A pretty huge dilemma with my new build. [SOLVED]

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Elann2008

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#1 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts

Hi guys.


So I just put together a new gaming PC about 2 weeks ago and I'm have some major trouble.

First and foremost, here is my build:

CPU - AMD 965 BE

Mobo - Asus M4N98TD EVO SLi motherboard

GPU - Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB OC edition

RAM - G. Skill Ripjaws (2 x 2GB)

Heatsink - stock

HDD - Western Digital 7200rpm 640GB

PSU - Corsair TX 750w

OS - Windows 7 64-bit

My main issue and concern is the crashing and "hanging" from regular desktop use. When I'm playing games on this PC (even Crysis 1920x1200res), I do not crash. I am crashing during web browsing use (i.e. gamespot or google, etc).


Sometimes, when I restart my PC after an update or registry defrag, it will not restart. All the lights on from the led fans, motherboard led light is on as well, but my monitor is black screen.

When I try to open more than 2-3 web pages, it usually will be okay, but from time to time it will hang and crash - therefore restarting my PC.

What I have done so far:

- Registry Defrag, Defrag, wipe disk, virus scan, malware scan, and I am currently doing MEMTEST.

- One "Recommended" Windows Update - Microsoft.net framework (something like that). Which updated fine.

- I have checked all cables, wires, connectors, and everything seems to check out.

One thing I'd like to note is that, this all started happening when I crashed ONCE while playing Crysis. Ever since then, things have gone downhill.

- I'd also like to mention that the defrag report stated over 14,000 defrags. Sounds bad right?

- But ever since I've done defrag and all the above, things seem to be better.. but for how long I do not know? I'm really, really paranoid.

- I checked my QVL, and my RAM checks out fine for my motherboard. Like I said, I'm doing memtest and it's at about 22% now.

I don't know what to do or say.. I've never had a PC I've built act this way but I guess it's a common issue with other users as well. So, I've read online anyways. I've had games crash in the past with other builds but not from normal use like web browsing.. Which I find really odd.

Well, what's the diagnosis guys? Any experiences with this kind of mayhem? Any input, advice, or recommendations would be highly appreciated. Shed some light on this gloomy day. Thank you in advance.

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Daytona_178

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#2 Daytona_178
Member since 2005 • 14962 Posts

I would run a checkdisk on your HDD. Those things break ALL THE TIME.

I would re-seat the RAM

Remove any overclocks

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Elann2008

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#3 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts

I would run a checkdisk on your HDD. Those things break ALL THE TIME.

I would re-seat the RAM

Remove any overclocks

Daytona_178

Thank you Daytona. I appreciate that you responded so quickly. :) I read online about checkdisk but I totally FORGOT about it. My last WD Raptor conked out in my other PC after a few months of use. I will do it after this memtest which is wrapping up with 0 errors SO FAR.. I will re-seat the RAM as well. As far as overclocks, I have none going on right now unless you're counting the factory overclocked GTX 460. I will keep you updated!

Btw, does checkdisk fix any errors with the HDD?

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jtcraft

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#4 jtcraft
Member since 2005 • 2770 Posts
What Daytona said. Is your RAM running at its specs (i.e. speed, timings and voltage).
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Elann2008

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#5 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
What Daytona said. Is your RAM running at its specs (i.e. speed, timings and voltage).jtcraft
If you mean, is it as stock specs? Yup. I never touched the timings or overclocked it in any way.
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Daytona_178

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#6 Daytona_178
Member since 2005 • 14962 Posts

[QUOTE="Daytona_178"]

I would run a checkdisk on your HDD. Those things break ALL THE TIME.

I would re-seat the RAM

Remove any overclocks

Elann2008

Thank you Daytona. I appreciate that you responded so quickly. :) I read online about checkdisk but I totally FORGOT about it. My last WD Raptor conked out in my other PC after a few months of use. I will do it after this memtest which is wrapping up with 0 errors SO FAR.. I will re-seat the RAM as well. As far as overclocks, I have none going on right now unless you're counting the factory overclocked GTX 460. I will keep you updated!

Btw, does checkdisk fix any errors with the HDD?

If the HDD is healthy then it should run through relatively quick, maybe 20 minutes or something (may vary depending on size I think). If it just hangs on a certain percentage then leave it alone and if its faulty it will probably take a few hours to run through and at the end it will give you a report. If it says "the checkdisk found and fixed errors" then your HDD might be faulty, it might be fine though. If it says "unable to fix sectors" then your HDD is the problem.
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jtcraft

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#7 jtcraft
Member since 2005 • 2770 Posts
What is your specific RAM? It could be that the timings are off if the BIOS set them automatically. You would need to check in BIOS or use CPUz. But, I don't have any experience with an AMD setup so I could be wrong.
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Elann2008

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#8 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
[QUOTE="Elann2008"]

[QUOTE="Daytona_178"]

Thank you Daytona. I appreciate that you responded so quickly. :) I read online about checkdisk but I totally FORGOT about it. My last WD Raptor conked out in my other PC after a few months of use. I will do it after this memtest which is wrapping up with 0 errors SO FAR.. I will re-seat the RAM as well. As far as overclocks, I have none going on right now unless you're counting the factory overclocked GTX 460. I will keep you updated!

Btw, does checkdisk fix any errors with the HDD?

Daytona_178
If the HDD is healthy then it should run through relatively quick, maybe 20 minutes or something (may vary depending on size I think). If it just hangs on a certain percentage then leave it alone and if its faulty it will probably take a few hours to run through and at the end it will give you a report. If it says "the checkdisk found and fixed errors" then your HDD might be faulty, it might be fine though. If it says "unable to fix sectors" then your HDD is the problem.

Will do, thank you.
What is your specific RAM? It could be that the timings are off if the BIOS set them automatically. You would need to check in BIOS or use CPUz. But, I don't have any experience with an AMD setup so I could be wrong.jtcraft
This RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276
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#9 jtcraft
Member since 2005 • 2770 Posts
As far as your RAM is concerned I would just check and make sure the timings are correct and make sure the voltage is where should be. Otherwise it should be good if it passed Memtest w/o errors.
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Elann2008

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#10 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
As far as your RAM is concerned I would just check and make sure the timings are correct and make sure the voltage is where should be. Otherwise it should be good if it passed Memtest w/o errors.jtcraft
Memtest finished a few minutes ago. I went into the BiOS and the timings are 9-9-9-24 which is on the QVL for this motherboard. Voltage checks out normal as well. At the moment, I'm doing CHKDSK and it's at stage 4 of 5.. and going. It hanged for like a cool minute but it's going about its business again. Nerve-wracking. So far, 5 minutes into CHKDSK. It should be done soon.
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Elann2008

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#11 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
Update: Chkdsk isn't budging at the moment. It's been like that for about 5 minutes. Safe to say the HDD is the culprit?
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Daytona_178

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#12 Daytona_178
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Update: Chkdsk isn't budging at the moment. It's been like that for about 5 minutes. Safe to say the HDD is the culprit?Elann2008
No, not yet. Give it time (maybe lots) and it will get past that point, it maybe just fixing an error.
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Elann2008

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#13 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
[QUOTE="Elann2008"]Update: Chkdsk isn't budging at the moment. It's been like that for about 5 minutes. Safe to say the HDD is the culprit?Daytona_178
No, not yet. Give it time (maybe lots) and it will get past that point, it maybe just fixing an error.

Roger that. I'll standby.
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Elann2008

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#14 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
Update: It's still hanging at 57350 of 123632 files processed (stage 4 of 5) for the last 20+ minutes.... *sigh* Should I restart the PC and do it again or just keep waiting? :(
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Daytona_178

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#15 Daytona_178
Member since 2005 • 14962 Posts
Update: It's still hanging at 57350 of 123632 files processed (stage 4 of 5) for the last 20+ minutes.... *sigh* Should I restart the PC and do it again or just keep waiting? :(Elann2008
Keep waiting, trust me, I have been repairing PC's for years and checkdisks always go like this. To be honest your better off ignoring it till it finished,,,make a sandwich, or fapp,,,or both!
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#16 flclempire
Member since 2004 • 4914 Posts

[QUOTE="Elann2008"]Update: It's still hanging at 57350 of 123632 files processed (stage 4 of 5) for the last 20+ minutes.... *sigh* Should I restart the PC and do it again or just keep waiting? :(Daytona_178
Keep waiting, trust me, I have been repairing PC's for years and checkdisks always go like this. To be honest your better off ignoring it till it finished,,,make a sandwich, or fapp,,,or both!

Oh you :oops:

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Elann2008

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#17 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts

[QUOTE="Elann2008"]Update: It's still hanging at 57350 of 123632 files processed (stage 4 of 5) for the last 20+ minutes.... *sigh* Should I restart the PC and do it again or just keep waiting? :(Daytona_178
Keep waiting, trust me, I have been repairing PC's for years and checkdisks always go like this. To be honest your better off ignoring it till it finished,,,make a sandwich, or fapp,,,or both!

yes sir!

Update: Still not budging from last mark. What should I expect in the coming hours? :P xD

Will Western Digital fail me TWICE!? And forever make me bitter of the name brand!?

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Daytona_178

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#18 Daytona_178
Member since 2005 • 14962 Posts

[QUOTE="Daytona_178"][QUOTE="Elann2008"]Update: It's still hanging at 57350 of 123632 files processed (stage 4 of 5) for the last 20+ minutes.... *sigh* Should I restart the PC and do it again or just keep waiting? :(Elann2008

Keep waiting, trust me, I have been repairing PC's for years and checkdisks always go like this. To be honest your better off ignoring it till it finished,,,make a sandwich, or fapp,,,or both!

yes sir!

Update: Still not budging from last mark. What should I expect in the coming hours? :P xD

Will Western Digital fail me TWICE!? And forever make me bitter of the name brand!?

Is this HDD a replacement from WD? Really you need to just wait, normally when its faulty you should expect it to run for hours and often it will appear to just get stuck on a random sector. The reason why you need to wait is because when it eventually finishes (it does 99% of the time) it will tell you whether it managed to fix the bad sectors that it is evidently finding (if it takes longer than 20 mins or so then its trying to fix problems).
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abuabed

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#19 abuabed
Member since 2005 • 6606 Posts
After all what you've done it seems most likely the HDD, keep us updated.
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Elann2008

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#20 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
[QUOTE="Elann2008"]

[QUOTE="Daytona_178"] Keep waiting, trust me, I have been repairing PC's for years and checkdisks always go like this. To be honest your better off ignoring it till it finished,,,make a sandwich, or fapp,,,or both!Daytona_178

yes sir!

Update: Still not budging from last mark. What should I expect in the coming hours? :P xD

Will Western Digital fail me TWICE!? And forever make me bitter of the name brand!?

Is this HDD a replacement from WD? Really you need to just wait, normally when its faulty you should expect it to run for hours and often it will appear to just get stuck on a random sector. The reason why you need to wait is because when it eventually finishes (it does 99% of the time) it will tell you whether it managed to fix the bad sectors that it is evidently finding (if it takes longer than 20 mins or so then its trying to fix problems).

Not a replacement. Brand new. I was referring to my other build (in the sig) that was replaced with a brand new one. Daytona, I went against your will and I rebooted. Turns out, it was for the best. The second time around, it zoomed past it's last mark and out of stage 5 of 5. It's processing FREE CLUSTERS now at 51%. I have over 121 million free clusters.. lol. Whatever that means. I'm glad I stopped by our local 7 Eleven and picked up a Rockstar double strength. I'm up and atom but boy do I feel like a zombie. Even though I dont know how it feels like to be a zombie. :P It's not going to hang this time. It's rolling on but we'll just have to wait and see if it fixes anything. No time to celebrate yet! :D
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Elann2008

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#21 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts

After all what you've done it seems most likely the HDD, keep us updated.abuabed
I'm pretty sure it is mate. Although I've never CHKDSK on a Windows 7 PC before. I've done it on a Vista and other OS's and chkdsk on those were never this long! Like Daytona said, it's taking time because it's fixing. Anyways.. it's looking good so far in terms of it not "hanging" or "freezing" up. 56% completed now. I will keep you guys updated.

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Elann2008

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#22 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts
Mkay. The CHKDSK finished and it seems like there are no major issues with the hard drive. Everything seems to be up and running fine now. Hopefully, it doesn't come back to bite in the arse later on. Thank you guys for all your help. Thanks Daytona. That was a long wait!
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#23 Daytona_178
Member since 2005 • 14962 Posts

Thats great news! Although just so you know, often when bad sectors start coming they KEEP coming, its the calling card of a failing HDD. Lets hope thought that the bad sectors it found were just caused by other factors :) Just in case I would make sure you keep important file backed-up onto an external HDD or memory stick just to be safe.

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#24 abuabed
Member since 2005 • 6606 Posts
Great news, hope you never come across such a problem again. :)
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#25 Elann2008
Member since 2007 • 33028 Posts

Thats great news! Although just so you know, often when bad sectors start coming they KEEP coming, its the calling card of a failing HDD. Lets hope thought that the bad sectors it found were just caused by other factors :) Just in case I would make sure you keep important file backed-up onto an external HDD or memory stick just to be safe.

Daytona_178
I'm going to be backing up files tonight when I get home from work. I have some huge files that took me 10 hours to download! :O Do you think this HDD will fail soon? Should I just RMA it back to Newegg or is it okay? Again thanks for all the help.
Great news, hope you never come across such a problem again. :)abuabed
Thanks mate. I hope so too! :)