Totally confused as to what is going on with friends computer (Intermittent Freezing)

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Jessica Volpe

Jessica Volpe

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Mar 14, 2013
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As we all know, computer diagnostics can be so frustrating, so on behalf of my friend I am posting this because he is very irritated lol

His computer is suffering from intermittent freezing issues. The screen freezes as if taking a screenshot and he has to restart the computer manually. This happens randomly. He could be playing a game or watching a video or one time it did it when idle. And it could be fine for days or it could freeze every hour. Its very hard to pin down.

Things he has done -
Bought a new PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438035
Bought new RAM (Ran memtest, was fine but bought new just in case)
Bought a new hard drive
Re-applyed thermal paste (his temps were fine but he was like what the heck, it couldnt hurt lol)
Reformatted

As you can see he has put a lot of money in it but its still doing it. He is currently testing the GPU by switching it out with another and seeing if it freezes. (will update) After all of this, do you guys have any idea what it could be? Is his mobo/CPU failing? We are at a loss at what to test/do next. We were joking that with all of the money he has spent, he could just build a new one lol But he really wants to figure this out.

Thank you in advance.
 
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His CPU stays about 20c idle and gaming 40c. Skype and steam running in background and Windows 7 64 bit.

I dont know his motherboard. Ill try to get it after he is home again.. but i know his
CPU is amd fx series 8350 8-core processor
PSU is above post
8 gigs of dd3 RAM
He said he is using his old 560 card right now for testing, Ill ask what his original along with his motherboard after he is home.

I think thats what you need. Let me know if I missed something, thanks!
 
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tbh, could be the cpu even though the cpu is typically the last thing you'd suspect. The symptoms wouldn't surprise me if cause by CPU.
All the changes made, you have to be careful you don't introduce new issues and ending up in a troubleshooting loop as you keep fixing the issue but introducing a new very similar issue.

If it seems like the screen itself is freezing exactly as is, I'd typically test to see if you can toggle numlock on the keyboard. If it doesn't toggle, system is entirely frozen. So suspects would be Operating System>HardDrive>RAM>GPU>CPU>PSU in that order without any further testing. By reformatting you rules out OS, replaced the hard drive(hopefully you put the OS on the new drive yes?) which rules that out. Memtest rules out the RAM(unless you didn't memtest the new ram), for the GPU easiest is to swap in a borrowed GPU that works, CPU is actually pretty hard and I typically just rule everything else out first, you replaced the PSU so not that.

Other things to check, ensure everything is configured on the motherboard to specified settings. If your CPU is being undervolted, that could cause the CPU to become unstable and this issue would popup. Also overvolting or overclocking.

Now it could be the motherboard, but that is just as hard to test as the cpu. May be better off replacing both at the same time if you go that route.

That is my initial impression.

EDIT:
Actually I forgot to mention, Anything in the USB ports, so peripherals, could also cause issues like this. You'd be surprised at the symptoms of usb drive problems. Could even be something in the USB drive causing it to short or something and the whole system will hang, or driver conflicts with usb devices.
Running Linux off a flash drive would rule out driver conflicts
By plugging his normal peripherals in he could be recreating his problem after reformat, or its a hardware issue with a usb port.
 
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It froze on the GPU that works, that he swapped out, so its not that Im guessing.

Big ole update -

Ok so it froze, he had a hard time getting it to boot up this time and after this restart he said that the system initiated "system repair", then when he booted up, it was all wonky, his words were:

"it doesnt want to load at all, it freezes and it's black and my mouse won't work"


This is the first time its done this...
 
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While the stability test is running in AOD, switch back to the CPU status page and see where the thermal margin of the CPU ends up. The 8350 is really only happy at 70°C or below, so he could be getting close to the limit, or even exceeding it, if pushing the CPU with AMD's older stock cooler (non Wraith cooler.)

The temps listed on the CPU status page are thermal margins, not core temperatures, so try not to misread them. :)
 
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Thanks, yeah I learned about thermal margin about 2 weeks ago. I was reading them wrong as well for my CPU. Thats how I found out that my issue was a heat issue and could be solved with simple thermal paste lol

Well, he was running it and like a minute in, it froze and I havent heard from him yet lol

Im guessing he is raging somewhere in his apartment.
 
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Welp he has decided he is just going to build another PC (his is only 4 years old, seems like a waste, RIP PC 🙁 ) since he has bought a new PSU, RAM, Hard drive etc. He is just going to fill in the gaps instead of putting more money into this one lol

Thank you all for helping though! Im still curious as to what the exact problem was.
The world may never know.
 
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