At my wits end!

A friend who owns a small business asked me if I would build him a computer. Knowing that I had some parts around, I agreed. Here are the specs:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 @ stock
MSI 870A-G54 motherboard, latest BIOS
4x2GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill RAM running at 1333 MHz, CL9
Hitachi 7K500 SATA hard drive
ATI 128MB X300 SE PCI-E video card
Antec Earthwatts EA-380D 380W PSU
Lite-on DVD-RW SATA
Windows 7 Pro x64 w/SP1

The computer randomly locks up in Windows and I cannot figure out why the hell it keeps happening. Sometimes it locks at the Windows "Welcome" screen, sometimes when I right click an object, sometimes while it's just sitting at the desktop. Here's what I've done:

- Temperatures are fine, CPU idles at 29C
- Originally using a 400W FSP PSU, thought it may be a power issue and replaced with the Earthwatts PSU
- Ran Memtest and found errors on two sticks of the RAM. RMA'd the memory, received replacements, system runs Memtest for 8 hours with no errors
- Tried swapping the video card with an ATI 4850, system still hard locks
- Had another MSI 870A-G54 motherboard laying around so swapped the motherboards and reinstalled Windows, system still hard locks
- Replaced the power cable coming from the wall to the PSU, no help
- Ran Hitachi's disk diagnostic software, hard drive passes the long test with no errors
- Originally installed Windows with SATA in AHCI mode, tried reinstalling in IDE mode, no help
- All unnecessary onboard devices disabled in BIOS -- serial port and USB3
- Nothing is overclocked, all running at stock speeds and voltages -- RAM is even underclocked, it's rated at 1600MHz but I'm running it at 1333MHz but it doesn't matter what speed it runs at, the system still hard locks
- Installing only the driver bundles direct from MSI's website but have also tried latest drivers from AMD for the chipset, Realtek for the LAN and audio.

I've replaced, swapped out, or tested every single component in the system and the issues still persist. The only things I have not swapped out are the DVD-RW, SATA cables, and CPU. Literally every other component has been replaced or passed an extensive hardware test. What really gets me is the CPU, motherboard, and RAM was originally used as my main desktop for over a year with zero problems.

What could this be?????

If you have a spare HDD you should try booting it off that or even a USB stick or LiveCD with a Linux OS on it which is probably easier. I have a feeling that despite the Hitachi disk diagnostic software claims it's passed it may not be all dandy. If it boots into the thumb drive or CD/DVD then you can start screaming at your hard drive

Is this a fresh install of Windows? I agree with pelo, sounds like software corruption. Also, make sure memory voltage is set to RAM's specifications. Clocking at 1333MHz is fine if timings are auto.

I'm on Windows reinstall #4 or #5 right now. I've lost count.

A few minutes ago I had Disk Cleanup running and had open Catalyst Control Suite to remove the icon from the System Tray when the latest hard lock occurred. Now I've swapped out the SATA cable to the HDD and swapped the AMD 945 CPU with a 925. The only other physical component I haven't swapped now is the DVD-RW and the SATA cable going to it.

But you've been using the same HDD, correct?

The only times I've had hard locks I've always noticed it's been because of a faulty HDD. Can you try making a linux LiveCD or booting from a thumb drive to make sure the HDD isn't the culprit?

pelo said:

But you've been using the same HDD, correct?

The only times I've had hard locks I've always noticed it's been because of a faulty HDD. Can you try making a linux LiveCD or booting from a thumb drive to make sure the HDD isn't the culprit?

Click to expand...

If it locks again I'll swap the HDD with an 80GB I've got laying around. Right now it's playing nice and doing a defrag.

Child of Wonder said:

If it locks again I'll swap the HDD with an 80GB I've got laying around. Right now it's playing nice and doing a defrag.

Click to expand...

There it goes... ran a Windows Experience Index rating and it locked up.

So now I'm installing Windows to an 80GB SATA drive I have laying around and see what happens after that.

If all's well, then it has to be the HDD.

Was there nothing in the event logs?

Quartz-1 said:

Was there nothing in the event logs?

Click to expand...

No, the system simply hard locks.

Definitely not the hard drive... just tried hard drive #3 and system locked during Windows Experience Index rating.

I hate to say it but me thinks it is the motherboard. I know you tried 2 different motherboards, but they were of the same exact model. It just might be a lemon of a board.

I also looked at reviews of that board on newegg and they were not good, as others have the same or similar problems as you with that particular board.

The bad thing is the only way to tell for sure is to try another board (not the exact same board as your using now) that is compatible with the rest of the parts you have.

Not sure if I have been any help but it sure sounds like a bad motherboard design to me.

Motherboard is my next guess. Rest of your components are probably fine then.

One more thing: have you tried changing the SATA cables?

This is sort of a "hit it with a hammer and hope for the best" sort of solution, but try clearing the CMOS then go into bios and disable HPET, TPM, "CPU phase control" (under "green power"), Cool'N'Quiet, and C1E. See if this stabilizes the machine at all, if so then turn them back on one by one until it breaks again. I would suspect the power saving features as i have seen systems fail to enter or recover from lower CPU power states before, resulting in similar behavior.