Windows 10: Total System Freezes (No BSOD, Requires Manual Restart)

Hi everyone! Love to get some opinions on this! *Smile
I wasn't sure where to place this as it isn't exactly a BSOD issue, so point me to the right place if there's a better forum.

System:

• Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z77
• CPU: Intel i7-3770 3.40 GHz
• Memory: Kingston DDR3 16 GB (4 x 4GB)
• PSU: Seasonic Platinum 520 Fanless 520-Watt 80 PLUS
• GPU: ASUS GTX 1070 Ti 8 GB
• CPU Temps: ~38-40 C on idle.
• Motherboard Temps: ~36-38 C on idle.
• Win10 of course.
• Not overclocked. BIOS reset to factory default.

The situation:

• The entire system will randomly freeze. No BSOD. The only thing to do is do a manual reset.
• Can be during a game. Can be just sitting around with a few explorer windows open. Can't isolate when it will happen. (Yet.)
• Even froze during BIOS, though only once so far!

Extended Background (I include this for completeness sake):

• Apparently was running as expected until one day it froze. No new hardware or software installed.
• The problems first started occurring under Windows 7.
• Exact same situation as with Win 10. Total system freeze.
• By adjusting some settings I was able to get two BSODs. One indicated hardware failure, the other driver (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL).
• Still under the impression it was a software issue I zonked ssd drive that had Win7 and installed Win10 rather than deal with it.
• Next thought it was CPU overheating so installed new CPU cooler. Good results, -10 C on idle from before. Problems persist however.
• As a result of the CPU cooler, everything has been reconnected and cleaned up.
• Disk check of Windows SSD and other drives turn up ok.

Running memtest86 now, will update with results. I did a standard Windows Memory Diagnostic before, came out OK.

My current thoughts in order of likelihood:

• Memory? I'll know for sure when memtest86 results are done.
• PSU? It is a Seasonic but it's getting up there in age. (About 8 years!) I have heard of similar issues with a failing PSU but never experienced it myself.
• SSD failure? I've never had an SSD fail before, could this be a symptom? The windows system SSD is also getting up there in years. (~9 years!)
• Motherboard? Always a possibility. No red "help me" LED's are lighting up however.
• GPU. It's the newest component so I'm thinking this unlikely. I've had GPUs fail before and they usually do it in a spectacular manner with pretty messed up artifacts. (GPU's show off even in death! *chuckle )
• CPU overheating. I initially thought this was the issue. Installed a new CPU cooler and had a dramatic effect of -10 C generally. The CPU is running in the 40 - 50 range now. Seems a bit high to me but this is an old machine and not using water cooling.

Things I haven't tried yet but will:

• Replace Windows SSD and see if problems persist.
• Run everything without the GPU to see if it still freezes up.

Ever experienced something similar? Anything I've overlooked?



EDIT 1: Whelp, memtest86 froze! That's got to be hardware!! I'll attempt another test tomorrow. Up until it froze, no errors found. Not that it helps much! (Didn't even get 1 pass out of the way! *Confused )

:)

 

BSOD and freezing

Yesterday I started up my laptop from hibernating and it freezes, after restarting several times I get a BSOD which freezed on the BSOD one time.
After restarting again the laptop freezed at the Welcome screen.
I have had the freezing before, it was gone for about 2 months.
I did not install any new hardware.
Now it seems to run fine again.

But what is causing the freezing and the BSOD?
I bought this laptop last January.

 

BSOD or Total freeze, UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

If a clean install fixes the problem depends on if the problem is not on hardware level, a system freeze has pretty much the same causes as a BSOD

• Drivers,
• BIOS,
• System service,
• Memory,
• GPU,
• Software,
• Power,
• Cabling,
• CPU,
• Motherboard,
• Incompatibility,
• etc.

The difficulty is that a freeze often doesn't leave trails behind, because the system can't create any.

 

GPU-Z 0.7.8 / 0.7.9 / 0.8.0 Bios reading not possible GTX670-solved with gpu-z 0.8.1

@Maban - does GPU-Z fail the same way for you the way it does for me? I.e. total system freeze/lockup, requiring a hard reset?

@W1zzard - I will try the suggested steps later today, as I am not near that PC at the moment.