Wednesday, February 7, 2018

windows 7 - Why is my computer 'freezing' during OS loading & POST?

My computer is suffering from seemingly random crashes, that get progressively worse the longer a computer session runs.


Initially, the system will start, appear to run fine for some time, then a BSOD will appear out of nowhere with a random error. Most often, this error message contain something related to 'USB', for example BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER (but it is not consistent). If I reboot after this initial crash, the crashes become more frequent, and I get less and less further into the boot process. [Only when I take an extended break from a computing session does the lifetime seem to improve again.]


i.e. My most recent session went something like:



  1. Run for 45 mins in Windows 7 64bit: BSOD with 'BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER'

  2. Reboot; get to login screen; BSOD with 'BAD_POOL_HEADER'

  3. Reboot; get to Windows loading screen; image appears to freeze on screen, computer becomes non-responsive.

  4. Reboot; get to a BIOS/POST screen (prior to being able to enter setup); image appears to freeze, computer becomes non-responsive.


I had not changed any hardware or major software configuration before these crashes begun to happen (they appeared to start 'out of the blue')


I have stripped down my hardware to the bare minimum: motherboard, CPU, Memory, and replaced my fancy ATI video card with an old video card (which has been proven to be stable), and 1 hard drive (with OS), to no effect. My Windows software has the latest updates, as well as my hardware drivers.


I had originally suspected it as a memory problem, so replaced all my DRAM, but the problem still persists (unlikely to have received two bad batches in a row...)


Current specs:
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
4x4GB G.SKILL Ripjaw 1333 [This is the new memory]


...any suggestions? I'm all ears.

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