Windows 7 Windows 7 Professional 64bit freezing/locking up randomly

[Bott99]

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much info as possible.

I recently built a new system and installed Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. Ever since I built it the system has had a problem where it will freeze at random times. When it freezes the mouse simply stops moving and the computer is completely unresponsive, requiring a hard reboot. The time that the system takes to freeze varies greatly, sometimes only a few minutes, sometimes up to 36 hours. The freezes tend to occur mostly while the system is idle. It seems to be fine during gaming and i've had no freezes whilst playing games for hours at a time. The freezes do not occur when the system is in safe mode. Apart from the freezing the system runs fine.

System specs are as follows:
- Intel Core i7 2600K
- Asus P8P67 Deluxe (B3 Stepping)
- G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8GB kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
- Asus 6950 2GB VGA card
- OCZ Vertex2-E 120GB SSD
- 2 x Western Digital 2TB SATA2 HDD (WD20EARS)
- Corsair HX-750 PSU
- Antec 900 case

So far I have tried everything I can think of. Here is a list of what I have tried already with no luck:

- Updated all drivers to latest versions
- Checked Event Viewer for errors but could only find a Kernal ID-41 power error indicating that the system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first (I don't really know what to look for here so I may have missed something)
- Performed a clean boot with all non-Microsoft services disabled, still crashes
- Ran SFC/SCANNOW command, no errors detected
- Disabled all display and system sleep options
- Reinstalled fresh copies Windows 7 on the SSD (both 64 bit and 32 bit versions, both still froze)
- Replaced the motherboard (upgraded to B3 stepping after the Cougar Point recall for the board's SATA controller)
- Tested the RAM with Memtest for 10+ hours, no errors
- Swapped the video card with the card from from my other computer which is confirmed working, still froze
- Reinstalled Windows 7 x64 on a different HDD (and all other drives disconnected), still froze
- I also installed my old copy of Windows XP Pro 32 bit on the system and this actually did run without freezing

The fact that Windows XP and Windows 7 safe mode run successfully on the system without freezing prompts me to think it's not a hardware problem but I don't know what else to try in Windows 7 to get it run normally without freezing.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[patcooke]

Get a copy of autoruns - gives you comprehensive control of startup programs. You can use it to either delete or just temporarily stop an item running at startup. Use it to temporarily stop anything you want to test to see if it's causing the problem - might be quickest to try stopping most startup items and if the problem is solved just restart items one by one til you identify the culprit:

Autoruns for Windows

 

[Bott99]

At the moment i'm testing with a fresh Windows install, there are no additional programs installed so nothing that isn't part of Windows can autorun.

 

[Saltgrass]

How do you have it plugged in, UPS?

If you run msinfo32.exe, do any problem devices show up, anything in Device Manager?

Is the Catalyst Driver one of the updates you checked for?

There was another thread with similar symptoms as you recently, you might see if you can find it.

If you look in Event Viewer, you would look for a series of warnings or errors that might indicate a potential problem. Always try to make note of the time something happens so you can check logs if they are available.

If you cannot find anything, there is always the Drive Verifier you might try later.

 

[Bott99]

Not using any UPS.

No problem devices showing up in Device Manager.

I can pinpoint the time of the freezes by looking at the system clock but Event Viewer shows no issues around these times.

I recently changed the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE and reinstalled Windows again. I also disabled Superfetch as I read that this improves stability with an SSD. With only Windows installed (i.e. no 3rd party drivers or software) the system ran for a record 2 days without freezing. I then assumed that this had fixed the problem and installed motherboard drivers, VGA driver and other software (e.g. Firefox, anti-virus etc) and left it running overnight. Unfortunately the computer froze that night. This leads me to suspect that the problem is being caused by a driver issue, as a clean boot (i.e. no 3rd party programs running at startup) still freezes.

At this point I plan to fresh install Windows again and leave it running for a longer time to confirm that it really does work properly in this state and that the 2 day uptime was not a fluke, then reintroduce drivers one at a time until it starts to freeze again.

Any views on this approach?

 

[Saltgrass]

Tracking something like this down can be difficult. If you believe Windows or a driver is causing it, you might try disabling onboard devices in device manager. Things like Sound or Firewire, Network adapter, or whatever.

If you were to download burn and boot your system to a Linux Live CD so Windows is not involved, it might show if Windows is actually involved or not. Hard Drives do not need to be connected for this.

You may need to start replacing parts. Since you have already replaced the Motherboard, maybe the power supply is next. You can also turn off the power to the unit, or unplug and move the memory dimms around..make sure they are completed seated.

Make sure the video card is completely seated and make sure you have the video cable screwed down.

After the Power Supply, maybe get a low end video card to test, a low end CPU, after that maybe different memory.

 

[Bott99]

I previously tried disabling individual hardware devices in device manager one by one but that didn't solve the problem. I'm not sure if I disabled the motherboard chipset driver during this process though (is that even possible?).

I have zero experience with anything Linux, is this likely to be a problem if I try to run a Linux Live CD?

In regards to replacing components I am limited to replacing the video card and PSU, as I don't have a spare CPU or memory that would work in my current motherboard. I have already tried replacing the video card and that didn't work, but now that I think about it I neglected to change the drivers as the new card is AMD and the old one was Nvidia.

One of the things making this troubleshooting process really difficult is the amount of time it takes to test each potential new fix. The system has run up to 48 hours without freezing in the past so each time I test something I have to leave it on for at least this long or else I can't be sure that it's worked.

 

[Rogerthat]

My new Toshiba i7 3D laptop (Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit) has had the same problems repeatedly, so much so that I have had to pull the battery out a few times or more to re-boot the damn thing.
Only been using and buying computers for over 15 years though; so it must be me. Printer dont work either, nor MS Flight Sim X.
Cannot be bothered with spending my life fixing garbage that a car company would have been crippled for if they had trotted out the same rubbish as Microsoft regularly does.
Back to my XP desktop now (one thing they did almost right).

 

[Bott99]

Back with a an update. I downloaded a Linux Live CD (Ubuntu) and ran the system off that. It still froze so I guess that confirms that it's a hardware issue. My next step is to pull the PSU out of my old system (which has been running fine for years) and see if swapping it out fixes the problem.

I must admit that in a weird way i'm slightly relieved. I think it will be easier to find the faulty hardware component and do a warranty claim than it would be to work my way through million and one potential software faults in Windows.

 

[Rogerthat]

Ubuntu person, thankQ (do you work for MS?),
It isn`t hardware as this is not only a new Laptop, it has not been `messed about with`; as if it was I wouldnt be able to write this.
It is probably a problem with some (essential) 32-bit programs loaded on a 64-bit system as well as leisure software (Microsoft Flight X being an example which has had a number of "updates" to fix "issues").

I have lost count of Silverlight; Skype Plug-ins; Internet `Chrome` updates and conflicts with FireFox and other software which has to be repeatedly updated (including Norton 2011) that the average user is overburdened with what to do sometimes while trying to operate expensive equipment one would expect to operate universally (like a Car [anology]). Software companies should work together prior to an Operating system being TESTED on the public. Of course there has been the usual MS Windows 7 Patch installed also...the list seems endless sometimes.
.
If the problem was hardware here; then the problem should be continuous or follow a set pattern (i.e. Overheating after 1 hour).
At first I thought it may be something to do with the complexity of the i7 Chip at first so I understand your train of thought.

P.S.
This new i7 laptop is no better at running things than my 6-year old desktop running XP. Although this laptop runs more quietly; when its running.

Maybe my expectations were a bit high. Hardware and software companies have been on the game now for not much over 20 years.
Computers are really still in their infancy. Earning a overindulgent packet off the public.
The price we (the public) pay for the software we buy does not represent fair value on installation, but is what represents an investment companies like Microsoft hope to achieve in future; and which does not appear to be the current responsibility for the consumer, from the current purchase...
i.e.
When you buy a partly-defective car do you pay for the company to add on a chunk to the price for them to develop their next model to test on you?

 

[Rogerthat]

UPDATE;
After mentioning the issue on Norton web site they upgraded me to Norton 2012 for free (today). Indicating a conflict between Norton and Win 7 in some systems.

I hope this fixes things as I had to pull the battery a couple of times this morning already. Toshiba already installed me a new hard drive which failed (too many battery removals to re-boot as Ctrl, Alt, Del wouldnt work?

Updated and running. So far so good.

 

[sal121]

Did you ever resolve this issue? I am having exact same issue and very similar specs. any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Here are my specs:

=========================================================================
Specs:
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67Pro Rev 3.1 - New P67 B3 Revision
Processor: Intel Core i7 - 2600K, 3.4GHz, 8MB Cache, LGA1155, 95W
RAM (memory): G.Skill, F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM, DDR3-2133MHz, PC3-17000 4096MB x 2 (8GB Total)
Video Card: EVGA NVIDIA GEForce GT520, 1024MB DDR3 PCI-E
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series HX750
Hard Drives: Seagate ST3320620AS (320.0GB) x 2 (RAID0 - Striping) for OS
Seagate ST500DM002-1BC142 (500.1GB) x 2 (RAID1 - Mirror) for Data
DVD: LG HL-DT-ST BD-RE WH12LS39 ATAPI
Multiboot: XP 32-bit, XP 64-bit, Win7 32-bit and Win7 64-bit
Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit are freezing in about 30-90 minutes of the login. Both XP are fine.
=========================================================================

 

[catilley1092]

Sometimes a security suite may cause these symptoms. I installed the trial version of ESET Smart Security onto my ThinkPad T42 (onto the Windows XP MCE partition). Afterwards, whenever I removed a USB device or network card (properly, using Safe Removal), it would BSOD at that very moment.

I ran the System Inspector program that comes with the security software, as requested by ESET Tech Support, they found nothing to indicate that their software caused this. Even though I gave it the benefit of the doubt and installed it a second time. I updated the drivers to the most current available, uninstalled the USB devices altogether to force the system to reload them, still no go.

This also affects Windows 2000 Pro, even though ESET Smart Security isn't installed on that partition. Had I thought of it, I'd have ran a Linux Live CD (I have 30 or more of them). Why I didn't do it, I don't know, as I use these to diagnose issues myself from time to time.

My ESET NOD32 AV 5 subscription runs out in 3 days (which isn't installed on the ThinkPad), I certainly hope that it doesn't give my similar issues with my HP & MSI computers (I bought a 3 user pack of Smart Security at Newegg for $29.99). Both of which runs Win 7 Pro x64 (the HP runs SP1, the MSI doesn't, it causes me not to be able to recover from my backups, although I have no trouble backing up). I've tried every hotfix that I can find, so I'll wait until SP2 for Windows 7 before I install a SP on that one. This problem didn't arise until I installed SP1, once I removed it, all was fine.

Try totally removing the AV/IS solution & see what happens.

Best of Luck,
Cat