New computer build keeps freezing

[CheatingSoi]

I honestly don't know where to turn. I feel really stuck. If someone can help me, I would be so grateful. Last week, I ordered the parts and built my second PC. It all went really well and I researched for a long time to make sure everything worked together. It booted up on my first try. But after installing Windows 8.1, it keeps freezing on me. It seems to be when I use the internet. It's at complete random but sometimes when I click on a link or open a new tab, it will say "waiting for cache" at the bottom with a blank screen. At this point if I try to open any other tab or anything it will not load. After a few seconds, everything starts to lock up, other programs, the start bar. Then about 30 seconds later the screen flickers and everything comes back into action. I looked it up and have tried numerous things, like moving a folder that chrome uses to the C drive and a bunch of other things. It is not helping at all. The other issue is that I can't tell if it's just related to the browser. It seems that sometimes it will lock up when not using the browser but I haven't confirmed that. I can seem to play games and use my Adobe programs without freezing. I just don't know what to do, because it seems like such an odd problem and if I took it in somewhere, its hard to reproduce because sometimes it doesn't lock up for a long time. I have re-installed Windows and it still doesn't help. I used Memtest to test my RAM and everything turned up fine. No errors. If anyone has any ideas of what to do or at least could direct me to somewhere I can get help, I would appreciate it so much. I just can't stand not being able to happily use my new build and I feel like I wasted $1000+ until I can get it working. I hate that I would rather use my 5-year old computer just because it's more stable.

 

[matt123337]

Can you post your hardware specs? And have you tried a different browser, like firefox? Do you got your GPU drivers installed, and updated (Windows fallsback to a generic VGA driver when one for your gfx card isn't found, so even if it's wokring doesn't mean you got it installed)?

And please don't post in word walls, it make it really difficult to read.

 

[Originality]

To me this sounds like either an IO error in the primary HDD or a program you've installed eating up all the internal bandwidth. Could also be a RAM issue, but you've kinda ruled that out with memtest. The other idea I've got is possibly a bad Windows install (did you pirate it?) but I don't know how to detect nor fix that.

I would suggest swapping the port the HDD is plugged in, replugging the HDD cables, and running tests on your HDD to check for stability and bad sectors. You can also look through your installed program's list to find anything there that shouldn't be, but that part is harder to give specific instructions with (I use intuition and google).

 

[CheatingSoi]

Sorry about the world-wall. Lol, I honestly thought of it after I posted. Anyways, I have swapped Sata ports, tried a different sata cable. None of that helped. I tried Firefox and it froze on me as well. My Windows 8.1 is genuine. And I have all the latest GPU drivers. My only thoughts were to install Windows on another HDD or remove some of my RAM, but I feel like it's not the RAM because of Memtest and I don't want to go through the trouble of re-installing Windows again by switching to another drive. But I suppose if I have to.

• 
  This is my build. Just copied and pasted it from Newegg, so sorry if it ends up a little messy.

• ​

  

  • 4/14/2014​
  • Print Rebate​

  • 1 x Rosewill Legacy QT01-B Trio Fans Black Aluminum Alloy ATX Mid Tower Silent Computer Case​
• ​

  

  • Get Extended Warranty​
  • Write Review​
  • Print Rebate​

  • 1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard​
• ​

  

  • Write Review​
  • Print Rebate​

  • 1 x EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750 B 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified 750W Active PFC ATX12V v2.31/EPS 12V v2.91 5 Year Warranty 120-PB-0750-KR ...​
• ​

  

  • Get Extended Warranty​
  • Write Review​

  • 1 x AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX​
• ​

  

  • Get Extended Warranty​
  • Write Review​

  • 1 x SAMSUNG DVD Burner SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM​
• ​

  

  • Get Extended Warranty​
  • 4/15/2014​

  • 1 x Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive, Blue - OEM​
• ​

  

  • Write Review​

  • 1 x G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL​
• ​

  

  • Write Review​

  • 1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit - OEM​
• ​

  

  • Get Extended Warranty​
  • Write Review​

  • 1 x PNY Optima SSD7SC240GOPT-RB 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)​
• ​

  

  • Get Extended Warranty​
  • 4/14/2014​

  • 1 x GIGABYTE GV-R927XOC-4GD Radeon R9 270X 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card​
• ​

  

  • 4/14/2014​

  • 1 x CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CW-9060007-WW) High Performance Water / Liquid CPU Cooler. 120mm​

 

[Originality]

If Windows is on the SSD, have you checked if the SSD is in the latest firmware? Also, check if TRIM is enabled (should be, but check anyway).

EDIT: also, check what temperature the CPU is running at.
EDIT2: and one more thing, remove 2 of the RAM DIMMs. Check if its stable with just 2 DIMMS in dual channel mode. If not, take out the third DIMM and see if its stable in single channel mode.

 

[CheatingSoi]

All great ideas. How do I update SSD firmware and check TRIM? And I will try the RAM thing. I really appreciate the quick responses.

Nevermind about TRIM. I just checked. It is enabled and CPU is at 30 degrees Celsius.

 

[Originality]

Update SSD firmware using the toolkit provided by the manufacturer. e.g. Samsung Magician. Too much effort to find out for PNY on my phone's internet.

It might be a good idea for you to install (any) Windows on the HDD, even if only to check if the problem persists from a fresh install on a HDD.

 

[CheatingSoi]

Yeah, that honestly was my last thought. I just hate to do it since I spent a good amount of time setting everything up on my SSD. I hate then when you install Windows on a different drive, it stops working on the previous one. Is there any way around that?

 

[gifi4]

Yeah, that honestly was my last thought. I just hate to do it since I spent a good amount of time setting everything up on my SSD. I hate then when you install Windows on a different drive, it stops working on the previous one. Is there any way around that?

What do you mean?
The computer boots into the new Windows installation on the new drive?
The BIOS (Or UEFI) is where you can change what drive the computer uses to boot.

 

[CheatingSoi]

In my experience, when you install Windows on a different drive, with the same key, it stops working on the old drive. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I seem to remember.

 

[Originality]

The way to stop it from breaking the install on your SSD? Remove the SSD when you install it. That way the boot sector won't be rewritten to accommodate multiboot.

EDIT: Also, don't use a key. Use the 30 day trial before activation window.
EDIT2: Also, doesn't have to be Windows 8 you use on the HDD. Could be Windows XP or 7. You're only doing this to troubleshoot, and will likely wipe it afterwards.

 

[matt123337]

Before you install another windows, did you move your browsers cache off the SSD onto your HDD? If not try that (here for firefox, and it looks like this works for chrome)

If moving it reduces the freezing, you're hitting the internal bandwidth of your SSD, try moving other temporary folders onto your main HDD to see if that helps.

 

[CheatingSoi]

I installed Windows on my HDD. So far it seems to be working fine. But I am going to continue using it to make sure. If that SSD is the issue, what should I do, should I send it back for a replacement, or maybe a different brand altogether? Or should I try some more things like moving the cache. I previously moved the cache out of the Chrome folder and onto the root C drive in the SSD, but maybe putting it on the HDD would be a better idea?

 

[matt123337]

I installed Windows on my HDD. So far it seems to be working fine. But I am going to continue using it to make sure. If that SSD is the issue, what should I do, should I send it back for a replacement, or maybe a different brand altogether? Or should I try some more things like moving the cache. I previously moved the cache out of the Chrome folder and onto the root C drive in the SSD, but maybe putting it on the HDD would be a better idea?

moving it to the root of the C: drive will do nothing, it will still take the same bandwidth to read it. Try it on the HDD.

 

[CheatingSoi]

Now I'm having trouble. Because I previously moved it to the root of the C drive and now I'm having trouble moving it back or anywhere else from there as it is already a link. Everything I try doesn't work.

 

[Kippykip]

Here's the problem...

 

[CheatingSoi]

Who says I'm using it for gaming?

Anyways, I kind of figured out some work-arounds. I have my cache for Chrome and Firefox on my HDD now. So far so good.

 

[netnerd]

Who says I'm using it for gaming?

I know... You totally didn't get the R9 270X for gaming

 

[CheatingSoi]

Haha, well honestly, I just got it because I wanted it. I mainly use my computer for video editing and Photoshop. But because I can, I'm sure I'll play the occasional game.

 

[jonthedit]

Oh man. Sounds to me like the above posts are correct, or if you have a NVIDIA card you are experiencing the dreaded freezing issues associated with a memory leak in the drivers.
Try reverting to an older driver for your GPU.