Replace onboard graphics

[Max-from-DeskRoll]

It's weird local shop guys could'nt identify the culprit. They surely have more hardwarez than you do. It's their job, not yours.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, like I said, it's still freezing, regardless of which stick of ram I have in there

If you run one drive at a time (disconnect the other SSD), do you still get the freezing issue?

 

[juzzlukin]

It's weird local shop guys couldn't identify the culprit. They surely have more hardwarez than you do. It's their job, not yours.

He's ran a battery of tests. Around the 9 Months ago, when things went haywire, it started going bad, over a course of days got progressively worse, and finally got so extreme there was no choice but to switched out the mainboard.

All my conclusions are hypothetical. The timing is such that, as I mentioned, this was during the time period that the anniversary update was causing absolute havoc, so I cant say what precisely caused the problems or was it a combination several factors.

After the mainboard was substituted, the machine was operable, still not perfect (because of the freezes and not waking up), but nothing like the mess it was before. I cant say that after the fresh install was done and new windows updates were installed, whether all that contributed to the somewhat improved the behavior, or was it a coincidence.

The problem is that this problem is so random. It might not show up for 4-5 days.

Like some sort of intermittent electrical short. You cant zero in on it until it happens, and even then, you may not be certain.

That's why I would lean towards hardware related because of the length of time in between episodes, but what do I know

If you run one drive at a time (disconnect the other SSD), do you still get the freezing issue?

That crossed my mind, but I've never had anyone raise that possibility. Have you ever heard of this sort of ssd related problem?

Well, i would recommend going with this card:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127933&ignorebbr=1

MSI GeForce GT 710 DirectX 12 GT 710 2GD3H LP 2GB 64-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Video Card

It should be slightly faster than the onboard graphics and give you 2GB of dedicated ram, not sharing from your system ram. I've used many of these cards and they work great. It's also a cheap solution to try out.

If and when we go in that direction, that resembles precisely what I had in mind. Thanks

My tech is going to put another PSU in there to test.

 

[Ketchup]

That crossed my mind, but I've never had anyone raise that possibility. Have you ever heard of this sort of ssd related problem?

The thing is it's freezing, not crashing problem, video problem, or shutdown problem, So it's probably not a memory or graphics problem, things overheating, or lack of power.

 

[juzzlukin]

The thing is it's freezing, not crashing problem, video problem, or shutdown problem, So it's probably not a memory or graphics problem, things overheating, or lack of power.

So looks like that only leaves the mainboard/cpu, or maybe ssd?

Could a split second psu hiccup cause it?

 

[VirtualLarry]

SSDs can cause "hard freeze" problems, I had that problem with a laptop, with a Mushkin SSD that was nearly-DOA, even though it was new.

 

[juzzlukin]

SSDs can cause "hard freeze" problems, I had that problem with a laptop, with a Mushkin SSD that was nearly-DOA, even though it was new.

That's not happy news, since I have 2 mushkin ssd's

"Hard Freeze". Is that how you interpret my description? Would this hard freeze eventually resolve itself, or did you have to reboot?

You had that problem with a SSD that was nearly-DOA. How did you find out it was the ssd causing it. Was the hard freezing the only symptom?

So can a defective ssd cause this when its not the drive with the currently active OS partition?

Is there a test is to evaluate the ssd?

Forgive all the questions. Ive had too much time to think about this.

thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

So can a defective ssd cause this when its not the drive with the currently active OS partition?

That I'm not certain.


I would get occasional momentary pauses, and apps turning white, before a hard freeze. Once it froze, though, I had to power-off the system, to fix it.

 

[juzzlukin]

I will follow up after psu change. Thanks for the support.

 

[ManyBeers]

Well, like I said, it's still freezing, regardless of which stick of ram I have in there

Try this: Bios Rom Cachable(it should be disabled)
Enabling this feature allows the caching of the motherboard BIOS ROM to the system memory. This greatly speeds up accesses to the BIOS.

However, this does not translate into better system performance because modern operating systems like Microsoft Windows XP do not need to communicate with the hardware via the BIOS. Current operating systems make use of drivers to access the hardware directly.

Therefore, it would be a waste of memory bandwidth and space if the motherboard BIOS was cached instead of data that are more critical to the system's performance.

In addition, if any errant program writes into this memory area, it will result in a system crash. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you disable this feature for better system performance.

About 2 weeks ago after a power failure I got random hard locks no bsods or errors.
Long story short this Bios rom cacheable setting was enabled in my bios when Disabled is default.
My computer is back to rock hard stable.
Also I had to replace my cmos battery.

 

[juzzlukin]

Hi guys,

Finally able to report back.

Back on 2/21, before swapping out the psu, I began the process of reinstalling the OS, my last ditch effort at hopefully cleaning up what was ailing things.

I would have gotten back sooner but I along the way I got caught up in resolving the latest broken/corrupted System Restore mess.

Up until about a week ago, no problems with freezes. I hadn't gone without incident that length of time since I got the machine, so I thought maybe I was ok.

Then bout a week ago, it happened twice, with a 3 hour period.

But no problem since.

I dont know what to say. I guess I'll have to live with it...hopefully the incidents will be minimal as they have been since the reinstall.

I suppose it could be the psu or motherboard, but at this point, how likely, who knows, and what happens if they are changed and the behavior continues.

Try this: Bios Rom Cachable(it should be disabled)

Hi ManyBeers, I couldnt find this in my bios. Can you give me a roadmap.

One other thing. Things seem to not be quite right on this site.

When trying to quote, I got an error message.



Also experienced some general instability.

 

[ManyBeers]

Maybe your bios options don't have this setting or it's called something else(might be System Bios Cachable). By the way when I got those hard lockups it was concurrent with my CMOS battery dying.
I noticed when I restarted after the power failure my clock was wrong. So I restarted and it was wrong again. So then I realized the battery was dying. I only mentioned my issue as just another investigatory path for you. Could be a dead end. However I have had no more lockups.

 

[lenjack]

If you didn't, run Memtest on your ram. It's free and very good at finding memory problems. Google for it.

 

[sm625]

You still havent tried a video card?

 

[juzzlukin]

Hi guys,

If you didn't, run Memtest on your ram. It's free and very good at finding memory problems. Google for it.

The freezes occurred with each stick removed, one at a time. I guess its "possible" both are defective. I'll give it a try overnight and see what happens.

You still havent tried a video card?

Not yet. When I get a chance it's going back to the builder and let him go from there. I still think it could be the MOB, but just a guess.

 

[juzzlukin]

Hello again,

Just in case anybody is still curious, I'm reporting back.

-SSD's isolated and tested tested separately, crashes on both
-Ram isolated and tested separately, crashed on both
-Motherboard has been switched out twice. Last time several weeks ago. Continues to crash regularly.
-CPU 24 hour stress test. Passed
-Power supply replaced yesterday. Crashed within 18 hours, and over 7 hours after it had been left idle with only the browser open & without the monitor off

I created a Macrium system image and restored it to another Win 10 Pro machine...running 9 days straight so far...no problems!

Today I unplugged both fans. We'll see. If not, the only things left are the CPU and the wire harness (Well, I can't think of anything else, can you?)

 

[edcoolio]

Was the motherboard switched out, or was it replaced with a completely different model/brand?

It could be a motherboard incompatibility or VRM cooling issue.

 

[Ketchup]

No problems? You just jinxed it, lol!

Seriously though, thanks for the update; fingers crossed!

 

[juzzlukin]

Was the motherboard switched out, or was it replaced with a completely different model/brand?

It could be a motherboard incompatibility or VRM cooling issue.

When we did the stress test, I had HWMonitor running the entire time and it never exceeded 79 degrees. I read up a little on VRM cooling. Would that max temp include the components protected by VRM? Please educate me.

Aside from that, what else is there?, motherboard incompatibility, wiring, CPU...gamma rays, poltergeists? You know it will end up being the very last thing on the list, if we ever discover the problem at all.

No problems? You just jinxed it, lol!

Seriously though, thanks for the update; fingers crossed!

JInxed! I'll have to take the credit for considering that one first

 

[edcoolio]

When we did the stress test, I had HWMonitor running the entire time and it never exceeded 79 degrees. I read up a little on VRM cooling. Would that max temp include the components protected by VRM? Please educate me.

Aside from that, what else is there?, motherboard incompatibility, wiring, CPU...gamma rays, poltergeists? You know it will end up being the very last thing on the list, if we ever discover the problem at all.


JInxed! I'll have to take the credit for considering that one first

Your temps sound fine, but it depends completely on the components your motherboard manuf. uses. Either way, I wouldn't worry about that.

When something like this happens to me, the very first thing I do is remove the cooling and possible case grounding issues. You already did step 1, which is remove paste from everything, re-seat, clean, etc.

Step 2 is to remove all components and from your case. Reconnect all basic components on a wooden or plastic table.

Step 3 is to turn on your AC and place the most powerful fan you have on high blowing over all of the components. This should remove all cooling and case grounding issues immediately.

These are cheap possible solutions you can try.

If this doesn't work, I suspect that your problem will disappear the moment you mount all of your components on a different brand/model of motherboard. Sell the old one on eBay. Profit.

 

[juzzlukin]

My builder is gonna take it for a few days and try another cpu. We'll see.

My machine isn't fancy. Pretty basic from a hardware standpoint. Not like we tried to blend a lot of exotic stuff. If it is the motherboard, considering were already on third one, what would perplex me is the fact that there would be no documented history somewhere out there on what would have to be a congenital flaw. Could I be the only one this repeatedly happens to? Too coincidental?

It's the odd nature of the freezing that makes me think it's electronics related. It can sit there by itself for hours and then it will just stop in its tracks, like something suddenly hiccups, maybe a slight power surge/variation (I'm totally on Guess Street here, but I don"t know any better)

 

[juzzlukin]

It's always the last thing you test, right?

But who would have thought to test the CPU first?

Defective CPU, and the only evidence was the freezing. No other way to detect it. LIke an electrical short.

There should be a better way

 

[Ketchup]

Wow. The cpu. Very odd, hence the reason it's the last thing. Glad to hear you made it!