PC is freezing

[agamer]

Hi all,
My PC is freezing quite a bit. It seems to happen randomly.
Sometimes I'll just power it on and then within seconds of moving the mouse it freezes.
I don't even get a chance to open a program.
The research I've done on the web says to figure out if it happens while using a particular application, but as far as I can tell there is no rhyme or reason to it.

Is this most likely a hardware issue?

 

[Virgorising]

Hi all,
My PC is freezing quite a bit. It seems to happen randomly.
Sometimes I'll just power it on and then within seconds of moving the mouse it freezes.
I don't even get a chance to open a program.
The research I've done on the web says to figure out if it happens while using a particular application, but as far as I can tell there is no rhyme or reason to it.

Is this most likely a hardware issue?

Pls give us yr system specs.

And, are you getting just the freezing or also blue screens?

Do you monitor yr temps?

Yes, sounds like hardware. PSU or RAM to me.

 

[agamer]

Intel Core i7 920
Asus P6T Deluxe V2 socket LGA 1366
PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
24GB Patriot Memory 1333EL Series
EVGA GTS250
SSD 256G SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series_MZ-7PD256BW
SSD 120G INTEL SSDSA2MH120G2K5
1T SAMSUNG HD103SJ
2T SAMSUNG HD204UI
4T WD WD4003FZEX

The Samsung 840 Pro is my boot drive and it’s got Windows 7 Ultimate on it.
It has more than 40% free space.

The Intel SSD used to be my boot drive, but now it’s my media cache for Adobe Premiere.

I never get blue screens.
The computer just freezes and I have to hold down the power button to force it to turn off.

I don’t regularly monitor the temps, but happen to be running memtest86 right now and it says the CPU is 58C

 

[Virgorising]

I don’t regularly monitor the temps, but happen to be running memtest86 right now and it says the CPU is 58C

Is that at idle? If so, that sounds high.

You have tons of drives in the system. Tons of hardware.

How old is the PSU?

I might try to disconnect yr mechanical drives and see what happens when you boot.

 

[denis280]

Is that at idle? If so, that sounds high.

You have tons of drives in the system. Tons of hardware.

How old is the PSU?

I might try to disconnect yr mechanical drives and see what happens when you boot.

This:thumbsup:

 

[agamer]

Is that at idle? If so, that sounds high.

You have tons of drives in the system. Tons of hardware.

How old is the PSU?

I might try to disconnect yr mechanical drives and see what happens when you boot.

I bought the PSU in December of 2009 along with the CPU and Mobo. And then the Video card a couple months after that. The drives I've added little by little over the years.

What should my idle temp be? Can unplugging drives really decrease CPU temp even if I'm not transferring data to and from them?

 

[denis280]

Just boot with your main drive.and see what go on

 

[Virgorising]

What should my idle temp be? Can unplugging drives really decrease CPU temp even if I'm not transferring data to and from them?

Goal is to reduce the overload on yr PSU and monitor the results. Yr CPU temps should idle around 30-35C.

All those drive are sipnning and drawing power. Along with everythng else in that box.

Pls tell us yr GPU temps.

 

[Virgorising]

Just boot with your main drive.and see what go on

:thumbsup:

 

[agamer]

Goal is to reduce the overload on yr PSU and monitor the results. Yr CPU temps should idle around 30-35C.

All those drive are sipnning and drawing power. Along with everythng else in that box.

Pls tell us yr GPU temps.

I downloaded CPUID HWMonitor and GPU temp is 60C and CPU Core temps stay between 45C-50C.
Task Manager says less than 5% CPU Usage.

 

[Ketchup]

... I don’t regularly monitor the temps, but happen to be running memtest86 right now and it says the CPU is 58C

It has been years since I have run memtest, but it used to push one core to full load, so those temps sound pretty decent during the test.

No blue screen and freezes are leading me to think a drive is the culprit. Might want to do a chkdsk run on each drive and see what turns up.

 

[Virgorising]

I downloaded CPUID HWMonitor and GPU temp is 60C and CPU Core temps stay between 45C-50C.
Task Manager says less than 5% CPU Usage.

Are you still getting the freezes?

Pls try what I and denis suggested.

 

[Virgorising]

It has been years since I have run memtest, but it used to push one core to full load, so those temps sound pretty decent during the test.

No blue screen and freezes are leading me to think a drive is the culprit. Might want to do a chkdsk run on each drive and see what turns up.

Very smart thought, as usual.

But, OP, if you just open the box and pull the cables on all but yr boot SDD, and you can boot normally with no freezes, we will know a great deal more.

If, after doing this, you still get the freezes, then we focus on yr boot drive as the likely culprit.

 

[phis6]

Is that at idle? If so, that sounds high.

You have tons of drives in the system. Tons of hardware.

How old is the PSU?

I might try to disconnect yr mechanical drives and see what happens when you boot.

Worth to try. Just leave the SSD with the OS to boot and find out if it still freezes.

 

[agamer]

Are you still getting the freezes?

Pls try what I and denis suggested.

I guess I should've been more specific in my OP when I said "My PC is freezing quite a bit."

Sometimes I'll go almost a week without a freeze, and then it may freeze twice in one day. It's running fine right now, so testing your suggestions probably won't produce a definitive answer unless I do it over the course of a month.

Also I forgot to mention I have an optical drive.
In other words, every SATA port on my Mobo is being used.

I want to thank you big time guys! Your suggestions have been very insightful.

So I ask you for a bit more advice before we wrap things up.
I can't go without all my backup drives for that long.
So, assuming it's the number of drives causing the problem, if I absolutely had to unplug some of them, how many do you think I could safely keep connected?

And going forward, if my goal is to keep the drives plugged in, it sounds like I would have to get a more powerful PSU, correct?
If so, how many Watts should I upgrade to? Or is it the age of the PSU that's the problem? Would just getting a new high quality 750W be ok, or would you suggest kicking it up a notch?

 

[Virgorising]

I can't go without all my backup drives for that long. So, assuming it's the number of drives causing the problem, if I absolutely had to unplug some of them, how many do you think I could safely keep connected?

I now get the freezings are desultory. But, if you did the unplugging experiment, you might be able to see lower temps and a boost in performance pretty fast. If you did, we could maybe rule out the boot drive.

And going forward, if my goal is to keep the drives plugged in, it sounds like I would have to get a more powerful PSU, correct? If so, how many Watts should I upgrade to? Or is it the age of the PSU that's the problem? Would just getting a new high quality 750W be ok, or would you suggest kicking it up a notch?

If it's yr PSU, can't determine yet if the unit is going or if it's just inadequate with all that's in the box. If I hadda guess, I would think it might be the former.

If not, you would want to kick it up a notch. Or two.

 

[stinger608]

With all your hard drives still plugged in and running,
download Hard Drive Sentinel and run it.

There is a free version on their site:

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

This will give you an idea if there is an issue with one or more of the drives.

Also something that can cause freeze ups like your describing is something odd running in the background.

If you can, search for "msconfig" and run that. Click on the "start up" tab and give a list of the programs starting up when the system boots.
Be sure to right click on the "msconfig.exe" and "run as administrator"

If your uncomfortable listing them for public view just pm me the list so I can see what is running at start up.

Also a bad optical drive can cause freeze ups like this as well. Put a disk in and insure that it is still properly operational.

 

[Virgorising]

With all your hard drives still plugged in and running,
download Hard Drive Sentinel and run it.

There is a free version on their site:

http://www.hdsentinel.com/

This will give you an idea if there is an issue with one or more of the drives.

Also something that can cause freeze ups like your describing is something odd running in the background.

If you can, search for "msconfig" and run that. Click on the "start up" tab and give a list of the programs starting up when the system boots.
Be sure to right click on the "msconfig.exe" and "run as administrator"

If your uncomfortable listing them for public view just pm me the list so I can see what is running at start up.

Also a bad optical drive can cause freeze ups like this as well. Put a disk in and insure that it is still properly operational.

Worthy suggestion and good comments. But, I still think it's horses, not zebra.

 

[stinger608]

Worthy suggestion and good comments. But, I still think it's horses, not zebra.

Well your probably correct Virgo, but it doesn't hurt to check all possibilities before assuming it is a power supply.
As you stated it could very well be one of the hard drives and that is why I suggest running Hard Drive Sentinel. :awe:

 

[Virgorising]

Well your probably correct Virgo, but it doesn't hurt to check all possibilities before assuming it is a power supply.
As you stated it could very well be one of the hard drives and that is why I suggest running Hard Drive Sentinel. :awe:

I absolutely agree! And running Sentinel was brilliant suggestion. Esp since the freezings are desultory and not consistent, and, for good reasons, he doesn't wanna be without most of his drives for a long interval.