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.
A fresh installation of Windows 10 was performed after encountering a "problem resetting your PC. No changes were made" message. The OS was installed via USB, which caused a crash during the setup process, followed by another restart after completion. Windows updates also presented issues, preventing downloads and causing some updates to fail despite being available. Chipset and GPU drivers were successfully installed. There was a BSOD while transferring files from SSD to HDD, labeled "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION." File transfers stopped at 0% and could not be resumed, and the transfer window remained closed. The PC continues to restart and freeze even after a new Windows installation.
Ok, then I'd suggest there is a failure on the motherboard itself. Possible the CPU, but that is very rare.
There is one last thing you can try (if you want, but it's pretty clear by now that there must be something faulty with the motherboard):
Go get a Linux ISO file (e.g. Linux Mint <
link to download site
>) - use a appropriate tool to flash the iso image to a USB stick, and then boot into the Live Desktop (i.e. trying and see how it feels, not installing). Test if you can browse the web (using Firefox that is pre-installed) over an extended period of time and see if it still crash on you.
Reason for this is so you get to test the computer with a completely different OS, but think it still crashes.
I might attempt that then. I thought it would result in CPU and Motherboard issues. Likely the problem is with the Motherboard, though I've noticed similar cases online where it's the CPU that fails.
I ran Memtest86 and my G.skill sticks showed over 1000 errors per pass. Previous Ballistix 8GB sticks passed without errors but still caused crashes, which seems to be the case here. I know Memtest uses both CPU and Motherboard, so it probably matches this situation.
It's disappointing because they charge by the hour, and the PC could run for three hours if needed, but I don't want to make a big purchase without knowing more.
It looks like disabling C-states eliminated the crashes. The system operated smoothly for five hours twice, and I shut it down to install my HDD each time. When I re-enabled C-states, it worked for three hours before freezing again today. This suggests the issue might be with the CPU and RAM as well. I noticed 5,000 errors per stick in memtest86 on my Ripjaws but none on Crucial Ballistix. I’ve also turned off C-states and disabled turbo to prevent boosting beyond the base clock, since it was previously permaboosting to over 4 GHz with temperatures at 60°C.