#RAM or other hardware causing issues in pc?

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

velvet sorrel
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Hi, for the past 3 days a new issue has been occuring with my pc and im unsure what is happening.

Essentially, while using my computer, it will randomly freeze completely, I'll even hear a sound like the electricity is cut off even when the pc and everything is still on. Even when its working completely fine, if I leave it for a few minutes and come back to it, the second i touch it and move my mouse or use my keyboard, it freezes again (i had a discord message at 7:01 and when i went from my laptop to my pc which had gotten the same message, it froze).

It then fails to boot multiple times in a row until it goes into a protection asking me to change settings or let it UEFI boot again, which then works. I can also just manually shut it off during one of its boot attempts and reboot it and it seems to work (until it doesnt). the reason I assume its my RAM is due to my limited knowledge and that during the failed boot attempts, my boot checker on my mother board only flashes red for my DRAM. i took out the ram, dusted both slots and ram sticks, put them back in and the issue persists.

Unsure of what steps I can take, even ran sfc /scannow which said it fixed files, but again the issue is still happening. Could it be windows? Should I try a windows repair? Any advice is appreciated

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Oh and I'm running the Widnows memory diagnostics tool right now though im not sure how good that is, better than nothing

steel gust
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Yeah it's better than nothing but I would honestly also recommend running chkdsk and doing a proper Memtest86 on that system.

velvet sorrel
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Is there any good way to isolate the issue? I've contacted my RAM's manufacturer and while it should fall under warranty apparently the sticker on my ram stick does not match the right model (the sticker is for kingston hyperX when what I have is kingston Fury)

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Not sure if the DRAM flashing red on the boot checker is just because it is failing to boot rather than being the cause of the fail boot

steel gust
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Other things you could try is clearing your CMOS, updating the BIOS and reseating the CPU.

velvet sorrel
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note i did move to a new country and i had my mb with my cpu and cooler still on so maybe that could be an issue? but i dont know why it would be fine for a week then start acting up if it was an issue with how it was seated

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also it feels likes it been getting worse every day

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first day it was only 2 crashes with 0 failed boots, 2nd day had some fail boots and now it fail boots to the point that i need to fix it or it goes into protection

steel gust
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Clearing the CMOS has a habit of fixing a bunch of just random issues on motherboards even if nothing has been done in the BIOS settings.

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What people seem to not understand is that clearing the CMOS IS NOT the same thing as going into BIOS and hitting reset.

velvet sorrel
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Fair, I mean doesnt hurt to do it so ill just do that after my memory test is done because it takes forever

velvet sorrel
steel gust
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It is in fact possible (even if unlikely) that the CPU has shifted ever so slightly in the socket when you were moving, so remounting it would remove that possibility at the very least.

velvet sorrel
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Yea in my eyes the reason I doubt thats the reason is because I think an issue like that would have cause issues way quicker than a week

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I could be wrong though

steel gust
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I'm actually inclined to agree with you, the issues would've presented themselves immediately after moving.

velvet sorrel
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I'll still do it if push comes to shove of course, but thats why i was leaning more towards a ram stick going bad or something else like windows fucking up

steel gust
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Since you said that the problem has been getting worse over time, it makes me think that your hard drive could be the culprit

velvet sorrel
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I use my m.2 ssd as my boot drive but it is quite old so

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i originally tried to switch windows to my new ssd which proceeded to corrupt my entire windows and a painful few hours so i gave up l o l

steel gust
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I think it's worth to give it the old clean the contacts and reinstall just like with RAM earlier.

velvet sorrel
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istg i've had to reinstall windows so many times one of my immediate assumptions it was windows messing up

steel gust
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If you have had to reinstall windows multiple times, it tells me that the SSD isn't too happy

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SSD crapping itself can behave similarly to a RAM gone bad

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it would also explain why you struggle to get it to boot

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Of course if none of the remedies I've suggested so far fail to fix the issue, it only makes it seem even more likely that there's an issue with it.

velvet sorrel
steel gust
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I think it would, but it's not 100% reliable on that front.

velvet sorrel
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Also could you recommend any programs/guide/methods to transferring my windows to a new ssd?

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the last time i did the program bricked my entire windows so im trying to avoid that 😭

steel gust
velvet sorrel
steel gust
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Hmm... You may want to just save your important files onto an external drive and do a fresh install.

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That's like the most reliable way of doing it.

velvet sorrel
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Im still waiting for this memory diagnostic tool to finish...

shadow gyro
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could be any number of issues like already mentioned. it seems you're already checking your disks and ram. I recommend checking whether your voltages are within spec, especially if you're using PSU extensions

steel gust
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Well either way it's good practice to save all your important files onto an external drive even if you're cloning.

steel gust
velvet sorrel
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thats why im so frustrated

shadow gyro
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well it takes nearly no effort to check, so I still recommend it

steel gust
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PSU failures do have a tendency to cause a lot of random garbage on a PC.

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It can basically mask itself as any number of basic hardware issues.

velvet sorrel
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Fair, how would you recommend i go about that? like how should i compare my psu voltage vs what my computer needs

shadow gyro
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I recommend HWinfo

velvet sorrel
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not sure what it needs to be frank

shadow gyro
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if you open the sensors in HWinfo, your motherboard should be somewhere in there with the voltages

image.png
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you should also check the input voltage on your gpu, which is usually at the bottom

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velvet sorrel
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Going to be honest, not sure what im supposed to be looking for

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here is a photo of my psu, what should i compare from here to my HWInfo?

81nAEpXvklL.png
shadow gyro
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in the HWinfo sensors, do you see your motherboard listed with its voltages like +5V, +12V +3.3V etc?

serene oyster
shadow gyro
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check the minimum value of these sensors

velvet sorrel
shadow gyro
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ahhh

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ok

velvet sorrel
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its taking forever

shadow gyro
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yeah that does take forever

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I had a similar problem to you where my pc would randomly crash

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it was related to low voltages on the +5V rail

velvet sorrel
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2nd time running it, but its 75% done the and doing the 2nd test with no issues found so

serene oyster
velvet sorrel
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If only i was was a rich youtuber and could just replace my entire pc whenever i had a problem 😭

shadow gyro
velvet sorrel
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once its done im going to restart, reset my cmos, then chkdsk and then check my voltage at the same time

shadow gyro
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I also had a problem once where a faulty usb device drew too much current, frying the chipset and causing random crashing and startup repair

velvet sorrel
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i've had windows files corrupt so many times and so many times microsoft support telling me the only was is to reinstall windows

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i should honestly just get rid of this ssd at this point, its been like 8 years since i've had it

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well maybe less, but at least 5-6

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its the only part that still exists from my first pc

shadow gyro
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luckily for you ssds are dirt cheap these days

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as much as hdd's cost when ssd's first came out

velvet sorrel
# shadow gyro luckily for you ssds are dirt cheap these days

i have a 1tb one in there but as previous mentioned, my windows bricked when i tried to transfer using the companies tool and hence after reinstalling it and fixing it via some magic ( i have another hdd just for linux for my coding :)) i gave up

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but now i think i might just need to bite the bullet and try to switch my boot drives

shadow gyro
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if you do end up reinstalling, try winget it's like apt get but from microsoft

steel gust
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Also about the SSDs, yeah a lot cheaper

velvet sorrel
steel gust
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I paid like 300€ for a 1TB SATA SSD back in 2017 or 18

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You can now buy one for just 50€

shadow gyro
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you did check that everything is properly seated right? and maybe try reseating. I could imagine a PSU breaking if it gets bumped just a little too hard

velvet sorrel
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liquid suggested that earlier and we agreed that its pretty unlikely considering there was 0 issues for a whole week, something like the cpu being improperly set would have caused issues from the get go

shadow gyro
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well I think you have a whole list of stuff to try now, so let us know if nothing helps

steel gust
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Yup... Welcome to the world of diagnosing inconsistent problems with a PC.

velvet sorrel
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might just give up after the first 10 and accept my fate

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🫡

steel gust
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But yeah, memtest takes the longest

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so I recommend doing the faster fixes first

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let stuff like memtest run over night

velvet sorrel
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should i just reseat my cpu while im resseting my cmos

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i guess

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kill me

shadow gyro
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if it isn't too much trouble. it can't hurt

steel gust
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Might as well really

velvet sorrel
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it isnt but i hate messing around with my pc a lot

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ill also just clean the ,.2 slot

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well wish me luck, the memory test just finished

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will update this tomorrow

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its already 9:30 and im poopec from my first day of my masters degree

shadow gyro
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Ah fellow first day master student

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I actually start next week, but close enough

velvet sorrel
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make me feel like such a baby

velvet sorrel
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@steel gust @shadow gyro I reseated my cpu, put my ram in and out again, cleaned m.2 and it’s still happening 😭 but it’s not as bad now

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Only 2 reboots and both made it to bios

velvet sorrel
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issue is still happening 🫥

velvet sorrel
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At this point im just assume its bad RAM/RAM Slots or am compatability issues, I tried to reboot 30 times, never worked, let it keep rebooting itself, never worked, took out a ram stick and it worked first boot

humble tide
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@steel gust memtest86 is shit run testmem5

velvet sorrel
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LOL

velvet sorrel
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will now test whether it will boot when i take this stick out and use the other

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thank you @shadow gyro @steel gust however it turns out the simplest solution was the right one, my ram stick went bad

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the instant i switched my ram stick, i crashed on boot and got into a boot loop