Computer Freeze

[cpd2009]

And today his PC froze again. I'm getting sick of this.

Also, this time it froze not while playing game, but while browsing with 7 tabs open. It seems any activity that takes a certain amount of power has a chance to freeze the pc.

The two things previously mentioned, hdd and cpu, are not things which can be switched on a whim. I'm pretty much at a dead end here.

I haven't really been following this thread much to be honest, and you might have to fill me in, but I seem to recall that your own PC is pretty much identical to your brother's, yet it doesn't freeze.

Would it be possible to move the games to your PC, or is your own PC used for a different purpose? Again, I'm not entirely sure, so feel free to correct me or fill me in.

[Blackberry Bun]

I play the same games as him.

Could it be some sort of malware? But we did a reinstall when we changed the mb, though all data in D partition still remains. Could it be really a malware in the D partition? But is there really a malware capable of randomly freezing the PC?

Attempts so far on hardware side:
-. Upgrade power supply
-. Switch RAM with my PC
-. Change mb
-. Switch GPU
-. Switch UPS

On software side:
-. chkdsk
-. Full scan with antivirus
-. Reinstall C
-. memtest86

None worked. What has not been covered besides CPU and HDD?

[cpd2009]

I play the same games as him.

Could it be some sort of malware? But we did a reinstall when we changed the mb, though all data in D partition still remains. Could it be really a malware in the D partition? But is there really a malware capable of randomly freezing the PC?

Attempts so far on hardware side:
-. Upgrade power supply
-. Switch RAM with my PC
-. Change mb
-. Switch GPU
-. Switch UPS

On software side:
-. chkdsk
-. Full scan with antivirus
-. Reinstall C
-. memtest86

None worked. What has not been covered besides CPU and HDD?

This is a long shot, and I'm not sure if it's even possible, but see if you can get his PC to dual boot into Linux, likely using part of the C or D drive for that while retaining Windows at the same time. Once the GPU drivers are setup, try browsing the web in Firefox or Chome like you normally do and see if it freezes there.

If no freezes occur under Linux, something in Windows or some Windows hardware driver is causing your freezing issue under Windows. If the freezes occur under Linux though, then I don't know what to say as I never had a random freezing issue like that before.

[Blackberry Bun]

Well, I don't think I have enough time to go that far.

Anyway, A bit of new info. I just installed a spec analysis software (Speccy) on both PC and compared them. Notable differences are that my NET Framework is version 4.5 Full, while his is 3.0 SP1. Also, at the motherboard tab, the voltage for CPU core is about 0.9V to 1V for my PC, and about 0.8V to 0.9V for his PC. Also, his PC has 2 less VIN than mine, though it was probably because of the mb replacement being same brand, different type. His PC heat is slightly higher than mine, but I believe 40 Celsius shouldn't be a problem.

Any new clues can be taken from this? NET Framework is less likely in my opinion, since his pc having lesser version is probably caused by the recent reinstall. I'm more concerned about his "CPU Core" having lower voltage, but I have no knowledge on this.

Here's a screenshot of each, for reference:

His PC


My PC

[RAMChYLD]

Hmmm, lower Vcore is a possibility. Try to reset his PC's BIOS to defaults and see if it increases to 0.9v-1.0v again.

[Blackberry Bun]

Just tried that. No change. Strangely the BIOS monitor shows CPU voltage of 0.95V, while Speccy still shows 0.8V, sometimes 0.7V.

If this is really the cause all along, what should I do?

[RAMChYLD]

Just tried that. No change. Strangely the BIOS monitor shows CPU voltage of 0.95V, while Speccy still shows 0.8V, sometimes 0.7V.

If this is really the cause all along, what should I do?

Well, if all else fails, then the problem has to be one thing left- the CPU. Very unlikely, but then again we've exhausted almost all the options.

EDIT:

Wait, I just realized one more thing- he has an older BIOS version (0801). This is a long shot, but try upgrading his BIOS. The worst that can happen is that you brick his PC if power failure occurs and his UPS fails prematurely, in which Asus has quite good support for fixing botched BIOS updates (some Asus motherboards have a backup BIOS that starts up instead if the main BIOS is corrupted due to a bad upgrade). Yeah, this freeze is happening on multiple boards, but it's worth one final shot before suspecting the CPU itself.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/B75M-A/B75M-A-ASUS-1101.zip">http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA ... S-1101.zip</a><!-- m -->

Latest BIOS for his PC should be 1101. This assuming Speccy isn't glitching out and he indeed has an Asus board and not a MSI one that you mentioned earlier.

PS: His motherboard and yours are different. Do not use this BIOS on your PC.Your PC's BIOS is <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8H77-M_LE/P8H77-M-LE-ASUS-1501.zip">http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA ... S-1501.zip</a><!-- m --> and the latest version is 1501, but you don't have to flash it unless you are having issues or need support for newer processors or some features that are broken at your BIOS version (see <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.asus.com/my/Motherboards/P8H77M_LE/HelpDesk_Download/">http://www.asus.com/my/Motherboards/P8H ... _Download/</a><!-- m --> for more info).

I flash all my motherboards with the latest BIOS when I get it and upgrade to the latest ones everytime one is released (although I avoid beta versions), but then I'm a professional and know what I'm doing, and how to recover if the flash is somehow messed up. Exercise caution.

[huckleberrypie]

I don't think it has anything to do with the .NET framework, but yeah, try updating the BIOS/UEFI firmware on your rig and see if it does any good on your end.

And yeah, perhaps booting to Linux might be a good way to see if the lockups are actually related to Windows or otherwise. I'm not sure, but perhaps at least using a Live CD/DVD would do the trick, but then again as you can attest the freezing symptoms can go dormant for like hours and days, so it's hard to say if the system really is stable.

[Blackberry Bun]

Well, I asked this in the regular thread once, but now that it has sunk in the pages I think I'll re-ask here.



What do the numbers in the Memory column represent? Why web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox in my case have large numbers for this?

I asked this because it seems that the freezing in my bro's PC has a chance to occur which increases as the total numbers in this column do. If this true, it might explain why so far it happens during either browsing or gaming.


Anyway, my bro has decided to wait it out until DDR4 set comes out. I hope it will happen soon enough.

[huckleberrypie]

It refers to the RAM a particular process eats up. Games and browsers are known for taking up a hundred thousand or so megabytes.

As for DDR4, regardless of whether you'd go for that or the older DDR3 it'll be obsolete in a few years anyway. A DDR3-1600 bar may do, along with an H81 board and a suitable processor.

I also noticed the "Send feedback" link by the right side before the window controls. Are you running on a beta/pre-release build or something?