Downloading anything causes the computer to randomly freeze

[AmssoBador Spacelot]

I've had this problem for over a year now where if I am downloading anything, particularly at a high speed, there is a good chance that my computer will freeze. No BSOD, just one frame being stuck on the monitor. The audio will start repeating the last fraction of a second heard as well. The only solution is to reset the PC via the power button.

Even if I am gaming online without specifically downloading anything, there is still a chance that the freeze will occur. The system works fine as long as no internet activity is involved. Also, I think the freezes have become more common as of the last few months. I can not download large games on Steam without limiting my download speed and even then the freeze will sometimes occur.

My system specs:

Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Motherboard: Asus H61M-A

CPU: Intel i3-3240

GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5830

RAM: 4096 MB

HDD: Samsung HD103SJ (1 TB)

Network Adapter: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

What I have tried so far:

1. Increased the size of Windows pagefile to 1.5x the amount of RAM.

2. Deleted several hundred gigabytes worth of files.

3. Switched the SATA port of the HDD.

4. Reinstalled my network adapter drivers.

5. Ran a slow and a quick scan on my HDD health by HD Tune. No damaged blocks found on either. The program lists the HDD having 20 unstable sectors though.

6. Ran a few chkdsk /f /r scans.

So far I am suspecting that the HDD might be the culprit here. It is the oldest part in my computer by far and HD Tune did list it having some unstable sectors.

I would not like to buy a new HDD for nothing in case the old one is not causing the problem though. Also the computer did not freeze as I was performing the HD Tune scan, even though it was going through massive amounts of data on the drive for an extended period of time. Again, the freezes only happen when there is any ongoing internet activity.

What do you guys think? Any help here would be much appreciated.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yea if all is good with your new drive, then most likely it was just the old drive going bad. As more and more bad sectors occur on a drive and go un-marked, as new data (or moved data) tries to then locate to where a bad sector happens to be; that alone can lockup the entire system. So hopefully that's all it was.

[AmssoBador Spacelot]

It's a disaster. The computer just froze despite of the new HDD being operational with the old one unplugged. That means it probably wasn't about the HDD in the first place. I did download quite a bit more than what usually causes a freeze but the problem is still there.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Well, i always suspect the RAM before the HDD as ive said before.
So even though the tests showed up negative maybe it is the RAM.

I guess, assuming you have 2 RAM sticks or more, remove 1 and use the PC normally and see what happens.. If it freezes again remove the stick thats left and replace it with the other one and try again.

What Internet connection do you have?
have you tried updating your NIC drivers?
Checked to see if your motherboard has any BIOS updates?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

When downloading what exactly?
Steam game? It can be normal for Steam Client to freeze when it's finishing up and/or unpacking a game. That is kinda normal when running an OS off a HDD (instead of an SSD) as due to driver performance for most part, some apps can appear to "go out to lunch" simply because of taking too long to complete tasks and/or having high CPU usage for extended periods.

Might be best to let a tech look at your system then; to rule out other things, such as RAM. If you lack any extra known-working parts to use for "test" purposes.

[AmssoBador Spacelot]

引用自 ☥ - CJ -：

Well, i always suspect the RAM before the HDD as ive said before.
So even though the tests showed up negative maybe it is the RAM.

I guess, assuming you have 2 RAM sticks or more, remove 1 and use the PC normally and see what happens.. If it freezes again remove the stick thats left and replace it with the other one and try again.

What Internet connection do you have?
have you tried updating your NIC drivers?
Checked to see if your motherboard has any BIOS updates?

Got only 1 RAM stick in the motherboard. 50 mbps connection. I'll see about the drivers a bit later.

引用自 Bad-Motha：

When downloading what exactly?
Steam game? It can be normal for Steam Client to freeze when it's finishing up and/or unpacking a game. That is kinda normal when running an OS off a HDD (instead of an SSD) as due to driver performance for most part, some apps can appear to "go out to lunch" simply because of taking too long to complete tasks and/or having high CPU usage for extended periods.

Might be best to let a tech look at your system then; to rule out other things, such as RAM. If you lack any extra known-working parts to use for "test" purposes.

I was downloading a bunch of Steam games, yeah. It was a total lockup like described in the OP, nothing like Steam itself just being unresponsive. I might just have to send the system for repair, as you said.

[[☥] - CJ -]

only 1 RAM stick is kinda ehh...
If you can get another stick easily enough do that before you consider sending it in over something you may be able to fix yourself.

The only thing that system has in common other than the CPU and the motherboard is that RAM stick.

[AmssoBador Spacelot]

I'll look into it, sure.

[AmssoBador Spacelot]

Alright. I waited a couple of days just to make sure but I can now safely say that I found the cause for the freezes. You see, when I was fiddling with the cables trying to find out why W7 would not boot on the new HDD, I switched the SATA cable into the port of the old HDD. It turns out that port was faulty and causing the freezing. When I switched back with the cable in a different port, no more freezes have occured since then despite of me downloading dozens of gigabytes worth of Steam games.

Thank you so much for all the help you guys provided. Getting to the bottom of this would have been a lot harder without you.