At least once a day my PC is locking up and only a hard power off then on will resolve it. The lockups or freezing are totally random and Event Viewer is just gibberish to me so no clues there. Are there is there a set of steps I can take to try and ascertain the cause? I had a look here http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000690.htm but it all seems a bit hit and miss. Specs in signature by the way.
I'd check your RAM is seated correctly as a starting point, as well as all the cables (take it out, whack it back in). Then I'd test the HDDs with HDTune or something similar (or unplug them and run your PC without them whichever is easier). Assuming they're fine, I'd then test the memory with Memtest86 (if you have a spare USB stick that's by far the easiest route as you can UEFI boot it and it runs the newer tests). Then if all that is OK I'd look at software; virus scans, sfc /scannow in an admin command prompt. It sounds more hardware related though. Could also potentially be the PSU, I had that happen once but that's more of a rarity. Get the free versions of both downloads by the way, I'd recommend the USB stick version of Memtest86. Edit: Does your PC say it#s recovered from a serious error when you boot it back up?
Thanks for your suggestions. As for you last question. There is nothing more than te usual your PC was not shut down properly with 30 seconds to press enter or some such. But when it finally boots there is nothing to suggest anything untoward has happened. Having a Pavum means most of your suggestions involved a major case deconstuct so I may wait til I replace the case later before following them.
Generally speaking it's typically the RAM falling over like noizdaemon suggests. You could try increasing the voltage to the RAM from your MOBO BIOS by a very small amount. This usually fixes random freezes in my experience.
I did wonder when I was writing that post if most of what I said was plausible given the parvum case. No worries. Hope it fixes the issue. If it does I would certainly replace the RAM at the earliest opportunity. If it can't run at rated voltage it is more than likely on its way to being dead.
I went into the BIOs and am at DRAM voltage which says ChA/B 1.500v AUTO and no amount of clicking gets me anywhere. Am I missing something?
I had a notion to see how much I could do inside the PC without stripping the case. It turned out very little, in fact apart from vacuum the fans I could do little else. Getting to the RAM would mean removing the heatsink which would mean a virtual dismantling of the case so this is a job for when I move cases.
Have a look at the manual dude it should tell you where to change the voltage. However, if you are using XMP you may need to disable it and change it to manual which will then require you to put all of the settings in yourself.
Even if you disable XMP, it should still get the settings correct once the correct speed is chosen in BIOS. (That's a really big should though). However VT is right on checking the manual. However, 'cause I am such a nice guy I did it for you It looks like you should be in MIT>>Advanced Voltage Settings >> DRAM Voltage Control. There you should be able to set the voltage manually ie not AUTO (assuming XMP is disabled).
The manual tells me little more than I posted earlier. But know I am not using XMP. Under Advanced voltage settings I have 3 choices. 3D power control CPU core voltage control DRAM voltage control I am assuming I want the third? Which gives me 7 choices the first being ChA/B 1.500v AUTO And no clicking on auto gives me anything else. In the manual all it states is DRAM voltage control: This section provides voltage control options and nothing else by way of an explanation.
I was there mate as my post above yours shows. I know I should get some reaction when clicking auto but I get zilch.
That's really odd This might sound stupid but is AUTO greyed out or can you navigate over it with your keyboard? If you can navigate to it using the keyboard try pressing the + key to see if it changes. I don't see a reason why it wouldn't let you change the voltage. Edit: Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs lol
Is there a BIOS update available for your board? I know on ASRock boards if anything starts going wrong the first step is to update BIOS. Might be worth a shot if there is one.
Nope no joy. The odd thing is I can move down the choices top of the 7 being DRAM voltage contro; to the bottom Address reference Ch B but clicking on it produces zilch. I have felt that there was something amiss with this board for some time as overclocking the 2500K chip was impossible although it was assumed by the less kind forum members on Overclockers that I must be the idiot as any fool could overclock this CPU. Well I could not. And there was another fault which seems to have resolved itself though I cannot remember what it was now. I am hoping the board will last until my next build which will not be till there is a decent upgrade from my current CPU. Edit: The above was in answer to your last but one post.
