Computer keeps freezing for no reason.


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For a bit now, my computer will just randomly freeze and just wont respond. What ever was on the screen at that time stays there and there is no way to do anything else but turn off the computer. Task Manager wont work, nothing. Can't even move the mouse. Also, when there is sound playing at the time of the freeze, the very last part of the sound just freezes and loops. So if my computer froze while playing a game and my guy was saying "That" and got to the end of the word, the output from the speakers would be, "tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt" but just with more attitude. I am not sure that if that is what the sound actually is when it freezes while there is sound, but there is no sound when the computer freezes if there was no sound.

My GPU was Overclocked but now it is not. It is all at stock. Now on the other hand, my CPU is Overclocked but I have never had a problem with it before. It is an i7 960 clocked to 4GHz. The ram is 12GB of Kingston HyperX t1 PC3-12800 at 1604MHz because of the ratio. What I noticed that the Voltage is at 1.48215. I saw this number beside QPI/DRAM and assumed that it was the voltage. I have it all set to be automatically set.

The GPU is a XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB Version. For cooling the CPU I have a Crosair H50 with 2 fans that blow almost 100CFM each. I also have 3 other ones in the case as well. 2 on the front, and one on the side. I then have a 200mm BigBoy fan on the top for exhaust. The rest are all intake. Mobo is an Asus Sabertooth x58. Power supply is Thermaltake TR2 750W. OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64. HDD, 1 300GB Velocirapter 10K RPM for OS then a Seagate 1TB 7200RM for everything else.

I have ran Prime95 and it passed. I then used MEMTEST86 and it passed. Only ran the test once. All drivers are up to date but windows isn't totally. The step that I am on right now is deleting all temp files, fixing registry errors and entries and then going to defrag my HDD. I have a feeling that I am missing something. If I am, I will post it up when it comes to me.

Does anyone know a problem by just reading my problems above?

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You say you tested the ram, but did you use something that supports more than 4GB of ram?

And for the sake of testing, why not go ahead and remove the OC from the CPU also.

Also I've seen it sometimes when set to automatically, still not select the correct voltage for the ram, so make sure that is correct.

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First remove the overclock. I would even underclock it as much as possible for the purposes of testing. Overclocking leads to instability over time, especially when you overvolt as well. I would underclock to try to mitigate the possibility that the CPU has already been damaged, as an underclock will make the CPU more stable.

Second, I've seen this problem recently with DDR3 RAM even though I ran multiple passes of Memtest86+/Windows Hardware Diagnostic without any errors.

Third, the usual suspect (when it is not the two above) would be the hard drive. Clone the OS to another drive (or install a fresh copy of WiWindows to another drive) and see if the issue persists with a different drive.

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^Very true about the memory voltage! I had an Asus board that would not set the proper voltages for my Crucial Balistix RAM, and that in turn caused random freezes and BSOD's. I would advise you to download CPU-Z and check the SPD tab, that should tell you what each DIMM is rated at, you can then compare it with the Memory tab and see if they match, if not, then you should consider printing or writing out the SPD information and then adjust the settings in the BIOS. I would also do as JaredFrost suggested and eliminate the OC as a issue.

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my first gut reaction is sound drivers actually...make sure your Win 7 is fully updated in that regard. i could be well off, but a lot of us forget about sound drivers, especially when using onboard sound.

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Yup, first thing you have to do is set EVERYTHING back to stock - remove all Overclocks (You can save your overclock as a BIOS profile to save setting it all back up later)

Once it is all back to stock you can begin testing different hardware, but with the OC, you will never be 100% sure what it is

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I know it is not the Audio Drivers because it even happens when there is no sound...I think. MEMTEST86 Supports up to 64GB of RAM. In the SPD tab of CPU-Z, under JEDEC #2 (What ever that is) the voltage says 1.50. Then under JEDEC #3, it also says 1.50 as well as for JEDEC #3 it still says 1.5. But for XPM-1600 the voltage says 1.65. It has the exact same information for of the each 3 slots that are being used. They are populated in the slots furthest away from the mobo. Is that what I should have the voltage of the RAM set to? I saw in the bios before I overclocked it, the speed wasn't actually 1600MHz, it was way lower.

I think I just Defraged my HDD, when I say "I think" it means that I think AVG PC Utilities did it.

I don't think it would be the OS Harddrive because I have never had problems with that, plus, I just built this whole computer in August. But on the other hand, if you look at my other forum, I said that my Secondary HDD kept on disconnecting. The second HDD is where everything and I mean everything is installed except for the OS. It hasn't been getting disconnected at all that I know of, but that is what may be causing the freezing of my computer. Back to the defrag, my secondary HDD was the only HDD that was detected that need to be defraged. Can a fragmented HDD cause the problem of freezing my computer?

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