Computer Keeps Freezing - SSD Upgrade

Tech and cars on 20/01/2017 - 17:41
Last edited 20/01/2017 - 20:13

Hi All,

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

My computer setup :

-450W Vantec ion2+ PSU (at least 6 years old)
-i7 2600 CPU
-16 GB DDR3 (1600 MHz? - not sure)
-GTX 560 (edited)

Hard drives:
-Crucial 525 GB SSD (recent ebay deal) - Running windows from this hard drive
-OCZ Agility SSD 128GB (used to store steam library)
- 1TB WD (at least 8 years old)

Instead of the crucial hard drive above, I used to have a 120GB Kingston SSD instead. Computer used to work flawlessly (So still 3 hard drives and same hardware). I then cloned(using acronis) that Kingston SSD to this larger capacity 525GB Crucial SSD - and now my computer keeps freezing.

Any idea where I should start looking/What to do? I have a feeling it's the PSU giving up, and causing this, but I don't know because I had the same setup before, and I've just updated one 120GB SSD to a 525gb SSD.

No idea what's causing it, but it's very annoying and I would love to avoid reformatting if I could.
Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you again.

Computing

Comments

  • trongy on 20/01/2017 - 18:20
    +1

    I had a problem with my computer freezing up a while ago and I went through a troubleshooting process. At first I suspected the graphics card so I used the onboard graphics for a days or so and it still froze up. Then I ran on one memory module and then the other and it still froze up. I didn't have any spare CPU, motherboard or power supply to swap with. Nor did I have a spare SSD so I went back to using Windows on my hard drive. It was painfully slow, but it didn't freeze up. I put my SSD back in and reformatted and re-installed Windows to make sure. Again it froze up. Troubleshooting intermittent hardware faults is not fun. In my case I had been the running the SSD without issues for a while so I didn't immediately suspect it. If your problems started after installing the SSD, that's the first thing I would suspect. I would back it up and try doing a clean install of Windows if I were you.

    Luckily for me, I took the SSD back to PC Case Gear and they replaced it under warranty. I got my new SSD from them as well even though it priced a few dollars higher than other shops. The Samsung 850 Evo is reasonably priced and has a 5 year warranty.

    Good luck finding the fault in your system and good luck getting a refund/replacement from the ebay seller if it turns out to be the SSD which is at fault.

    • Tech and cars on 20/01/2017 - 20:17

      Thanks for the suggestion. Mine was purchased from eBay Dicksmith. I'm hoping they'll be pretty good..

  • OverburdenedWarrior on 20/01/2017 - 19:10
    +1

    I'd recommend a fresh install (not ideal, but can be necessary), or at the very least the refresh tool built into Win 8/10 (If you're using that.)
    Otherwise, when you say freezing, is it completely locking up needing a reset, or does it eventually continue? Does it only occur with certain programs, or when the computer is under load?

    Easiest way will be a process of elimination I guess. Another thing you can do is check for any updates to firmware/bios for the SSD and for your motherboard.

    • Tech and cars on 20/01/2017 - 20:16

      I'll look into this refresh tool you've advised me on.

      It doesn't eventually continue. It completely locks up. Mouse can still move around though - so I'm not sure.

      Doesn't happen when under load or anything specific. Last night it locked up while in the middle of a shut down, with the windows circle animation still kept going though, I left it to see if it would eventually shut down, and nope, it was still trying to shut down in the morning. Then I hit the power button on the system box.

      Thanks for your suggestions.

    • Master Bates on 20/01/2017 - 23:56
      +1

      As OverburdenedWarrior has stated, check for firmware updates for your SSD.

      I was getting random crashes on my Windows HTPC running on a Samsung 850 EVO SSD that was previously working flawlessly.

      It turned out that a Windows 10 automatic update had suddenly made my SSD incompatible in some way; an SSD firmware update processed through the Samsung software solved the problem.

  • Cheapascents on 20/01/2017 - 19:59

    hay isnt that a laptop gpu?

    • Tech and cars on 20/01/2017 - 20:17

      lol, fixed.

      • Cheapascents on 20/01/2017 - 20:27
        +1

        OP, before cloning the SSD did you format it and set it up? I see in some cloning SSD videos on youtube, they format the SSD first then clone the data over to the SSD including partions. Another thing to note is the ACHI and IDE modes, im not sure if it helps but those things come in my mind when troubleshooting an SSD.

        Also try removing the CMOS battery and putting it back in, go through the setup and see if the freezing stops

        • Tech and cars on 20/01/2017 - 21:17

          Acronis software did that for me.

  • Tech and cars on 20/01/2017 - 21:18

    Acronis cloning software -I've noticed that software get's right into your computer and affects how it boots. I had the 2015 version which after a bit of googling - have found a lot of people have had a similar issue of the freezing.

    I've uninstalled it and now for the last 1.5 hours no freezing yet! Let's hope this fixes it.

    • scrimshaw on 20/01/2017 - 23:06
      +1

      If freezing persists, I would just reinstall windows and start anew, with a minimal set of drivers (that is, you only install the drivers required to get your system running)

      otherwise you will waste a lot of time attempting to debug a possibly corrupt windows install.

      Another way to test stability of your PC is by running a different operating system on it, the best choice being Linux, plus some memory and mathematics tests, just to see if your system can actually run things right.
      Jeff Atwood has a indepth blog post that can talk you through it.

      If the stability test passes — you'll know that something went wrong with your operating system image, and you might have to re-image your ssd or possibly re-do Windows installation.

      If the stability test fails — you'll know that your system is misbehaving and something has to be replaced.

      • Tech and cars on 21/01/2017 - 12:09

        Freezing has stopped! thank you! If it resumes, I'll look into this.

  • aboabo on 20/01/2017 - 23:28
    +1

    There was a very easy solution when this happened to me about a year ago.

    1. I disconnected/reconnected SSD data lead. Solved, but the problem returned days later. Rinse and repeat etc.

    2. Replaced the SSD data lead and now good as gold.

    • Gravy on 21/01/2017 - 00:05
      +1

      Have also had a problem with drive leads in the past (mechanical drive), back in the day before the leads had locking mechanisms.

    • Tech and cars on 21/01/2017 - 12:09

      Freezing has stopped! thank you! If it resumes, I'll look into this.

  • Gravy on 21/01/2017 - 00:08
    +1

    Done a RAM test?? try http://www.memtest86.com/

    If you have more than one RAM chip, try running off just a single chip for a while and see if the problem still occurs (pull one out). If it does, swap it for the other chip and rinse repeat.

    • Tech and cars on 21/01/2017 - 12:10

      Freezing has stopped! thank you! If it resumes, I'll look into this.

      • Gravy on 21/01/2017 - 16:40

        stopped by itself without you doing anything?? Maybe it's temperature related if you have had really hot days when the freezing occurred? Has your local temp dropped considerably since the problem stopped?

        • Tech and cars on 21/01/2017 - 17:41

          Acronis cloning software -I've noticed that software get's right into your computer and affects how it boots. I had the 2015 version which after a bit of googling - have found a lot of people have had a similar issue of the freezing.

          I've uninstalled it and now for the last day or so, no freezing yet! Let's hope this fixes it.

  • smpantsonfire on 21/01/2017 - 11:59
    +1

    Why not do a fresh install? Takes 15 minutes on an ssd.

    • Tech and cars on 21/01/2017 - 12:09
      +1

      I just have a lot of other programs that are setup and would take a while to get them back to where I am.

      examples: Steam, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (Re-installing all the VSCO, LXC presets takes a while), iTunes Backup of my Phone, etc… It's a full day job to get the computer back to normal.

      • smpantsonfire on 21/01/2017 - 12:12

        Steam would be a copy paste, Once you install Photoshop, the rest should be able to be copy pasted as well. Same with iTunes. Totally worth it in the end though. Will have a much better running computer.

        • Tech and cars on 21/01/2017 - 20:07

          I honestly don't know how to be copy and paste programs, and retain all the information. Something always goes wrong for me.

          Seems like you've actually got it covered and it sounds like you can do a clean install fast, while retaining info.. A lot of people would pay $50-100 for a service like this. I know I probably would pay someone $50-100 to reformat my computer, install a new SSD and retain all of my files/settings.

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