Computer Randomly Crashing - how to diagnose?

[gregoryvg]

Okay so here is the situation. I built a PC for my son about five years ago, it has an ASRock Z68 MotherBoard (Pro series), Intel i5 3570k, a Corsair 650W PSU and he currently has a GTX 970. The CPU is overclocked to 4.2 or 4.4Ghz using the automatic overclock feature in the bios of the motherboard.

I'm going from memory here as I am not home atm and don't have an exact listing of parts - but I can provide a full listing later if needed.

Last year for his birthday his mom bought him a 120gb Kingston SSD (it was a real cheapie), but I installed it and did a fresh install of Windows 7 on it and used that as his boot drive. He has his OS on there and some games he plays regularly. He also has two separate 2-TB HDD which he uses for other games and to record video of his games for his YouTube channel.

I'm having two issues with the PC:

Problem #1; The PC will freeze up at Random. I don't think it crashes, but it becomes unresponsive - the screen freezes. He has to physically turn the computer off and then back on again using the power button. How do I diagnose this?

I didn't notice this but for about a year or so he had the feet kicked off his case so it was sitting flat on the computer stand - but of course the PSU is bottom mounted so I think it may not have gotten proper airflow - could that be causing it? I managed to find two of the feet and re-installed them in the back part of the case where the PSU is located to keep it off the bottom of his computer stand and increase airflow.

Problem #2; The Kingston SSD has gotten bog-arse slow over the course of the year. At first it was loading up Windows (and a game like Total War: Warhammer) like a champ; much quicker than his HDD. Now It is barely faster than a regular HDD. (I suspect this may be contributing to Problem #1.) Is there a way to restore this back to it's early performance or did I f-up by not making certain tweaks when I installed it?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[UsandThem]

The first thing you should do is remove any overclock when troubleshooting.

The only way to know if the PSU is the problem is to try another one and see if the issues go away.

As far as the SSD being very slow, it the drive is over 75% full, they start losing some of their performance. A 120 GB drive can fill up fast.

You also might want to scan the disk for issues and corrupted OS files:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-run-system-file-checker-analyze-its-logs-in-windows-7-vista

http://www.howtogeek.com/134735/how-to-see-if-your-hard-drive-is-dying/

 

[sttubs]

I'd also check the memory: http://memtest86.com/

 

[Ketchup]

The power supply not getting ventilation sounds like a #1 culprit thus far. Damage may have been caused. And while on the subject of heat, it would be good to see what temps you CPU is getting to under load, since it is overclocked.

 

[C1]

Tackle the slow SSD first. The issue with the SSD sounds like classic "trim" not enabled. (Sounds like you swapped an SSD for an HDD. I did that too with Win 7 & noticed that "trim" was not enabled.)

Go to a Command Prompt & type:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

There are two possible outcomes:

• DisableDeleteNotify = 0 : TRIM is already enabled and working in Windows
  
  
• DisableDeleteNotify = 1 : TRIM is not enabled → Proceed to step 3 to enable it
  

To enable SSD TRIM support in Windows, type the following at command prompt and press enter:

fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0

 

[Elixer]

Open up event viewer, and I bet you will see lots of disk I/O errors/warnings.
This is what is causing freezes/lockups for a period of time.

That means the SSD is going south in 99% of the cases I have seen.
Time to buy a new SSD.

If you see no errors/warnings, then, while it could be a lack of a TRIM issue, that alone won't cause the machine to freeze/lockup for periods of a time of more than 5 secs max.

Then, I would look at RAM issues, and finally PSUs.
While they like airflow, if it was blocked, that overheats that parts, and could output bad voltages if the PSU is crap, otherwise, it would shut down.

 

[gregoryvg]

Guys, thanks for your help. Haven't had a chance to look at my son's computer yet (been a busy weekend), but it sounds like I'll at least be on the right path. I kind of agree that the SSD might be going by the way it is acting. I appreciate the assistance!

 

[Picnicnet]

My laptop system configuration is 4 gb ddr 3 ram, i3 3rd generation processor, 500gb hard disk, 1 gb graphics card and win-7 genuine, few days before I install one application from internet after system has been very slowed, after that i uninstall them, but my system is not working properly, and also disturb time when, I restart them, what do I do ..?

 

[mikeymikec]

Tackle the slow SSD first. The issue with the SSD sounds like classic "trim" not enabled. (Sounds like you swapped an SSD for an HDD. I did that too with Win 7 & noticed that "trim" was not enabled.)

Go to a Command Prompt & type:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

There are two possible outcomes:

• DisableDeleteNotify = 0 : TRIM is already enabled and working in Windows
  
  
• DisableDeleteNotify = 1 : TRIM is not enabled → Proceed to step 3 to enable it

To enable SSD TRIM support in Windows, type the following at command prompt and press enter:

fsutil behavior set DisableDeleteNotify 0

This advice is incorrect. DisableDeleteNotify = 1 is an override to allow the user to disable TRIM. The zero value can be found on a machine that boots from a HDD, and all it tells you is that the override has not been set.