PC crashing (no bsod/errors)

[Afran]

Sup,

A little while since I've posted here (at least outside of DAoC stuffs), hope all are well!

I'm struggling to find out what's wrong with my system, it's been an issue pretty much since building it back in 2014 but has recently become more frequent (coincidence or not I don't know for sure). I've got this posted over at overclocker's forums but want to post it here as more opinions should help in finding out what's wrong with it.

Here is where I have it posted, and I will make a copy in the spoiler tag below for reference; PC Crashing (No BSOD) help needed - Overclockers UK Forums

So just check the spoiler tag if you don't wish to visit that site for some reason, though it does contain replies which may help aswell

Spoiler

Hey guys,

This problem dates back to last year however it seemed to be a rare occurence and when posting about it before I was pretty much told to ignore it unless it happens more often, alas, here I am as it has been happening more frequently recently, below are the exact dates on which it occured:

3rd March 2014
7th November 2015
23rd December 2015
12th June 2016
16th June 2016
24th June 2016
28th June 2016
30th June 2016

I'm not sure how to diagnose this crash, because I do not get a BSOD, nor does anything out of the ordinary show up in Event Viewer (just the generic "The previous shutdown at xx was unexpected" after I reboot the system, and analyzing using WhoCrashed finds nothing.

Basically what happens is my computer just freezes up and I'll lose display, it doesn't power off just freezes and loops the last played sound until I turn it off myself. For example if someone says "lol" as I get the crash I'll just hear "lolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll" until I reboot the pc.

Here are the things I've considered/tested so far;

- I thought at first it only happened whilst streaming (using OBS), I have now confirmed however that this isn't the issue

- This crash happens during no particular task

- I ran SSDLife to check it wasn't the SSD, 100% healthy results there

- Due to no BSOD etc, I'm uncertain as to what else this could point at

- I've checked my temperatures, and they appear to be fine (max 80c gpu, max 70c cpu)

- I am not overclocking

- Ran MemTest86 for 5 hours with 0 errors

- Stress tested with prime95 with 0 errors or warnings

Here are my system specs

Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz
Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150)
Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' PSU
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
NVIDIA GTX 780
Windows 7 Ultimate 64

So far I can only think to format, but as this (I think) dates back to originally building the system, only with it now starting to happen more frequently, I'm not sure whether that would help either.

Any ideas? :S

Would appreciate any help getting to the bottom of this

 

[Bob007]

Although you have mentioned it and i've read most of OC post, I would be leaning towards heat going by them dates(unless you live in the southern hemisphere? )

It was mentioned on OC but maybe consider the PSU, that might be over heating. As you said, you don't have a spare so maybe give the fans and openings a good clean and blow out any dust. If you have one, put a house fan behind it blowing cold air on it, at least for a short time and see if it crashes again.

Could also remove any devices not in constant use for a bit. Rom drives and such from the system. This will also lighten the load across the system slightly and may prevent it.

Finally check drivers, although they usually come with a better BSOD and error. Might be worth finding any new ones for netowkr, gcard, mobo and so on. Sadly, also rolling back a driver to an older version can stabilize a system.

Also reseat all connections and RAM, make sure all heat sinks have good air flow, not just the CPU and GPU. Also check the temps around the SSD.

Reading down whats been said on OC, thats the best I can come up with. You have done all the obvious and now your in the realms of grasping at straws.

After that and with what you've already done the only other is maybe a priest or something similar.

 

[Afran]

Cheers for the reply,

I'm not sure there's much a pattern in the dates of crashes but perhaps, I thought it'd indicate a component further breaking due to increase of frequency though. Cleaned my pc yesterday, really not much dust at all though so I'll be very surprised if that makes a difference (the little dust there was, was around the psu but still very little)

Not really got anything connected that isn't essential (other than HDD, though I use that for downloads etc)

As it's happened over a year etc I don't think a driver can be at fault as naturally, they have changed over the course. That said, the only one I haven't updated is the BIOS though I'm not sure that's wise or not (surely a crash as a result of that wouldn't happen like this?)

Temperature wise everything looks fine, whilst under load SSD/HDD get to around 43c, GPU 70-80c, CPU 60-72c, Mobo 39/25/50c and this crash can occur at any time not related to higher brackets of temperatures or system under high usage

 

[TdC]

do you have any peripherals that you turn on periodically? perhaps charging a phone via the USB?

 

[Afran]

But yeah that made no difference ^ Crashed like 10mins after typing that post

 

[Afran]

do you have any peripherals that you turn on periodically? perhaps charging a phone via the USB?

Hmm I charge my phone via usb, I have the usb plugged in all of the time but the crash has definitely happened when not plugging my phone in (like the most recent one)

 

[TdC]

bleh, you have the rarest of the rare PC illnesses

a thing that springs to mind: you could consider looking up the voltages and timings your RAM requires and entering them manually. likewise CPU voltages and clocks. my reasoning is that some mobo's can be a smidgen on the conservative side with voltages. for example: some of the faster RAM sticks really need the extra voltage oomph or they'll never reach their rated speeds.

 

[Afran]

Will do that soon but I doubt it do be the case as with most things atm, really annoying indeed I set ram timings properly upon building PC, but will slightly increase voltage to cpu to see if that helps. Thing is, these being an issue SHOULD just turn off the system, why I highly doubt this to be the problem too.

 

[Raven]

Do you have a separate sound card? I had similar issues with mine, on certain games it would crash the whole system.

 

[TdC]

Will do that soon but I doubt it do be the case as with most things atm, really annoying indeed I set ram timings properly upon building PC, but will slightly increase voltage to cpu to see if that helps. Thing is, these being an issue SHOULD just turn off the system, why I highly doubt this to be the problem too.

I know. On my AMD rig I had RAM that was really picky re the voltage. You could try bumping the CPU and RAM voltages by the tiniest amount just to see if it helps.

 

[Afran]

Do you have a separate sound card? I had similar issues with mine, on certain games it would crash the whole system.

Nah I use the on-board sound.

 

[Hawkwind]

Could easily be something like a cracked track/component in the Mobo or PSU. Almost undetectable until it fails for good. When RAM causes issues you invariably get BSOD so unlikely for me. I would swap the PSU out, then if it happens again I would be looking at new Mobo etc.

 

[Ctuchik]

Try a program called Who Crashed Resplendence Software - WhoCrashed, automatic crash dump analyzer

It reads all the automatic crash dumps and if possible tells you what program caused the crash.

 

[Afran]

Try a program called Who Crashed Resplendence Software - WhoCrashed, automatic crash dump analyzer

It reads all the automatic crash dumps and if possible tells you what program caused the crash.

Aye, I've got this but it shows nothing as there is no crash dumps. I've literally zero indication of the cause of the crash.

 

[Ctuchik]

huh, that's weird...

 

[MYstIC G]

So there's nothing in your windows logs for those times at all?

 

[Afran]

So there's nothing in your windows logs for those times at all?

Nope.

 

[MYstIC G]

Got another PSU you can try?

 

[Afran]

Nope :< I MAY be able to borrow my brother's at some point (probably not until September though) but most things would point at it not even being PSU related as that would cause system to turn off not just freeze and hang (in any case that I can think of at least)