GPU dead or is it something else?

So, I'm running into some weird USB issues on my motherboard. Every time I plug in a wireless mouse or a USB hub, things start stuttering. Usually, I have to yank it out and plug it back in just to get it to behave, and even then, sometimes I have to reboot the whole PC a few times before it actually works. To make matters worse, my keyboard won't even work through the standard PS/2 port. It gets really annoying when I'm watching stuff on YouTube—I'll be mid-video and everything just freezes up, throws some error code I can't quite recall right now, and the computer restarts itself. Strangely enough, streaming movies or shows works totally fine. My setup is an ASUS Prime Motherboard running the latest BIOS version, F12. I've got an Intel Core i5 at 2500MHz, 2x Crucial RAM (4GB DDR2-800), an Nvidia GeForce 210 1GB, and I'm running Windows 10 Pro. You think this is a motherboard issue, or could it be something else entirely?

It could be the motherboard, but I've got a hunch it might be the power supply. What PSU are you running, and how old is it?

It probably wouldn't hurt to crack it open, blow out the dust, and swap the thermal paste. Does the GPU have a fan, or is it passive? If it's passive, maybe it's just overheating while you're watching YouTube, which would freeze everything. You should probably repaste that too, since the old stuff usually turns into gum on those cards...

Beyond that, it’d be smart to grab a Hiren's BootCD or something similar to run a memtest and check the hard drive for any bad sectors.

So, I guess I'd make sure the hardware is actually solid first (temps, paste, HDD, RAM, etc.) before even bothering with software fixes, especially since these parts are pretty old...

fadedorca66 said:It might be the motherboard, but honestly, I’ve got a bad feeling about the power supply too. Which PSU are you running, and how old is it?

It wouldn't hurt to crack the case open, blow out all the dust, and swap out the thermal paste. Does the GPU have its own fan or is it passive? If it's passive, it might just be overheating while you're watching YouTube, which would freeze everything up. You should probably repaste that too, since the old stuff on graphics cards tends to turn into literal gum after a while...

Beyond that, grab a Hiren's Boot CD or whatever you like and run some tests on the RAM (memtest) and the hard drive to make sure there aren't any bad sectors lurking around.

Basically, I'd make sure the hardware is solid first (temps, paste, HDD, RAM, etc.) before even bothering with software fixes, especially since these parts are getting pretty old...

I clean my PC almost constantly. Last time was maybe two or three months ago when I swapped in the processor mentioned above. It used to have a single-core chip, so the paste is fresh. The GPU doesn't have its own cooler. I'll try what you suggested and we'll see. But if the GPU is the culprit, why does everything else work fine except when I'm on YouTube? I'll check the power supply, though I don't know the exact model off the top of my head. Thanks for the tips.

Regarding YouTube versus other sites—it really just comes down to the codec, the player, and your browser. My first thought is that those streaming sites for movies and shows probably still rely on stuff that hammers your CPU, whereas YouTube is a bit more "advanced." It supports HTML5 and hardware acceleration, so your browser can offload the work to your GPU instead of just taxing the processor.

Maybe play around with it a bit; see how much your CPU gets eaten up by one of those sites compared to YouTube. You could also use something like GPU-Z to track your graphics card temperature and see exactly how much load it’s actually taking on at any given moment.

Alright. Thanks! I'll let you know what I find. 👍

Alright, let's break this down. My GPU works harder on YouTube than it does when I'm just streaming movies or shows, but honestly, the temps are rock solid. It stays cool and stable no matter what. I ran some tests on the RAM and it’s totally fine. Checked the hard drive too—everything looks clean, no bad sectors or anything weird going on there. For power, I'm running an old EVGA 400 W that's probably been around forever. Here’s the kicker: the CPU. I tried running a quick check on UserBenchmark, but the test keeps crashing. It throws the exact same "clock watchdog timeout" error I get whenever I'm watching stuff on YouTube. After it crashes, the system takes ages to reboot, though once it finally kicks back in, it seems to behave itself. Aside from the YouTube headache, everything else runs smooth. So, am I looking at a dead CPU here?

https://www.reviversoft.com/blog/201...chdog-timeout/

What wattage are you running? It’d probably be best to switch back to a week...

Maybe try underclocking the CPU a bit...

I’ve got a 10. No way am I going back to a 7; the 10 is solid. Worst case scenario, I'll just grab a different CPU later. Anyway, how do you actually downclock a processor? Never messed around with that before.

Hardly think it's the CPU. I'd probably bet on the motherboard or the power supply instead... though I could be wrong, I guess. CPUs don't really just die like that very often.

Yeah, I'm with you on that, but how am I even supposed to test the motherboard? My only real move is to hunt down an AM2 socket board just to pop my CPU in there, but finding one without buying used gear feels like throwing money down the drain. On the flip side, every single benchmark runs fine except for the CPU ones. I think I read somewhere that that "clock watchdog timeout" error usually points to the processor itself, maybe some crappy drivers, or a BIOS issue... just guessing here, but it felt like it was tied to the chip. Since I dropped this specific processor in a few months back and had to flash the BIOS to get it to play nice, everything seems solid on the software front. It really smells like a bad CPU to me. I grabbed it off eBay from some guy in China with great feedback, so... yeah, it's a toss-up. I still have an old single-core chip lying around. I wonder if the motherboard would act up and struggle on YouTube if the issue was actually the board, since that chip is such a weakling? Or should I just grab that old chip and run the test? If it crashes, then I know it's the motherboard or the power supply. If it doesn't, then the CPU is definitely the culprit. 🤔

First off, maybe take a quick look at the capacitors on the motherboard and inside the power supply. They have a tendency to bulge or lose capacity, which causes all kinds of weird issues. As for the CPU, you could probably try testing it using just a single core.