Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

Need help with possible hardware problem

Sep 8, 2016 4:42AM PDT

Hello, I am having a frequent blue screen crash problem with my Windows 10 pc. The most common message is "CRITICAL PROCESS DIED" but i have also seen "UNEXPECTED STORE EXCEPTION" quite a few times. The crashes occur mostly when a game is running. Nothing insanely heavy, recently i have used Warframe and Shadow of Mordor. I have had 1 maybe 2 crashes while not running games when there were multiple windows open and some more applications were running (cant remember details). In most cases a second crash will not occur if pc is restarted after the first crash but there were exceptions to this observation. After the blue screen the automatic restart is usually successful but there has been a few cases of bootable device not found.
I have done a reset of windows 2 days back but the problem is still there.
I am inclined to think it is not a RAM problem since the operations are not slowed down before a crash (but i am no expert).
I did not have a failed start from cold state yet so maybe it is not the processor?
I am using the latest driver for the graphics card. Not sure what else to check for gpu
I have run chkdsk for the OS partition. Not sure what else to check for hard disk
The reliability history only says windows stopped working at the time of crash.
Or i could be totally mistaken and it has something to do with software that does not get reset
Here are the system details, please let me know if any more information is required:
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3330 CPU
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
RAM: 8GB
Age: bit more than 4 years
Problem since: 1-2 months
Thanks in advance

Discussion is locked

icebergvx has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
Those clues.
Sep 8, 2016 9:35AM PDT

The fact it works most of the time after the first crash has me suspect 2 things.
1. BAD CAPS (see google.)
2. An aging PSU or motherboard. If the caps look OK I'd pop in a 100+ additional Watt single rail PSU. As these age, they do lose Watts and can get noisy. As they warm up, they can improve so that's why this one.

The failed from cold points to hardware. The no boot device could be a sign the HDD is going. Be sure to keep a current enough backup. Also, if the drive is a Seagate I'd change it now.

- Collapse -
Thanks
Sep 8, 2016 10:05AM PDT

The hdd is indeed seagate. any thing i can look for to narrow it down between the 3? thanks

- Collapse -
I take it you did the inspection?
Sep 8, 2016 11:25AM PDT

If not, that's my first move. BAD CAPS usually means I replace the board or card. You omitted PSU details so I went with just bump the capacity. PSUs and drives are really cheap compared to a repair counter.

As to the Seagate, I no longer test them when suspect. I've had them pass testing then still be the issue. How I know? I clone the drive to a new HDD and the problem vanished. After a few times of this, you have it on your list.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-Computer-Power-Supplies/zgbs/pc/1161760 pegs that PSU (top 3 from 40 to 99.99 bucks.

- Collapse -
The issue suggests OTHER than heat issues.
Sep 8, 2016 9:08PM PDT

In the case of old caps, heat can help. This is the exact opposite of the usual overheating PC. It's well discussed and why I diagnosed it this way.

- Collapse -
Is a cable problem possible?
Sep 8, 2016 11:35PM PDT

so i had some time to open the box and check for things. after some cleaning i checked the capacitors and at least to my eyes they don't look swollen or leaking. I had also disconnected the hard disk to get the cables out of the way and after reconnecting and starting it, the disk was not detectable. I have exchanged the cable from the dvd drive and it is working now. Could the problems be caused by a bad cable? This the the cable connecting the drive to the motherboard btw.

The power supply is of 400W. Didn't remember so could not mention it before

- Collapse -
Sure at least for one of your problems
Sep 9, 2016 12:18AM PDT

Does the dvd work?

Run the machine and see if anything changed.

- Collapse -
Nope
Sep 9, 2016 10:20AM PDT

hasnt crashed since change but it didnt always crash anyway

- Collapse -
Could be but that GPU and PSU is
Sep 9, 2016 9:02AM PDT

Well, on the edge in my view. The 660 was an 150 Watt TDP card so you have this 400 Watt PSU that is now years old and may not start correctly as the PSU ages has effects on startup and sustained power.

Again, heat can help the aged components but here we see a PSU big enough when new but years later, may not be up to the task.

If it's working correctly, just file all this away until it fails again.

- Collapse -
Answer
Crashes
Sep 8, 2016 11:07AM PDT

Get a can of compressed air and a small brush.
Give the innards a good cleaning....fans/heat sinks/filters.
Don't forget the psu....a few shots of air from both directions.

Replace the bios battery.

Total...about 10 bucks.

If no help test with the side panel off.

- Collapse -
Thanks
Sep 8, 2016 8:39PM PDT

Are you suggesting that this is a cooling problem? wouldn't that increase issues the longer i run the computer? my pc usually does not crash again after the first crash. also if the bios battery is getting weak then shouldn't the date and time setting get messed up? Thanks for the response

- Collapse -
What it's not
Sep 8, 2016 9:29PM PDT

It's just a matter of crossing things off the list.

It's cheap and it only takes a few minutes to do.