At a loss.... Win7 Ultimate 64bit Randomly Freezes (Resolved Maybe)

[kavadon]

Wasn't certain whether to post this in the Tech Talk forum or Windows forum, so apologies if it's the wrong spot.

Looking for some thoughts on this if anyone has some ideas...

New build:
PII 965 BE
MSI 790FS-Gx70
4 (2x2) G.Skill RAM
WD Caviar Black 640GB (SATA)
Corsair 750w TX
7900GS
Samsung DVD Burner (SATA)
Win 7 64b Ultimate

System works great when it works, however there are random freezes occurring. They're not crashes, reboots, or BSODs - just the screen locks and everything stops responding. This obviously forces me to reboot the machine to clear them. Sometimes it won't happen for a couple of hours, sometimes it's less than 5 mins. It Just varies as to frequency.

What I've done so far:

-No OC currently on the box
-MemTest on memory - passed with no issue
-Prime95 for 24 hrs - passed with no issue
-BIOS flashed to most current version
-Updated with the most current drivers from MB website
-Updated vid card to most current drivers
-Disabled CnQ in BIOS
-Power options in Windows set to "Performance"
-CPU at stock
-Memory voltage and timings hard set in BIOS to manuf recommendations

My remaining options are:
-Reinstall the OS (no big deal as it's a vanilla installation currently - 1 hr tops)
-Test PSU for possible droop. A bit more complicated as I don't have the equipment to do this, and the random nature makes it difficult to predict and test. I do have a 700W OCZ PSU that I can pull from "old" rig to test, so that's prob going to be my test.
- Possible hard drive issue? I think I have a spare drive I could use to test that...

I'm completely at a loss at the moment with this. The only software installed is antivirus, but the locks were occurring before it was installed so it's not the culprit.

Anyone have some more ideas or input?

Thanks,
K

[curlysir]

Have you tried all settings for memory to auto in bios? I was having the same problem, which started when I added 2 more memory modules. The screen would just freeze. I have since started changing the memory settings a step at a time to see which setting was causing the problem. When I changed all settings to auto the system became stable and no more freeze ups.

[xiz0r]

I'd suspect the memory too even if it passed memtest86.
Try/tried with one stick only ? or maybe another set that you could borrow ?

[kavadon]

Thanks guys for the fast response....

@curly - Yes, the freezes were occurring with the settings set to Auto and Stock which is what prompted me to go the manuf site and grab their recommendations. Was hoping that would be the fix for it.

@xizor - Yes, I had tried with the sticks individually as well as paired. I do have another pair of the exact same memory that I can swap out as my goal was 8gigs on Win7. I can give that a spin when I get home. The thought had crossed my mind as to the memory having an issue that MemTest might not find, but that just seemed impropable (still certainly possible though).

Thanks again.

[millerman61]

Did you clear cmos after upgrading the bios?

[grimmster]

did you update the bios or is it at stock? I updated the bios on my system to 2 different levels and had nothing but problems, went back to stock bios and running just fine.

[kavadon]

Again, thanks....

@millerman61 - I'm pretty sure I cleared CMOS after I updated the BIOS but it's certainly something I can retry since it only takes a few mins.

@grimm - I was having the problem with the original BIOS (v1.4) that shipped with the board, so I had hoped that flashing to v1.6 would solve the issue. A bit worried about rolling back to previous as the newest version solved some memory compatibility issues.

Again, I'll follow millerman's suggestion and see what happens with a CMOS clear (hopefully it's a step I missed). If that doesn't do it, I'll swap out the memory sticks and play around a bit, and if that doesn't work I guess I'll swap PSUs (shudder)...

Lots of work to do...haha....

Thanks again all.... keep the ideas coming if anyone thinks of anything else.

[notdrugged]

Are you using the proper voltage for your memory? Is the motherboard bad? Memtest86 is not a reliable system diagnostic in the way most people think. It can only prove that there is a hardware issue. What it cannot do is prove that there isn't a hardware issue. Partially because its load is a limited set of patterns, and that it will not tax other areas of the system which may cause the proper power fluctuation to duplicate the issue. It can help you prioritize your diagnostic process as you were thinking in that maybe your hard-drive is the issue. Or maybe your hard drive cable is the issue. I hope you find the problem and fix it soon.

[uddarts]

check administration tools/event viewer/system, hard drive errors sometimes show up there.


ud

[kavadon]

Cleared the CMOS last night and played around for a bit. Still having the lockups occurring. I also downloaded the Western Digital Diagnostics tool and ran the drive through the paces on it for several hours. Again, everything passed with flying colors. Did not have a chance to swap memory out (just got too late), so that's my first thing tonight.

Assuming mem's good, then I think that leaves only the OS, PSU, or MB. OS is easy to reload, so that will be first...with the others following in the stated order. The other thought that also crossed my mind last night is what if the vid card's causing issues... somehow it's gone bad (sat in a drawer for a year - who knows what banged into it). Perhaps it's causing issues with the PCI-E lanes - might cause some of the issues I'm seeing. I did notice last night the freezes seem to occur most often when I'm working with multiple windows (Aero possibly?) and moving files around. Also seems to occur when screen saver kicks in occasionally. I do have a spare card to try and might also swap the PCIE slot I'm using.

I'll keep digging.

[kavadon]

Went back through the BIOS last night The C1E feature for the CPU I wasn't sure about so I dug into that a bit.

I disabled it based on some of the other discussions I saw, and *voila* - everything seems to be solid now. Only 1 freeze since then but that's because I had started the AMD Overdrive tool to play around with it a bit (I'll stick to BIOS now haha), and I'm not convinced that program's ready for Win7 64bit on all AMD platforms. Other than that I was able to easily do any of the other tasks/routines that had caused the issues before so I'm happy for today at least.

Anyway looks like things are running smoothly at the moment. I'll post back if any new issues or problems pop up. Thanks again to all for suggestions.