Solved PC freezes with loud static

[John Dlck]

HI guys, so my PC will lock up completely while playing games randomly. I'm not sure what the causes it, but it seems to happen during any intense games, usually when loading something. When my PC hangs up like this, it becomes completely unresponsive, and it's usually accompanied by a loud, sudden static sound coming from the headphones. The reset button doesn't work either, I have to do a full power off.

The issue first cropped up when I first played Cyberpunk 2077 in December, 2020... I had just updated my Windows 10 to the latest version so I could play the game. I was going to sell something at a vendor, when my whole PC hung and spewed out static from the headphones. Quite a jumpscare.

Since then, I've upgraded my GPU from a 980 Ti to a RTX 3060, and the issue has occurred much more frequently in games, namely GTA 5 and Fallout76. I'm not entirely sure what causes the crashes still, but I think it's either drivers, Windows itself, or damaged Hardware causing it.


Here's what I've tried so far:

1. Deleting game config/cache files
2. Uninstalling and reinstalling the affected games
3. Verifying Steam cache
4. Running a malware scan with Mbam
5. Defragging/Optimizing all drives
6. Running in safe mode
7. Running a MemTest
8. Doing a clean boot
9. sfc /scannow in cmd (Says it resolved one thing, but it didn't solve system hangs)
10. DISM /online /service-image /restorehealth
11. Running startup repair with a Windows 10 usb
12. Updating Windows 10 to the latest version
13. Removing sound driver and reinstalling the latest one from Windows Update
14. Installing the latest Realtek Audio driver from the website
15. Updating my BIOS

Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit version, 21H2
CPU: Intel i7-5820k
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060
RAM: Crucial Ballistix DDR-4 64GB
Mobo: GIGABYTE x99-SLI-CF
PSU: EVGA 1300

My PC is about 4 years old, so I'm wondering if it's possibly hardware-related? I took a video of the hang below, I hope it' s helpful:

Thanks, and I appreciate any help!

 

[throww4212]

Hi, I am having the exact same issue and the last two times that I can still see in my Reliability monitor (which I highly recommend looking at after these sorts of problems occur), it seems that "Microsoft Defender" has updated almost directly after relaunching my PC after a crash. I am not sure if this is what causes the crash or if it's even related, but you might be able to verify my claims by going there yourself.
Here is a Screenshot of my reliability monitor so you can see what I'm talking about.

EDIT: It is worth noting that these are not the only times Microsoft Defender updates, It does so almost every day. Most of my crashes also occur when in game, the latest time this happened was during Final Fantasy 14.

 

[Slasken]

Could be PSU related. I have had this exact thing happen, and I was troubleshooting for a while. Turned out it was a loose power cable to the graphics card. Check the power cables to the graphics card in both ends. Mine had come loose at the PSU.

 

[John Dlck]

The issue has been solved.

Please mark this thread as SOLVED if possible.

The problem was my RAM, somehow it's become unstable over the years, and the factory default clock speed was too much for it.

After enabling XMP and lowering the RAM clock speed from 2400 MHz to 2300 Mhz, all crashing and freezing issues have stopped. Stability on the system has also improved.

 

[Slasken]

The issue has been solved.

Please mark this thread as SOLVED if possible.

The problem was my RAM, somehow it's become unstable over the years, and the factory default clock speed was too much for it.

After enabling XMP and lowering the RAM clock speed from 2400 MHz to 2300 Mhz, all crashing and freezing issues have stopped. Stability on the system has also improved.

Problem could be CPU or RAM related, as the memory controller is in the CPU.

 

[Brian Boru]

Please mark this thread as SOLVED

Done, and congrats on finding the solution. Thanks also for reporting back