System unstable (hardware related)

[ranged66]

I've had this issue for quite a while now. Previous unsolved thread.
Thread on Asrock forums that yielded no results.

The symptoms:
- Random screen freezes that last less than half a second. Audio + mouse + screen hangs.
- Bluescreen crashes when trying intensive tasks (videos, games) (Many different bluescreen variants)
- System doesn't start up on the first try, screen stays black but power LED is on.
- Various memory integrity test programs show errors in the memory

Tried solutions:
- Fresh windows 10 install. Tried multiple times. Never yielded any results.
- Tried many different proposed solutions in cmd/powershell, like sfc -scannow.
- Drivers are up to date. All of them. Snappy driver installer + manual checks on all drivers.
- Tried with a different GPU. Problems persisted.
- Replaced memory sticks. Upon scanning the old sticks with memtest on a different computer they showed no errors.
- Replaced power supply unit. Problems persisted.
- Replaced entire motherboard. Still the same problems.

Specs:
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty 970 Performance
CPU: AMD FX-8350
GPU: MSI GTX-1060 6GB
PSU: Be quiet! PURE POWER 10 600W
Storage: 200GB SSD + 500GB HDD
Memory: 2x 4GB Corsair - cm3x4ga1333c9n2 1333mHz 9-9-9-24

Any idea what the cause could still be? Is it possibly the CPU? It's the only piece of hardware that I have not yet touched, since I can't really try it on a different computer (slot incompatible) nor do I have an older CPU to test with.

 

[jsam2000ar]

Hi there! I've read the description of your issue and it seems like an X-Files case

I have a few questions for you: you say that you have changed the whole system but the CPU. In those cases, have you changed brands as well?
For example, now you have a Be Quiet! 600W PSU, but have you tried another PSU brand/model before?

Also, I had a similar case with a friend of mine, in which we had random bluescreen crashes and the system freezed unexpectedly. After a long research, we found out that there was a huge speaker set right over the computer case. This caused a magnetic field which in the end affected the hard drive operation (and maybe the rest of the system). After we moved the speaker set away, all the issues dissapeared.
So my recommendation here is to check whether there is a chance that a magnetic field may be affecting your PC operation, as this is usually an unknown enemy.

Please let me know if this worked for you.

 

[ranged66]

My previous PSU wasn't Be Quiet, can't remember what it was though. GPU was both NVIDIA- 1060 and 1050, and the motherboard went from MSI to Asrock but I reinstalled windows (twice) after changing.

 

[jsam2000ar]

My previous PSU wasn't Be Quiet, can't remember what it was though. GPU was both NVIDIA- 1060 and 1050, and the motherboard went from MSI to Asrock but I reinstalled windows (twice) after changing.

In that case, I would check the environment where your PC is located. If you have already changed most of your hardware and nothing changes (assuming RAM modules are fully compatible with your motherboard and CPU, which I honestly don't know), this may be caused by an external agent, such as heat, dust, electric surges, or as I said before, magnetic fields.

Make sure your PC case and internal components are dust-free and monitor your internal temps and voltages to check if your crashes are caused by a sudden change of any of these indicators. AIDA64 provides you with a stability test if you wish to try it (https://www.aida64.com/downloads). If you also have a speaker system or even A/V receiver quite close to the PC case, please consider changing the layout of these components, as they may interfere with your system.

 

[ranged66]

I don't have any magnetic field generating devices close to the computer's case, I use headset instead of speakers too.

The stutter is so bad that it even interrupts system noises, like the windows sound you get when plugging in a peripheral. It hangs, repeats a certain frequency for a brief second while everything freezes then continues.

Temperatures are fine, this occurs no matter how long the computer is on or not.

 

[jsam2000ar]

I don't have any magnetic field generating devices close to the computer's case, I use headset instead of speakers too.

The stutter is so bad that it even interrupts system noises, like the windows sound you get when plugging in a peripheral. It hangs, repeats a certain frequency for a brief second while everything freezes then continues.

Temperatures are fine, this occurs no matter how long the computer is on or not.

Ok, so I have just checked the whole history of your issue through your previous forums posts. Everything leads to the fact that your memory is not working properly, assuming that there are no external factors affecting your system as we considered before (neither magnetic fields nor electric issues).

I've read that you have already configured your BIOS to the default settings and set everything to AUTO. Although this is the correct procedure when you are experiencing troubles with the memory modules, sometimes the motherboard does not recognize them properly, and therefore sets wrong timings and voltages to your RAM.

Here is a list of what I would check if I were you:
- Have you purchased your memory modules as dual channel or separately? If you are trying a dual-channel configuration with two memory modules that have not been sold as dual-channel you have the chance that they might not work properly together (even if they are the same model) . By buying dual-channel DIMMs you have the vendor's warranty that those 2 DIMMs can work together.

- Taking this into account, I would try installing only 1 module just to test your system stability. If you check your motherboard manual, the correct slot assignment should be:
1) DDR3_A2
2) DDR3_B2
3) DDR3_A1
4) DDR3_B1

So, your first memory module should be installed in DDR3_A2, as number 2 is the first priority channel instead of 1 (sounds odd, but it is usually like that on most motherboards). Your second memory module should go to DDR3_B2, and so on.

- If you are still experiencing issues with your system with only ONE memory module, I would try setting memory timings and voltages manually to this module. According to your memory modules, these are:

Frequency: 1333MHz
Timings: 9-9-9-24
Voltage: 1.5

- If you managed to achieve system stability, I would go for the second module and try installing it on DDR3_B2.
If not, I would try the other memory module instead of the first one, just to be sure that one of them is not faulty.

- If nothing works, I would try lowering your memory frequency by using the JEDEC_2 (1066 Mhz) and JEDEC_3 (800 Mhz) settings.

Please let me know if you have already tried this or if the issue persists.