Hard Freeze, please help

steffsrees · 20 Mar 2018 at 23:31

so recently, it's been getting a lot worse... my PC will just randomly freeze, while loading up, while playing games, while sitting on the desktop. When i say freeze, i mean totally... no sounds, no reset, no response everything sticks on exactly as it is until i manually kill the power to the machine.

the only errors i get in event viewer are Critical Kernel Power 41 (63) , which i've read is more of a response than a cause, and distributedCOM 10016 error which i think is software permissions, but they're only errors.

i5 6600k
980ti
Corsair 1000w PSU (2 years old)
Corsair vengeance ddr4 16gb 3200 (not set to XMP or clocked)
samsung m.2 500gb

now, it is all watercooled... but the temperatures are definitely not an issue, this will happen on the first boot up of the day within seconds on some occasions.
i've run various tests on things, gpu burn, cpu burn... memory test on the intel management app and i've re installed windows before now... the PC performance isn't effected, it's literally just a random hard crash... i've no idea now guys.

any suggestions? thank you so much in advance :rolleyes:

Pocah · 21 Mar 2018 at 08:49

Hello.
Unfortunately it doesn't sound good. When chips fail they usually show signs when they are cold or hot, signs that stay stable for some time then suddenly get a lot worse immediately before failure. Sounds to me like your graphics card is on the way out. It could be the motherboard. I would start by removing the graphics card for a few days and running on CPU graphics for that time. If that locks up again then its probably the motherboard. If it doesn't, well, you found your problem.

matthab · 21 Mar 2018 at 09:17

Maybe your overclock isn't stabled, put it back to stock.

EsaT · 21 Mar 2018 at 09:33

With CPU having integrated GPU would certainly try few days of desktop/web surfing etc use without that 980 Ti.
Always good to start experimenting from things which doesn't cost.

Of course CPU to stock setting if not.
And you could just select XMP profile for memory in BIOS.

steffsrees · 21 Mar 2018 at 13:05

Thanks so much again guys, so before booting her up this time... i've disconnected the two power connectors on my GPU and i'm using the onboard graphics right now (just disconnecting the power from the GPU is enough right? or must i unsteat it too?)
i bought my Zotac 980ti second hand ready fitted with a waterblock about 2.5 years ago, i did thoroughly test it when i first bought it.
so with the onboard graphics connected, i guess i should just leave it CPU and Memory benchmarking constantly, right?
with regards to the CPU, i turned off a lot of extras trying to rule things like, turbo clock, power saving modes, even intel RST to see if my m.2 was the problem or something, i tried disabling almost everything in the bios and it would still happen... i'll let you guys know if it's still happening with the GPU out.

i've noticed sometimes, even when i shut the PC down properly, it'll load back up with everything exactly as it was... all my chrome tabs and settings open everything... is that an indicator of anything or just w10 crap?

Thank you so much again.

Habakkuk · 22 Mar 2018 at 01:28

Nah, it saves your tabs when it closes improperly, that's a browser thing.

steffsrees · 29 Mar 2018 at 22:00

okay so i've today put in a replacement 980ti (EVGA SC) and on the first boot... i had the hard freeze again... but i did have the last GPU... and the new GPU, both plugged into two different PCIE rails on the PSU, so i've tried connecting it to just one for now... and i'm going to leave it running... my thinking was maybe one of those rails got fried? maybe i'm way off the mark though? thanks guys!

Habakkuk · 2 Apr 2018 at 18:28

Do you have an alternative PSU to test your computer on?

Hopefully it's the PSU as it's much easier and cheaper to replace.