I’ve been having an issue with my computer deadlocking after roughly 10-30 minutes of it being on. The simple test was when the computer froze up it didn’t register any inputs, caps lock didn’t change any lights on my keyboard, the computer fans still ran, sound just stopped instead of tonally rattling my headphones like a regular bsod.
I’m not entirely sure what could be causing it other than it’s a hardware issue. PC parts list below.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/f2hPRV
The things I have tried are as follows:
Booting with my old windows 10 and Linux Mint Windows didn’t seem to record anything major in event viewer.
Switching out my ram cards one at a time and running a check on the sticks themselves. Neither stick appears to be the issue.
Checked my CPU seat for any damaged pins or debris.
Made sure all plugs are properly installed and all drivers are installed.
Flashed bios to both the recommended version and the most up to date version.
Set CPU, GPU, and internal SSD to gen 4 power in the bios.
I also ran a log check on Mint and the only error that it spat out was this:
[Dec 7 13:03] mce: [Hardware Error]: Machine check events logged
[ +0.000006] [Hardware Error]: Corrected error, no action required.
[ +0.000004] [Hardware Error]: CPU:0 (1a:44:0) MC14_STATUS[Over|CE|MiscV|AddrV|-|-|SyndV|CECC|-|-|-]: 0xdc2040000602010b
[ +0.000008] [Hardware Error]: Error Addr: 0x000000000008bdc0
[ +0.000001] [Hardware Error]: IPID: 0x000700b020347000, Syndrome: 0x000000262a1f2603
[ +0.000003] [Hardware Error]: L3 Cache Ext. Error Code: 2
[ +0.000001] [Hardware Error]: cache level: L3/GEN, tx: GEN, mem-tx: GEN
Looking this up seems to spit out a fault in the GPU, but this is way beyond my skill level here.
Thank you for any advise or tips for troubleshooting. I’m still within the return and replace period for my parts so if this indicates anything needing to be replaced, that’s always an option.
Thank you all very much!
Edited for formatting
First thing I do when there’s any weirdness on a new build is run a memtest. I use OCCT but in theory anything can work. Memory errors can cause weird errors that make it seem like it’s another problem. But at the same time CPU errors can make memory errors.
Before you run the mem test make sure your settings are correct. In the bios make sure all auto overclocking features are turned off, voltages are correct and, most importantly, the memory speeds are timing are correct. The auto settings are almost always universally wrong. Also make sure xmp/whatever AMDs xmp is called is turned on.
To my uninitiated understanding of advanced setups for computers, is there any recommended documentation for setting up the correct voltages for specific parts that isn’t just running the automatic settings? I was under the impression that it was fairly plug and play so if the voltages are wrong from the get go then that might significantly contribute to the problem.
For RAM it’s printed on the side of the stick usually. Take a picture of it with your phone and then punch those numbers into the bios. They don’t list all of the numbers which is annoying. ex:
cas: 1st number: 32
Trcdwr ras# pre 2nd number: 39
ras# act: 3rd number: 39 (usually this is a different value)
trc_sm: 4th number: 102
For CPUs that’s a bit more complicated since they don’t brag about that everywhere like ram. But with the latest bios that should use the correct voltage. Usually CPUs voltage is too high and that’s not necessarily a problem, it just runs hotter.
You’ll want to comb over the motherboard’s settings in the BIOS. Some newer boards especially gaming focused ones have dynamic boost clocking on by default and this can push stuff out of spec.