input/output freezes, power button only option

Hello and thanks in advance for any assistance,

My PC freezes completely at times:

• screen freezes and audio signals become repeated (frozen stutter)
• HDD LED stops blinking
• all input ceases (only the power button on case is responsive)
• Steam Client Bootstrapper stops working and kills my wifi connection as it crashes

I've noted it specifically when playing games, about 20 minutes into higher definition movies and rarely while loading the OS. I'm currently on the problematic system. Normal browsing, documents and less resource intensive activities do not seem to aggravate it.

Things I have done:

• check for overheating - no problems
• visual inspection of hardware - no problems
• checkdisk of my SSD (system drive) and HDD (data drive) - no problems
• memtest86 ran for about 16hours - no problems
• furmark stressed my GPU - no problems
• IntelBurnTest stressed my CPU - no problems
• prime95 - recreates error intermittently
• download games through Steam - recreates error intermittently
  
• remove HDD drive - error persists
• format and reinstall OS, update drivers - error persists
  [*]reinstalled updated applications (VLC, Steam, Flash, etc) - error persists
  [*]reinstalled updated redistributables (directx, Visual C, etc) - error persists
  [*]update SSD firmware - error persists
  [*]remove external graphics card and use onboard graphics card - error persists
  

I think the Steam error is probably a side effect of something else. My system is less than a year old, and has enough "oomf" to run the problematic applications as it has done many times in the past. I originally thought that my PSU might be the culprit (after ruling out the memory), even though it is more than what I require for my specs; an XFX Pro 750W (I don't even overclock or watercool).

Any help would be much appreciated

 

Greetings, jinjan, and welcome to MajorGeeks.

My first thought is to run a live Linux distro (if this is a Windows system), then run some stress tests to see if you can re-create the symptoms. Results of those tests might cut your troubleshooting tasks in half.

Kudos for this opening post - good info. What's the make and model # of your machine (please include any Service Tag identifiers), and what operating system version and Service Pack # are you using?

 

Thanks Caliban

My bad for not giving more info on the system. It's a desktop that I put together, so no Service Tags or the like. Here are my specs:

• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
• PSU: XFX Pro 750W
• Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H rev1.0
• BIOS: version F18
• RAM: 2x Corsair Vengeance 4.00GB DDR3 (9-9-9-24)
• CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz
• GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD787 (GV-R787OC-2GD)
• System Drive: 128GB OCZ-AGIL OCZ-AGILITY4 SCSI Disk Device (SSD)
• Data Drive: 3TB Western Digital WDC WD30EZRX-00MMMB0 SCSI Disk Device (SATA)
• Optical Drive: ATAPI DVD A DH20A3S SCSI CdRom Device

I've got Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 - on CD, but applications run very slowly from the optical drive. I'm not very clued up with live boots and linux, so I kinda gave up on that. As I couldn't test anything with Ubuntu, I formatted my system drive and reinstalled Windows just two days ago. The problem persists.

 

No surprise there. Formatting and reinstalling Windows should ALWAYS be a last resort option for many reasons. Getting behind in security is a big one, but another is reinstalling Windows rarely fixes these type problems - especially when they "appear" to be hardware and/or heat problems.

And sadly, whether reinstalling fixes or not, you never learn what happened to prevent it from recurring.

What are your temps?

Did your system ever work right or did these problem appear since new?

 

Hi Digerati

My system worked exceptionally well from day one for almost seven months. This problem is about two weeks old.

The first thing I did was to check for overheating. I've monitored my GPU and CPU temps extensively and they are well within limits. The frozen screen can sometimes point to an overheating GPU, which is why I took it out completely and ran tests with only my onboard. As the error persisted I'm assuming that the GPU is not the cause.

I was hoping that the re-install might fix it and then I'd be able to spend my time more productively. Until the next one hits, that is.

Are you suggesting that it's a virus?

 

Umm, not sure where you got that, but it never hurts to ensure your system is malware free. That said, if you boot to a Linux distro as mentioned earlier, that may eliminate the OS as the problem.

While your PSU is plenty powerful, it may be faulty. I always like to swap in a known good PSU when troubleshooting.

You might also inspect the interior for a build up of heat trapping dust. And you say your temps are good, but without actual numbers (or an understanding of your skillset), I don't know what that means.

You might also use Memtest86 or Windows' built in RAM tester to test your RAM - or run with one stick at a time and see what happens.