Display and Machine Randomly freezes (No error messages or BSOD)

[quillweaver]

Hello everyone!
I am not sure if this is the correct forum for this post, but my issue does deal largely with my display. If so I apologize in advance and ask to be directed to the correct forum.

I have searched the boards for similar issues and I have tried their approaches but it has not resolved my issue.

I am experiencing issues with my ASUS graphics card and my Intel HD display driver. Whenever I am playing a videogame or doing something that is graphics intensive, my display freezes and I either have to reboot my machine or sometimes the display unfreezes and I am allowed to resume my activities.

I originally had graphics driver 295.73, but I upgraded to version 296.10 when it came out.

I still had the same issue when I upgraded my driver so I rolled back to version 295.73. I kept bouncing back and forth between the two drivers and I even tried going into safe mode to install the drivers.

Twice while I was using AutoCAD and playing a videogame, the display became distorted and showed pixelated colors.
I installed the 301.24 driver when it came out on May 22nd, but the problem occurred again while I was playing a game and while I was in AutoCAD.

In the rare instances that my display froze and unfroze, I received a windows notification from the windows event log stating that my driver 295.73, 296.10, or 301.24 failed.

I have performed numerous diagnostics and stress tests using Ultimate Boot CD.

My memory tests have checked out fine and so have my hdd and ssd tests. The only thing that sticks out is that my southbridge temperature, my CPUTIN according to HWMonitor, is at a constant 60°. It never changes or fluctuates.

Speedfan shows my CPUTIN temps as -60°. Nevertheless, I used Speedfan in conjunction with my BIOS settings to optimize fan speeds to see if this will resolve the issue or if my GPU was overheating.

I checked the forums and most people state that they have remedied this issue by giving their internals a thorough cleaning. I have done so three times and reseated everything onto my board while making sure that I was grounded. Others have resorted to initiating an RMA.

I am still within ASUS’s 3 year warranty. Should I do the same?

Sys Hardware:
Board: asus p8z68-v gen 3
CPU: intel i5-2500k
CPU Cooler: noctua nh-d14
SSD: 120GB crucial m4-ct128m4ssd2
HDD: western digital caviar blue 500gb @ 7200 rpm
Vid Card: asus engtx560 ti dc2 top/2di/1
Memory: g.skill sniper 4gb x2 ddr3 1600, pc3 12800
PSU: corsair hx 850w

Sys Idle Temps:

So I jumped into Mass Effect 3's multiplayer because that seems to be the instance that forces my problem to reoccur.

I put my gfx card fan speeds on the max speed and temperatures steadily rose from 35°C idle to 53-54°C under load. It took about 20 minutes for this to happen.

After leaving the match temperatures dropped down to around 45°C and was steadily dropping to about 42°C or so.

This is the game with maxed out settings.

I lost my manual so I checked ASUS's site for expected temps but I could not find anything.

I went into my ASUS Smart Doctor and saw that medium fans seeds kick in when the GPU's temp hits 55°C.

I then contacted ASUS support and they advised me to uninstall Smart Doctor and Gamer OSD.

I did so but the problem reoccurred. I then initiated an RMA with my card.

I have been using my Intel HD graphics from my 2500k and the problem reoccurred while watching a YouTube video in HD. After about 20 seconds, I regained control of my machine.

This occurred after I upgraded my Intel HD drivers.

After dealing with this for some time, I decided to reformat my SSD and reinstall Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on it.

I chose to leave my graphics card out of my machine and still use my integrated graphics.

The problem occurred again after the installation.

I was on Youtube when my machine randomly froze and I regained control within 30 seconds or so.

I then upgraded the drivers for my SSD, and the problem reoccurred.

I went to the Windows support website and applied two hotfixes for randomly freezing machines:
A computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 stops responding randomly

Computer randomly stops responding because of a deadlock situation in Windows Server 2008 R2 or in Windows 7

None of these resolved the problem.

Should I scrap this hard drive and buy another?

Should I flash the latest BIOS onto my motherboard?

Please keep in mind that this post has been updated from posting on tomshardware and techguy.

I have been trying to resolve this for months.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[quillweaver]

Anyone?

 

[Layback Bear]

I have no idea how to help except; you have a warranty use it. You paid for it.