Can't Get My Computer to stay up without crahing constantly.

[Ajfer03]

I wasn't sure if this is a Windows issue since it has crashed on windows 7 and XP as well, or a hardware because I'm sure it's the hardware causing it. Anyways, my computer is an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe With an AMD dual core Athlon clocked at 3Ghz, with 4GB of DDR2 RAM Running at 800Mhz. I also have a KingSpec 64GB SSD, a 320GB Samsung hard drive, and a Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard Drive. For my GPU I have a MSI Nvidia GeForce GT 710, and I have a 350 Watt PSU.

The computer has the issue of either BSODing randomly without me touching anything or doing anything intesive (happens rarely), shutting down while torrenting (not under heavy load), or while gaming completely locking up and I can't do anything. I have tried making sure all drivers were up to date, I even reinstalled windows. I'm not too sure of what to do here, but if anyone could help or give suggestions, I would be very greatfull!

[Ajfer03]

Forgot to mention I am running Windows 10 Professional

[Shandy]

When you say the CPU is clocked at 3Ghz, is that above the OEM base clock it came configured as? You could try dropping that back a bit and lowering the voltage to match.

Does your 350W supply comfortably exceed the sum requirements of your components?

Has this system always done this? Did it start happening after a recent hardware or software change?

When your system BSOD does it save a dump file before shutting down? If so look for a .dmp file reader. Be careful not to download some adware though as there tends to be a lot of them around PC diagnostic and repair for some reason.

In the .dmp there will be an error string and where the error occurred. It's important to remember that doesn't mean that whatever is in the .dmp isnt necessarily what is causing the problem but it can be helpful to diagnose.

Have you tried driver rollbacks and checked hardware connections?

[Shandy]

After each BSOD check the dump file. If it's always in the error is always in the same place then that file or some associated hardware is the issue. For an example the same file could keep causing the crash and that file could be, say, connected to gfx card memory. So that file could be corrupt, the gfx card memory could be bad, or the gfx card can't draw enough power causing the fault... a bad example but I hope you get the idea.

[Ajfer03]

Thank you so much for your reply Shandy. I have not tried driver rollbacks, but I did reinstall windows, and that didn't seem to help. I had an AMD Radeon X1900 Before the tiny card I have now, which drew more power than the card I have now, so I know power is not the issue. Almost all of the time now it just locks up and doesn't BSOD or move at all, and I have to reset it. I'm going to try resetting the BIOS to default settings and only set the essential settings in place. While I was running this pc in my garage, it ran completely fine, I also switched the power supply (to the one I have now) and that caused no issues, the issues sthatred when I brought it in from the garage to the house. I ran furmark for a solid 10 minutes which caused to problems, so that most likely rules out the card as the problem. My CPU is originally clocked at 3Ghz, so I don't think there should be any problems there. I'm thinking about reinstalling windows fully, as in formatting all hard drives and resetting BIOS. If there is any other suggestions I would be happy to hear them before I do the reset.

[camerongray]

Worth testing the RAM to rule that out, bad RAM is a somewhat common cause of random crashes or other general instability.  Best option would be to download and run Memtest86+ as a bootable CD/USB: http://www.memtest.org/.  Failing that you could always try different RAM or if you have multiple sticks, running the machine with only one stick at a time to see if you can identify a faulty one.

[Ajfer03]

Thanks Cameron for the reply. I did try memtest from a CD a while back but nothing seemed to be an issue. I think I will try putting in some new RAM though, because most of the BSOD's were something like Page Fault In Non-Paged Area, but I haven't had one of those BSOD's in a while. I had one recently that was caused my the screensaver application malfunctioning, so that one wasn't from the system. Like I said more recently its just locking up and not moving at all from what it was showing before, at which that point I must reset the PC. Thanks for the tip!

[patio]

How long ago was awhile back ? ?

[Ajfer03]

Like 6 days ago.

[Salmon Trout]

When I hear of a desktop PC freezing in the way described, and it comes out that the PC was physically moved from one location to another, I always say "re-seat the RAM". I've seen 3 or 4 cases personally where modules must have shifted slightly or been jogged a little bit.

[Ajfer03]

Thanks salmon, I will try that, that sounds like a reasonable solution.

[Ajfer03]

Ok, so here is the deal. I reseated the RAM, and nothing else was touched. So I go and try to power up the PC, and no lights came on other than the HDD light, not even the power indicator light. So naturally I thought I didn't seat the RAM right, so I left the case open and did a test with both of the sticks removed. It powered on. So I put all of them back in and it booted up. So I was confused as to why it didn't work the first time. So I put the case panel back on and plug in the case fan to the molex line and it doesn't turn on. The problem was the fan for some reason. I think there was too much load on that line because the fan has a molex in and out, so you can plug another device in. I had a molex to sata adpter after the fan which was plugged into a DVD drive. I switched where the fan was plugged and it booted up well. Then when in windows, I tried opening Edge to come here and then it BSOD'ed and the code was System Service Exception. So I had enough of that crap and I reset the BIOS and the PC fully, it is currently resetting right now so I will post results later.   

[Ajfer03]

Well, I have come to the conclusion that the windows built in reset program just wasn't going to cut it, because drivers and residual files were left. I'm backing up my files and I'm wiping the drives and starting fresh. Thanks for the replies everyone. I don't care what happens at this point. So, I'm gonna mark this as solved. Feel free to leave any suggestions! Thanks!