Unstable computer, what do :(
Unstable computer, what do :(
My computer often freezes or hangs—sometimes just a few minutes after turning on, and other times it stays unresponsive for over an hour (usually around an hour before it stops working). It was reliable for several years, but started acting up about a year ago. Until now, I haven’t made any changes. The usual signs are that the machine becomes completely unresponsive and sometimes keeps looping the sound it was playing when it froze. Occasionally, instead of freezing, it restarts or shows a BSOD. Another strange occurrence is seeing some unusual "ghost" images on my monitors—similar to what used to happen with old CRT screens (transparent remnants of something previously displayed), except these appear only after a full shutdown and mainly affect the edges of all my screens. I’m only concerned about the freezing problem, but I’m noting the ghost images in case they’re connected.
Some details from my testing:
- I don’t think it’s linked to my video card—disconnecting it caused the issue, yet I still experienced crashes even without a dedicated card.
- It doesn’t seem temperature-related; I’ve checked with HWMonitor, and temperatures stayed normal (usually under 50°C, sometimes up to 60°C during stress tests), never exceeding 35°C.
- No driver issues have occurred; I’ve frozen while using BIOS settings, but nothing unusual.
- Running MemTest86 multiple times didn’t reveal any problems.
- I can’t connect the crashes to power supply concerns—monitored one of the 12V and 5V rails with a scope, and it didn’t trigger when the computer froze.
- No signs of PSU faults so far; I’ve tested one of the 12V and one of the 5V rails using a multimeter, but no issues were detected.
Details about my system:
- Built in September 2013
- Intel Core i7-4770k (overclocked to 4.7 GHz briefly)
- ASRock Z87 PRO4 motherboard
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 graphics card
- Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 16 GB RAM (2x8GB)
- Rosewill FORTRESS-750 750W power supply
- Custom water cooling loop for CPU and GPU
- Windows 10 (64-bit)
My aim here is to figure out the most likely cause. I’m probably at a stage where swapping components might be necessary, but I don’t have spare parts on hand, so it could become costly quickly. I’m hoping someone with similar experiences can help me identify the problem.
Thanks!
Hello there.
Start by establishing a baseline on your computer without causing excessive resource usage. Follow the standard procedures, verify the latest updates for the system's BIOS and motherboard, return to default configurations, and reassess stability. Also, review the system error logs. Good luck.
Hello there.
Start by establishing a baseline on your computer without causing excessive resource usage. Follow the standard procedures, verify the latest updates for the system's BIOS and motherboard, return to default configurations, and recheck stability. Also, review the system error logs. Good luck.