Weird windows freezing issue

Ark Law

Ark Law

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Hi all,

Looking to be able to find assistance on an issue I'm facing for ~4 months now. It's basically a "freezing" problem in Windows 10. Begins with the taskbar failing before causing the entire machine to stall

  1. Starts with the taskbar being unresponsive GUI-wise, but I could still click on a program icon on the taskbar and switch. Alt+Tab still works
  2. Task Manager could still be opened, but values would eventually freeze
  3. Could open/switch between programs, but I can't interact inside it anymore (e.g. can't switch to other tabs in web browser, can't scroll through document)
  4. Eventually the entire UI would freeze. Ctrl+Alt+Del still works, but the mouse cursor would be gone by now, and selections can only be done by Tab. Selecting restart at this point will just result in infinite spinning logo
  5. Force shutdown to resolve

The thing that perplexes me is that when this happens is completely random. I could go for 2-3 weeks without it occurring, sometimes it occurs 2-3 times in a day. Tried checking Event Viewer. Can't spot any errors leading up to me having to force shutdown that would appear to correlate. Only errors that constantly appear are DCOM which, based on my research so far, is correlated to disabled Windows Update/Search settings.

Background:
- Win10 1607 (laptop)
- All updates disabled
- Occurs identically on 2 different SSDs (cloned, all other specs same)
- Memtest on RAM, 0 errors
- Just uninstalled all updates till January's Spectre-Meltdown update

Looking to be able to resolve this without having to update Windows. Because prior to the Spectre mess, I've had this laptop run flawlessly from June to Dec '17 without updating a single thing. Of course it may not necessarily be Windows at fault, it can be drivers, software, AV etc. Hence hoping to seek guidance to potentially shed light on this.

Cheers :)
 
Ark Law

Ark Law

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uncle_josh said:
Windows 10 have got this tool : Reliability Monitor.

You can refer to here : https://www.howtogeek.com/222730/how-to-find-out-why-your-windows-pc-crashed-or-froze/

Just curious are you using 1 hard disk or 2 hard disk
My neighbour got a brand new machine also having this freezing thing.
After he remove one of the hard disk the problems goes away.
Click to expand...

1. I had a another SSD, so I cloned it from the stock one. Freezing still persists so it should rule out the drive being problematic. The built in thing just shows me when program crashes and when I forced shutdown. Just like in Event Viewer, nothing to suggest what causes the issue.
 
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xiaofan

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Try to reset Windows 10.
From Microsoft Windows Support Page.

If your PC isn't running well, resetting it might fix the problem. Resetting reinstalls Windows 10, but gives you the option to keep your files. Here are three ways to reset your PC:

1) Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Under Reset this PC, select Get started.

2) Restart your PC to get to the sign-in screen, then press and hold down the Shift key while you select the Power icon > Restart in the lower-right hand corner of the screen. After your computer restarts, select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

3) You can also use installation media to reset your PC. See Recovery options in Windows 10 for detailed steps.
 
Ark Law

Ark Law

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If I want to reset, I'd be installing it from a fresh image as Windows's built in recovery (or at least with my recovery media) would revert it to 1511.

While that sounds the most plausible and sensible route as a solution to my problem, I'd like to be able to identify what is currenrly causing the problem. It would be futile if I reimage it only for the problem to surface again due to underlying issues like drivers, conflicting software or Windows settings.
 
Ark Law

Ark Law

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I just had it occur a few minutes ago. Process Explorer is like other programs during this state; totally static. Couldn't read any values. Was doing regular web browsing and coding work.

Really frustrating that there's nothing in logs to point to anything
 
Ark Law

Ark Law

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Nope. Been using Avira for years now.

I updated to 1709 last week on SSD #2 and ensured all drivers updated. Still causing problems. Decided to roll back to 1607 yesterday. Windows being Windows, it imploded itself with error 43 startup BSOD. So that is all gone.

Swapped back to SSD #1 with 1607. Now, I get occasional IRQL BSOD when plugging/unplugging the charger.

Think I'm gonna try fresh 1607 install on SSD #2 with launch date drivers. The only thing I can't revert to launch spec is BIOS, which now has all the Spectre hotfix crap on it.
 
Ark Law

Ark Law

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Update: Installed 1607 on SSD #2 and locked out all Windows update. In the midst of installing and configuring apps and software, the freeze started to occur. Interestingly, task manager still ran fine and for the first time, was able to restart winexplorer.exe without any issue.

Will continue to monitor as usual.
 
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