PC sporadically freezes and prevents from booting for 18-24 hours… I have tried EVERYTHING but replacing CPU.

Understanding Sporadic PC Freezes and Boot Failures: A Comprehensive Troubleshooting Guide

Introduction

Experiencing intermittent system freezes and boot failures can be an incredibly frustrating ordeal for PC enthusiasts and professionals alike. When these issues persist over extended periods, especially with no clear error messages or logs, pinpointing the root cause becomes a complex puzzle. This article provides an in-depth look into a real-world scenario involving sporadic PC freezes and boot failures, explores potential causes, and offers practical troubleshooting strategies to help you diagnose and resolve similar problems.

The Case Overview

The user reports owning a high-spec gaming PC built approximately 18 months ago, which initially performed flawlessly. However, starting around March, the system began exhibiting intermittent freezes and boot issues lasting anywhere from several hours to days. Over time, the problems became increasingly complex, with incidents including freezes during idle periods, during gaming sessions, and even during Windows boot sequences.

Key Symptoms and Observations

• The PC freezes during idle and under load, often without warning.

• Windows Event Viewer rarely logs any errors during freezes, indicating hardware-level issues.

• Safe Mode often prevents freezing, hinting at potential driver or service conflicts.

• System sometimes recovers spontaneously after being powered off for 18-24 hours.

• Replacing components like PSU and temporarily removing the GPU provided only limited relief.

• Problems worsened following power outages; frequent failures during startup, even in BIOS.

• Replacing the motherboard was attempted but did not definitively resolve the issue.

• The user has conducted extensive diagnostics, including memtests and BIOS resets, with no conclusive hardware faults identified.

Understanding Potential Causes

Given the complexity and the sporadic nature, multiple hardware and configuration factors could contribute to such issues:

1. Power Supply (PSU) Anomalies:
   Fluctuations or faults in power delivery can cause system instability. Despite replacing the PSU temporarily, residual issues might persist if the original PSU or power delivery pathways are compromised.

2. Motherboard Defects or Faulty Capacitors:
   A damaged or aging motherboard, especially with bad capacitors, can lead to instability during boot and normal operation.

3. Grounding or Electrical Interference:
   Grounding issues, such as inadequate case grounding or electrical surges, can cause intermittent hardware failures.

4. Memory Issues:
   Although memtests showed no problems, subtle RAM faults or incompatibilities occasionally manifest as system freezes.

5. **CPU or CPU