Windows freezing for a few seconds

[Ledfoot]

Hello,

 

I have been wrestling with this issue for about a month now.

 

I will be playing a game or watching YouTube (normal use, nothing I can specifically pin as a trigger) and my computer will freeze for a few seconds, then resume normal operation. This happens every few hours.

 

Sometimes my audio will freeze, sometimes it will just slow down then snap back.

 

Most games handle this issue without any problems (just freezing for a few seconds) But I know that Kerbol Space Program crashes when it happens (tried to find the crash log, but no luck)

 

I have noticed that there are some applications where it does NOT freeze. Specifically it has not done it while playing Half Life Alyx (VR), this could just be coincidence, but I feel like it may be more significant.

 

Here is my hardware:

• CPU: Core i5-8600K
• OS: Win 10 64 Bit
• MOBO: Asus ROG Strix Z370-F Gaming BIOS 2401 (Most Recent)
• RAM: 2x Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (2x8GB) 3000MHz Kits
• SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB
• PSU: EVGA SuperNova 550 G3 220-G3-0550-Y1 550 Watts
• GPU EVGA GeForce 1080 SC Gaming 08G-P4-6183-KR
• HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB Internal ST2000DM006
• WiFi/Bluetooth: ASUS PCE-AC55BT B1
• Optane Module: Intel Optane M10 16GB
• HTC Vive Wireless Adapter

 

Here is what I tried so far:

• I have re-installed Windows twice to no avail (downloading drivers from the manufacturer website every time)
• I removed my GPU and still had the issue occur
• I ran memtest and did find a bad stick of ram, I removed that stick, and its twin and am preparing to RMA the kit, but the issue still persists
• I re-seated the RAM and CPU, to no avail
• I checked Event Viewer and Reliability History and they show no events (Reliability History at one point did show a Kernel Event 117, but hasn't shown it recently)
• I booted a Linux install drive and checked the kernel log and found a recoverable error with one of my USB controllers, I then disabled it in Windows, and still had the issue
• I have uninstalled the audio driver and gone back to the generic Windows one
• I have run stress tests for a short time (mostly to test temps) and everything runs normal
• Ran SFC, it found a couple things, but didnt fix the issue
• Updated my BIOS

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am usually the guy who solves PC issues, but this one is just refusing to be fixed

 

[Ringowu1234]

Hey bro, I have the exact same issue for months, and I just decided to make a thread here looking for solution, then I saw your post.

 

I'm gonna follow ur post hopefully we can get it solved soon .

[Ledfoot]

Looks like nobody is going to help us, hopefully with two of us we can narrow down the issue.

 

Do you have any hardware in common with me?

 

The fact that it seems to have started around the same time for both of us leads me to think it might be Windows Update related.

[Ringowu1234]

1 hour ago, Ledfoot said:

Looks like nobody is going to help us, hopefully with two of us we can narrow down the issue.

 

Do you have any hardware in common with me?

 

The fact that it seems to have started around the same time for both of us leads me to think it might be Windows Update related.

Here's my spec:

My specs:

CPU: I7-7700k

OS: Windows 10 64bit

Motherbord: ASUS Maximus IX Formula

GPU: MSI Trio RTX 2080ti

RAM: HyperX Predator RGB 8GB 3333Mhz x 4

Power: BeQuiet Straight Power 11 850W

Monitor:

1. Acer XZ321QU 2K 144hz

2. Acer ET221Q 1080P 60hz

Storage:

1. System: Samsung 860 Evo 2.5in 250GB

2. Storage: Samsung 860 Evo M.2 1TB

3. Storage: forgot the spec but it should be irrelevant.

It does seem like the only thing we have in common is windows 10, unless you consider having same brand of MB and SSD something in common.

 

You seem more knowledgeable about troubleshooting, is there anything I can check on my end that'll help us understand more about this issue? You mentioned Event Viewer and Reliability History, should I do that as well?

 

Also, I did notice a faint buzz just a brief moment (less than a second) before the PC comes back from freezing. But I haven't been able to figure out where it came from. I'll take down the side panel next time I use it, hopefully I can pinpoint to which component.

 

 

[Ringowu1234]

Just for your information I've tried stress testing both GPU and CPU and my PC passed both. 

 

GPU/ CPU clock speed and temperature graph in Afterburner shows nothing unusual during the freeze. The graph keeps on going like nothing happened.

[Ledfoot]

Yes, you can open reliability history just by searching for it in the search bar in Windows.

 

You can click a day and it will show you any hardware failures that you have had (such as kernel events)

 

Event viewer is harder to explain, Google will have information on that.

 

 

[Ringowu1234]

I just checked reliability history on my machine. 2 services has stopped working almost everyday:

1. Sound Blaster Audio Service (from Creative sound card which I removed awhile back)

2. GameManagerService (Razer Synapse 3)

Most recent critical event was this morning which is roughly the time my PC froze today. I hope this is the cause of my issue. Let me see if I can fix it and I'll update here.

 

I'll check Event Viewer later.

[Ringowu1234]

My computer still freezes even when Reliablilty Manager shows 0 events and Event Manager shows nothing at the time when PC freeze..

 

[Ringowu1234]

Hey OP, do you happen to have Realtek audio drivers installed by any chance?

 

My wife's PC started to behave the same, and the only change I did was install that driver on her PC. Did some research online and apparently many people have experienced multiple issues with that driver.

 

I just switched to default windows audio driver on my PC. I'll report back if this fixes the issue.

[Ledfoot]

I may have solved the issue, Turns out that one of my hard drives was causing the issue.

 

My clue was that the Virtual Disk Service kept stopping and starting whenever it happened.

 

Hopefully that helps you

 

I completely removed the drive from my system, and have no more issues

[Ledfoot]

I did have the realtek drivers installed, i changed back to the stock ones and still had the same issue

[Ringowu1234]

On 4/15/2020 at 10:56 AM, Ledfoot said:

I may have solved the issue, Turns out that one of my hard drives was causing the issue.

You were right Realtek driver wasn't the issue.

 

What kind of drive was it? System or storage? SSD or HDD?

 

I suspected the buzz I mentioned during the freeze came from HDD too but I thought it wasn't the cause because I only use it to store music/movies... maybe I should disconnect it and see if it helps.

 

 

[Ledfoot]

It was an HDD, a Seagate something. Ill try re formatting it and see if that fixes it.

[humanwall]

1 hour ago, Ledfoot said:

It was an HDD, a Seagate something. Ill try re formatting it and see if that fixes it.

Check my last post maybe u r facing the same issue i was facing but don't follow the same methods i used

[Ringowu1234]

On 4/18/2020 at 7:32 AM, Ledfoot said:

It was an HDD, a Seagate something. Ill try re formatting it and see if that fixes it.

I think HDD is the problem. I found out my Desktop and Document folders are located in HDD. These 2 folders contain some programs that launches at boot.

I moved them to SSD so the HDD contains only non-essential files.

 

My PC has been running smooth for 2 days now. I'll update after maybe a week, but for now, thank you for your help.

[BlackManINC]

On 4/17/2020 at 7:32 PM, Ledfoot said:

It was an HDD, a Seagate something. Ill try re formatting it and see if that fixes it.

I'd throw that HDD in an incinerator. If its not an external HDD, then you need not tolerate its existence. 

[Ledfoot]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:47 PM, humanwall said:

Check my last post maybe u r facing the same issue i was facing but don't follow the same methods i used

I may have faced that issue in the past, I always set my PC up with a small boot drive and a larger games and programs drive. If I ever have issues that I cant solve easily I just reinstall Windows.

 

Had my PC slow down significantly about a year ago. Ran Malwarebytes and Kaspersky and found nothing, so I reformatted my OS drive and reinstalled. PC was fast again.

 

I really should start using virtual machines more for anything sketchy.

[Ledfoot]

On 4/19/2020 at 10:26 PM, Ringowu1234 said:

I think HDD is the problem. I found out my Desktop and Document folders are located in HDD. These 2 folders contain some programs that launches at boot.

I moved them to SSD so the HDD contains only non-essential files.

 

My PC has been running smooth for 2 days now. I'll update after maybe a week, but for now, thank you for your help.

My PC has been running fine since my last post. Hopefully your system is good now too.

 

The drive I had issues with didnt have anything installed on it, it was just for archival purposes. I suppose I should also try different SATA ports to see if it might just be the port.

[Ringowu1234]

On 4/22/2020 at 12:52 AM, Ledfoot said:

My PC has been running fine since my last post. Hopefully your system is good now too.

 

The drive I had issues with didnt have anything installed on it, it was just for archival purposes. I suppose I should also try different SATA ports to see if it might just be the port.

Yes my PC has been running flawlessly after I swapped to a new SSHD.

My guess is windows update probably caused some conflict with the driver.. but who knows. Doesn't matter now, I'm just glad it isn't a bigger problem such as malfunctioned GPU or Motherboard.