Freezing/Crash Every 30 minutes

L

Ltor

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 7, 2010
Messages
159
Out of no where last night my computer seized up while watching a movie on vlc and immediately crashed. It booted back up and asked me to select boot device and restart. I do that and after which it runs anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. But inevitably everything stops responding and within another 5 minutes it crashes again. It's done this several times, one of which it actually recovered and when it came back it was no longer showing my SSD under my computer. I could browse my files and videos stored on my 1TB HDD but obviously couldn't open any of them as the required programs reside on my ssd. This lead my to believe my SSD was to blame, but SSD Life Pro told me my drive was in excellent health and estimated its life at 9 years. I also ran Prime95 for a half hour with HWMonitor up and everything stayed around 51C. I have a 212 and nothings overclocked so I didn't expect heat to be the issue. I've also ran CCleaner and fixed the 150 or so errors it found.I checked to make sure windows wasn't automatically defragging the SSD and did a virus scan with avast. I can't execute a memtest or anything that involves burning a disk image as I only have a dvd drive. Now I'm about to update my SSD's firmware then I suppose I'll try furmark to test the GPU but I can't imagine that would be causing it.

What's my next move?
 
Well, update the firmware to be sure (be careful and read, some drive firmware updates requiire a wipe of the drive.) Still, even though SMART says things are good it could still be a bad drive, bad cable or bad SATA port (or a rash of other things). Burn a *nix live USB stick like ubuntu and see if it runs from there without incident, at least that will possibly point to a problem with your SSD/SATA.
 
Ran the firmware update, windows failed to start. File: /grldr.mbr
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: the selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.

So that didn't work, also the 3d benchmark ran for 42 minutes without error untill the not responding/crash happened again. So I should have posted this in gen hardware because I have no clue as to what component is muffed up.
 
It sounds like at leasy your boot files have been trashed. Do you have any non-windows partitions on your disk or some other boot manager (grub, acronis etc?) If not, boot from your windows DVD and run startup repair / repair your computer from the main boot screen.
 
mwroobel said:
It sounds like at leasy your boot files have been trashed. Do you have any non-windows partitions on your disk or some other boot manager (grub, acronis etc?) If not, boot from your windows DVD and run startup repair / repair your computer from the main boot screen.
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I can boot up fine I just have to power off and on manually after a crash. It's only after a crash when it restarts automatically does it come up saying, "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press any key." But like I said once I do a hard restart manually it boots up normal and runs for a while until it randomly crashes within an hour.
 
When it freezes, does it just lock the mouse and the screen, BSOD and reboot or just shut down? This is also going to sounds nuts, but please try. The next time it freezes, hit num lock or caps lock and tell me if the light on the keyboard changes. Since you are not overclocking and prime95 is running fine, it is likely not your memory. It sounds like a SATA related issue, whether the drive, port or cable I can't tell yet. The next thing to try is to move the ssd to another sata port. What specific motherboard are you running so you can move it to another port on the same controller.
 
No I can still move the mouse around and theres no blue screen of death stuff just starts not responding until finally it cuts out kind of looks like a tube tv turning off. only pixelyer...if that made any human sense. My mobo is a MSI Z68A-GD55 (B3) ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (had to check because im oblivious) Your gonna have to explain how I can tell if a esata cord is on the same controller. Also what a controller is. I can't stress enough how ignorant I am of computer hardware, don't let the fact that i'm on this forum fool you, danny boy gave me a list, I bought it, and used neweggs videos to cobble them together.

Also if it does turn out to be hardware to blame, which i assuming it has to be, what do my options look like as far as getting things replaced. Everything is barely 7 months old and I bought it all, aside from the SSD(which i got from amazon), from newegg. Can I get a replacement for free, minus shipping, through newegg or do I have to go through the manufacturer or am I plain shit out of luck?
 
Ltor said:
No I can still move the mouse around and theres no blue screen of death stuff just starts not responding until finally it cuts out kind of looks like a tube tv turning off. only pixelyer...if that made any human sense. My mobo is a MSI Z68A-GD55 (B3) ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (had to check because im oblivious) Your gonna have to explain how I can tell if a esata cord is on the same controller. Also what a controller is. I can't stress enough how ignorant I am of computer hardware, don't let the fact that i'm on this forum fool you, danny boy gave me a list, I bought it, and used neweggs videos to cobble them together.

Also if it does turn out to be hardware to blame, which i assuming it has to be, what do my options look like as far as getting things replaced. Everything is barely 7 months old and I bought it all, aside from the SSD(which i got from amazon), from newegg. Can I get a replacement for free, minus shipping, through newegg or do I have to go through the manufacturer or am I plain shit out of luck?
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Well, as far as replacement, all your stuff should still be under warranty so if we can pick out the offending item, you should be fine. As to where to send it, most since the stuff is months old would go through the manufacturer. Generally you would be responsible to pay shipping to their RMA facility and they will pay shipping back. Lets start with a few things.. Your motherboard has a new UEFI firmware version 22.8. If you have an older version, please update it. You can find the latest firmware at http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z68A-GD55--B3-.html#/?div=BIOS Second, since you have video issues (weird pixelation, crt-like pop-out), make sure you are running the latest drivers for your video card. What card (brand and model) are you using? Next, lets look at the Sata connectors... Your board seems to have 8 SATA ports (the numbers should be silk-screened on the motherboard itself). #1 & 2 are connected to the Intel 6Gb/s cpu based controller. #3 to 6 are connected to the Intel 3Gb/s cpu based controller. #7 & 8 are connected to a Marvell third party controller. What port is your SSD connected to right now (hopefully not 7 or 8)?
 
mwroobel said:
Well, as far as replacement, all your stuff should still be under warranty so if we can pick out the offending item, you should be fine. As to where to send it, most since the stuff is months old would go through the manufacturer. Generally you would be responsible to pay shipping to their RMA facility and they will pay shipping back. Lets start with a few things.. Your motherboard has a new UEFI firmware version 22.8. If you have an older version, please update it. You can find the latest firmware at http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z68A-GD55--B3-.html#/?div=BIOS Second, since you have video issues (weird pixelation, crt-like pop-out), make sure you are running the latest drivers for your video card. What card (brand and model) are you using? Next, lets look at the Sata connectors... Your board seems to have 8 SATA ports (the numbers should be silk-screened on the motherboard itself). #1 & 2 are connected to the Intel 6Gb/s cpu based controller. #3 to 6 are connected to the Intel 3Gb/s cpu based controller. #7 & 8 are connected to a Marvell third party controller. What port is your SSD connected to right now (hopefully not 7 or 8)?
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My GPU and other specs are in my signature. Now which of the two plugs going into my drives is data, I assume the small white plug is data and the larger black one that has a bunch of connectors on 1 cord is for power. The small white ones which go to my drives are both plugged into the top most white slots. The two that go to my dvd drive and to the esata port on the top of the case are plugged in to the black slots the next row down and the bottom 2 ports have nothing. I assume the top white is 6gb/s and the middle is 3. So i think that's all good.
 
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Ltor said:
My GPU and other specs are in my signature. Now I'm trying to look for any indicator for what cord I have plugged in. Now which is which going into my drives, is the small white plug data and the larger black plug power?
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You can download the latest ATI drivers at http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx . As for the sata cord, there should be 2 cables going to your ssd. One thinner connector that goes from the drive to the motherboard (that's the data cable I want to know which port it is plugged into) and one thicker connector which goes to your power supply.
 
mwroobel said:
You can download the latest ATI drivers at http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx . As for the sata cord, there should be 2 cables going to your ssd. One thinner connector that goes from the drive to the motherboard (that's the data cable I want to know which port it is plugged into) and one thicker connector which goes to your power supply.
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Right sorry I edited that once i got a lamp and found what was what. I'm relatively certain both are going into the 6gb/s slot as its the only 2 white slots the other four are black.

Edit: I'm installing the new GPU driver I was one version off. As far as the Mobi I ran Live Updater 5 (their automatic installing software right after the first crash but I just scanned again and the same stuff is available for me to download so i guess when it crashed again it didn't save. the MB Bios is 50 versions off the online version and the HD audio driver is a bit outdate but thats it. I'll restart as soon as these finish to ensure they stick this time. But if this doesn't solve it what should I do next?
 
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Ltor said:
Right sorry I edited that once i got a lamp and found what was what. I'm relatively certain both are going into the 6gb/s slot as its the only 2 white slots the other four are black.

Edit: I'm installing the new GPU driver I was one version off. As far as the Mobi I ran Live Updater 5 (their automatic installing software right after the first crash but I just scanned again and the same stuff is available for me to download so i guess when it crashed again it didn't save. the MB Bios is 50 versions off the online version and the HD audio driver is a bit outdate but thats it. I'll restart as soon as these finish to ensure they stick this time. But if this doesn't solve it what should I do next?
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Definitely update the BIOS asap! I believe the two white sata ports should be the closest to the DIMM slots. Can you pull them from the white ports and move them one set of ports to the left. This will move them to the intel 3gbs ports. You may need to choose the ssd as the boot device at the UEFI screen, but it should just pick it up and go. One other question, how old is your motherboard? There was a known problem with some early Z68 motherboards with a hardware problem with the SATA ports. You can read more at http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/intel-discovers-bug-in-6series-chipset-begins-recall It was resolved some time ago, but some older stock still hung around the distribution channels and you might have to send msi your serial # to make sure you aren't affected. In general this problem only affected the 3Gb/s ports (not the 6Gb/s that you are using right now) but there were problem with both in early shipments of the chipset.
 
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mwroobel said:
Definitely update the BIOS asap! I believe the two white sata ports should be the closest to the DIMM slots. Can you pull them from the white ports and move them one set of ports to the left. This will move them to the intel 3gbs ports. You may need to choose the ssd as the boot device at the UEFI screen, but it should just pick it up and go. One other question, how old is your motherboard? There was a known problem with some early Z68 motherboards with a hardware problem with the SATA ports. You can read more at http://www.anandtech.com/show/4142/intel-discovers-bug-in-6series-chipset-begins-recall It was resolved some time ago, but some older stock still hung around the distribution channels and you might have to send msi your serial # to make sure you aren't affected. In general this problem only affected the 3Gb/s ports (not the 6Gb/s that you are using right now) but there were problem with both in early shipments of the chipset.
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Litterally froze right as I went to restart so i think ill have to reinstall those drivers but anyway. You want me to move the SSD and HDD from the slot closest to the ram to the left to the middle to slots? What should i do with the optical drive and top of case esata cords that are already in that middle slot?
 
Ltor said:
Litterally froze right as I went to restart so i think ill have to reinstall those drivers but anyway. You want me to move the SSD and HDD from the slot closest to the ram to the left to the middle to slots? What should i do with the optical drive and top of case esata cords that are already in that middle slot?
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Yes, and just pull the esata cords for right now.
 
Got mono updates to Dave and switched to the middle seats ports but still crashing
 
That last post came from my iphone, got autocorrected to hell. Was trying to say I got the MOBO update to stick finally and switched both drives to the middle 3gb port like you said but to no effect, still crashed right on time around 45 minutes.
 
Just try the parts in another PC if possible to rule them out as issues. Especially the drive.
 
Danny Bui said:
Just try the parts in another PC if possible to rule them out as issues. Especially the drive.
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It's the only PC I own unfortunately. Is there another way to test the drive without burning a cd? I have a usb only external drive, there anyway to mount something on that boot off it and test the ssd? I mean I also have the HDD.
 
Ltor said:
It's the only PC I own unfortunately. Is there another way to test the drive without burning a cd? I have a usb only external drive, there anyway to mount something on that boot off it and test the ssd? I mean I also have the HDD.
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The next thing is to try and boot from a livecd *nix like ubuntu. You can do this from a USB stick, here is the info on what you need to do http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/try-ubuntu-before-you-install
 
This is your problem:

-Intel Core i5-2500K
-Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600
-XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB
-Crucial M4 128GB SSD
-Hitachi Desktar 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s HD
-Corsair 750TX V2 750W
-NZXT Phantom Black
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See this thread.

On the bright side Crucial will replace it quickly, but you need to call them for an RMA you can't do it online.
 
Fooshnik said:
This is your problem:



See this thread.

On the bright side Crucial will replace it quickly, but you need to call them for an RMA you can't do it online.
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Thanks for that, third guy who commented ont hat article sounds like he had the same issue as me and he said firmware update fixed it, I'll try that again but I thought I already did that.

ShinySteelRobot on 05-20-2012 10:27 AM - last edited on 05-20-2012 10:30 AM

My 512GB m4 SSD was disconnecting once an hour and it turned out to be a bug in the early m4 firmware. A firmware update fixed it. Too bad it was the last thing I tried. IMHO, if you have an m4 SSD that's about 4-5 months old that disconnects a lot, try the firmware update first.

Note there is a bug in the 000F m4 firmware that causes constant beachballs on Macs. If you have a Mac, then use firmware 0309 or else whatever is released after 000F.


EDIT: Well now I remember why I didn't update the firmware. I downloaded the updater, ran the .exe, hit continue, it restarted the computer, and once it boots back up I get a screen with "windows failed to start. A recent Hardware or software change might be the cause. etc etc "File: \grldr.mbr Status: 0xc000000f"

EDIT 2: Was running the .exe from the downloads folder located in another drive. Moved and installed without a problem this time, now to wait and see if the problem persists.
 
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Ltor said:
Thanks for that, third guy who commented ont hat article sounds like he had the same issue as me and he said firmware update fixed it, I'll try that again but I thought I already did that.

ShinySteelRobot on 05-20-2012 10:27 AM - last edited on 05-20-2012 10:30 AM

My 512GB m4 SSD was disconnecting once an hour and it turned out to be a bug in the early m4 firmware. A firmware update fixed it. Too bad it was the last thing I tried. IMHO, if you have an m4 SSD that's about 4-5 months old that disconnects a lot, try the firmware update first.

Note there is a bug in the 000F m4 firmware that causes constant beachballs on Macs. If you have a Mac, then use firmware 0309 or else whatever is released after 000F.


EDIT: Well now I remember why I didn't update the firmware. I downloaded the updater, ran the .exe, hit continue, it restarted the computer, and once it boots back up I get a screen with "windows failed to start. A recent Hardware or software change might be the cause. etc etc "File: \grldr.mbr Status: 0xc000000f"

EDIT 2: Was running the .exe from the downloads folder located in another drive. Moved and installed without a problem this time, now to wait and see if the problem persists.
Click to expand...

This right here.
That is exactly what I needed.
I was running the exe out of my downloads folder on another drive, and the update was always failing.
My Crucial M4 is now update to 000F.
Lets see if I have any more crashes.
 
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