Unexplainable freezes with Ivybridge

I recently upgraded from an ancient socket 775 rig and decided to take the leap to a new Ivybridge i7 with a Z77 motherboard and DDR3 ram to match.

Only thing is now after having everything set up correctly - I've been experiencing random full computer freezes of which I'd have to reset the computer (which actually doesn't reset straight away, it takes a few minutes, then decides to reset). And yes, I'm getting no sort of blue screen either.

My specs are as follows:
CPU - Intel Core i7 3770
RAM - 8GB Kingston DDR3 HyperX
MOBO - Gigabyte Z77-H77-D3H
HD1 - Corsair 64GB SSD Sata 3.0
HD2 -Samsung 750GB HDD Sata 2.0

Other notes: I'm currently using the stock cooler for the i7 as my previous CoolIT Eco v1 does not have a bracket that supports Z77 motherboards. The temps while these freezes occurred were nothing too high.

I'd try a memtest, either off of the Windows CD (assume you are using Windows 7) or download a MemTestx86 iso and boot to it and test the memory. Its a start! Infuriating error though.

Can you access the event logs and see what it is reporting. May help to indicate the problem.

Idleman said:

Can you access the event logs and see what it is reporting. May help to indicate the problem.

Click to expand...

Event logs?

Also, I've just done a memtest off a disc and there were no errors - so thats the memory out of the question I guess...

3 Critical Errors in the last 24 hours.

Source: Kernel Power: Event ID 41
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Thats all there is under critical... Where exactly am I looking?

Did you ever find a solution to this mate? I have the same issue with the same processor but on a Asus motherboard.

I am using a 500 Watt PSU, I wonder if that is the issue..
I have done mem test and there is no issue, the crashes aren't all the time, only intermittently.

The full set up:

i7 3770K
Z77 Asus LE
8GB DDR3 Mushkin
(HD 0)120GB OCZ Agility III
(HD 1)1.5TB Seagate
Asus 550ti
And an optical drive.

I wonder if this too much power requirement for a 500 Watt PSU, any ideas?

I had the same problem, updated my motherboard bios from v4 to v6. No more freezes!

SSD

i believe in both cases you are using SSD's with sandforce controller. this happened to me with the agility 3 120. tried updating bios and chipset drivers. still the same then i found a win7 ahci workaround as i didnt install windows in ahci mode if you did the same then do this

http://midwesttechreviews.com/2011/03/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-after-install/

also i updated firmware on ssd using this pen drive bootable linux tool. there are a few other fixes on there you can do as well as updating the firmware.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...NEW!-Bootable-Linux-based-tools-for-OCZ-SSD-s

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/forumdisplay.php?f=206

hope this helps now my system runs like a dream never frozen since.

Yeah, Id' do the firmware upgrade suggested, and if it persists and you have the patience, try re-installing windows on a HD partition, and disconnect the SSD.

ricenpea said:

i believe in both cases you are using SSD's with sandforce controller. this happened to me with the agility 3 120. tried updating bios and chipset drivers. still the same then i found a win7 ahci workaround as i didnt install windows in ahci mode if you did the same then do this

http://midwesttechreviews.com/2011/03/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-after-install/

also i updated firmware on ssd using this pen drive bootable linux tool. there are a few other fixes on there you can do as well as updating the firmware.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...NEW!-Bootable-Linux-based-tools-for-OCZ-SSD-s

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/forumdisplay.php?f=206

hope this helps now my system runs like a dream never frozen since.

Click to expand...

Ive been having the same problems with freezing issues since Thursday. Tried the above and it didn't work out for me unfortunately. This upgrade has been a nightmare. This is my Hardware...

GA-Z77-D3H
i7 3770K
2x4GB Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
OCZ Agility 3 SSD
Powercool 650W modular PSU
Windows 7 Professional 64bit

...and this is my story

It all started on Thursday afternoon when my shiny new kit arived, ram, proccy, mobo and disc drive.
Took everything out the old case and was ready to crack on all went well till we got to the Thors Hammer. It wouldnt clip on! After closer inspection and almost brown trousers everything was ok, just the clip on the Thor was dodgy.
So after wiping up some thermal paste (giggety) I set about setting up the stock cooler and bits and bobs and that was fine.Till I started to get freezing & lockups. No BSOD, just a freeze or a freeze and a reboot.

So I thought it was maybe the soundcard doing it as my old one did in the past. Popped open the case, took it out and left the panel off and restarted. All fine till 5 mins later when it started locking up again... Then *CLANG!*. Turned round and the side of the case made a bid for freedom and flattened me soundcard.

Cue more swearing... gave up and decided to reinstall windows cos the ****er wouldnt update due to so many crashes thinking it was a borked install. Wasnt that. So I turned my attention to whats in the bioses. Changed my driver mode to AHCI (didnt work, more hangs), quick update to mobo (F12 Bios, also didnt work) and my SSD.

Now, trying to get the OCZ software was a nightmare and my shiny new PC didnt like it. So I dissected the PC again put it in the old PC and ran the tools and updated it to 2.20. Back to the new rig. More freezing. As you can tell at this point I was losing the will to live (and you probably are reading this lol).

So I go online and notice there was a new Bios update that day (f13 no less)!
I installed crossed my fingers and prayed to Thor ( in pennance for his Hammer being broken and all, was a sacrifice)... And YAY! There was no issues!
...till 4 hours later.

At this point the lockups were gone, Now I was getting really bad PC stutter. Would freeze for 5 seconds, then work for 3 freeze for 5 and so on, couldn't even reboot.

So! Back into the bios, changed my BCLK to 100.1 and so far so good. It was on Auto but turned that off.

It seems to be working now but will have to keep an eye on it. Was at 10pm last night and these issues only happen with windows, not in game. Will report back if it doesnt work. Theres still 2 other fixes I can try failing that I'll be sending the kit back to OC UK for a replacement by next Thursday. Possibly with a change of mobo.

Theres some other fixes here:

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,8885.30.html

Hope this helps some of you out there!

Whoops. Doublepost.

I'm getting the same problem with my new setup:

GA-Z77-D3H
i7 3570K
4x4GB Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
Crucial M4 SSD

All running at standard default settings.

I had one case of PC freezing yesterday and another just now.

I have set the BCLK to 100.1 after reading your post - lets see if that's fixed it. Just spend 2 days getting a fresh Windows 7 install setup. Hope its not all wasted effort.

BTW I'm still on F11 bios, not sure if its any use to update or just leave it?

Thanks.

I would leave it TBH. Without a proper changelist of what F13 does there's not much point. All it did was give me microstutter instead of out-and-out freezing. Maybe when theres a proper Bios update to address the freezing, I would go for it.

Things have been ok so far, although I did get a bluescreen last night by clicking a dodgy link. PC was on solid for 15 hours too... no issues. Keep me posted on how you get on! ^_^

After setting BLCK to 100.1 mine has been rock solid. I even left the PC on most of the day yesterday and it didnt lockup once.

I spent a bit of time last week trying to overclock this setup to 4.0 - 4.3 and it would fail prime everytime so I just left it all at default. If this 100.1 things works out I may give it another go but saying that default is plenty fast for me.

Irondog said:

I would leave it TBH. Without a proper changelist of what F13 does there's not much point. All it did was give me microstutter instead of out-and-out freezing. Maybe when theres a proper Bios update to address the freezing, I would go for it.

Things have been ok so far, although I did get a bluescreen last night by clicking a dodgy link. PC was on solid for 15 hours too... no issues. Keep me posted on how you get on! ^_^

Click to expand...

The changelogs of giga bioses are very short and do NOT list all things they fixed. So its always worth trying the new bios even if the problem solution is not described there

I'm having a similar problem on my GA-Z77-UD3H. It just freezes when i'm doing things, once in Skyrim, again when I rebooted, and again in minecraft about an hour ago. there is nothing in the event viewer that give a cause of the problem. My full specs are:

i5 3570K @ stock
GA- Z77-UD3H
GTX 680 Windforce X3
8GBs of Samsung green RAM
Corsair TX750W psu
500Gb HDD, no SSD.

I will try updating the Bios and see if that solves the problem.

Fire_fly said:

I'm having a similar problem on my GA-Z77-UD3H. It just freezes when i'm doing things, once in Skyrim, again when I rebooted, and again in minecraft about an hour ago. there is nothing in the event viewer that give a cause of the problem. My full specs are:

i5 3570K @ stock
GA- Z77-UD3H
GTX 680 Windforce X3
8GBs of Samsung green RAM
Corsair TX750W psu
500Gb HDD, no SSD.

I will try updating the Bios and see if that solves the problem.

Click to expand...

Did you try setting BLCK to 100.1? It fixed it for me.

Harbz said:

Did you try setting BLCK to 100.1? It fixed it for me.

Click to expand...

I flashed the bios to F9, had fun getting it to work as my Sidewinder joystick seems to stop you entering the bios, but i managed to sort it out. tried to set the base clock to 100.1 but i won't stay there, it is at 100.9 while writing this, is there a better way to do it than just the sliders within the bios? I have just had a few games on BF3 and it was ok.

Fire_fly said:

I flashed the bios to F9, had fun getting it to work as my Sidewinder joystick seems to stop you entering the bios, but i managed to sort it out. tried to set the base clock to 100.1 but i won't stay there, it is at 100.9 while writing this, is there a better way to do it than just the sliders within the bios? I have just had a few games on BF3 and it was ok.

Click to expand...

Select the item in the bios and just type in the value.