Windows 10 just freezes randomly

Software & Operating Systems Windows
41

Like i said, it may not be a hardware issue, and may be related to the shit show that is meltdown patching. the last couple of months of Windows 10 updates include microcode and OS updates for meltdown and spectre, and i have personal experience with haswell being broken by said patches to varying degrees.

currently since april updates my haswell box has been fine. but through march it was a complete shit show.

the machine has been 100% rock solid before and since, and was stable under linux during that time also.

i’d run hardware tests by all means, but i’d also suggest just downloading a linux live USB and running that for a bit to see if it breaks. I doubt its hardware, given that it started crashing again once patched.

42

Meltdown could have done it, but those reboot problems were fixed in the march timeframe. Spectre would require a BIOS update.

My guess is it’s a bad disk, personally.

43

Hey

Right so run a smart check with both the software from Plextors site and CrystalDiskMark both say the drive is in good health. Ran Chkdsk /f /r but that got stuck at 12%. Going to try a Linux bootable stick when I get home as the freezing still continues.

Will try with the side off for cooling as well but there are 4 case fans as my case is the Fractal Design Define R5 which as a fair bit of padding on it

44

Ok so used a Linux boot disc and it showed no errors on the m.2 card or ram.
Went back into windows 10 and the freezing starts again. This is a clean install of windows with only a few bits of software installed
Steam
Firefox
iTunes
Vlc
Uplay
Avast
Does this mean it’s a Windows bug and the only thing to do is wait for them to fix it.
Quite flumuxed now

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45

Audit the updates in relation to your system specs. Google them and take a look to see what the known issues might be. Ghacks is pretty good about listing them and giving you a breakdown.

46

I had a bunch of other suggestions, but if you want to give up and toss your computer in the trash, I guess go for it.

47

Think I’m going to have to audit the updates
Haha no it’s not going anywhere near the bin, just got to bang my head against the wall some more

48

Uninstall Avast.

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49

@Dynamic_Gravity is avast known to cause problems

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50

@Dynamic_Gravity & @themaninblack

:raised_hand:t2:
I’m proud of you two

Does CPU also max out once drive is being used like that, if yes that’d indicate that your drive has been broken

Although I have seen similar behavior from these things

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51

What ? Last I knew it was still up in the air. I thinking something along windows defender. Its impossible to say without more info.

52

The obvious answer is to just install any linux distro and be free of the windows curse forever. But it sounds like a driver issue as typically high-level drivers are implemented in right before windows login. Also make sure that there is no other spinning rust attached to the system during boot. I have had bad drives that are NOT my boot drive hang up a windows os before.

53

Any AV in general can really muck with the system. I’ve had/seen numerous issues with Avast in the past. Save your license key, but it would be ideal to keep things as vanilla as possible sense you’ve tested the hardware and now we need to troubleshoot a driver issue. Which is difficult without any BSOD’s.

54

I just use Driver Booster even tho I am aware most of you do not care for it. It will at least give you a listing that you can manually download from source. Then nuke driver booster.

55

The CPU doesn’t max out when the m.2 card does and at the moment there are no other drives connected

56

When you sign in, is it a local account or a Windows account?

57

It’s a local account I sign in to

58

Update after installing the 1803 windows 10 update fingers crossed it seems to have settled down. I’ve not had the 100% usage on the m.2 card happen

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60

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