Processor hanging and causing computer crash whilst playing games

Question

Recently I upgraded my HDD to a 1TB and reformatted my computer (due to it suddenly taking several hours just to boot.)

After that whenever I play games my computer would freeze up, become unresponsive to all keyboard commands, keyboard locks (Num lock, capslock etc) would be unable to change and mouse would become unresponsive. After a few seconds to a minute the display picture would become deformed, sometimes a few seconds after that it would go to BSOD. A hard reboot is required and after that the computer boots fine and works exactly the same. Sound either loops around 30 seconds of sound repeatedly, play a single 'note' infinitely (like a beep) or stop entirely.

The more intensive the game the more regularly crashes occurred and running Firefox in the background also seemed to increase the frequency of crashes.

I have tried to decrease the amount of CPU usage which decreases the frequency of the crashes however does not stop them entirely.
I have also monitored temperature of the APU which slowly climbs and reaches around 75 degrees just before crashing.

OS: Windows 7 64-bit
CPU: AMD A6-3670 APU with Radeon HD graphics
HDD: SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA
RAM: 1 Crucial 4GB, Ballistix Smart Tracer 240-pin DIMM (with LEDs), DDR3 PC3-14900
Motherboard: Asrock A75M-HVS

BugCheck 101, {31, 0, fffff88002f63180, 2}

Probably caused by : Unknown_Image ( ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE )

Followup: MachineOwner

0: kd> !analyze -v

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• *
• Bugcheck Analysis *
• *

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CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101) An expected clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor in an MP system within the allocated interval. This indicates that the specified processor is hung and not processing interrupts.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000031, Clock interrupt time out interval in nominal clock ticks.
Arg2: 0000000000000000, 0.
Arg3: fffff88002f63180, The PRCB address of the hung processor.
Arg4: 0000000000000002, 0.

Debugging Details:

BUGCHECK_STR: CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_4_PROC

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: System

CURRENT_IRQL: d

STACK_TEXT:
fffff88003316528 fffff80003130a4a : 0000000000000101 0000000000000031 0000000000000000 fffff88002f63180 : nt!KeBugCheckEx

fffff88003316530 fffff800030e36f7 : fffff88000000000 fffff80000000002 0000000000002711 0000000000000001 : nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x4e3e

fffff880033165c0 fffff80003025895 : fffff8000304b460 fffff88003316770 fffff8000304b460 fffff80000000000 : nt!KeUpdateSystemTime+0x377

fffff880033166c0 fffff800030d6113 : 000000007f83af53 fffff80003254e80 0000058000000000 0000000000000000 : hal!HalpHpetClockInterrupt+0x8d

fffff880033166f0 fffff800030de9f0 : fffff80003254e80 0000000000000001 0000000000000000 fffff80003250c48 : nt!KiInterruptDispatchNoLock+0x163

fffff88003316880 fffff800030c39d4 : 0000000000000002 0000000000000001 fffff88003316ba0 0000000000005da0 : nt!KeFlushMultipleRangeTb+0x260

fffff88003316950 fffff8000315af25 : fffff80003314b00 fffff80000000001 0000000000000001 fffff88003316bb0 : nt!MiAgeWorkingSet+0x64a

fffff88003316b00 fffff800030c3b06 : 0000000000006c82 0000000000000000 fffffa8000000000 0000000000000003 : nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x4c7f6

fffff88003316b80 fffff800030c3fb3 : 0000000000000008 fffff88003316c10 0000000000000001 fffffa8000000000 : nt!MmWorkingSetManager+0x6e

fffff88003316bd0 fffff800033762ea : fffffa80039c0040 0000000000000080 fffffa800399a040 0000000000000001 : nt!KeBalanceSetManager+0x1c3

fffff88003316d40 fffff800030ca8e6 : fffff88002f63180 fffffa80039c0040 fffff88002f6dfc0 bfd0ec17c4c7b1e1 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a

fffff88003316d80 0000000000000000 : 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 : nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x16

STACK_COMMAND: kb

SYMBOL_NAME: ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: Unknown_Module

IMAGE_NAME: Unknown_Image

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 0

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_4_PROC_ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE

BUCKET_ID: X64_CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_4_PROC_ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE

Followup: MachineOwner

Answer 1

Check the cooling apparatus (fans, heat sinks, heat pipes, etc.) in the system to ensure it's not clogged with dirt, dust an debris.

Also ensure it isn't dislodged from its regular position (in case something got bumped while installing the new drive), because if it's not seated properly it won't cool properly.