What to do with Freezing gaming PC

buoyant on 09/09/2019 - 16:02
Last edited 10/09/2019 - 01:08 by 1 other user

Follwing on from a previous post about my PC randomly freezing here https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/444609

My admittedly old gaming PC has once again started freezing intermittently and I'm not sure what to do with it. It's likely related to the hardware with the culprits being the Motherboard, CPU, Ram or PSU… basically everything. I don't want to spend a heap of money replacing any parts as they are getting on in age and standards seem to have changed. The PC has still been working fine for what I use it for, studying/productivity stuff with occasional gaming on old titles when I have some downtime. I would like to keep it going for the next 6 months until I can afford to upgrade or at the very least have a functioning PC to sell on to someone looking to get into gaming.

Quick Recap
- PC began randomly freezing requiring a hard reset. No Blue screen or auto shutdown/restarting, just became totally unresponsive
- Not related to load, PC still functioning fine, episodes were apparaently random
- Removing 1 ram stick made the sysyem apparantly more stable… until now

What's changed?
- PC began freezing randomly again
- Ran Memtest on single Ram stick - no errors
- Cannot run Memtest on other stick, PC won't boot with just the bad stick
- When running both Ram sticks, PC recognises 8gb of total ram, but has 4gb marked as "hardware reserved" - it doesn't matter if I run 1 or both ram sticks, there is no difference to the PC's freezing issues

What I've tried to troubleshoot
- the simple suggestions on forums relating to hardware reserved memory, these haven't worked
- removed wireless card and other peripherals that aren't essential
- switched which PCI port the graphics are plugged into
- Looked at Speccy and OpenHardware reports

What the PC is

Motherboard: Asus M4A89GTD pro
GPU: AMD R9 200 series - 3gb
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor - 3.40ghz - with massive Thermaltake heatsink
RAM: 8gb (G skill DDR3 4gb x 2)
SSD: Sandisk Ultra II
Wireless Adapter: Qualcom AR9287
Power Supply: Mod X-stream[pro 600w
Case: Thermaltake full tower with lots of fans, all working well

some readouts from Speccy can be seen here https://imgur.com/a/XrjiKwM

What are some things I can try to troubleshoot this issue?

  • Is there a way to definitively diagnose a motherboard problem without buying a new one?
  • New thermal past for the CPU?

thank you in advance for any assistance!

Computing

Comments

  • ode1online on 09/09/2019 - 16:31

    You have done a lot of trouble shooting
    Id look at CPU temp after its been on for a while
    if you haven't done so download a tool called CPU core temp
    See if it runs hot after a while if you haven't tried..
    Otherwise without switching out components there isn't much you can do IMO
    as you have tried other Ram slots and PCI slots as well as clean the paste of the cpu.

    • buoyant on 09/09/2019 - 19:45

      Just downloaded that program then to investigate.

      It doesn't seem to be effected by workload, the freezing can occur whilst idling shortly after a bootup or randomly after an hour or 2 of use.

      I haven't tried the CPU paste as yet, might give that a go as a last option before offloading the whole PC in its current state.

      • ode1online on 09/09/2019 - 20:37

        ok definitely clean off the paste and clean the fins of the cooler..
        put on the new paste , check utube for how toos
        Paste can be rock hard after a while..

        • buoyant on 11/09/2019 - 13:25

          New thermal paste is ordered, will give that a try and see if there's any improvement.

  • garetz on 09/09/2019 - 16:37
    +2

    Its either dust build up causing temp problems, or ram, nothing lasts forever.
    looks like you answered your own question, replace the ram.

    • buoyant on 11/09/2019 - 13:24

      I've tested the Ram with Memtest and at least one of the sticks returns no errors. When using just this stick the PC still freezes.

  • myusername on 09/09/2019 - 17:03

    ok so continuing on from the last thread…..have you reseated all your components?

    • buoyant on 09/09/2019 - 19:42

      I've swapped around the GPU and Wi-fi card and reseated the Ram. Haven't touched the Motherboard or CPU/CPU cooler as yet

      • myusername on 10/09/2019 - 06:22

        tried a fresh coat of thermal paste?

        are the fans spinning during operation?

        • buoyant on 10/09/2019 - 22:09

          Fans are spinning and everything seems to be operating well up until the freezes.

          I've ordered some thermal paste and will give that a try.

  • p1 ama on 09/09/2019 - 17:15
    +2

    It's likely to just be your stuff being too old. I wouldn't be wanting to use an old Phenom II X4 in 2019 anymore. If you're really on a tight budget, just get an i3 8100F + H310 motherboard and that'll be the sweetest CPU + MOBO combo you could do for gaming with a ~$200 budget.

    • buoyant on 09/09/2019 - 19:48

      Thanks for your input, For an old PC it was still going fine for my needs and was a bit nicer to work from than my laptop, mainly due to the peripherals and larger displays.

  • tamckinnon on 09/09/2019 - 17:18

    Can you reset the BIOS to factory and re-test the RAM via Memtest86?

    • buoyant on 09/09/2019 - 19:49

      I've been able to run Memtest86 on only one of the RAM sticks. It returned no errors, yet the PC still freezes when using just this stick.

      • tamckinnon on 09/09/2019 - 20:21

        Yeah but were you able to reset the BIOS?

        Having the incorrect XMP profile or manually configured RAM timings can cause it to go tits up.

  • AustriaBargain on 09/09/2019 - 17:29

    AMD Phenom II X4

    My bet would be the Phenom. When isn't it a cause of problems? It's great for generating a lot of heat and a lot of crashes.

  • vinni9284 on 09/09/2019 - 19:48
    +1

    You are spending too much time diagnosing an old PC where you can buy a replacement for $50 off Gumtree.

    Here was a recent ripper deal. Unfortunately they are sold out.
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/482386

    You can try to re-paste CPU thermal paste and if that doesn't work, I reckon its the mobo.

    Good luck.

    Cheers

  • arkie0 on 09/09/2019 - 21:36

    Just a suggestion as no one has suggested, CrystalDiskInfo to look at the health status of your hdd.

  • brokenglish on 09/09/2019 - 23:09

    I have encountered the same issue on different PCs. The problem for me was the SSD or the PSU.
    You can check the SSD by creating a dummy file using CMD say 10GB and make a copy of it in the same folder. The bigger the file the better. If the transfer speed goes under 1MB/s then it’s the SSD.
    For PSU, the best way to check is to use a known working PSU.

  • Ryanek on 10/09/2019 - 09:32

    What does your event viewer say?

    • buoyant on 11/09/2019 - 15:13

      Not a lot. The only critical errors I can see are that the power off was unexpected. There's a few other things there but nothing that appears to preceed the freezes

  • OZBMate8911 on 10/09/2019 - 14:05

    I've had an issue similar to this before. It ended up being a faulty PCI-E power extension cable.

  • buoyant on 11/09/2019 - 16:19

    Interestingly I can leave the PC idle in BIOS and have had no issues with freezing during windows 10 ressetting, which I'm currently doing.

    If it were truly a hardware issue shouldn't it be freezing whilst in the BIOS or upon resetting windows?

  • buoyant on 11/09/2019 - 17:11

    After a fresh windows reset I haven't had a freeze in about 45 mins.

    • garetz on 12/09/2019 - 03:21

      How long has it been since you last reinstalled windows ? You should do it every 2-3 years.

      • buoyant on 12/09/2019 - 09:01

        Last one was a few months ago when these issues first popped up. It seemed to work then and it appears to have worked again now; or at least things are more stable.

        I was able to leave the pc idling last night for a few hours without a freeze including multiple sleep/wakes.

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