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#1
Need expert for difficult computer problem - random crash/lockups
I've been building PCs for my personal use for almost 20 years, and my latest HTPC I built about 8 months ago. It's fairly basic, a Gigabyte motherboard with 8GB RAM (2 sticks), a Sandy Bridge i3, a BD drive, and a RAID card with 3 attached HDs in a case with an Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU. It ran brilliantly for about 6 months and nothing has been changed with the hardware.
Starting about 2 months ago I began experiencing random lockups. Felt like it was something I'd installed since the hardware was pretty new and had been stable with no changes, but I've since reinstalled Windows from scratch multiple times, run memory tests, sfc /scannow, etc. and I get no obvious errors, but the machine is still locking up. Here are the symptoms:
- Lockup can happen minutes or hours after boot, but often takes many hours up to a couple of days
- Happens whether I am using it (say watching a movie) or when it is idle
- Usually screen is completely black when I try to access it (and it doesn't respond to network ping or other connection attempts), but sometimes the screen is showing but garbled up
- Requires a reboot to fix
- Often, but not always, the date in Windows after such a reboot reflects current day date, but year showing is now 2000 (and enabling or disabling Internet time has not helped address this behavior)
Anyway, the inconsistent period of the lockups, the black vs. garbled screen, and the inconsistent date issue have me completely puzzled. i'd think if it was the CMOS battery then whatever is screwing with the date would send it to 1/1/2000 and i'd get some CMOS alert in the BIOS at start, and if it was the CPU or PSU the date would be a non-issue. So still leaning towards the battery or the mobo, but wanted to see what the experts here might recommend before I start RMAing everything. THANKS much for your help!