Solved Screen freeze, while usage is minimal

[Alexanderje]

Hi there, thanks for reading.

I have a Windows 7 Desktop which has recently begun freezing at random moments. Nothing (not even the mouse) moves and the PC runs stationary. It doesn't show anything in the event logger afterwards, other than that the PC wasn't properly shut down. All I can do is hard-reboot it with the power button. I'm currently thinking it's the Graphics Card (ATI Radeon HD 5700 series) which goes into a weird sleep-mode but I'm not entirely sure and I'm interested in a second opinion.

Some things I've tried/noticed:
- I tried running Ubuntu from a USB-stick to test if it was Windows-software related, but the freeze still happens (though less often).
- It does NOT happen in Windows Safe Mode (with networking options). In fact, that's why I'm typing this from Safe Mode now.
- I can play a game (Team Fortress 2 in this case) for at least an hour without the freeze occurring (it has never occurred during playing), which is weird. Normally it happens within 10 minutes.
- It also happens when I haven't booted any programs from startup and I just don't touch it (but I do log in).
- So far it has not been related to running a certain program (as I mentioned, I ran Ubuntu and it still happened).
- Temperatures are all fine.
- I ran Memtest86+, everything passed.
- The Hard Drives are relatively new (both less than a year old) and according to diagnostics, in good condition.

I think that covers my diagnosis efforts so far. Any help appreciated, I want to know what I should replace. All the info about my PC is in my profile but if there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask.

 

[Alexanderje]

bump

Any ideas for how to be more sure it's the Radeon, or any ideas on what else it could be? Thanks!

 

[GokAy]

Hmm, seems like a power saving feature going mad?

Did you check BIOS for power options? Experiment with them

Also set a High Performance power plan - Control Panel-Power Options-select High Performance
- click "change plan settings": (never to both)
- click "change advanced power options": change settings to never turn off/sleep where applicable

See if this helps.

Now, I don't know if power options work in safe mode, but I guess Linux has some sort of power features as well. And you don't get it while gaming because CPU/GPU is under load and doesn't go in power save mode. It can also be hardware related though.

 

[Alexanderje]

Hey thanks for your reply! I actually did try turning power options to high performance. I'll see if the BIOS got something.

 

[Alexanderje]

No such thing going on in the BIOS I'm afraid...

 

[Alexanderje]

Solved it. Shut down some things in the boot in MSConfig, nothing Windows-related. That solved it. Shame, I already bought a new Graphics card but oh well, nice upgrade