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Question

Computer freezing shortly after startup

Jun 15, 2019 11:17AM PDT

Yesterday out of nowhere shortly after startup my computer froze and both screens turned white and I had to restart my computer. This morning about 30 seconds after I started my computer up and open a browser it froze, had to restart my computer. Then I restarted it and it got stuck on the menu that told me to press Delete/F2 to goto bios. Now when I try to start it up it just sits on a black screen, but it's as if my monitors are turned off (digitalport input).

I tried changing some cables around and finally got it to turn on with an hdmi cable. When I start it up, it freezes after about 30 seconds, reboots my computer, then I can login again for 30 seconds. It will then just turn my monitor black and the computer stays on but I have the orange light where I turn my monitor on, as if it's off.

Any ideas as to what to do

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Very little detail about the PC. Age, make, model, etc.
Jun 15, 2019 11:25AM PDT

To me this is the typical failing PC. But there's so little detail so you may have to share a lot more.

For now you can try it with the cover off and check for heatsinks and fans. These must be in their proper places, work like new and not have fallen off.

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Additional info
Jun 15, 2019 11:40AM PDT

Thanks for the reply. Here is my setup:

Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
Cooling: Noctua NH-D15 6 heatpipe with Dual NF-A15 140mm fans
PSU: CORSAIR RMx Series, RM850x, 850 Watt
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K

All fans are running just fine, I even have 5 extra fans in the case since it's large that are all working. I'm not a guru in hardware, but it doesnt seem like the heatsink is falling off or anything. The heatsink is large and it has 2 fans on it, the one in the middle you can move a little bit because of how it fits into the heatsink itself, but the fan works just fine.

Would a reinstall of Windows be a good idea? Also, Im sitting on my bios right now, unsure if there's anything to try here.

Update: It even froze in bios.

Post was last edited on June 15, 2019 11:56 AM PDT

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To me it sounds like a hardware issue.
Jun 15, 2019 12:15PM PDT

Which we tackle with a check that heatsinks are in place and feel right. A new tech doesn't have the experience to reach in (with the power removed!) to give the heatsink assembly that little twist or push/pull and know it's good. Sometimes we find a homebuilt but the owner used the pre-applied compound or NONE. They debate about it.

As to 5 extra fans, that's odd since most builds work fine with 2 plus the PSU fan for case ventilation plus whatever GPU, CPU takes. I worry that there is something untold here like heat was an issue and now the heat has killed a part.

Anyway, if it's not hardware a restore to a working backup or a clean install like you did when new will bring it back. But my experience finds this rarely works so we are looking over the PC for the usual and making the machine as small as possible to see if the bad part(s) can be found.

For example with i7-8700K you can pull the GPU and see if the issue goes away as you try with just the onboard graphics. "MAKE IT SMALLER" is the classic test and diagnostic tool along with experience in the shop.

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Jun 15, 2019 1:09PM PDT

This is helpful, thank you.

I read up on people have kind of similar issues and have removed one stick of RAM. Without that one stick my computer is able to boot properly and stay up for quite some time, but it still goes black after a while. Having a friend bring over a spare to see if both are faulty. Will try the graphics card if neither option works.

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Update
Jun 15, 2019 3:08PM PDT

So I updated everything on Windows and such and I no longer have monitor issues (back to using displayport). The only issue is that like 10-30 minutes after starting up, my pc completely freezes.

I ran a memory diagnostic and no issues there. Does a graphics card, power supply, or hard drive issue sound more likely with this specifically?

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Why is the HDD suspect?
Jun 15, 2019 3:13PM PDT

I don't see why you brought that up now. Tell more.

As to what it is, I see I shared how we check out the basics but as Speccy's report sharing is down you could try sharing an USERBENCHMARK.COM result.

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Jun 15, 2019 3:30PM PDT

HDD is only because I read other people with issues and referring to it, perhaps it's not the problem.

Here is my userbenchmark: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/17683663

Note I still havent put the 2nd RAM stick back in. I'm going to put in another graphics card now and see if it solves the issue. Otherwise I suspect I will need to go buy a power supply and check that.

It's just odd I can turn it on so many times, it's good for a bit, then just freezes. Very strange. Thanks for the help so far.

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That didn't reveal much at all.
Jun 15, 2019 3:38PM PDT

I would like to know how you ended up with a "Microsoft Storage Space Device 2TB".

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I bought it, online.
Jun 15, 2019 4:25PM PDT

Thanks for your time. I believe I have found the issue. My graphics card isn't working properly, I had a spare one sitting around and it seems to work just fine. Hope this helps anyone else with similar issues.

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Answer
Check your hard drives
Jun 16, 2019 9:14PM PDT

Possible hard disk failure. Check your hard drives.

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Answer
Sounds like a processor overheating
Jun 17, 2019 9:17AM PDT

I've seen this problem many times before. I would recommend using a free cpu temperature monitor like Core Temp. Or if you already downloaded Specy as another user suggested you can use that. Once you have that installed you can monitor it for the amount of time that it usually shuts off. Make sure you monitor it with the previously mentioned temp monitor. If it is due to overheating, you can purchase some thermal paste, remove the heat sink, clean all of the old thermal paste off of both the heat sink and processor using rubbing alcohol and q-tip. Once that is done completely cover the top of the processor with a thin layer of thermal paste. Some products come with a tool to spread it out evenly, if not you can use a business card. Finally re-attach the heat sink and test it again.

ButlerComputer

Moderator Note: Tagline disabled as they are not allowed.

Post was last edited on June 17, 2019 10:20 AM PDT