New PC keeps hard freezing

[LiljaFX]

Well, this gave quick results. I booted Linux on the PC in question from a USB stick about half an our ago and just went to setup the WiFi connection when it froze mid-password. Has been sitting frozen for 10 minutes now so I think it's the same freeze I get on Windows and not some hiccup.

Quick recap regarding hardware:

• PSU: has been replaced after first freezes
• RAM: sticks were tested separatly in different slots, still froze
• CPU: bought new, stress tested for couple of hours - no alternative on hand
• MB: bought new - no alternative on hand
• SSD: bought new, have an old one laying around I could test instead (but could the SSD even cause a freeze ? Linux had access to the SSD but it was booted from the stick)
• GPU: two different 1050Ti were tested, freezes with both

Where should I go from here?

[umdogan]

Many of Z490-I owners are having a hard freezing issue as well whlie XMP is enabled. None of us have a definitive fix yet but I think setting VCCIO and SA voltages manually (and corresponding boot voltages) to 1.1V helped a little for me at least. Could you try manually setting those voltages I mentioned?

I don't know the root cause of your problem but considering it's the same platform it might help.

[LiljaFX]

Many of Z490-I owners are having a hard freezing issue as well whlie XMP is enabled. None of us have a definitive fix yet but I think setting VCCIO and SA voltages manually (and corresponding boot voltages) to 1.1V helped a little for me at least. Could you try manually setting those voltages I mentioned?

I don't know the root cause of your problem but considering it's the same platform it might help.

Thanks for the input, I actually changed those voltages some weeks ago according to this thread:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...I-RAM-settings

So I have them set at 1.2V. Which would be the corresponding boot voltages?

I tried many settings for the RAM, first it was set to "Auto" at default DDR4 voltage and frequency.
Afterwards I tried manually setting frequency and voltage to 3200MHz and 1.35V according to the ASUS support page (and additionally the CPU VCCIO Voltage and CPU System Agent Voltage to 1.2V), still froze.
Next I tried XMP I and XMP II but always got freezes. For now the RAM it was back to DDR4 default (2133MHz and 1.2V I think) by selecting "Auto" for those values and it froze time and time again.


For now I removed the mainboard from the case to rule out a short (I suspect that wasn't the problem, but better be safe) and will see when/if the next freeze happens. Any further instructions on how to proceed if a freeze occurs would be appreciated

[umdogan]

Sorry for asking basic questions but have you tried a different ram kit? Is the one you already have listed on QVL of Asus?

[LiljaFX]

Sorry for asking basic questions but have you tried a different ram kit? Is the one you already have listed on QVL of Asus?

I appreciate your help, so no worries
My kit is CMK32GX4M2B3200C16 and ASUS has listed two versions for those:

I don't know how to determine which version I have but I guessed it would be compatible.

For now I didn't try another kit since I don't have any on hand (all other computers in the house still have DDR3), but I ordered one a couple of days ago and wanted to try that. I thought of RAM initially as the source of the freezes but I tested the sticks each on their own in different slots and the computer still froze so I thought "Can't be the RAM, how likely is it both sticks are defective?". But I will try it with the new kit, should arrive in the next couple of days and we will see if that fixes anything.

[LiljaFX]

Update: Froze again with MB out of the case. I booted Linux 3 times and all three times the freezes happened in less than 30 minutes. I'll see if I can monitor any useful information and reproduce the freeze again.
It's not the USB stick that causes the freezes, I let it run on another PC overnight and everything was fine.

[MRBULL]

this is probably not what is causing your issue BUT it sure was mine for a few months , massive freezes in games also
turned out to be the ****ing malwarebytes "WEB PROTECTION" i turned that off and never had another freez after that

[Gofran]

Have you find an sulotion ? For me its happens like once a week i think it has to do oled or on motherboard or aio because it also freeze when i put one of the on hw monitor

[XYchromosone]

to me it sounds like hardware since it happened in linux as well as windows. I'm wondering if a CPU socket pin if slightly bent? It happened to one of my brand new motherboards, a Maximus XI Code that I purchased brand new, but it came with numerous bent pins [It was probably a returned motherboard by a previous customer from the local vendor that sold it to me that way ... it's a long story].

I straightened the 10 bent pins as best as I could, enough to boot and install windows and it ran fine for a few weeks. Then it began to freeze and not boot once it ran for a while and the motherboard warmed up. So I checked the CPU socket pins and found just one pin was still ever so slightly bent, probably enough to boot when the motherboard was cold but as the CPU socket warmed up the slightly bent pin lost connection with the CPU contact pads due to the pin being effected by heat causing it to expand twist and move and lose its connection. Straightening that pin fixed the issue.

It doesn't take much to bend the Intel CPU socket pins on the motherboard.... it's just a thought, though.

It might be worth removing the CPU and carefully checking all the CPU socket pins with a jeweler's eyepiece or a good magnifying glass. While you're there check all the RAM sticks golden finger connection pads, the gold contacts should have scratch marks due to the RAM Dim socket contacts making those scratches on the RAM modules and see if there is anything unusual with any scratch marks. There should be thin vertical scratch marks in the centre of each gold connection pad. Heck, even check the GPU for the same thing while you're at it. Once again, it just a thought to try and rule out any motherboard contacts defect.

[LiljaFX]

Sorry for the late update, I wanted to monitor the behaviour before saying "Yay it's fixed" after only a couple of days.

So, it SEEMS to be fixed for now and I feel like I played myself. After the initial freezes I operated the RAM on XMP settings (so 3200MHz and 1.35V as stated on ASUS website) which did not fix the issue. Well, I did no realize I created a second source of freezes here (even though I read about the possibility of XMP causing freezes...) and it seems I fixed the first source for the freezes (I'm guessing it was in fact a driver issue) but with my genius decision to let the RAM stay on XMP the freezes continued, just for a different reason (which I did not realize).
So far it has been two weeks without freezes (since I changed back the RAM settings) and funnily enough the Linux freezes weren't caused by the RAM being overclocked but instead by having WiFi enabled (when WiFi was disabled, no further freezes happened when it froze after an hour at the most with WiFi enabled).

I really hope this will be the end of it but multiple causes for the freezes (Drivers and RAM on Windows and additionally WiFi on Linux) were just too much for me to comprehend. At least I learned a lot and will have a headstart when encountering my next freezing computer. Thanks everyone for your help!

If anyone is interested or finds this post looking to fix their freezes, here is a list of my attempts:

• Chkdsk
• sfc /scannow
• BIOS RAM Voltage & Frequency (if this does not fix the problem, reset to default!)
• Update Device Drivers (manually / Snappy Driver Installer)
• Memory Check / mdsched.exe
• BIOS Update if available
• Adjust Virtual Memory
• Turn Off Link State Power Management
• Turn Off Fast Startup
• New PSU
• memtest86 (RAM stress test)
• Prime95 (CPU&RAM stress test)
• Unigine (GPU stress test)
• Check Windows Event Log for hints
• Windows New Installation (with drivers from CD instead of USB)
• Try each RAM stick on their own in different RAM slots
• Remove external devices (Monitor, Mouse, ...)
• Exchange GPU
• Exchange SATA cable
• change SATA Port
• SSD Health Check
• WiFi only / Ethernet only (disable WiFi in BIOS)