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Question

PC crashes since installing MSI 970 gaming MB

Sep 22, 2018 2:31AM PDT

Hi,
I bought a 970 motherboard a few months ago when my old one died but ever since I have random crashes (BSOD or immediate shutdowns) wether I am browsing the internet or playing a game. Recently I turned off the AMD turbo core thing in the BIOS and the crashes happen less often (at least after one hour turned on, rather than 20 minutes before). Though it seems to happend faster after booting up once it has occured in the past few minutes and I rebooted. But it's still extremely bothering and I'm intensively searching for the problem's source now.
I have an AMD FX 8320 CPU, an R9 280X graphics card, just bought 2x8GB 1866MHz RAM, the PSU is a gold thing one and delivers 800W (I thought my previous one wasn't enough for my new CPU when it failed booting and went overkill).
In the events log of Windows, the error happening every single time is a critical one, ID'd 41 (Kernel-Power, task category 63 if that's any useful).

I've seen several posts of people with the same problem who had the same CPU and/or GPU, and turning off turbo mode seemed to help (pretty sure it did, unless it's a placebo effect). Wether or not I overclock my GPU (using AMD's Radeon settings software), it happens all the same, all as often.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
New mobo
Sep 22, 2018 3:55AM PDT
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Sep 22, 2018 4:35AM PDT

My Windows install is super clean, every single thing up to date. I run CCleaner often, antivirus, roguekiller, etc. And anyway I know what to browse or not and to avoid installing ****** malwares and such.
I didn't reinstall it though, but if I do, I'll go back to Windows 7 (I have Windows 10). It seemed way more stable and easy to use. I think basically nothing I use at all was added to 10. But anyway.
My motherboard and BIOS :
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/38/6/1537614445-mb.png
I used the MSI software to update everything to the latest (drivers, BIOS).
My PSU is a 850W gold+ thing : https://us.hardware.info/product/173414/akasa-venom-power-850w/specifications

What do you mean by redo the thermal paste? I cleaned and put new paste on the CPU when I got the motherboard. I didn't do it again after. I never saw my CPU heating more than normal in the OSD I use, and the PC can freeze even after 30 minutes browsing the internet, which musn't make it very hot.

I don't know if it crashes on a piece of cardboard, but if you think it could be a short circuit with the PC case, I don't think it can be, because 99% of the time, it freezes (or give a BSOD if set to do it, which is not). Anything like a short circuit would turn it off immediately every time. Moreover, my PC doesn't move or get hit when it happens.

One thing I noticed and that might be related is that sometimes, when booting my PC, before the MSI splash screen of the BIOS, there is a value displayed in the bottom right corner of my screen. The value is 9C and changes back and forth with 92, until the splash screen appears. Sometimes it stays pretty long, up to around 30 seconds, in that state (fixed value or changing) and boots, sometimes it stays forever on one of the value and never boots (stuck) and I have to reset myself, then it works well again.

Could it be a faulty board? It's probably still on warranty.

My Speccy link : http://speccy.piriform.com/results/xllJiDiic0nWspHdzNwdrIT

Post was last edited on September 22, 2018 4:40 AM PDT

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Sep 22, 2018 4:55AM PDT

Great, my post was deleted so here I go again.
The PSU is this one : https://us.hardware.info/product/173414/akasa-venom-power-850w/specifications

I didn't reinstall Windows but it's very clean. I don't install anything I don't need and avoid totally malwares and such. Everything is up to date, I run antivirus, CCleaner, RogueKiller and others often.
http://www.noelshack.com/2018-38-6-1537614445-mb.png
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/38/6/1537617310-cpu.png

I put thermal paste when I got the board, that's all. It doesn't seem to overheat from what I see on my OSD in game nor the air the case blows out is hot.

I don't know if it crashes when it's on cardboard, but if it was some kind of short circuit happening with the PC case, I would get an immediate shutdown 100% of the time. Instead, 99% of the time it freezes (or BSOD if set to).

The Speccy link : http://speccy.piriform.com/results/xllJiDiic0nWspHdzNwdrIT

Post was last edited on September 22, 2018 5:01 AM PDT

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Spam bot got your post.
Sep 22, 2018 5:21AM PDT

Sometimes it does this to a post with links.
Dafydd.

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Crashes
Sep 22, 2018 6:10AM PDT

Your psu looks good.

Test with the mobo on a piece of card board.

If it still fails go back and do the windows install proper.
First you want to save any of your stuff that's important.
Then do a clean install of windows and load and update the drivers.

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Answer
Anyone who had the problem eventually
Sep 22, 2018 8:44AM PDT

If anyone has another option I'm all ears. I really don't have the room to place my PC parts anywhere else than in their case, nor the time to set it all up.

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Answer
Given the old gear.
Sep 22, 2018 9:07AM PDT

The ATI 280X is getting old and can be a source of trouble like this.

But there may be more to try as this motherboard is known for trouble. The BIOS is current so try this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=970+GAMING+(MS-7693)+"C6"+power+management+to+DISABLE.

Those power management areas can cause Kernel power issues so I'm going with that and will be back with a reading of the Speccy. My reading is what I would do with a misbehaving PC if it was mine.

Be aware I go with the less is more view. That is, I'll pull back to just Windows Defender and so on.

None of this will help if it's the usual GPU issue.

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Answer
A Speccy reading.
Sep 22, 2018 9:21AM PDT

1. Try the Disable C6 found with https://www.google.com/search?q=970+GAMING+(MS-7693)+"C6"+power+management+to+DISABLE.

2. Keep in mind that all this won't help if the GPU is the source. Old GPUs can cause a collection of BSODs and won't always point to the GPU. You learn this after time along with keeping the machine simple. Uninstall what you can while still being safe. There are many priors about the BSOD and the GPU like: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2647973/amd-280x-bsod.html

Start with item 1. Test and then try the next.

3. Be sure you install the board maker's drivers (few as there are).
https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/970-GAMING#down-driver&Win10%2064

4. OK, you have completed items 1 to 3 and still in trouble.
Time to slim down. Start with this setting:
https://www.howtogeek.com/224981/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-uploading-updates-to-other-pcs-over-the-internet/

5. More? Uninstall Avast, Windows defender will do that work for now with less overhead.

6. Time for another tweak. Your CPU has 8 Cores. Test it with just 4.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware-winpc/single-processor-issue-on-dual-processor-machine/b470a855-b580-41f6-b5b2-c9720a6433ca has the steps to get to that setting so try 4, reboot and test.

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Disabled C6 power management
Sep 22, 2018 10:50AM PDT

Thank you. I deactivated C6 power management, it might be helpful : after turning off the turbo core mode, the freezes happens less often. If it is power related, since turbo must mean more consumption, power management doing **** on top of that could aggravate the whole problem. If the freezes stop, I'll try maybe to re-enable turbo and see. If they don't stop I'll go for Avast but I wouldn't count on it helping. I had it with my previous motherboard and I never had such problems. The R9 280X is a fantastic card tbh, at least I didn't have problems before.

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I didn't write this before
Sep 22, 2018 10:57AM PDT

But those CPUs when they arrive we don't like seeing them because once they start to BSOD it seems the only fix is to change the board, CPU, GPU, RAM, etc.

The 280X may be great but as time passes you do run into GPUs causing this issue. Only one way to know is to use another newer known good GPU. We have such in the shop since we get such machines.

I will write I don't expect this to be fixed but there are times when what I listed helps or fixes it. I have yet to find a solid fix outside of new parts.

Post was last edited on September 22, 2018 10:58 AM PDT

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Answer
Maybe fixed
Sep 28, 2018 8:39AM PDT

I tried all the tweaks mentioned, but none were useful, still freezes after each. But since you mentioned the possibility of the graphics card involvement, in addition to disabling AMD C6 power management and turbo core, I tried multiple different ways to stress my GC less (I usually overclock it with MSI afterburner when I game). First with lower and lower core frequency, RAM frequency, max current consumption, until I found that with current and RAM frequency untouched but only core frequency slightly increased (1000MHz instead of stock 940). I think in that last case I didn't have any freeze, but still installed Windows 7 to get rid of Windows 10 which I didn't like and have a fresh base to go with.
So far I've played hours of Skyrim and Shadow Of War straight with no sign of freezes.
I'll test further and update if needed. Thank you.

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Overclocking is like that.
Sep 28, 2018 8:52AM PDT

Overclocking really confuses folk as gear ages. What used to work may not.

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It can't be just that
Sep 28, 2018 11:17PM PDT

Changing the motherboard started the chaos straight away : one day it was fine, the MB died, I bought the MSI one, and only then the freezes started.
Also, disabling the AMD turbo core drastically delayed the freezes after booting. BTW I should see what happens if I turn it back on now.
I won't argue that the GC aged, that makes perfect sense since I set it to use +20% max current, but it's not what started the problems, or I would have gotten freezes more and more frequently, and not only when changing the MB. But who knows what happened when it died. Maybe the GC didn't like it at all...

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Maybe it needs to be stated.
Sep 29, 2018 11:02AM PDT

"I didn't reinstall it"

That is Windows rarely works well on a motherboard change. We've discussed areas that might help and you made some progress but no one I know will tell you can avoid a Windows reinstall when the motherboard changes. You can try but it's a gamble.