FX 8350 on m5a97 r2.0 randomly freezes

[Britmerican]

I've gotten my hands on a couple of PC's which randomly freeze. They have very similar configs, same mobo, cpu and memory. Randomly, these machines will freeze, in a game or out of a game. I updated BIOS to the latest version on ASUS's website and turned off overclocking (at least, I think I have). I am seeing, when I run OCCT, that there is a 0.2% overclock or so, which I am am assuming is pretty standard. I don't see any spikes in voltage/temperature etc when the freeze happens.

What's the best thing to try to see what's causing them to freeze at this point? I did replace one PSU (both had 650 watt coolermaster PSU's but I stuck a 750watt corsair psu in) and same problem.

 

[Johan45]

A bit more info would be good. What OS and brand/size/speed of RAM.

 

[trents]

This could be a software (infection, broken system file or driver) issue as well. I would start with a clean install of Windows including wiping all partitions.

 

[Britmerican]

OS: Windows 10. Can freeze (rarely) while booting in to windows.
Memory: Crucial Ballistic Sport 1600Mhz.

I have reinstalled one of the machines OS's from scratch. Same result.

 

[Johan45]

Can you check in the tools section of BIOS that the SPD for your RAM from CPUz matches what the motherboard picks up in BIOS
The FX CPUs could be fussy with some types of RAM as well

 

[Britmerican]

Can you check in the tools section of BIOS that the SPD for your RAM from CPUz matches what the motherboard picks up in BIOS
The FX CPUs could be fussy with some types of RAM as well

I actually did check this yesterday (when I flashed the BIOS) and it was reporting an odd speed (1487 Mhz or something) but when I toggled a few options, it gave me the 1600MHz option as the top one. I have set it to that. I'm feeling this is motherboard related, but to replace that I would replace memory (to ddr4) and processor (to i7 or ryzen) so pretty much a new pc.

 

[Johan45]

That's not what I meant, I think we're talking about two different things. In your BIOS there a "tools" section. Under that is an "SPD" header clicking on that should bring up a page that displays your RAM timing info. I recall some BIOS versions on my ASUS board weren't reading the SPD info correctly and having similar issues. That motherboard also has the flashback feature which I would try before getting a new one. Try using an old BIOS file from early in the boards history and see if it works any better. When I had my Sabertooth running I had to flash back to an early BIOS as the one intended for Win8/10 was nothing but headaches.

 

[Britmerican]

I will check that out once I get home from work, thanks.

 

[Alaric]

The 1487 MHz RAM speed sounds like the mobo is bumping the HT reference clock. All my Asus AM2,3/3+ boards like to do that.

 

[Kenrou]

Isn't the m5a97 r2.0 a 4+2 VRM ? Was always told never to mix 8 cores (stock or overclocked) with 4+1/+2...

 

[Johan45]

Isn't the m5a97 r2.0 a 4+2 VRM ? Was always told never to mix 8 cores (stock or overclocked) with 4+1/+2...

Nope

 

[Kenrou]

 

[trents]

The board might hold up with the CPU at stock speeds and voltages.

 

[Kenrou]

"Might". I know these ASUS boards are rugged (my M5A97 EVO r2.0 held my 8370 4.5ghz without a hitch but it has proper 6+2) but part of the instability also might stem from there (also old age ). The .2% is normal as far as i know, HWInfo64 says my bus jumps up and down within 1-2 points regularly even with all the power savings off ?

 

[Alaric]

A fine VRM/mobo database for the FX https://www.overclock.net/forum/11-amd-motherboards/946407-amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database.html

Having posted that link, however, there is a reason I bought a Saberkitty and M5A99FX Pro R 2.0 for OCing socket AM3/3+ chips.

 

[Britmerican]

Firstly, my apologies for not being available, and thank you all so far for your suggestions.

On checking the tools section, I see...

Crucial
8192 MBytes
1600 Mhz

These are in slot 2 and 4.

I did update drivers for my TP Link TL-WN851ND as I found suggestions that can cause a freeze, but as I can get a freeze before Windows loads, I doubt this is it.

Is it likely a Mobo/processor compatibility issue? I know these were purchased as a bundle. If so, can anyone suggest a MOBO replacement that will work well with the crappy mem/processor?

Thanks.

 

[Alaric]

I've had Asus boards that would hang on boot if anything (especially a flash drive) was in a USB port. I don't know if it was Windows 7 being dumb or the mobo trying to figure out how to boot a web cam, but it happened. Flash drives were the worst offenders.

 

[Mandrake4565]

We need to see whats going on inside the box. Download Cpu-Z and post screen shots of the following tabs. Cpu, Spd and memory.

 

[Mr.Scott]

And temps

 

[Mandrake4565]

I'm betting the FSB is at 216 for starters.