Any PC gurus on here?

[VenomUK]

I suspect something isn’t right with my PC since the day I built it. As it was just a general PC I left a few parts out of the build and used the onboard stuff like audio and graphics.

Anyway shortly after the onboard audio would stop working intermittently. After a while I got fed up of this and got a cheap sound card. This would then work for a shot while and then stop. I would then try another PCIe slot and the same would happen, would work for a bit and then stop working.

I then gave up on it and just stopped using it. Over the years of building PCs this has to be my most hated one, it’s quick AF but just seems to have little niggles that stop it from being a decent machine.

I recently decided to get it up and running again and turn it into a gaming machine. I use to have the router next to the PC and always ran a cable to the machine. The router now is in another room so got myself a WiFi adapter and all seemed good and then I started to encounter issues. Internet would just drop out and seems to do it every couple of minutes, then after messing around it comes back again. I’m the tab bad the WiFi disappears and then shows the adapter is disabled. After a minute or two it comes back and reconnects again for a minute or two and then same again just keeps going around like this.

I have updated the BIOS and all drivers are up to date and can’t figure out if it’s something simple as settings or a poor install of windows causing the issue or if the motherboard is just faulty?

 

[Rojer]

I was going to suggest drivers and bios but you have already done that. Is there anything in event viewer? If not it could be worth doing a fresh install of Windows.

 

[Gavin.]

Sounds like a dodgy board to me that, could try a firmware/bios update but bar that I’d get a new board in there.

 

[G. Brzęczyszczykiewicz]

I suspect something isn’t right with my PC since the day I built it. As it was just a general PC I left a few parts out of the build and used the onboard stuff like audio and graphics.

Anyway shortly after the onboard audio would stop working intermittently. After a while I got fed up of this and got a cheap sound card. This would then work for a shot while and then stop. I would then try another PCIe slot and the same would happen, would work for a bit and then stop working.

I then gave up on it and just stopped using it. Over the years of building PCs this has to be my most hated one, it’s quick AF but just seems to have little niggles that stop it from being a decent machine.

I recently decided to get it up and running again and turn it into a gaming machine. I use to have the router next to the PC and always ran a cable to the machine. The router now is in another room so got myself a WiFi adapter and all seemed good and then I started to encounter issues. Internet would just drop out and seems to do it every couple of minutes, then after messing around it comes back again. I’m the tab bad the WiFi disappears and then shows the adapter is disabled. After a minute or two it comes back and reconnects again for a minute or two and then same again just keeps going around like this.

I have updated the BIOS and all drivers are up to date and can’t figure out if it’s something simple as settings or a poor install of windows causing the issue or if the motherboard is just faulty?

I had a similar issue with my WiFi disabling itself, I think it was something to do with power settings. Can't be more specific as it was a while ago, but it might be a good place to start

 

[hopgop1]

Id suspect a dodgy windows install if you've got the drivers sorted. Motherboard being faulty is a possibility though. Windows reinstall is the easiest first step.
WiFi is always shite, get a powerline adapter if you absolutely can't run an ethernet cable.

 

[R3k1355]

If a fresh install of windows doesn't work it's a dodgy board.

 

[Darren S]

If this was a very old version of Windows (XP and older) - I'd suspect the dropping out of hardware was an interrupt conflict. More modern Windows editions shrug off old complications like that - but it is strange that both your soundcard and WiFi have had issues.

One culprit could be the power settings. Not so much the power being supplied as I suspect you'd have random crashes and restarts as the CPU & GPU got busy. More like the power settings within Control Panel are maximised for efficiency rather than maintaining uptime.

Is the O/S build clean that you ran yourself? Or preloaded with lots of bloatware shite?

 

[hopgop1]

Full PC specs would also help, could highlight a dodgy PSU as above.

 

[VenomUK]

I will check the power setting and adjust if needed and see what happens if anything changes.

Windows was from the windows creation tool and then booted from a stick drive.

I will get full specs shortly and post up.

The WiFi card comes with Bluetooth too which has its own power supply as it had additional cable that used some of the pin connectors on the board. When the wife would drop the Bluetooth was still working fine and didn’t drop once.

I will update soon once I’ve had another play around with the settings and try a new install if needed too.

 

[Daz...]

I used to have a lot of issues with bluetooth on Windows 10, not had a single problem since I installed 11. I assume it just has better support on the newer OS.

I’m almost certain something will break now I’ve said that.

 

[Rojer]

Could run a few commands also like SFC /scannow or the dism commands. Is windows up to date? What's it like in safe mode?

 

[VenomUK]

@hopgop1

Processor AMD Ryzen 3 2200G with Radeon Vega Graphics 3.50 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (13.9 GB usable)
Motherboard MSI B450 Gaming Plus
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Not sure if missing anything else, please let me know.

Power settings on the control panel were set in the middle and have since bumped that up and so far nothing has dropped out yet... fingers crossed.

 

[Cub.]

Seems to be a motherboard issue from a Google search. So much so, MSi have a whole page dedicated to solving the problem 😂

MSI Global - The Leading Brand in High-end Gaming & Professional Creation

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.

www.msi.com

 

[VenomUK]

Seems to be a motherboard issue from a Google search. So much so, MSi have a whole page dedicated to solving the problem 😂

MSI Global - The Leading Brand in High-end Gaming & Professional Creation

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.

www.msi.com

Brilliant, thanks for that.

Obvs my internet wouldn’t hold long enough for me to find that. It stayed on for an hour or so and then started playing up so the power settings didn’t solve the issue. I’ll go and have a read of that page now, thanks for finding that

 

[vtec-e]

First thought was psu, and second motherboard. Also check the mobo capacitors, that none are discharging any fluid.

 

[GiT]

Install Wireshark and let it run whilst it's dropping out. I had something similar years ago - DivX was the issue. It was flooding the network and the PC was going mental.

 

[VenomUK]

Don’t suppose anyone has or knows how to get windows 7 for an older laptop too? I’ve been looking around but can’t seem to find anything

 

[pna]

You say you have already done updates - does this mean all the windows optional updates which include firmware and hardware drivers?

Have you considered that the audio dropping out might be the peripherals e.g. speakers, and not the PC itself? Seems odd for it to work in several configurations but then stop - is there a short/ break in a cable?

I had issues with the networking on one of my PCs after it went to sleep - the resume didnt work correctly - I sorted this by disabling sleep in the power settings.

Have you got a link to the actual wifi/ bluetooth card? Are there vendor specific drivers available for this?

Is the wifi signal strength very good when you do have a connection? I have found that when doing large downloads the signal can get disrupted.

 

[VenomUK]

Yes, it was happening before I done the updated which prompted me to update everything.

I have considered it to be the speakers but when I would plug in headphones I’d have the same issue with no sound or very distorted sound. But over Bluetooth it’s perfect audio.

 

[pna]

I'm working a bit in the dark as I dont know your full setup, but sound issues with headphones could be 'wiring' too - front audio panel and/ or motherboard jumpers so try this after removing the sound card (and any external gpu) using both headphones and speakers to test just to be sure

MSI Global - The Leading Brand in High-end Gaming & Professional Creation

As a world leading gaming brand, MSI is the most trusted name in gaming and eSports. We stand by our principles of breakthroughs in design, and roll out the amazing gaming gear like motherboards, graphics cards, laptops and desktops.

www.msi.com

If it turns out to be coming from the motherboard, some people have found a workaround to adjust voltages to compensate for memory related issues but this may be a waste of time if you are just running standard settings on the BIOS

 

[iain187]

So you have poor sound quality and you've tried the onboard sound card + and you've tried a dedicated sound card.


I would say try a USB sound device if you can get your hands on it - if it's still a problem its either the mobo or windows

reinstall windows and then replace mobo.

 

[VenomUK]

I eventually got round to putting a fresh install of Windows on and the problem hasn’t resolved. I thought it has upon the first boot up and the WiFi held without interruption. I come back today and pretty much right away WiFi just dropped off the face of the earth not even allowing me to select adapters or even register the system had a WiFi card installed. Rebooted the system and the WiFi card was back but soon dropped off again. I’ve not gotten as far as to testing the USB ports if they stay active or not. I don’t see any point either and just think the motherboard is junk.

If I plug my phone in through lightening cable into one of the USB ports I have solid internet. I did consider buying another mesh adaptor so that I can hardwire in but that doesn’t permanently fix the problem. I think the only resolution is a new motherboard. I won’t be going for an MSI board again and stick to what I know like ASUS and Gigabyte.

 

[Martin_172]

Is the motherboard standoffs fitted? Had a similar issue I was looking at for someone else and that was the cause, it was shorting out on the case