Random Freezes in OS

[Foot Sampler]

I recently upgraded the hardware in my PC and after that I've been having random hickups where there will be a good 15-20 second freeze where the only thing that responds is mouse movement (and sometimes a YouTube video will continue playing but I cannot interact with it). I will list both my former hardware as well as my new hardware, but one thing to note is that I am still using the same SSD to boot off of as well as the same storage drive. These freezes seem to mostly happen when I do something, and by that I mean when I open or close a new window or click on a file. After these freezes, anything I attempted to do will suddenly happen all at once.

 

Former Hardware:

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 5 (I do not have the BIOS version, my apologies).

CPU: i7 4790k

GPU: GTX 970 & GTX 960

RAM: 16GB DDR3 (I do not know the frequency but I believe it's just cheap no-name RAM so likely low).

Storage: 256GB SSD (Boot), 1TB WD Blue HDD, & 1TB Toshiba external HDD

PSU: EVGA Supernova 650W

 

Current Hardware:

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4

BIOS: v1.10

CPU: Ryzen 3700X

GPU: GTX 970 & GTX 960

RAM: G.Skills Ripjaws 16GB 3200MHz Dual Channel

Storage: 256GB SSD (Boot), 1TB WD Blue HDD, & 1TB Toshiba external HDD

PSU: EVGA Supernova 650W

[WaggishOhio383]

3 minutes ago, Foot Sampler said:

one thing to note is that I am still using the same SSD to boot off of as well as the same storage drive.

Did you wipe the SSD and start with a fresh Windows installation when you swapped out the CPU and MOBO? Or did you just plug and play with the old installation?

[Foot Sampler]

6 minutes ago, WaggishOhio383 said:

Did you wipe the SSD and start with a fresh Windows installation when you swapped out the CPU and MOBO? Or did you just plug and play with the old installation?

No, I did not wipe the SSD. That's what I meant by using the same storage but I should have clarified.

[WaggishOhio383]

6 minutes ago, Foot Sampler said:

No, I did not wipe the SSD. That's what I meant by using the same storage but I should have clarified.

That's likely what's causing your problems then. Especially since you switched from an Intel to AMD CPU. You'll need to completely wipe the drive and start with a fresh installation. When you're installing Windows from a USB, it gives you the option to format before installing. I wouldn't try factory resetting from Windows settings as it might not remove all the Intel CPU stuff. A full reinstall from USB is likely your best bet.

 

If you have any important files you don't want to lose, you can just move them onto the HDD as you likely won't need to format that. Any files that were on the HDD will stay there provided you don't accidentally format it. Any apps that were on the HDD will also remain, but may not be functional due to your computer not recognizing the drive paths to open them. You can fix that by running the installer for the app, and selecting to install in the folder where all the files for the app already are. It will recognize that they are there and just create a shortcut in your start menu so the app can function. If that seems too complicated, you can just wipe the HDD as well and start completely from scratch.

[WaggishOhio383]

Also, make sure to go into your Windows activation settings and write down your activation key first in case anything happens and you have to reactivate Windows after doing the reinstall.

[Foot Sampler]

On 9/10/2020 at 10:21 AM, WaggishOhio383 said:

Also, make sure to go into your Windows activation settings and write down your activation key first in case anything happens and you have to reactivate Windows after doing the reinstall.

Well, I did the clean install of Windows and then moved back all of the important installations. Unfortunately, the issue has persisted.

[WaggishOhio383]

8 hours ago, Foot Sampler said:

Well, I did the clean install of Windows and then moved back all of the important installations. Unfortunately, the issue has persisted.

Okay. Other thing I can think of is that it could be a RAM problem. Try running the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool and see if you get any errors.

[Foot Sampler]

On 9/15/2020 at 4:46 AM, WaggishOhio383 said:

Okay. Other thing I can think of is that it could be a RAM problem. Try running the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool and see if you get any errors.

I did not get any errors, came up clean.