PC locks-up soon after boot

[LR22]

Hi everyone, new guy here. Wondering if someone could help.

I'm by no means a technical guy so bare with me.

I've just set my new PCS computer up and have had it running for less than a day. Soon after I boot the computer the screen will lock-up and freeze. The flashing light on the front of the computer will stop flashing completely. Then soon after (10-20 mins) the computer will restart itself. Sometimes it won't even restart itself... This has happened maybe 5 times now and I've no Idea what's causing it.

The welcome book mentions something that resembles the issues I've had but my computer locks-up under no stress at all. Plus I don't see how it could have a build-up of dust as it's brand new.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Spuff]

What motherboard is it?
What kind of beep does it make on start up? That may indicate what sort of problem you have.

As a first course of action I'd make sure everything is seated in its socket correctly.

 

[LR22]

Thanks for the response Spuff.

The motherboard is an Asus Sabertooth Z87.
It makes a single short beep.

Earlier it had been fine for about 3 hours until recently where it's locked-up twice. Really frustrating.

Let me know If you need anymore info. Thanks.

 

[Boozad]

Download HWMonitor and check your temperatures first off. You can also try CPU-Z and GPU-Z to cross reference the temperatures are correct.

 

[paul1224]

I would personally recommend booting the PC up via Safe Mode and seeing if the 'lock up' problem continues.

If the lock up doesn't happen then it could be a driver issue of some kind and I would recommend making sure all drivers are up to date before then running it in normal mode. If it still locks up in Safe Mode then it would probably indicate more of a hardware problem and I would recommend you call PCS and get them to diagnose the problem or RMA it if necessary as it is so new.

As has been mentioned if you are confident enough it may be a good option to open up the PC and maybe make sure that everything is seated correctly and that nothing looks like it may be loose or poorly connected.

 

[ubuysa]

Make sure all the RAM cards are properly seated, it's not unusual for them to come loose during delivery. A single beep on boot for AMI BIOS (I don't know whether that's your BIOS though) is usually RAM.

Whilst you have the case open also check all leads and connectors are properly seated. It clearly wasn't behaving in this way when it left PCS so it's more than likely that something (probably RAM) has come loose in transit.

 

[LR22]

Ok, thanks guys, I'll try all these things out and get back to you.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[LR22]

OK, so I'm still getting the issue.

I checked my temps and they were completely normal. I've had It lock-up when I'm in safe mode and normal mode. I rang PCS and the guy said it sounds like it could be a hard drive issue, more-so with my 2TB drive and not my SDD as he said that's more likely. He gave me a link to a hard drive test software. I ran all quick and extended tests on the SSD and it passed the test. I ran all quick tests on the 2TB standard hard drive and it passed them. Unfortunately I've been unable to complete the long test on the 2TB standard hard drive due to the computer freezing up. Therefore I reported this back to PCS and the guy said that could be another indication of it being a corrupt or damaged hard drive that is causing the issue. That said, he went on to say that I should disconnect the 2TB hard drive and see if it runs fine after... So I booted up and logged-in yet it still freezes, which make me think that it's not a hard drive issue... I've downloaded and updated all device drivers yet it still locks-up. I removed the ram and put them back into place, making sure that they were seated properly, yet it still locks-up.

I'm seriously running out of Ideas now and I've no idea what It could be that it causing this. If anyone has anymore Ideas to what It could be, i'd really appreciate your help.

Below is my machine:

Processor (CPU) - Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4770k (3.5GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard - ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z87: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM) - 16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card - 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk - 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk - 2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive - 15x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply - CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ MODULAR TXM-650 V2-80 PLUS®
Processor Cooling - Corsair H100i Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Operating System - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence

 

[ubuysa]

I would call PCS and arrange for it to be RMA'd now. You've done all you can I think. Sorry.

 

[vanthus]

Although it does sound like some kind of hardware issue there's a couple of things I would try anyway before sending it back.
First have a look in the event viewer it may or may not give you a clue to the problem.

Try checking the drive for errors,
Open Computer by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Computer.
Right-click the drive/s that you want to check, and then click Properties.
Click the Tools tab, and then, under "Error checking" click Check now.
To automatically repair problems, select "Automatically fix file system errors".
To perform a thorough check, select "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors".
To check for both file errors and physical errors, select both "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors".

Failing that try a clean install of the operating system.
None of this will help if it is a hardware issue,so it's up to you to decide if it's worth the effort or not.
Also If you are overclocking,that could possibly be causing the instability.

 

[LR22]

Interesting...

I did what you said and did a disk check on my C: drive. It came back with this response after a restart:

"Cannot open volume for direct access.
Autochk cannot run due to an error caused by a recently installed software package.
Use the system restore feature from the control panel to restore the system recent software package installation
an unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 3f1)."

Now I'm wondering that it's something I installed on the C: drive that is causing this issue... Not sure.

Maybe I should uninstall everything I've installed and try again?

 

[vanthus]

Interesting...

I did what you said and did a disk check on my C: drive. It came back with this response after a restart:

"Cannot open volume for direct access.
Autochk cannot run due to an error caused by a recently installed software package.
Use the system restore feature from the control panel to restore the system recent software package installation
an unspecified error occurred (766f6c756d652e63 3f1)."

Now I'm wondering that it's something I installed on the C: drive that is causing this issue... Not sure.

Maybe I should uninstall everything I've installed and try again?

I would first try a system restore as suggested in the error notification if one is available to before the problem started,failing that you could try uninstalling any software you suspect could be the cause,but as you've just received the computer it might be quicker just doing a clean install of the operating system,instructions are given in the welcome booklet.
Did you have a look in event viewer as I suggested?
you could also try disabling any startup applications in system configuration,
type msconfig in search box,tick selective startup/click on startup tab/untick everything except antivirus program,or any other program you think you need running in the background.
but as I said a clean install of the operating system might be the quickest and best way in your situation.

 

[LR22]

Ah yes sorry.

The usual errors that I tend to get before the critical Kernal-Power 41 are:

LoadPerf 3001
BugCheck 1001
ESENT 215
WMI 10

?

 

[vanthus]

Ah yes sorry.

The usual errors that I tend to get before the critical Kernal-Power 41 are:

LoadPerf 3001
BugCheck 1001
ESENT 215
WMI 10

?

Those errors don't pinpoint anything specific really,could be driver or registry issue,try what I suggested in post 12 and let us know how it goes.
If in the event what I suggested and ultimately a clean install of the operating system doesn't fix it,a hardware problem is likely.
In which case best give tech support a call tomorrow,pointing them to this thread as it may be of some help and hopefully it can be fixed without needing an RMA,

 

[LR22]

RMA Requested. PCS Tech guys couldn't troubleshoot it.

Once sent off, fixed and returned will I post what the issue was.

Thanks for everyones help. Much appreciated.

 

[ubuysa]

RMA Requested. PCS Tech guys couldn't troubleshoot it.

Once sent off, fixed and returned will I post what the issue was.

Thanks for everyones help. Much appreciated.

Please do post back when it's fixed, it might help someone else.

 

[LR22]

*SOLVED*

Just thought I'd post back with what was causing the issue.

Apparently It was the RAM that was faulty, so they've now replaced the RAM and everything is now in full working order.

I would like to go on record saying that PCS were very slick at dealing with my RMA and that the people on this forum were very helpful. I am now enjoying my computer and it is indeed a beast of a machine.

Thanks again.

 

[Rakk]

*SOLVED*

Just thought I'd post back with what was causing the issue.

Apparently It was the RAM that was faulty, so they've now replaced the RAM and everything is now in full working order.

I would like to go on record saying that PCS were very slick at dealing with my RMA and that the people on this forum were very helpful. I am now enjoying my computer and it is indeed a beast of a machine.

Thanks again.

Glad you got its sorted And thanks for letting us know what was causing the problem.

 

[ubuysa]

*SOLVED*

Just thought I'd post back with what was causing the issue.

Apparently It was the RAM that was faulty, so they've now replaced the RAM and everything is now in full working order.

I would like to go on record saying that PCS were very slick at dealing with my RMA and that the people on this forum were very helpful. I am now enjoying my computer and it is indeed a beast of a machine.

Thanks again.

And thanks for getting back with the solution. I can't believe I didn't ask you to run Memtest in my first post when I asked you to check that the RAM cards were properly seated. Ah well.

+rep for getting back with the solution.

 

[LR22]

And thanks for getting back with the solution. I can't believe I didn't ask you to run Memtest in my first post when I asked you to check that the RAM cards were properly seated. Ah well.

+rep for getting back with the solution.

Haha, was that a bit of sarcasm there? lol. I did re-seat it then ran Memtest which didn't throw-up any errors.... It just froze during the test, haha! That made me just send the whole thing back.