I had a stable build with an ASRock Nova 870E motherboard, 9950X3D CPU, 64GB Corsair Vengeance RAM, and a PNY 5080 GPU. I removed the GPU to sell it since I'm expecting a 5090 soon. After the removal, my computer started freezing randomly—sometimes when idle or browsing. The screen freezes with the mouse cursor stuck, all while the RGB lights stay on and the CPU temperature reading on the motherboard doesn't change.
Here's what I've done so far to troubleshoot it: checked the Event Viewer (nothing), uninstalled NVIDIA drivers, disabled non-Windows startup apps, updated the BIOS (with a factory reset), reseated the CPU, checked PSU connections, restored from a backup, and even did a fresh Windows install on a new NVMe drive— which failed with a BSOD.
I suspect it might be a hardware issue. The potential culprits are:
- Motherboard: possible damage during GPU removal?
- CPU: seems unlikely, and no visible damage.
- RAM: unlikely to fail suddenly.
- PSU: odd that it would fail with the removal of a power-hungry device.
What do you all think? If it's the motherboard, I'll consider an RMA and switch to an MSI motherboard. I recently tried a new 9900X CPU, but the freezing persisted, and memory checks showed similar issues. Any insight would be appreciated!
2 Answers
Freezes can indeed be tricky. They could stem from software issues too, but since you’ve already reset the BIOS and removed drivers, I would lean towards something hardware-related. Since you’ve tried a new CPU and the memory appears faulty, consider testing with a different RAM kit—sometimes brand incompatibility can act up in strange ways.
It sounds like you’ve done a thorough job troubleshooting! Before jumping to conclusions about hardware failure, try checking for dump files—that might give you more insights into what's causing the BSOD. If you can boot into Safe Mode, look in the C:WindowsMinidump directory for any dump files and share those for deeper analysis.
Definitely get those dump files if you can! They’ll help pinpoint the issue better. You might also want to ensure your cooling fans are connected properly; a loose connection can cause weird freezes too.
Totally agree! I've seen similar cases where RAM just didn't play nice unexpectedly. Also, double-check the seating of your RAM sticks—sometimes reseating can clear out connection issues.