freeze - What is the cause of my hanging freezing computer?

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.4

OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Home, 64 bit

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2310 CPU @ 2.90GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7

Processor Count: 4

RAM: 8174 Mb (DDR3 2 sticks 4gb each)

Graphics Card: Radeon RX 570 Series, -1 Mb

Hard Drives: C: 465 GB (90 GB Free); D: 465 GB (14 GB Free);

Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC., P8H61-M LE

Antivirus: Windows Defender, Disabled

PSU: Seasonic SI2II Bronze

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Good day,

Until recently this week, I never had a GPU and only used a generic PSU. But just 3 weeks ago, I bought a GPU and a good quality PSU.

I am totally at a loss here. I have been having problems with my computer for several years now.

What happened before the upgrade:

• My computer would instantly hang and then the screen would shatter (showing lines). 1-2 years ago, this occurrence would be accompanied by a loud repeating sound when I was playing a game for instance, but not all the time 90% of the time, the screen would just freeze. This can occur even on the simplest of tasks, not necessarily playing games, but more demanding games causes more hangs based on my observation.


• There were a few instances were it instantly rebooted instead of hanging.


• On half of the instances, a Blue screen of death (BsoD) would just appear and show a huge variety of error messages everytime.


• Restarting my PC when I hanged will create an overheating error most of the time where my CPU is very hot. I will bypass this all the time by pressing "Disable changes and Exit" in the BIOS in the start-up.

This happened last year and stopped appearing for about 6-8 months, then started appearing 1-2 weeks ago on a intermittent basis. Probably since 1-2 weeks ago, it would occur 1-3 times every 1 to 2 days. I never cleaned my computer for about 5-7 years until I decided to get a GPU and PSU wherein I opened my computer and cleaned all the components.

Removed the fan facing the motherboard, cleaned the fan, heatsink, and motherboard of dust. Also removed the thermal paste, then re-applied and re-attached. The rams were very dirty, there were layers of dust in the ram to the point the circuits were covered in dust. I thought this was the problem and I cleaned it carefully with a dry tissue paper until 95-99% of the dust were clear. I also cleaned the other fan at the back of my CPU.

So basically, the only thing I did not clean is my generic power supply because I was thinking of replacing it anyway.

After the upgrade:

• My computer would still hang, but this time my screen would simply freeze the most recent image in my screen, then after about 5-10 seconds my monitor will completely lose signal and not detect anything from my computer. My keyboard still works when I press caps lock for a few moments after the screen has turned black, then after that it will also stop taking in any input. I cannot do anything, but restart the computer.


• The first instance it hanged after I got the GPU just yesterday, is that when I restart my computer after the freeze, my optical drive suddenly opened. My optical drive never opens, also pressing the button does not even open it because it is broken. So I was shocked it opened even. I doubt it is the PSU that is the culprit because this is a brand new Seasonic power supply and I have been having freezing problems before I even upgraded.


• No blue screens of deaths ever since the upgrade (which happened almost every 1-2 days for about 2-3 weeks before I bought my GPU and PSU) so the blue screens stopped appearing, only the freeze.


• No more overheating errors ever of CPU when restarting unlike prior to the upgrade

Tests Done:

• So I did a "Windows Memory Diagnostic" and it ran the "Standard"
  tests once then rebooted and said it had no problems encountered. But
  only for about 15 minutes and did not do any memtest yet.


• I ran Furmark for 45 mins to test GPU stability, Prime95 to test my
  CPU and Ram for 5 hours. I ran MSI afterburner while playing games
  and learned that even at temperatures below 60C on both GPU and CPU,
  my computer can still freeze during games. No errors/crashes found
  during stress tests. Freezes occur 95% of the time while paying games, but
  
  there was one instance it hanged when I was right clicking a folder


• I'm not sure if my hard drive can be a culprit because I never have
  corrupted files despite it being extremely slow. Also, most of the
  time, my computer is slow at right clicking or loading things or
  starts to get sluggish because disk utilization where it gets capped
  out at 100% at many instances. Sometimes it gets capped with just a
  low usage of memory--oddly.


• Checked motherboards for bloated capacitors they looked clean and
  uniformly cylindrical.

So I am wondering what my computer's problem is. Also, I am worried
that my new GPU and PSU might get damaged from a possible defective
motherboard, processor, ram, or hard drive. As most of these are
probably about 6-8 years old or more.