Sporadic lock-ups - hardware or software problem?

My desktop computer sporadically locks up and needs to be hard-reset. When this happens, the keyboard and mouse lose power. If there is audio playing, it loops the tone until reset. I am unsure of whether this is a hardware or software (driver?) issue.

Some steps I have taken and things I have learned:

- I am unable to find anything in Event Viewer at the time of the lockup. The only error I can find is the "Windows did not shut down properly" one after I reboot.

- I initially suspected a graphics card issue, as I had two graphics cards in the machine. I tried each one individually, and finally tried using just on-board video, but the issue persists. When using on-board video, the lockup is accompanied by a pattern of horizontal red stripes on the screen. (Example: http://i.imgur.com/dL9rMr7.jpg). This only occurs using on-board video, it is not present when using a dedicated graphics card.

- I have no unrecognized devices in device manager.

- I am not sure if it occurs more frequently when I am playing audio, or if I am just imagining things. Though it does also sometimes occur without audio playing.

Does anyone have any suggestions for next steps for troubleshooting this issue? I was wondering if there is anything I can do before resorting to a fresh re-install of Windows.

Here are some relevant specs from Belarc Advisor:

Operating System *
Windows 7 Professional (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601) *
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)
Installed: 12/19/2013 3:16:52 PM
Boot Mode: Legacy BIOS in UEFI (Secure Boot*not supported)
Processor*a *
3.20 gigahertz Intel Core i5-3470 *
256 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
6144 kilobyte tertiary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded
Drives *
750.05 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity *
533.60 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Multiple Card Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
ST750LX003-1AC154 [Hard drive] (750.16 GB) -- drive 0, s/n W2008HWG, rev SM12,*SMART*Status: Healthy

Controllers *
ATA Channel 4 [Controller] *
Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller - 1E02
Bus Adapters *
Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1E26 *
Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1E2D
Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller
Intel(R) USB 3.0 Root Hub
Virus Protection*[Back to Top] *
avast! Antivirus *
Communications *

ASUS PCE-N53 300Mbps 11n Dual band Wireless LAN PCI-E Card

Microsoft ISATAP Adapter

↑*Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

*primary*
Auto*IP*Address:*
192.168.1.235 / 24

Gateway:*
192.168.1.1

Dhcp*Server:*
192.168.1.1

Physical*Address:*
D4:3D:7E:B5:87:07

Connection Speed:*
100*Mbps
Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Networking Dns Server:*

192.168.1.1

System Model
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Main Circuit Board*b
Board: Z77A-G45 (MS-7752) 1.0
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
UEFI: American Megatrends Inc. V2.10 02/28/2013
Memory Modules*c,d
8072 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'ChannelA-DIMM1' has 2048 MB
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'ChannelB-DIMM1' has 2048 MB
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0)
750.05 GB
533.60 GB free


Display
Intel(R) HD Graphics [Display adapter]
DELL U2312HM [Monitor] (23.1"vis, s/n XX-02GFKN-XXXXX-3BL-A2KL, November 2013)
Multimedia
High Definition Audio Device
Realtek High Definition Audio
Group Policies
None discovered
Other Devices
HID-compliant device (2x)
USB Input Device (3x)
HID Keyboard Device
HID-compliant mouse
Generic USB Hub (2x)
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub (2x)
Generic volume shadow copy
D:\

 

These are always fun to diagnose.

So when the lockups occur are you doing any specific task? IE: Trying to print to a USB printer, Playing a graphics intensive game, launching a program?

Heat can also be the cause of this. Verify that you have good ventilation around your PC and make sure it isn't full of dust.

 

I haven't been able to identify any sort of pattern in regards to program use when the lockups occur. They mostly occur when doing non-intensive tasks such as OneNote, Chrome browser sessions (with less than 10 tabs) or even just with Explorer open. I think it may occur more when listening to audio but I cannot be certain, since it sometimes occurs without audio.

I left it on overnight a few nights and checked the system uptime in the morning. Some nights it runs without a problem, other nights it reboots at some point in the night. I guess if left for long enough the system with reboot itself, though I haven't witnessed this.

I am fairly confident that heat is not the issue. The tower has 4x 200mm fans, runs in an air-conditioned room, is free of excess cables and is frequently dusted.

 

Gotcha. Just had to cover my bases. Start simple kind of thing. Definetly sounds like heat isn't an issue. Have you run a CHKDSK to scan for bad sectors on the drive?

Do you recall when this issue started? The fastest way to narrow down if its a hardware or software issue is to restore Windows to a point before you started having these issues. If its software related the issue should stop. If its hardware than the issue will persist after the System Restore.

 

A couple updates, I have tried a number of things since my last post.

- Ran chkdsk /r as well as HD Tune and it came up with zero errors on the drive.

- Created a new partition and installed a fresh copy of Windows to check if that was the issue. The problem still occurs on the new installation. (Note: the new install is Win 8. I figured if I am re installing I might as well upgrade eventually.)

- I downloaded and installed updated drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website, for audio, chipset, etc.

To answer your question about timing cosman25, I believe the issue started soon after I built the computer. I think it has become more frequent though. I cannot say with certainty though, as it may be because I am using the machine much more frequently now, or because I forgot about the issue while traveling for three months.

My new hypothesis is that there is an issue with the motherboard. Any thoughts on this?

 

The fact that the problem persists while running a fresh install of Windows suggests that this problem is indeed hardware related. However, it's a bit soon to be calling out your motherboard as the culprit. Best to rule out the attached components first. To that end, you can test your RAM using a Windows 7 Repair Disk.

1. Put the repair disk in your CD/DVD drive
2. Reboot the computer. You may be prompted to "Press any key to boot from CD". If so, hit any key. The computer should boot into the Windows Recovery Environment. This will bring up the System Recovery Options window.
3. Select a keyboard input language
4. Click on "Next" button
5. Select the radio button next to "Use recovery tools..."
6. Select Windows 7 for OS
7. Click on "Next" button
8. When the System Recovery Option window appears, click on Windows Memory Diagnostics item from the list, then follow the prompts.

If you don't already have a Windows 7 Repair Disk, you can create one as follows:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Double click Backup and Restore applet
3. Click on Create a system repair disk item from list on left
4. Select CD/DVD drive
5. Click Create disc button

 

I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostics. It gets to 99% with no problems, then reboots. I presume this means it passed?

 

The memory tests on the repair disk are pretty basic and meant to identify glaring problems. To really test the RAM you'll need an app like memtest86. Download the ISO version from this page:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/memtest86.html

Burn the ISO to a CD, put the CD in your optical drive, and reboot to load the app from CD. Run at least 4 loops at 100% and see what happens. Some people let the thing run overnight but that's not really necessary.

The fact that the problem persists on a fresh install of Windows, with and without updated updated drivers, makes it unlikely that your problem is a software issue.

Given the testing you've already done on the hard drive, including chkdsk and S.M.A.R.T. checks, I think we can rule out problems with your HDD as the cause of the system freezes.

Problems with your graphics cards are a consideration but the likelihood of both cards going bad simultaneously seems profoundly small. It would be nice if you could get your hands on a third card (known to be good) and test the system with that installed. If the problem went away, you would have your answer.

In any case, just do the RAM testing with memtest86 and let's see what that reveals.

 

Ran memtest86 and attached the results. Looks like a pass to me.

 

Yeah, memory looks to be OK. Reading the thread again I notice that we haven't looked at your crash logs yet. That would be the next step (actually should have been the first step). You can view basic crash info using a small program called BlueScreenView. If you run the app and it doesn't show any info then you likely don't have your system configured to keep such files. In that case, do the following:

Click Start and type in sysdm.cpl in the Search box, then press Enter (this opens System Properties page)
Click on the "Advanced" tab
Click on the Startup and Recovery "Settings" button
Ensure that "Write an event to system log" is checked
Ensure that "Automatically restart" is unchecked
Under the "Write Debugging Information" header select "Small memory dump (256 kB)" from the dropdown box
Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as %systemroot%\Minidump. This is where your .dmp files can be found later and where BlueScreenView is configured by default to look for them.

Click OK twice to exit the dialogs, then reboot for the changes to take effect.

After your system crashes and reboots, run BlueScreenView to view the crash info. It's been a while since I've used that app and I don't currently have any .dmp files on my system to test with so I can't tell you exactly what to do next. As I recall, the program allows you to save the info as a text file that you can attach to your next post. Otherwise, just copy and paste the info into a text file and post that. Or just copy and paste the into your next message. Whatever works for you.

 

Changed the appropriate settings (see attachment) and rebooted. Then I waited for the lockup to happen. When it did, I left it until it rebooted by itself after a few minutes. Upon reboot I checked BlueScreenView but it is empty, no dump logs.

 

A couple updates:

I tried taking all my components out of the computer case, resting the motherboard on a cardboard box and booting it up that way to see if maybe the motherboard was being shortcircuited by the case. It doesn't seem to have an impact, and the issue persists.

I am now almost positive that the lockup occurs more frequently when playing audio/video media than if the computer is idle. When idle it locks up once every few hours, but if I purposefully play a 720p video file with audio on it will usually lockup within the hour.

 

Have you monitored your CPU temperature?

 

You should heed DOA's advice about checking temps. You can easily monitor all of the supported temp probes on your system by using Speccy. It will display the operating temps of your CPU, GPU, Motherboard and storage drives on the main Speccy screen. If you go that route, please post the make and model of your two graphics cards, as I am unable to find them in the info you posted in your original message. Would like to stress test the graphics cards but need to know what you have first.

When you took the motherboard out of your case for testing, did you have the graphics cards attached or were you just using the onboard hardware?

Sorry about my absence this past week, I wasn't trying to blow you off. My beagle suffered a spinal cord injury and I was busy trying to rehabilitate her.

 

Sorry to hear about your beagle rustysavage, best wishes for her recovery.

Sorry for the delayed response - I sent my motherboard in for an RMA and just got it back yesterday. Unfortunately the issue persists, so it seems that either the motherboard isn't the issue, or perhaps the technician didn't test it long enough to replicate the issue. This perplexes me.

Speccy doesn't seem to show me a temperature, so I used RealTemp and waited for the lockup to occur. When it did, all of the core temps were below 40C.

When I tested the mobo out-of-case it was using on-board graphics. I took out the two graphics cards at the time of my first post in an effort to reduce the number of variables, and I haven't reinstalled them yet.

 

Are you overclocking anything?

Most of my questions were previously answered. Have you tried running in safe mode to see if anything locks up?

Have you tried running msconfig and selecting "Selective startup", unchecking "Load startup items". Or even going to services, and check "Hide all Microsoft services" and unchecking everything else, reboot?

 

I am not overclocking any components.

Tried safemode - same issue. In fact I even tried booting a version of linux from a flash drive, and I even get the issue then (though seemingly not as quickly)

I can try the selective startup method you suggested and reply with results if you think it would help.

 

Just tried selective startup - issue persists.

 

If safe mode gets the same issues, then nothing else will fix this issue.

What version of the bios do you have? From the website it appears that 2.C is the correct latest (and greatest).

Have you tried disconnecting everything but the hard drive. Using only two ram sticks on Channel A dimm 0, and Channel B dimm 0?

 

My BIOS is running version 2.12, which I believe is equivalent to 2.C. At first I thought it was outdated, so I downloaded both 2.C and 2.9. Flashing 2.C did nothing. Then I flashed 2.9 successfully, and subsequently flashed 2.C and now my BIOS says it is version 2.12. I suspect MSI just uses letters for versions after 2.9 (i.e. 2.A=2.10, 2.B=2.11, 2.C=2.12).

I only have one HDD connected.

I will try cycling through different configurations of RAM to see if perhaps it is a specific stick that is giving me the issue.