PC hangs during Prime95 or when is CPU intensive

wontstoptalking · 2011-02-26, 20:52

Here's the components to my first custom-built pc, except I actually got an XFX 6850 instead of a Sapphire 6850.

Anyway, I put it together, and it turned on fine on my first try- something I didn't expect. I put the case together and put it in my room and loaded it up with Win7, etc.

Things ran well at first- Just Cause 2 (a game) run just fine on ultimate settings. So did Crysis (except not on ultimate...lol). Starcraft 2 ran very, very well. Then I tried GTA IV, and it crashed about 10 minutes in. Again and again and again, it would crash about 10 minutes into playing. It was always totally random; it's not like the computer was straining. It'd just happen. And the crash was a total PC hang, not an app crash. Had to restart the computer, and the speakers would emit a high DEEEEERRRDDDDKKKKKKK screech.

Then I realized I was an idiot, because I had put my CPU fan on wrong. It was on, but the clamp wasn't all the way down, so it wasn't being cooled as well as it should have. So I clamped it down correctly, and things started working better than ever, and I was running at like 18C on idle and ~40-50C on heavy load.

...then things got worse again. Prime95 started crashing after about 20 seconds. And when I say "crash," I mean total PC hang. Restarting is the only option. Games that played well even before I fixed the CPU fan started not working again. I began getting BSOD's, but they were never really the same- I got one for a USB problem once, but I wasn't even having USB problems. They were always for different things. If you want, you can look at my forum post on this site over here, because it has a lot of info there (and no one has responeded yet boohoo).

Prime95 continues to hang when I run it on small FFT's. Memtest86 always crashes around 15% total in. FurMark runs fine, so there's no way it's the GPU.

...I've always been afraid to say this, and I really hope this isn't the problem, but........when I was assembling it, the pipe above the open computer case dropped water. I mean very minute amounts of water. As I was working on it, I noticed a drop land directly on the CPU fan. It was a small drop and it only landed on the plastic contact on the outside. I'm almost positive no water got beyond the decorative outside of the fan. But it's sadly possible that some water might have dripped onto the motherboard directly above the CPU....I looked as best I could, and didn't see any little drops, but it's possible. I hope that's not it because putting everything together again will SUCK.

Sorry if this is vague or anything...I'm kinda starting to freak out because my computer, which is supposed to be awesome, can't even play Minecraft anymore without crashing.

Thanks to any help I get!

Christenson · 2011-03-01, 01:27

Take a drop of that water, dry it out, and see what you get.

If you got a drop of water in a bad place, keep the machine in an oven at 40C or so for a day or three to let it dry itself out. You won't completely eliminate the residue, but it should be enough to let the machine function.

Have you checked your CPU temperature? and looked around to see if anything else is getting too warm? (I haven't overclocked my AsRock 880GM/LE mobo because there is one heatsink on it that clearly needs a fan). You can also try the standard trick of opening the case and pointing a floor-mounted fan into it.

I'm wondering if you damaged some transistors on the CPU, when it wasn't well cooled, and these are what is causing the problem. A badly-mounted heatsink would mean a significant temperature difference across the chip, which means that some parts could be getting hot enough to be damaged while other parts are at an acceptable temperature.

I'm ASSUMING you do have adequate heatsink paste between the CPU and the heatsink face.

Short of underclocking the system, I would be thinking about replacing that CPU.

vsuite · 2011-03-04, 10:35

Consider the possibility of it being a memory problem.

If you are running Windows Vista or 7, you can use the internal memory diagnostic (Click Start and type Memory). It will restart the computer and run.

Or try Memtest.

Or take out your memory sticks and reposition them in the alternative slots. That worked on one of my computers which had random crashes.

2011-02-26, 20:52	#1
wontstoptalking Feb 2011 2²×3 Posts	PC hangs during Prime95 or when is CPU intensive Here's the components to my first custom-built pc, except I actually got an XFX 6850 instead of a Sapphire 6850. Anyway, I put it together, and it turned on fine on my first try- something I didn't expect. I put the case together and put it in my room and loaded it up with Win7, etc. Things ran well at first- Just Cause 2 (a game) run just fine on ultimate settings. So did Crysis (except not on ultimate...lol). Starcraft 2 ran very, very well. Then I tried GTA IV, and it crashed about 10 minutes in. Again and again and again, it would crash about 10 minutes into playing. It was always totally random; it's not like the computer was straining. It'd just happen. And the crash was a total PC hang, not an app crash. Had to restart the computer, and the speakers would emit a high DEEEEERRRDDDDKKKKKKK screech. Then I realized I was an idiot, because I had put my CPU fan on wrong. It was on, but the clamp wasn't all the way down, so it wasn't being cooled as well as it should have. So I clamped it down correctly, and things started working better than ever, and I was running at like 18C on idle and ~40-50C on heavy load. ...then things got worse again. Prime95 started crashing after about 20 seconds. And when I say "crash," I mean total PC hang. Restarting is the only option. Games that played well even before I fixed the CPU fan started not working again. I began getting BSOD's, but they were never really the same- I got one for a USB problem once, but I wasn't even having USB problems. They were always for different things. If you want, you can look at my forum post on this site over here, because it has a lot of info there (and no one has responeded yet boohoo). Prime95 continues to hang when I run it on small FFT's. Memtest86 always crashes around 15% total in. FurMark runs fine, so there's no way it's the GPU. ...I've always been afraid to say this, and I really hope this isn't the problem, but........when I was assembling it, the pipe above the open computer case dropped water. I mean very minute amounts of water. As I was working on it, I noticed a drop land directly on the CPU fan. It was a small drop and it only landed on the plastic contact on the outside. I'm almost positive no water got beyond the decorative outside of the fan. But it's sadly possible that some water might have dripped onto the motherboard directly above the CPU....I looked as best I could, and didn't see any little drops, but it's possible. I hope that's not it because putting everything together again will SUCK. Sorry if this is vague or anything...I'm kinda starting to freak out because my computer, which is supposed to be awesome, can't even play Minecraft anymore without crashing. Thanks to any help I get!

2011-03-01, 01:27	#2
Christenson Dec 2010 Monticello 5×359 Posts	Take a drop of that water, dry it out, and see what you get. If you got a drop of water in a bad place, keep the machine in an oven at 40C or so for a day or three to let it dry itself out. You won't completely eliminate the residue, but it should be enough to let the machine function. Have you checked your CPU temperature? and looked around to see if anything else is getting too warm? (I haven't overclocked my AsRock 880GM/LE mobo because there is one heatsink on it that clearly needs a fan). You can also try the standard trick of opening the case and pointing a floor-mounted fan into it. I'm wondering if you damaged some transistors on the CPU, when it wasn't well cooled, and these are what is causing the problem. A badly-mounted heatsink would mean a significant temperature difference across the chip, which means that some parts could be getting hot enough to be damaged while other parts are at an acceptable temperature. I'm ASSUMING you do have adequate heatsink paste between the CPU and the heatsink face. Short of underclocking the system, I would be thinking about replacing that CPU. Last fiddled with by Christenson on 2011-03-01 at 02:16 Reason: thought more about it...got foot-in-mouth disease!

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2011-03-04, 10:35	#3
vsuite Jan 2010 114₁₀ Posts	Consider the possibility of it being a memory problem. If you are running Windows Vista or 7, you can use the internal memory diagnostic (Click Start and type Memory). It will restart the computer and run. Or try Memtest. Or take out your memory sticks and reposition them in the alternative slots. That worked on one of my computers which had random crashes.