Addressing pc hard lock issues, seeking input on the actions performed
Addressing pc hard lock issues, seeking input on the actions performed
You have multiple drives available. Have you unplugged all but the one you plan to install the operating system on? Did you remove all partitions from the OS drive to ensure a clean slate? Were you trying to fix a possible corruption by recreating your bootable USB installer?
Consider using an ASUS TUF BIOS version for your motherboard.
You might want to test with two RAM sticks at once, but it's better to stick with one kit unless you're certain about the issue.
I suggest trying the NVMe drives on another working system first to confirm if the problem lies with them.
Replacing the drive isn't recommended as it would be costly.
I removed all the drives except the two NVMe ones for the first reinstall. These NVMe drives are a bit tricky to handle; I had to remove the GPU, which required opening part of the case due to its solid iron construction. I avoided doing that out of habit, but I thought it was necessary. My reason for skipping that step was the Linux live environment failing, which shouldn’t use any drives at all. Still, it might cause problems.
I deleted the old partitions during the reinstalls and fully formatted the OS drive.
The USB installer was just created recently.
The latest version is 5021. My concern is that with the lock-ups, it could freeze while attempting a BIOS update.
I didn’t think about it. You’re right—there are two matching sets. I haven’t tried this since the long memory tests passed. Now I’ve tested each set in both of the two DDR modules, and all four times it froze.
Unfortunately, these components are quite outdated, so most parts are no longer covered by warranty. Except for the RAM, fans, and now the PSU.
Thank you for your time.
CPU re-seat? Usually not with AM4, but it’s worth trying. Otherwise, it might be the motherboard or the CPU itself. Ryzen 3000 and 5000 tend to fail with the I/O die, sometimes just dropping out. You might lose a memory channel, which could explain what you’re seeing. Early signs of a failing memory channel are noticeable. Passing memtest might help, but real load testing keeps I/O and CPU stable under stress, avoiding erratic behavior.
Incorrect motherboard voltages can also cause issues, sometimes leading to voltage drops and instability between idle and load states.
Don’t dismiss simple causes either. Once, I spent an hour troubleshooting a computer only to discover a faulty SATA power cable. The system entered BIOS and even started booting, but drivers crashed as soon as they loaded.
Unplug all unnecessary fans—never know when an internal short could trigger a voltage fault in the PSU and cause a shutdown. The sign would be the PSU failing to restart after being unplugged.
I found several links related to that issue, though nothing concrete turned up. I narrowed it down to CPU, RAM, GPU, CPU fan, GB RAM, and mouse. It still seemed stuck. I changed the motherboard to an ASUS B550 and kept using the same hardware from the previous post—it remained unresponsive. I managed to get an old R9 290 GPU in, but that didn’t help either. Eventually, I thought maybe the CPU wasn’t the issue and tried removing the CPU fan, swapping it with a chassis fan, and even using an OptiCPU 4pin. Still, it locked up quickly. After some experiments, I found that adding two fans on a Y splitter helped avoid lockups for a while. It’s been about 28k hours since then, rated for 40k hours.
I considered swapping back to the X570 board and tried connecting all fans, plus two M2 SSDs and the RX6700. It locked up after a few hours, but removing the fans and reattaching them worked. I removed one M2 SSD and it ran for five hours. Now I’m trying to include a Y split chassis fan set again, and it’s still working.
I’m still unsure what caused the problem and am torn between keeping what’s there or replacing the CPU. It’s really frustrating, and finding a reliable replacement is difficult.
Nothing specific can be identified. You might want to try testing a different CPU or consider switching platforms, although upgrading to a 5900X would be quite expensive.