Windows 8.1 Random Freezing lasting 3 minutes

[bartekxx12]

Hi,

I upgraded to Windows 8.1 a few days ago and ever since I have been experiencing random system freezes every 2 - 4 hours. It can happen while doing anything, listening to music, browsing the internet, playing games... anything. I can still move the mouse normally however clicking or hovering over things has no effect on them until about 30 seconds later when all the actions I performed happen suddenly and it freezes again, this repeats for about 3 minutes. Before it gets back to normal as if nothing ever happened.  

I can lock the computer with Win + L while everything is frozen, doing that will usually get me to the lock screen... I say usually because sometimes the screen just turns black. Anyway while in the lockscreen everything works normally, I can shut down, type in my password, everything works bus as soon as I unlock it it all freezes again.

I have looked at Event Log but there is nothing there, no errors or warnings in that time. 

 

My CPU and RAM are both overclocked but have passed 48 hours of Prime 95 twice... and this never happened before updating to 8.1.

Does anyone have any ideas? I will now go and try deleting and re-installing GPU, Sound and Ethernet drivers to see if that fixes anything and then I'll look for a BIOS update. 

[M-ursu]

I have exactly same issue, we need to wait microsoft to fix it.

[bartekxx12]

I have exactly same issue, we need to wait microsoft to fix it.

Ahh, excellent, I was actually hoping more people would have it since with nothing in the Event Log it seems impossible to diagnose. 

Thanks

[JDGaulin]

I am kind of glad that both of my machines had errors when trying to upgrade. I will stay with windows 8 until I hear they have fixed all the ridiculous issues people have been having. A co-worker of mine bricked his surface pro Hes not happy. 

[Jm4steam]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I'll wait a while to upgrade.

[TheProfosist]

I may have this same error actually. Though I cant confirm it yet really as the sdd its on may have had the same issue prior on another system. I swapped out the ssd for a hdd so I should know soon.

[Mombasa69]

Same problem, but mostly when browsing, especially anything flash related.

 

Tried everything from bug-fixes, updates the lot, same problem in 8.1. Even a totall HDD wipe and only using default software didn't fix the problem.

 

Wont happen on every machine using 8/8.1 but it is a common problem. Especially on oc CPU's (even factory clock it still happened, although a little less) All new hardware except my old factory clocked 570's.

 

Windows 8/8.1 bug without a doubt.

 

I'll be going back to 7 if it isn't fixed soon.

 

Games work perfectly though, only happens when browsing mosty (any browser, tested them all), and froze once on desktop, just moving the mouse.

 

Downclocking a cpu (if it's oc will help a alot) although it will still happen.

 

Everything worked perfectly when I first had Windows 8 and oc, some MS update during the last 6 months has screwed it up. (If you get this problem a HDD wipe and totall fresh install wont fix it, unless you don't update anything I guess, but that will just create new headaches).

[TheProfosist]

Anyone make any headway on this? I had this problem on the SSD and now that I swapped in my extra HDD I still have the issue it just happens much less often. I will be re-installing windows once I can to see it that fixes it but that wont be for a while as I amusing this PC to get my others running and as my main PC in the mean time.

[Bushido]

I have found a solutiot to this. I said before that it could be related to unknown driver and know I have identified this faulty driver. 

Firstly, yesterday I reinstalled Windows 8.1 Pro and today I was installing drivers again for Windows 8.1 in HP Probook 4545s. 

Before I installed Windows 8 drivers to Windows 8.1 environment and when HP decided to publish official Windows 8.1 drivers for Probook 4545s then I installed new Windows 8.1 driverst beside Windows 8 drivers that I had before installed. So this caused this freeze/hang. 

 

Secondly, I installed today only these drivers to Windows 8.1 that are ment to be for Windows 8.1 by HP. I installed without poblems until AMD/HP SATA driver were installed. Then my pc started to freeze again. Then I enrolled this driver back to Microsofts default and freeze/hang were gone. 

 

My suggestion is: Don´t install WIndows 8 drivers to Windows 8.1, even if manufactures says it´s compatible with new OS. 

 

Hope this helps many ohers who has this freeze issue too.

 

In addition to that I also uninstalled following Windows Updates: KB2883200 and KB2895219. After these I found out that they were causing this freeze too. After uninstalling them I havent got any freezes. Tip: Disable any Flash related programs or lines in Startup tab. Somebody said that it could be Flash related too then I disabled Flash IDM from startup that caused browser freeze (and maybe OS too) and no more lags. 

 

Conclusion:

 

 

1. 1. Try to enable Hyper-V. See this: http://www.eightforums.com/bsod-crashes-debugging/7189-another-solution-freezing-issue.html

2. Roll back SATA driver to Microsoft default if any were installed during Windows 8.1 install.

3. Uninstall or don´t install these Windows Updates:  KB2883200 and KB2895219.

4. Disable any Flash related line in Startup tab.

 

This solved my Windows 8.1 freeze/hang on HP Probook 4545s. If it helped you too then give feedback in comment section.

[TheProfosist]

O ive been wanting to post this http://goo.gl/i2GTNc looks like toms hardware or someone recognized it. I just did a clean install on my laptop (this never had the issue one of my desktops does) and I had to do a UEFI install with a GPT partition for it to even install, so it might have something to do with that possibly. Previously with Win8 I could still install via BIOS and to a NTFS partition.

Part of the issue might be not 8.1 specific drivers as the PC im having issues with has a AMD chipset and last time I check those driver havnt been updated for 8.1. http://goo.gl/1yEdoI even though the page has 8.1 the name of the file is still 13-9_win7_win8_32-64.exe

[darkstar]

Had the same problem until i disabled dynamic tick.

bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes

[TheProfosist]

Had the same problem until i disabled dynamic tick.

bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes

What is Dynamic Tick?

[minimoose]

Hi,

I upgraded to Windows 8.1 a few days ago and ever since I have been experiencing random system freezes every 2 - 4 hours. It can happen while doing anything, listening to music, browsing the internet, playing games... anything. I can still move the mouse normally however clicking or hovering over things has no effect on them until about 30 seconds later when all the actions I performed happen suddenly and it freezes again, this repeats for about 3 minutes. Before it gets back to normal as if nothing ever happened.  

I can lock the computer with Win + L while everything is frozen, doing that will usually get me to the lock screen... I say usually because sometimes the screen just turns black. Anyway while in the lockscreen everything works normally, I can shut down, type in my password, everything works bus as soon as I unlock it it all freezes again.

I have looked at Event Log but there is nothing there, no errors or warnings in that time. 

 

My CPU and RAM are both overclocked but have passed 48 hours of Prime 95 twice... and this never happened before updating to 8.1.

Does anyone have any ideas? I will now go and try deleting and re-installing GPU, Sound and Ethernet drivers to see if that fixes anything and then I'll look for a BIOS update. 

My Windows 8.1 was so bad I re installed 8, so yeah I had things like it, not all alone buddy!

[TheProfosist]

My Windows 8.1 was so bad I re installed 8, so yeah I had things like it, not all alone buddy!

So far the clean install of Win8.1 on my laptop has been doing fine as compared to the desktop which was an upgrade. I had other PCs that too the upgrade fine so I really dont know what causes it or why the issue was more pronounced on the SSD.

[darkstar]

What is Dynamic Tick?

Dynamic tick is a power saving feature that essentially "stops" the clock while the pc is idling to save power. Dynamic Tick is believed to cause drivers to crash as most drivers rely on accurate timing.

[minimoose]

So far the clean install of Win8.1 on my laptop has been doing fine as compared to the desktop which was an upgrade. I had other PCs that too the upgrade fine so I really dont know what causes it or why the issue was more pronounced on the SSD.

I have an SSD too, and I had the preview.  So I went from 80-100 FPS in BF4 to 40...

[TheProfosist]

I have an SSD too, and I had the preview.  So I went from 80-100 FPS in BF4 to 40...

You could try a clean install of 8.1. If you need help on figuring out how to do that i can probably help.

[minimoose]

You could try a clean install of 8.1. If you need help on figuring out how to do that i can probably help.

Thanks, but I am going to wait for some patches to come out.  Feel free to send over a how to for later though!

[TheProfosist]

Thanks, but I am going to wait for some patches to come out.  Feel free to send over a how to for later though!

Its pretty easy getting the 8.1 ISO was not the easiest for me though since I dont have a MSDN account. Also Win8 keys dont work when installing 8.1 clean so you have to use keys that just let you install basically. Also if you have a upgrade key for 8 you have to do the double install method that has worked since Vista.

[Jm4steam]

When I built my PC I installed win8 OEM. Sounds like I should still wait a while to upgrade to 8.1.

[Jerkamie]

I'm getting the same issue. Mouse works, can't click on anything, ctrl alt del brings up menu, but cannot click on anything. Also happens in video games a lot, audio loops first then comes frozen screen, computer appears to be frozen totally but if you wait 2-3 minutes all comes back and resumes all keys pressed during windows 8.1 seizure. I'm running the Windows 8.1 enterprise 90 day trial.

[DrewRockon]

I had this problem but was able to fix it. The solution was to use a system restore point to roll back a windows defender definitions update... To be fair I now have a different problem (Unrelated I believe, It has to do with a problem some people are having with the new windows 8 fast boot) where I have to rebuild the MBR each time I boot =[ Again I don't believe its related so you might want to try rolling back your windows update.

[Jerkamie]

I did a fresh install of windows 8.1 enterprise trial so I had no system restore point. I ended up putting back Windows 7, back up and running without any seizures. 

[Altecice]

I upgraded to Windows 8.1 and have been having no issues like this

[TheProfosist]

I upgraded to Windows 8.1 and have been having no issues like this

Yes I understand this I myself have systems that have this issue and systems that dont.