problem start to occur after I've had the system for more than two years. About the same time my on-board network card malfunctioned. If the memory was malfunctioning, I doubt that I would even be able to start my computer do to earlier experience with memory malfunctions. It would also be weird if the CPU was the problem, since others have mentioned other CPU's with the same freezes. This leaves me with two options:

1. My motherboard is malfunctioning
2. Software issue

Do you guys have any ideas around this issue? Does anyone have the same issue and want to share your system specs? Is there anything anyone of you need that I can provide of information to help solve this?

Thanks for any constructive answers in advance

AlC0

 

[pjmelect]

If the problem was memory then the computer would freeze and not recover although it maybe a good idea to run memtest86 for at least three passes anyway. The most common hardware problem of freezes that do recover is the hard disk. download and run from the manufacture of your hard drive web site their diagnostic software. If the hardware tests pass then the problem is likely to be software either a problem driver or conflicting software. I would reinstall the operating system and install the drivers then test for freezes before installing your software.

 

[smorizio]

most times i see it the hard drive having a controller or spindle issue where the hard drive is stalling. i would download hd tune read your hd smart info see if there any warning and run a vendor test tools.

 

[alc0]

Hi again!

Thanks so much guys! It was my SSD gave me the freezes. Really appreciate the tips, thanks!

AlC0