Solved PC randomly freezes without BSOD

[Alhazred]

Hello again, few weeks ago I plagued the forums with my BSOD problems and it seems I have some kind of black mark upon me, as I have encountered a new problem.

I assembled a new computer a week ago, installed the OS normally and got all the necessary drivers and chipset-thingies. Everything goes fine, but sometimes the computer just freezes: nothing moves on the screen, mouse and keyboard stop working and if there is something coming from the speakers it becomes a loud buzzing sound. No bsod will come on, computer only recovers when I restart from the power button.

At startup it only announces that the computer didn't shut down normally, otherwise it doesn't acknowledge the freeze. As there is no error code I don't have any dump files to add to this post.

I read something about this being a possible "memory timing issue" or something like that, don't really understand what that means. I checked the qualified vendor list of my mobo (I'll put my specs at the end of my post) and I noticed that the DDR-sticks my computer is currently running aren't included in the list. There is only a lower-frequency (1033) and smaller memory (2gb) version there.

I hope this info can give some insight about my problem.

Specs:
Mobo: MSI Z68A-G43
Processor: Intel i5 2500k
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8gb (2x4gb)
GFX: Nvidia GTX 260
PSU: OCZ Stealth X-Stream 600W

Thank you in advance!

EDIT1: I also want to stress that the freezes seem to be very, very random, usually when I'm idling and listening to music and just surfing.

 

[Azo]

I think you check if the RAM is working correctly or not. That may be a problem causer. Also just to be sure are both the RAM sticks are of same frequency?

 

[Alhazred]

I don't know very much about fiddling with RAM settings. They should be the same, at least I've checked some values and they are same for the both sticks.

Here are some snips concerning memory (from CPU-Z).

 

[scrooge]

what voltage are you using on the ram?

scrooge

 

[Azo]

Ram frequency seems OK. Please do this, Open Command prompt and type sfc /scannow. Let me know what happens. Are you sure it's not a malware problem? Because that might also be an issue.

 

[Alhazred]

I ran the scan and it said some file was corrupted and it was repaired. I was a fool enough not to write the message down, but it gave me some file, I'll add it to this post.

I'm running a malware-scan right now.

EDIT1: @ Scrooge, the sticks should be at default, so I'm guessing 1,5V.

 

[scrooge]

try bumping your voltage up to 1.55 and see if that don't fix it for you.

scrooge

 

[Alhazred]

My mobo has some fancy BIOS-interface, so I'm not sure if people are familiar with its options. How can I alter the voltage? If I'm choosing the correct place in the settings it seems I can choose only 1,35, automatic, 1,65 and 1,8.

 

[Azo]

My mobo has some fancy BIOS-interface, so I'm not sure if people are familiar with its options. How can I alter the voltage? If I'm choosing the correct place in the settings it seems I can choose only 1,35, automatic, 1,65 and 1,8.

Be very careful on what you are doing !

 

[scrooge]

i never used msi boards and not sure of the bios so maybe wait tell someone with more info can help you with that.
sorry

scrooge

 

[Alhazred]

Yup, I don't really dare to change any settings I'm not familiar with, so I really hope someone more MSI-savvy person would come up and shed some light to this issue.

I tried lowering the frequency of both sticks to 1033, I figured that wouldn't do too much damage as the way was down, not up. Don't really know if it did anything, but at least I have few freeze-free hours behind me. I have to monitor the situation.

 

[Alhazred]

Ok, since I lowered the RAM-frequency there has been no freezes, so I'm quite optimistic. One day doesn't prove anything, but for the moment this problem could be considered as Solved. Thanks to everyone who contributed!