Computer freezes with installed graphics card drivers, not without

[Calum]

I don't think it changes the situation, no.  I still suspect the card is faulty.

[swiggu]

Alright, so after sending it back they just sent  me a reply telling me they tested my card for multiple hours under load of video games, videos, etc. on a system of theirs and they're sending it back, so it could potentially be an issue with my motherboard and/or its PCIe slot. Thoughts?

[swiggu]

Alright, so I bought a new graphics card, this time an ASUS nVidia GeForce GTX 660 because I suspected drivers to be the cause of my issues with my other card, but even with this new card I got another system freeze. Could it potentially be that my motherboard or CPU are the culprit here?

[swiggu]

bump?

[swiggu]

Reposting this from another thread I made, but a mod closed it and suggested I only use this (even though it's pretty dead right now):

"So, around a month or two ago I bought and assembled a new PC.

Right off the bat, I've been getting regular freezes after installing all the drivers, notably those of my video card.

At first I thought my video card was faulty, and soon purchased a new one from a more reliable manufacturer (ASUS, previously Club 3D). Although this did reduce the frequency of these freezes, they still occur, and in the same way. As of now, I think this can outrule it being by video card.

I've ran multiple passes of RAM tests with Memtest86+, ran benchmarks on my CPU (Prime95) and video card (Furmark) to no live repetition of the problem for about 15 minutes for each (the amount of time recommended for both on other troubleshoots I've come across). In these scenarios, these units of hardware should be stressed to the max and thus forcing the freeze to reoccur, but it doesn't. As such, it may be my fairly low-end Sharkoon 500W WPM PSU that could be the problem, as I've heard it may sometimes provide tens of watts less in power (around 450~, whilst advertising 500), as I've noticed a critical error called "Event ID 41: Kernel power" in my windows event viewer.

It is either the aforementioned or my CPU (AMD FX-6300) at this point, perhaps a general lack of certain parts of my PC.

I really do think I'm past my options if it's none of the above and I'd appreciate any help I can get!"

[Calum]

Event ID 41 indicates the PC was shut down or rebooted without going through the normal procedure, you'd see the same if you'd had a power cut, hit the reset button or yanked the power cable out.  It doesn't necessarily mean the problem is with the power.
It could be your PSU, yes, but if Furmark and Prime95 don't cause this issue, it would seem unlikely, as they would of course cause the PC to draw more power.  The WPM 500 is a decent enough CWT based PSU, similar to lower end Corsair units for example, and it's definitely not something I would write off as incapable of powering your PC reliably.
Similarly, faulty CPUs are very rare, so I wouldn't like to point to your CPU as the problem here.
Have you been able to try a different slot or power connector as I suggested earlier, just to rule them out?
If you do still suspect your PSU then I would perhaps suggest trying to borrow a known good unit before buying a replacement.

[swiggu]

Ah, thanks, didn't know that.

Yeah, it's weird. It seems to happen when I'm using Chrome for some reason, specifically when using Flash-based stuff. I switched to Pale Moon and it hasn't happened yet. Could just be a coincidence like the myriad of other things I thought would be conclusive.

I've tried, yes, but my PSU connector is hardwired into the PSU itself, so there's no way of using another one unfortunately. It would also be weird if the connector just worked all the time, and then under stress would randomly be faulty. Doesn't sound logical to me, but I'd definitely try it out if I could.

I'll try borrowing a friend's PSU and try it out from there.

[patio]

All PSU units are made that way...
I believe Calum meant to try another 4/6 pin connector to the vid card...not switch or replace it at the PSU end...
That being stated borrowing a known good PSU of the same or greater wattage is the best thing to try at this point.

[Calum]

Per the data sheet here it looks like you have a 6 pin PCI-E power cable and a 6+2 pin PCI-E power cable, hence why I suggested trying the other PCI-E power connector.  It's a long shot, but worth a try.

Have you tried disabling hardware acceleration in Flash and Chrome/Pale Moon, to see if this helps at all or indeed makes it worse?  To me things are still pointing towards an issue with your graphics although getting two faulty cards in a row would be unlikely - again, hence why we're looking at your PSU as a possible cause.

[swiggu]

So, you're suggesting I insert only the 6-pin part of 6-2 into the card? Gonna try it out.

[Calum]

Correct.  The connectors are identical, the additional 2 pins are extra ground pins for 8 pin PCI-E power sockets.

[swiggu]

Alright, it's done. The other connector was seperate though (had to connect one end to the PSU and the other to the video card). It's too soon to say the problem's gone so I'll tell you if it happens again or not. Thanks for the help!

[swiggu]

Aaaaaaaand it happened. At this point it's either my motherboard or PSU... Thinking PSU, as it doesn't happen a lot when I use my PC after a night, but then after a couple of hours it does, and rebooting it makes it happen more frequently. Could be a heat problem somewhere as well. Ugh, this is so frustrating... 

[Calum]

Yeah, it was a bit of a long shot, but worth ruling it out.
Pretty much time to try a known good PSU if you can, see if that helps.

[swiggu]

Alright. Any PSUs you could recommend? I've asked some friends if they could bring over their PSUs (450 watts), but they were very reluctant and didn't want to risk breaking them or anything, even though I don't think there's any risks.