Catastrophic Problem

This problem has occurred twice in the last month. Powered system from cold start. At the login screen I moved the mouse. It responded briefly and then the cursor position froze on the screen. No further user input was accepted. Nothing, not even Cntl-Alt-Del. Disk activity light constant off. Power light on. I waited 4-mins with no change. Pressed reset button and a normal boot followed. Here's what I've tried:

• Ran SFC which found no integrity violations.
• Ran CrystalDiskInfo and SSD and HDD are fine. I think this looks at SMART information.
• Below is the only error that might provide a clue.

I'm not sure what to look at next maybe memory issues? Not sure the best way to test that. Is this likely Hardware related? I would like to make some progress on this before things go seriously downhill.
The Error:
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger
Event ID: 1
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: WHEA Error Event Logs
User: LOCAL SERVICE
Computer: ****-W11
Description: A fatal hardware error has occurred. A record describing the condition is contained in the data section of this event.

Make sure you have the latest BIOS Version 1825 and the latest chipset drivers.

Tweakit said:

Is this likely Hardware related?

Click to expand...

Tweakit said:

Description: A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Click to expand...

Yup, hardware related.

@zbook is the expert on those but he will need some logs:

TairikuOkami said:

Make sure you have the latest BIOS Version 1825 and the latest chipset drivers.

Click to expand...

I can do that however: This computer was built in April 2023, and I have not updated the chipset drivers. I updated the bios in July of last year to ver 1820. The problem first occurred on Dec 19, so it seems that is quite a while after those updates. I would expect if the problem were related to those two update that it would have manifested itself shortly after one of those updates was installed. Do you agree??

Tweakit said:

Do you agree??

Click to expand...

Yes, but Windows changes too. It is best to have everything covered.

TairikuOkami said:

Make sure you have the latest BIOS Version 1825 and the latest chipset drivers.

Click to expand...

I updated the Bios to the latest ver 1825. This also included an update to the latest IME firmware on the mobo. Then I updated the chipset drivers. It may take a while but we'll see if it makes a difference. Thanks for your suggestion.

OAT said:

@zbook is the expert on those but he will need some logs:

BSOD - Posting Instructions

BSOD - Posting Instructions This will show you how to help provide needed information about your system and dump files. It will not contain any personal or sensitive information about you or your data. To get better help with your Windows BSOD issue, please read these instructions and follow...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

I'll give the mentioned updates a chance and if the problem persists, I'll do as you suggested and follow the BSOD Posting Instructions. Thanks for your help.

Also, something to keep in mind. I noticed that my system updated to 25H2 on December 3, 2025. A few weeks later the problem occurred for the first time and it hasn't happened more frequently than that. So, I can't rule out that the older bios and chipset drivers don't work well with the update to 25H2. We'll see.

Might be worth changing the CMOs battery and loading BIOS defaults. Also check your mouse batteries if a wireless mouse and there is a clear RF signal path between the mouse and receiver plugged into the PC.

Steve C said:

Might be worth changing the CMOs battery and loading BIOS defaults. Also check your mouse batteries if a wireless mouse and there is a clear RF signal path between the mouse and receiver plugged into the PC.

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I did check the mouse batteries but didn't think about the cmos battery. It's just under 3-years old though, so probably still good. Thanks!