PC shutting down and freezing shortly (occasionally BSOD). Many fixes tried so far.
PC shutting down and freezing shortly (occasionally BSOD). Many fixes tried so far.
Hello.
My PC has a pretty big problem and I'm running out of things to try.
The computer does 1 of 3 things:
1. Restarts instantly, blink and its on mdp input message booting up
2. Freezes. Everything is frozen, can't move or interact in any way. Only way out is holding power button
3. BSOD. Stop codes have been mostly "memory management" some "watchdog violation" and one "0xc000021a" after a freeze. Maybe important but while semi frequent before, once my PC starting restarting and freezing I have gotten only 1 BSOD and no more.
Restarting used to be the most frequent but freezing took over. I am not doing anything I'm just letting it sit idle.
The bigger problem with these is that they happen generally within 10 minutes very consistantly. There are sometimes longer breaks but I have in 2 days not gone more than 60 min maximum. It is very difficult if not impossible for me to do anything on the PC due to the machine gun frequency of these issues.
System is under no extra load from me. I am letting it sit idle. Load does not seem to affect much as I can be using the browser, moving folders around and the PC can end up running longer than sitting idle on desktop.
What I have tried that has not solved the issue:
Updating GPU drivers
Updating chipset drivers
Reseating cables
Cleaning
Taking out each stick of RAM to try the other
Replacing RAM with older sticks I had
Trying different RAM slots
Disabled XMP, haven't turned back on
Replacing PSU with older one (CX750M). This is working on my fathers PC.
Replacing GPU with older one (GTX 1080). Was working when I upgraded 2023
Booting in Safe Mode. It still froze
Removing CMOS battery and reinserting it
Removing drives
Removing OS drive and replacing it with another Windows 10 drive (old, from 2021). Still froze
Updating BIOS (now latest version available)
Switching to a different powerstrip
Unplugging all USB devices (aside from monitor)
Lowered GPU clock in Afterburner
Updating Windows (There is a security update that keeps failing for a while, not sure if relevant)
The only hardware I don't have on hand to try replacing is the Motherboard and CPU.
I don't know how much I can try software wise since I can't trust the PC to run for 4 minutes.
Currently it does freeze every 2 minutes.
So far it hasn't had problems sitting in BIOS, so I will try updating BIOS tomorrow.
Temperatures on Hwinfo has shown sub 50c for CPU when frozen. Very cool temperatures outside and indoors this month.
The thing that makes me doubt it being software related is that it still froze even with a different Windows and drive.
Specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte b550 Aorus Pro v2 rev 1.0 (from 2021, BIOS ver F12)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900x (paste is stock Noctua unchanged from 2021)
PSU: Corsair RM850X
GPU: EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3 8GB
RAM: G.skill Ripjaws V 32GB DDR4 3600
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Case: Phanteks P500A
OS drive: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD
Assembled myself in 2021. Haven't overclocked anything.
I initially considered an XMP problem, but since you mentioned not overclocking, that's ruled out. Then I had a few more questions: This is your everyday computer, so it doesn't make sense to ask about USB devices being connected. Have you replaced all the USB devices yet? Regarding Windows, you have two drives with Windows installed. Did Windows get installed on both drives when those storage devices were inserted into the same computer?
The Windows I used came from a prebuilt version I received back in 2018. I installed both SSD and HDD drives at the same time as instructed by the vendor, and then removed all previous drives. The two drives I’m referring to—currently the SSD (A) and the old one (B)—have never interacted with each other, and the system has only recognized drive A. XMP was disabled recently just in case. It’s unclear if any parts were overclocked during installation; I haven’t performed any overclocking myself. I haven’t removed any devices yet. My plan is to remove the mouse and keyboard first, since those are the only other USB ports available, except for the monitor which I need.
Attempted to remove all USB devices. The computer appeared to operate for over 40 minutes before freezing at some point, especially around the hour mark. It's difficult to determine exactly when it stopped working because without any input it stays on the Windows login screen and the monitor turns off. Pressing the power button would wake it up, but now I get only a black screen. The monitor isn't receiving any input, and when I try to connect the KBM again, they don't turn on (no LEDs). However, the PC is still running, with lights on and fans spinning.
It seems you're referring to a past setup that has clearly functioned well for you, but it's not advised to reuse an old Windows installation on new hardware. Likely due to the common error of installing Windows while both storage devices are connected. That could mean the boot loader is actually on the hard drive rather than the SSD. Let it be turned off and avoid turning it back on.
I installed the latest stable BIOS version, updated Windows (2024-06 Cumulative Update Preview, security update kept failing) and switched to a different power strip. Despite these changes, the issue persisted, with crashes continuing. I also reduced the GPU clock in MSI Afterburner, though it seems the adjustment wasn't active at launch. Currently, the PC has operated smoothly for about three hours, surpassing the nearly one-hour threshold.
I’m hoping this resolves the problem, but if it does, I’m uncertain what exactly fixed it since each failure occurred independently.
Do you think there's a high likelihood of it being the motherboard? One IT repair guy I asked thought there was a "89% chance of it being motherboard" granted he only listened to me explain the crashing nothing in detail.
Also do you think there could be a good chance of it being the CPU? I'm OK with trying a new motherboard but it would be a shame if I got a new mobo and it was the CPU instead.
I'll try doing a clean install. You think its still worth trying even after I removed all my current drives and replaced them with a different Win10 drive? I assume that would be near identical to a different OS install. Again I'll give it a shot just a smidge attached to some of my programs on this drive.
Edit: Extra also it hasn't so far crashed or had any problems sitting in BIOS for hours multiple times, could that mean its more likely to be software related and not hardware? Apologize about all these questions I'm clueless when it comes to computers.