PC goes into frozen state, not sending signal to peripherals

[flipshock8]

It was a fine morning and i wanted to turn on my PC. I clicked the power button and the fans starting going off, but mouse, keyboard, monitors and graphic tablet stood without power.

I did some googling but only found stuff that wasnt working, i came up with the idea to switch the RAM around - for some reason that worked  . The peripherals starting lighting up again and windows booted up, after a while though i got bluescreens with various error messages or 20 second freezes, sometimes screens flickering and general instability. I looked them up and tried troubleshooting. None of the suggestions worked, but stuff was hinting towards the graphics cards drivers. I played around with that for a while, switching them around etc. didnt work either.

I ran a windows built in driver thing (no idea how its called), it finished, then crashed the computer with another bluescreen and got me into a boot-loop. I had enough and reinstalled my whole system. That done i thought that was gonna be it, because there didnt seem to be any issues anymore. A day of reinstalling stuff and downloading games again, then the same thing i described in the beginning took place, seemingly random. I tried some more troubleshooting from advice from the internet but nothing helped once again. Since i had warranty left for it, i sent it in 2 weeks ago, received it today and the report said that they switched out my motherboard, since it was seemingly broken. Got into Windows, everything seemed to be working fine, was finally able to play some games for 3 hours and thought that was gonna be it. I closed the game and went to watch some videos - but the same thing happens again. Frustrated i boot up and try again, but after about 5 minutes or less, the problem keeps happening.
But now the weirdest thing: Whenever i have a game called "H1Z1:KOTK" open, i just doesnt happen 
The only way i can write this right now is because i got the game running in the background... It sounds stupid i know. I dont want to send in my PC again, holidays are over before i got the chance to enjoy them, you guys are my hope.
The PC has been working for 2 and a half years now, only time something broke it was the power supply.

Operating System
   Windows 8.1 64-bit
CPU
   AMD FX-4300   
   Vishera 32nm Technology
RAM
   16,0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
   MSI 970A-G43 PLUS (MS-7974) (CPU 1)   
Graphics
   BenQ GL2460 (1920x1080@60Hz)
   L1942 (1280x1024@60Hz)
   2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (Palit Microsystems)
Storage
   111GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB (SSD)   
   931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-08M2NA0 (SATA)   
   TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224DB

Thanks in Advance!

[Mark.]

wow, where to start.

so you have reloaded Windows, so as much as you ever can, that can be ruled out.
still assuming a software issue, it seems to work until you load something.  what are the chances it is failing at the same point in time, right after you installed the last piece of software?
is there any logic behind that theory???

then you move onto it being a hardware issue.  they replaced the mobo and presumably tested the rest of the components (did they?) so that would leave maybe CPU or RAM as the next straws to clutch.

sadly, it sounds like it's going to be a 'suck it and see' exercise - testing one idea at a time.

[flipshock8]

Yea, Windows has been wiped out completely.

I dont know if i understood the question correctly, but if you mean that the crash occurs when i do something specific, thats a no. I can have it run without anything open and it would happen. If you meant that the crash starts happening after i reinstalled windows recommended drivers or my Geforce Experience recommended drivers that could be a yes. After i completely wiped it out it seemed to have worked fine. After i got the drivers up to date it started happening again. Maybe this is just a coincidence though, because sometimes i can actually do something for a bit before it crashes.

I dont know if they tested the others, in the note it just said that the mainboard was faulty. I already checked all my RAM with MemTest86+ and let it run for 12 hours or so. Result was no errors, so the RAM is fine.

[Mark.]

while memtest is great, it's not perfect.
memtest saying your RAM passed would tell me to move onto another component - but not eliminate RAM from future testing.
if you have multiple sticks of RAM, leave only one in and run the PC, if it fails, swap the RAM and try again.

also, if possible, wipe the drive and reload Windows afresh (again, I know!) and just run it with basic Windows, no added drivers, no personal software (Word, AV etc) and see what happens.

basically, to troubleshoot, start with the bare minimum, run it, and if no issues, add one thing, then run it some more.
bare minimum also implies running the PC without your graphics card for example.  you want to get it as simple as possible and running reliably before you start adding things to the mix.

it sounds possible that you are installing something along the way, and this piece of software may be the trigger point.

so when it does go pear-shaped, is it spitting out an error message, a BSOD or simply freezing?

[flipshock8]

When the crash accours, both monitors turn black, and all the peripherals dont respond anymore (different to what i had in the beginning, they dont loose power. I should have made the title differently). For example if i try to shut windows down with Keyboard shortcuts it doesnt work, neither a simple power button tap works. I can only get him restrated by holding the power button.
Aswell as that, when i had something running that plays audio, the audio distorts, but keeps playing for about 3 seconds, then going into silence.

Ill try the RAM stuff out, and ill take the GPU out and see. Thanks for the help so far, ill post results later.

[pcurtj1974]

First.....  Stop all you are doing now, it is a waste of time and decreases the lifespan of your components.  when you post specs, use a file from Windows feedback Hub or a file that tells all hardware, revisions, drivers, and builds, also do a complete event report. EVERYTHING that happens is recorded somewhere. Always allow 20 gig of free space on a HD and have a external drive as a backup. Never allow windows to overwrite logs and events. I can already tell you what the problem likely is. You have automatic updates on or you have a background program causing conflicts, firewall perhaps.  See the file attached ?? This is the type you need to start

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

[patio]

All driver finder apps are garbage...start at the beginning and get all your drivers from the MBoard manuf. site...then all peripherals...

[Accessless]

What power supply did you replace the original with? Because this sounds suspiciously like power supply issues.

[flipshock8]

What power supply did you replace the original with? Because this sounds suspiciously like power supply issues.

When the Power Supply broke i had it sent to the company i bought it from aswell, and they replaced it with the exact same one.

First.....  Stop all you are doing now, it is a waste of time and decreases the lifespan of your components.  when you post specs, use a file from Windows feedback Hub or a file that tells all hardware, revisions, drivers, and builds, also do a complete event report. EVERYTHING that happens is recorded somewhere. Always allow 20 gig of free space on a HD and have a external drive as a backup. Never allow windows to overwrite logs and events. I can already tell you what the problem likely is. You have automatic updates on or you have a background program causing conflicts, firewall perhaps.  See the file attached ?? This is the type you need to start

I hope this is the file you meant for the Windows reports. Also i exported all of my specs from Speccy, everything and more info should be in there.
My Firewall is Kaspersky only.

https://puu.sh/x7Djm/86547b98b5.evtx - Report Logs
https://puu.sh/x7Dlc/5ede47fb84.txt - Specs

[BC_Programmer]

Only indication of your problems in the event viewer are Critical events that are written at boot when the system unexpectedly loses power, which is to be expected.


In any case, In the past when I have had a system unexpected freeze hard as described, I've found a few causes:

1. HDD Failure and bad sectors. It tries to read from a damaged part of the disk and it seems the take the entire system with it. the system will freeze HARD and won't BSOD or shut down on it's own in such a case. I found that running chkdsk /r on all my drives, scheduling it for reboot, and then rebooting and letting it run to completion was effective in solving the problem in those cases. It takes a good few hours to go through but it's worth eliminating I think.

2. Power management issues. I've found power management options of various kinds can sometimes contribute to a system simply hanging hard or even rebooting for no reason. Sometimes specific devices or drivers aren't compatible with sleep states and cause problems. In the cases I encountered it I just turned off all power management and it seemed to sort the issue.

3. Failing Motherboard. I've had motherboards with failing capacitors that would always hang hard after a time of being powered on. I'm not sure but we may be able to assume this isn't the case if the motherboard was replaced/repaired.

One thing to try may be to run a Linux Live installation from a DVD, and see if you see any similar issues. If you do- then that proves it is hardware. If it's not, then it's specific to the Windows Installation. (or the HDD!)

These are of course in addition to Mark's excellent suggestions.

[pcurtj1974]

Here is your problem.    You letting Kapersky  do the firewall ..... thenn

         Running   Windows-Ereignisprotokoll
         Running   Windows-Firewall
         Running   Windows-Verbindungs-Manager
         Running   Windows-Verwaltungsinstrumentation

and the attachment. Read the logs. You have a problem that both Microsoft and Nvidia are working on.
   

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]

[pcurtj1974]

No. Every thing is recorded. You have to know what to look for and what software and logs to use..  The event logger is perfectly capable of locating the issue.

Only indication of your problems in the event viewer are Critical events that are written at boot when the system unexpectedly loses power, which is to be expected.


In any case, In the past when I have had a system unexpected freeze hard as described, I've found a few causes:

1. HDD Failure and bad sectors. It tries to read from a damaged part of the disk and it seems the take the entire system with it. the system will freeze HARD and won't BSOD or shut down on it's own in such a case. I found that running chkdsk /r on all my drives, scheduling it for reboot, and then rebooting and letting it run to completion was effective in solving the problem in those cases. It takes a good few hours to go through but it's worth eliminating I think.

2. Power management issues. I've found power management options of various kinds can sometimes contribute to a system simply hanging hard or even rebooting for no reason. Sometimes specific devices or drivers aren't compatible with sleep states and cause problems. In the cases I encountered it I just turned off all power management and it seemed to sort the issue.

3. Failing Motherboard. I've had motherboards with failing capacitors that would always hang hard after a time of being powered on. I'm not sure but we may be able to assume this isn't the case if the motherboard was replaced/repaired.

One thing to try may be to run a Linux Live installation from a DVD, and see if you see any similar issues. If you do- then that proves it is hardware. If it's not, then it's specific to the Windows Installation. (or the HDD!)

These are of course in addition to Mark's excellent suggestions.

[pcurtj1974]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/device-security/security-policy-settings/

You have way too many Directory-Services-SAM logs    and stop the OC .. Check   your voltages with a meter. You have alot of power logs and connectivity issues..




Fan Speed   3092 RPM
         Bus Speed   200.0 MHz
Rated Bus Speed   2399.9 MHz
         Stock Core Speed   3800 MHz
         Stock Bus Speed   200 MHz
         Average Temperature   42 °C
            Caches
               L1 Data Cache Size   4 x 16 KBytes
               L1 Instructions Cache Size   2 x 64 KBytes
               L2 Unified Cache Size   2 x 2048 KBytes
               L3 Unified Cache Size   4096 KBytes
            Cores
                  Core 0
                     Core Speed   3899.8 MHz
                     Multiplier   x 19.5
                     Bus Speed   200.0 MHz
                     Rated Bus Speed   2399.9 MHz
                     Temperature   42 °C
                     Threads   APIC ID: 0
                  Core 1
                     Core Speed   3899.8 MHz
                     Multiplier   x 19.5
                     Bus Speed   200.0 MHz
                     Rated Bus Speed   2399.9 MHz
                     Temperature   42 °C
                     Threads   APIC ID: 1
                  Core 2
                     Core Speed   3899.8 MHz
                     Multiplier   x 19.5
                     Bus Speed   200.0 MHz
                     Rated Bus Speed   2399.9 MHz
                     Temperature   42 °C
                     Threads   APIC ID: 2
                  Core 3
                     Core Speed   3899.8 MHz
                     Multiplier   x 19.5
                     Bus Speed   200.0 MHz
                     Rated Bus Speed   2399.9 MHz
                     Temperature   42 °C
                     Threads   APIC ID: 3network-access-restrict-clients-allowed-to-make-remote-sam-calls

[BC_Programmer]

They do not appear to be overclocking. Those all look like stock clocks for a FX-4300, which is 3.8Ghz with a 4.0Ghz Boost Clock.

The informational Directory-Services-SAM logs are harmless, and appear on any system through everyday usage, as applications and windows components make use of RPCs. They appear on any PC running Windows 7 or later with the relevant security update that adds it as described here, which is the link that is provided in the event log general information. I have the same occasional event log entries found in the System event log dating back to the install date of the security patch, as I expect any Windows 7 or Later system will have them. None of my systems experience hard hangs.

None of the things  you mentioned as "running X" appear anywhere in the event log as far as I can find (which included directly searching the ELF file directly), but if they did I don't think that indicates any problem, either.  Neither Windows Management Instrumentation nor Windows Connection Manager are something that a person manually starts, and neither interfere with an installed firewall product through operation. Windows Firewall service isn't disabled by another Firewall installation, as the Windows Firewall service is responsible for the security messages in the Security and Maintenance Control Panel.

The Update failure is not what they posted their problem about, and it is not linked to hard system hangs.

[flipshock8]

BC_Programmer already cleared some things up, i can just confirm those. Im sure the only Firewall running is Kaspersky and i havent tpuched ovberclocking since i reset my system.
Since i was told not to try to switch out my components and try them on their own, what else should i do to fix the problem?

[BC_Programmer]

of course solving the problem means figuring out the cause (or stumbling upon a fix) one of which hopefully we can do here...

I read back and see you ran Memtest for 12 hours. I think we can eliminate not only the ram but generally consider the motherboard to probably be fine, at least in terms of more major hardware problems. (eg failing components like capacitors).

There are Kernel-Power events as I mentioned, but they merely log that the system didn't shut down cleanly- There are no antecedent and consistent event information before each instance which would suggest a specific cause in each case. This is consistent with a hardware-related problem. Though a system hang as you have described is typically going to point in that direction anyway.

Now, one thing that is sticking out to me now, looking over it again, is a few instances of disk errors like the following

The IO operation at logical block address 0x63d41e3 for Disk 2 (PDO name: \Device\00000047) was retried.

These don't appear consistently before what looks to be the hang issues (unexpected shutdown startups) But it is possible we are only seeing the successful retries, and that there are disk errors which are causing the system to hang when it attempts to retry the block operation- in which case no event data would be written, particularly if the disk affected is the one backing the event log (how do you write data if the drive isn't responding?).

This leads me back to my chkdsk /r suggestion, run in an administrator command prompt followed by a reboot, which performs a full surface scan of the disk. This will take a few hours. It will either find possible bad sectors and mark them bad so they stop being accessed, find no problems and eliminate the HDD as the culprit, or freeze which points at the HDD possibly as having a hardware failure.

There is also the Power Management options If you have any Power management features enabled- processor power saving, etc. in Control Panel, you can try turning those off. incompatibilities or hardware problems can cause attempts to utilize power management capabilities to hang the system.

Beyond that, you could also test the system with a known-good Power Supply (Yes I  do see that the PSU was replaced but the replacement could be faulty as well).

[flipshock8]

UPDATE: I found a Driver CD for my GPU (never knew i had one) and i installed it, even though its extremely outdated.It also had some DirectX updates and a tool called ThunderMaster which is made by the company that made the Graphics Card), maybe this did something aswell. For some reason i havent had a crash all day. Ill still let the disk thing run overnight, that you told me. Will report back if any crashes happen and if the disk has bad sectors or not.

[flipshock8]

UPDATE: I let the disk checkup run, didnt give me any message since it had to be run on startup (dont know if its supposed to even). Havent had crashes in the last 3 days, except when more win updates popped up and i installed them. Got the crashes again and reverted to the last savepoint (dont know how its called in english), and they were gone again. I guess ill just never install updates again x)

Thanks for all the help!

[patio]

Havent had crashes in the last 3 days, except when more win updates popped up and i installed them. Got the crashes again and reverted to the last savepoint (dont know how its called in english), and they were gone again.

This caught my eye...what i think is happening is when you run updates Win is overriding the installed vid card driver for some reason...
To avoid the freezes simply re-install the vid driver after any updates...