System locks up at desktop. Please help for the family PC! UPDATED with pictures

[ExpendableG4M3R]

Hello HWC Community,

I am having a problem with my newly built pc locking up at desktop. The pc only has windows 7 loaded and a few monitoring programs installed, cpuz, gpuz, hwmonitor, speedfan and heaven benchmark. When I load up windows everything is fine until I load up one of the programs. It doesnt happen everytime but id say at least half the time. As the program loads the system locks up. Half the time the screen will go blank, the pc stays on but the gpu fans rev up to 100% and then rev down to normal and it repeats this until I hard turn off. The gpu also artifacted once in the cpuz program which then the whole screen was artifacting.

Any idea if the problem is in the hard drive, motherboard or used gpu? Ncix is rmaing the hard drive for me and said they will test the mobo but the video card I bought USED here from a member but they said it was working fine when they had it.

The system is not overlocked running all stock. Ive been told that it could be all three are defective. How can I test my mobo though, what problems should I look for that would lead it to be a mobo issue?

I ran Heaven for 2 hrs last night with no problems. Memtest for 4 hrs no problems. Prime95 for a hour no problems but still half the time when I try to load up any program...hard locks and the one time it showed artifacts.

Sorry for the long post but this has become very upsetting as this build has been nothing but problems and I cant afford to replace parts right now with my daughters medical bills. This pc was for the family and play a few games to de-stress from life right now.

Any help will be greatly appreciated,

Expendable

 

[Vittra]

What were your temps like when running Heaven? I'm guessing you can't get a good read on CPU temps since 2D programs are crashing.

Some notes:

Do you have the ability to remove the GPU completely and run off of IGPU video? That will eliminate the Discreet GPU from the equation. That being said, the card would have to be incredibly faulty to be failing in 2D, but maybe the clock speeds are getting screwed up since your 3D seems ok - it could be a faulty video card driver installation, so you can try to uninstall them completely (Uninstall, boot to safe mode, and use DDU or something similar to wipe out drivers COMPLETELY) and try a different version.

Next, I'd say ensure the ram is seated properly, and perhaps try running with just 1 stick. You may also want to take this opportunity to re-seat your CPU's heatsink as well, and inspect the CPU/Motherboard (depending on Intel/AMD) and contact points on the CPU/Motherboard.

Edit - Also, reset your CMOS on the motherboard, not through the software, but whatever physical means are possible with the one you have (jumper pins on mobo, battery pull, etc)

 

[ExpendableG4M3R]

The programs only lock the pc up half the time so when they do load and work I cam get info.

The cpu temps on the 8320 around 53c when prime95 was running and about 17c on idle. Thats what hwmonitor says under the 8320 package temps. The cpu socket temps are about 12c hotter on a erage all the time.
The gpu temps on the 270x around 61c when heaven demo was running and about 20c idle.

I resettled everything and memtest came back error free after 3 passes. First i ran the ram in dual channel then ran each chip one at a time. There is no IGPU. The motherboard is an ASrock 990fx killer.

Ill wipe the drive again and reload Windows without any drivers ill see if the programs lock up. Will the Heaven demo work without video drivers?

Im also not sure on how you can tell when a motherboard is faulty? So far everyone ive spoken to or read online has said the video is faulty and needs to be replaced. Once artifacts happen thats a dead giveaway of a gpu dying. if so im not going to be to happy with the member who sold it to me

 

[enaberif]

Stop using HW Monitor I find its never really accurate.. Use CoreTemp or RealTemp.

Hard locks is usually hardware so grab memtest and test your memory. If that passes check your hard drive with manufacturer tools.

 

[ExpendableG4M3R]

The ram is fine. The hard drive passed aswell but its getting replaced anyways by ncix as they think thats the first step to take. They also believe its a hardware problem and not a software problem.

 

[KaptCrunch]

first need to know what motherboard REVISION you have for that model ? GA-970A-D3 cos there is 5 different hardware

but same model # the revision uses different chip vendors so you need to get correct bios

or make a door stop if use the wrong one not matching your Rev:X.XX that's printed on motherboard it self

then proceed to update bios to current f12

 

[ExpendableG4M3R]

The motherboard is an ASrock 990fx Killer Rev1.0 BIOS 1.0.

 

[KaptCrunch]

I see 1.10 Improve M.2 compatibility. network update for bios updates

other what PSU using ? and pci-e connections to gpu

 

[ExpendableG4M3R]

I got some pictures today what the system is doing.

First picture - The pc was sitting idle with CPUZ, GPUZ and Speedfan, hwmonitor and IE open. 3-4 minutes later the PC locked up sitting IDLE and lost all colors. I was sitting at the default windows desktop screen. IE is the big black box..top right was cpuz below that was gpuz and behind IE was speedfan and hwmonitor. Everything just went black and froze.

Second picture - This is what happened when the program CPUZ started to artifact last night. When I moved the program around the desktop BAM! This happened. I had to hard reset the pc to fix the problem

The black screen stuff happens id say at least 50% of the time on every boot up. I think the GPU is shot.


Now usually the screen just does blank and the monitor loses connection to the video card and starts to cycle the inputs looking for a signal the pc stays on but locks up. The only way to fix this is to flip the PSU switch off then on and power the PC back up.
I am using an Antec HCP-620M PSU. Ive used a psu calcutor putting in all my specs and it says at 90% load I would only pull 419w. I know my PSU and RAM are fine because they are from my last build and I never had problem with them. MEMTEST came back negative for errors after 3 passes (5hr run)

I am just using the first PCI-e slot on the motherboard.

 

[ZZLEE]

Try another slot on the board and another cable on GPU another and DVI cable to the monitor.


Pull system out of the case and try it on cardboard or the motherboard box.

Picture off the build in the case maybe we can see something.