Freezing Problems

[Xorphzen]

Hello. I have had my PC for nearly 1 yr and all good except some problems. I did send my PC back due to PSU failing. That has been resolved but now I have another problem. Whenever I install games to my HD (Western one) or add movies, music etc there is intermittent freezing that keeps happening. I uninstalled those games and installed them on my primary SSD drive and they run perfectly with no freezing wot soever. Problem is I am running out of space on SSD and I wanted to install my games onto my second drive but the freezing keeps happening. Any advice on what to do? I never encountered this problem before I sent my PC in. Also I did a format after I received the PC back.

My Spec:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7-2700k Quad Core (3.50GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£65)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO II C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)

 

[ReeceN]

Hi.

I have actually had (in the middle of sorting out) the same problem recently.

My issue is do to my WD HDD failing due to MANY MANY bad sectors (disk defects). Mine is around a year and a half old.
It sounds to me that this is also very much probably the case with your PC.

You can check the health of your HDD by running WD Data Lifeguard. Available for download here: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=608&sid=3&lang=en

If it fails the diagnostics I would request a RMA from PCS to replace it.

P.s. As a side note, if your Windows is installed on this drive, you may be able to transfer the entire drive bit by bit to a new HDD using such software as EaseUs - Disk Copy (http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/home-edition/).

If however data is stored in Bad Sectors, then this may not work correctly and may therefore require a fresh installation of Windows on your new drive.
You can run ChkDsk via Windows on the drive to find and fix bad sectors, however, in my case made things worse and corrupted my OS.

 

[Xorphzen]

Hi.

I have actually had (in the middle of sorting out) the same problem recently.

My issue is do to my WD HDD failing due to MANY MANY bad sectors (disk defects). Mine is around a year and a half old.
It sounds to me that this is also very much probably the case with your PC.

You can check the health of your HDD by running WD Data Lifeguard. Available for download here: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=608&sid=3&lang=en

If it fails the diagnostics I would request a RMA from PCS to replace it.

P.s. As a side note, if your Windows is installed on this drive, you may be able to transfer the entire drive bit by bit to a new HDD using such software as EaseUs - Disk Copy (http://www.easeus.com/disk-copy/home-edition/).

If however data is stored in Bad Sectors, then this may not work correctly and may therefore require a fresh installation of Windows on your new drive.
You can run ChkDsk via Windows on the drive to find and fix bad sectors, however, in my case made things worse and corrupted my OS.

Thanks for your reply. I installed and ran lifeguard as instructed and instructed by PC Specialist but results came back as normal and it passed the test. I have the latest drivers. My OS is installed to my SSD drive. I have installed some more games, demos and steam but it keeps on happening. 5-10 mins in a game the freezing starts making it totally unplayable for any game that is installed on the western drive. I also ran furmark as instructed by PCS and that came back positive to, no problems. I really don't know wot to do and why this is happening.... My SSD is performing perfectly and this drive is not working correctly at all????????

 

[ReeceN]

Did you run the Quick Test or Extended Test within Data Lifeguard?

If you only ran the Quick Test, it would be advised that you run the Extended Test. Before you do though, you should backup your drive being tested as to not loose any data.

If you have already done this, you could also make sure that your SATA cable is plugged in correctly to both your drive and the motherboard.

 

[Xorphzen]

ran the extended test and yes the cables look correct to me....

 

[ReeceN]

Hmm, this is an interesting one lol.

The obvious answer does seem to be a faulty HDD.
As your drive appears to come with a 2 year warranty, if that still applies I would contact Western Digital ASAP for support and an RMA. Even if it's out of warranty they still may be able to help so I would still contact them regardless and are usually fast to respond (within a day or a few).

You can register your product then request a RMA/Contact Support via there website here: http://support.wdc.com/

If it's nothing to do with your hard drive and cable however, then I can only think they must be something going on with your Motherboard.

- A BIOS upgrade may be able to sort this out.. possibly.

You can do so via the 'Asus Ai Suite' under the 'Update' menu within Windows (if you have this installed), or directly via the .ROM file by installing it via the BIOS 'Ez Flash 2' utility from a USB drive.

Either can be downloaded at:
http://uk.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PROGEN3/#download

(The Asus manual, available via there website also, on page 3-32 tells you how to do both - Asus Ai Suite is far the easier option, but both or fairly simple).

NOTE: If it tells you to upgrade the BIOS after you have just done it, then do it again as it needs to be upgrades a second time to correctly complete the upgrade process.

- Also un-installation and reinstallation of any hard drive related firmware may help such as:
Intel Rapid Storage Technology

Hope this helps

 

[robnea]

That might explain what is happening with my year and a half old pc then, :/ oops....

Ah we'll new beauty from here now enroute

 

[Xorphzen]

At the time of writing this response it seems the problem may be fixed. As suggested I installed a bios update and installed Intel rapid storage technology. I have tested 2 demos and so far 15-20 mins in no freezing. I will test with full on games to see but initial results looks promising. I will try the games which had the freezing and see if I can finally game.

 

[ReeceN]

Good to hear Xorphzen

 

[Xorphzen]

Unfortunately after testing many games, the freezing issue is still there. Nearly all the games I have tested have ended up with the game crashing or intermittent freezing which I have had to manually close from task manager. When the freezing happens or is about the happen the indicator light next to the power one is on constant red, very disappointed......

 

[ReeceN]

Well if you have updated your BIOS correctly and installed the drivers as instructed then it would appear to be a hardware fault.

I would contact PCS and Western Digital for more help.

 

[NMEBowen]

Playing games from a Cavier Green isnt the best Idea really its based as a drag and drop storage drive more than anything games may have issues with intelipower or some of the other energy saving additions to the drive. Just try 1 more Hdd check but with windows disk management, and be sure your hdd is seated in a 6Gb/s sata port on the motherboard (not that i think it would make a difference).

 

[Xorphzen]

@ ReeceN yes have contacted PCS, waiting for reply.. pretty much exhausted all options

@ NMEBowen, bummer, the whole point of having a second drive was to use it for games and use the SSD for the system and maybe 1 or 2 games that I wanted loading screens to be instant, if that is the case that is going to give headaches......

 

[Karlos]

As the memory is usually the culprit in these cases, it may be worth getting it checked out, please find the RAM tester below:

[edit by Rakk: please don't link directly to zip files: if you're going to link, link to sites that can be checked first please]

If you go through the installer it will copy the files over to your USB drive.

Once the files have copied over restart the PC, tap F10/F12 for the boot menu and select the USB stick from the list and the test will automatically run.

The test will run forever if you let it but usually problems are found within 1-2 hours so please run of for at least this amount of time.

If there is Any Error Then Request a RMA

 

[Xorphzen]

memory test done and no problems found....... have been in contact with PCS and has been suggested to request RMA but problem is I only just received the PC back not long ago from the first problem and having to send it back again is tiresome, so I am seeing if the component can be sent..... without the whole thing going back and not having it for 2/3 weeks...., the games that cause the problems tend to be big games like deux, skyrim, borderlands, dishonoured.... I have tested this with arkham asylum and so far no freezes yet very very odd....