Hello, I've had this problem for almost 2 weeks now. My newly built computer, with an PSU, 2 harddrives and a dvd writer used on my old PC has been crashing on me at random and then randomly shutting down. There are no blue screen errors, the PC will just lock up, the monitor stays on, you can't move the mouse or type anything and the fans on the PC continue to move until the PC shuts down on it's own or you shut it off yourself. I've done a memtest and it passed both sticks of RAM, but it took several tries to test the RAM as the PC just kept crashing and crashing on the memtest. I tested both sticks separately than both at the same time, with and without the graphics card installed. I tried doing an hard drive test on both of the hard drives, I discovered that one of my hard drives was broken, tried running the PC with a new installed version of Windows 7 64bit Ultimate but with the one hard drive in, it crashed again. The only ever bluescreen I got was a Bad_Info_Setup bluescreen. Other then that, there have been no blue screens. And when I reinstalled Windows 7 again, I never got the issue again. I've been told due to there being no blue screen errors it's possibly a problem with the power supply. But if that was the case, would a defective PSU really cause the PC to lock up, keep the power running on the PC then just crash out on me? I've bought a new hard drive, got a replacement sticks of RAM I've yet to test out and I've sent my power supply last Wednesday to Corsair to get a replacement. While I wait for the replacement for the PSU to arrive I need to get suggestions and help from people. What could be causing these random crashes, they also happened with my older build but the PC wouldn't shut down power would still be going through the tower and you would have had to restart the PC to get it working again. Thanks. The build is 1TB HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue (This is the replacement one.) Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (NOT overclocked) Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB MSI GTX560 Twin Frozr 650WAT Corsair Enthusiast
The fact that it happened in your older PC indicates that it's probably one of your peripherals or attached devices causing this. Have you tried disconnecting everything, particularly the old optical drives? Does it still lock up when running safe mode? Your PSU could well cause such an issue if there power to the board or GPU is not stable, smooth or regulated properly. You'll find that out when your replacement PSU arrives, so no need to dwell on that now. Faulty hard drives can cause similar issues of course. If you've not already done so, see if it still locks up in safe mode. If not, then it would be safer to assume it's a driver issue rather than a hardware issue. I once had a faulty mouse that caused the machine to lock up.. don't rule out something as incidental as this... it's not always the big stuff... GPUs, PSUs etc.
Since it happened during the memory testing procedure that would generally rule out the Operating system as a culprit. What memory testing application are you using? Overall it sounds like a weak or defective powersupply to me, if the powersupply can't provide enough good clean power at a critical point it can cause the system to freeze like you described If you just power on the system and go into the BIOS and let it sit there for a while does it lockup? While you're in there I would pay close attention to your CPU and System temps as if those are going too high that could cause a lockup too. Can you run the memory test from a usb key without any drives connected and remove anything else that isn't essential to running the application, eg printers, mouse...
I used Memtest86. When I was in the BIOs turning off the intel turbo mode and checking temperatures it didn't crash but we weren't in there for very long so I'm assuming the PC just chose not to crash at that one instance, seeing how the crashes could take up to at least an hour/30 minutes/whenever. Temperatures last I checked around around 38-40 on the CPU. Also, I heard if you were doing a memtest the OS wouldn't get booted up so that would mean the OS and drivers wouldn't be the issue if the PC crashes during said tests. For now, I'll have to wait for a reply from Corsair about my PSU, I haven't heard back from them yet. =/
That's correct, memtest loads before the OS, ruling the OS out as a cause. That is one of the most surefire ways to insure that the issue is related to the hardware and not the software. Did you try running memtest with only the bare minimum connected to the motherboard? The idea being that if you can strip the system down to only the minimum you can rule out everything except the motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU and video adapter. For example let's say you have an aftermarket sound card that is dead/dying, even though the OS and drivers aren't loaded, the sound card is still powered on and communicating with the CPU and if it throws an exception can cause the system to freeze seemingly at random.
I have no sound card installed into the PC, it's running on the onboard audio since the soundcard I have only works for an Asus Formula Crosshair/Striker mother. It was that SupremeFX II card that came with the motherboards for free. And yes, I've stripped down the PC to the minimum, keeping in the optical drive cuz I needed it to use for the memtest.
Sorry for bumping this thread but I didn't want to make a new thread when the issue hasn't yet been solved. Right, back with an update. I'm replaced the RAM, PSU and Hard drive and it didn't come to a success at all. So, for out of desperation I sent back my motherboard in an attempt to get a refund... I wasn't able to get one so I had to get a replacement. :V Yay The refund request was rejected because apparently the motherboard had track damage near the PCI-E slots, according to the diagnosis that Scan provided me with. Not exactly how there was any damage on the board as I double checked it before I shipped it but there we go. Sounds like they gave me a defective board to me. Now, I'm not entirely sure what track damage is but meh, as long as I've got a replacement I'm okay. I've sent back my CPU to see if I'll be able to get a replacement. See what happens next. :x
