File system issues, boot issues, and general unresponsiveness

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

I upgraded to windows 11 recently from windows 10 (following doing some upgrade work on my PC) and have been having a plethora of issues. I did a clean install to hopefully fix them, which did not help. After I uninstalled my gpu software (NVIDIA Geforce Experience) my laggy and crashing file explorer appeared to be fixed. Two days later though, my computer won't boot. Took a startup repair to get it to boot but now its back to a laggy mess and most of my programs are missing, and this is with NVIDIA Geforce Experience uninstalled. I upgraded to windows 11 for HDR support so I'd like to stay on it. I would greatly appreciate any ideas or help with this. I feel like I've exhausted everything I can think of at this point. I just want to use my computer....

Issue Summary:

File explorer stops responding when deleting, moving, copying files. It never comes back and eventually crashes causing me to have to restart the OS. Also happens with Steam when installing games.
The OS gets stuck when shutting down and restarting, so I have to hold the power button to make it.
Random OS quirks like the windows wallpaper slideshow saying that any folder I point it too is not a valid folders
Documents, Pictures, & Desktop folders are onedrive folders despite not having onedrive installed. (Example)
OS not booting up. Got the spinning circle and my motherboard logo to appear for 16 minutes. Eventually the computer did a storage device repair which got my computer to boot, except its a laggy mess and most of my programs uninstalled themselves and my system settings are gone. I also now get this error no matter how much I restart my PC (error)

Things I've tired:

Updated Bios and Drivers (manually, not through automated software)
Clean install of Windows 11
Uninstalled my gpu software (NVIDIA Geforce Experience). This appeared to fix all my unresponsive programs for two days until the OS wouldn't boot.
Did 3D mark benchmarks to check system temps
Doing a Smart check on my drives using crystal disc info. Reported they were healthy.

Windows Info:

Edition: Windows 11 Pro
Version: 22H2
OS build: 22621.1344
Experience: Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22639.1000.0
I have minimal programs installed they are: Steam, Final Fantasy 7 Remake (a video game), Microsoft excel-powerpoint-word-access, Filebot (a renaming program for tv shows), Stardock fences (a desktop organizer), winrar (file unzip/zip), everything (file system searcher), and MSI center (motherboard software for controlling RGB/updates).

System Specs:

CPU: i9-10850K
Motherboard: MSI Z490 Unify
PSU: Super Flower 1000W
CPU Fan: Noctua NH-D15
GPU: NVIDIA 4090
Storage: Crucial SSD (windows is installed on), NVME Drive for games, and two HDD's for general storage
Ram: 32 GB of DDR4 3600

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

LuckyWolf said:
following doing some upgrade work on my PC

What do you mean by this?

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
What do you mean by this?

I installed a new gpu, 1070 to 4090, and installed a nvme m.2 drive.

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

OK, double check that all ports you plugged stuff into, are clean and devices well seated.

Close computer
disconnect power
unplug nVME drive and GPU
Blow away any dust from motherboard ports
make sure the NVMe drive and GPU contacts are clean and free from grease
reseat everything and make sure they are well seated
Plug in power and try again with clean install of Windows
Before anything else make sure you install chipset driver FIRST
Then the rest of the drivers one by one
reboot when asked
Finally install software, whatever you need

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
OK, double check that all ports you plugged stuff into, are clean and devices well seated.

Close computer

disconnect power

unplug nVME drive and GPU

Blow away any dust from motherboard ports

make sure the NVMe drive and GPU contacts are clean and free from grease

reseat everything and make sure they are well seated

Plug in power and try again with clean install of Windows

Before anything else make sure you install chipset driver FIRST

Then the rest of the drivers one by one

reboot when asked

Finally install software, whatever you need

Thank you for the reply! I have done the steps you listed already. When I did my clean install of windows 11, I made sure all my cables were seated properly, blew some compressed air into my GPU slot to get rid of a dust particle, and when I installed my drivers I installed the chipset one first.

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

LuckyWolf said:
Thank you for the reply! I have done the steps you listed already. When I did my clean install of windows 11, I made sure all my cables were seated properly, blue some compressed air into my GPU slot to get rid of a dust particle, and when I installed my drivers I installed the chipset one first.

Good!

Are you certain that the PSU you use can provide enough juice from the lanes connected to the GPU? I am unfamiliar with the brand you are using. Also are cables to the GPU properly seated and good enough quality? Triple check! RTX4090 has a power target of 450W which is a lot. Even the tiniest issues with cables or power flow may cause unstable power, thus all the disk corruptions.

Just one example what could happen:

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
Good!

Are you certain that the PSU you use can provide enough juice from the lanes connected to the GPU? I am unfamiliar with the brand you are using. Also are cables to the GPU properly seated and good enough quality? Triple check! RTX4090 has a power target of 450W which is a lot. Even the tiniest issues with cables or power flow may cause unstable power, thus all the disk corruptions.

I believe so. I was extra careful with my cables as I wanted to avoid any melting connectors (it was an issue with the 4090 with people not seating the cables properly). The GPU i have is the MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM X 24G. According to the website it needs 1000W (Min. 850W) power supply. I have a Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000W. The GPU is connected with 4 individual cables as required in the manual.

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

I quote from TomsHardware:

"One major flaw here is that they used thin, 20AWG gauges for the second PCIe connectors, so you should avoid using them in power-hungry graphics cards."

Are all GPU cables the same thickness in your setup?

EDIT: The original review Super Flower Leadex V Platinum Pro 1000W Power Supply Review
(almost same as yours)

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
I quote from TomsHardware:

Are all GPU cables the same thickness in your setup?

Yes all VGA cables that came with the PSU.

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

What if you try with disconnecting your new NVMe drive, keeping the GPU, if that helps then problem partially solved.
If not then try to run without the GPU for a while. only using Intel Graphics.

This way we have something to go from.

Could be as simple as crap (or incompatible) Intel and nVidia drivers...

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

Please note, that while testing, don't install any 3rd party AV or other tools that can interfere with Windows...

Apps like Steam and Office tools and games are fine.

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
What if you try with disconnecting your new NVMe drive, keeping the GPU, if that helps then problem partially solved.
If not then try to run without the GPU for a while. only using Intel Graphics.

This way we have something to go from.

Could be as simple as crap (or incompatible) Intel and nVidia drivers...

I can do that. The weird thing is, I had this setup on windows 10 for 2 days without issue. The day I upgraded to windows 11 this all started happening. Also, some of my program files are missing on my c drive (where windows is installed). Some of my programs have files missing from their install folders (the program's .exe's are all gone) and the control panel lists them as not installed.
I want to say its a issue with my SSD despite it's healthy report and it working for years on windows 10. Would it be advisable to do a clean install of windows 11 on a different drive? Or do a clean install of windows 10 and test if the issues persist there? Following my NVIDIA geforce experience uninstall on windows 11 everything was fixed for two days. Then this morning my computer wouldn't boot....

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

To add, the m.2 drive is only for games. Windows is installed on my sata SSD.

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

Yes, at this point, you should explore all options. I suspect the issue is related to Windows 11 and drivers though...ofc there is a slight chance of coincidence that a drive is failing right after you upgraded to Windows 11 too...

SlicEnDicE · Mar 6, 2023

To really diagnose this properly, you should do the following:
1. Remove the new hardware
2. Clean install Windows 11
3. Install drivers
4. Test a day or two

If everything is OK then:

5. Plug in GPU
6. install drivers
7. test for a day or two

If all is OK, finally add the NVMe drive and test

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

Okay will do. Hopefully through trial and error I find some solution.

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

So I did the fresh install except windows is still doing a device storage scan on boot every time. Even on the fresh install. It does this on both the m.2 and sata ssd....

LuckyWolf · Mar 6, 2023

Update:
I am able to get my computer to boot normally on the fresh install (in under ten seconds) after disconnecting my two hard drives. However once I plug them in again, my computer either wont boot or takes 1-2 minutes to boot. No programs on my hard drives or anything that runs on startup are installed on them. I'm at a loss as to why this is.

SlicEnDicE · Mar 7, 2023

Let me check one thing:
Your SATA SSD is using the SATA port, not one of the m.2 slots?
In which m.2 slot (M2_1, _2 or _3) is your NVMe drive installed?
In which SATA ports (SATA1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are your HDDs installed?
I also assume that only expansion card you have installed in any of the PCIe slots, is the GPU. Is in first slot, right?

LuckyWolf · Mar 7, 2023

SlicEnDicE said:
Let me check one thing:
Your SATA SSD is using the SATA port, not one of the m.2 slots?
In which m.2 slot (M2_1, _2 or _3) is your NVMe drive installed?
In which SATA ports (SATA1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) are your HDDs installed?
I also assume that only expansion card you have installed in any of the PCIe slots, is the GPU. Is in first slot, right?

Thank you for the response!
SATA SSD is using SATA Port 1
M.2 on M_1.
Hard drives are on SATA Ports 3 and 4.
GPU is in PCIE first slot and rest of my slots are empty.

I ended up full reformatting all my drives and followed the directions posted by Kbird since I had the same error in the event viewer (Did a PSID revert on the SATA SSD). I also used CHKDSK to scan the SSD and re-ran smart tests following the reformats and didn't get any errors.
Link: Anyone else here use Crucial Brand SSD's? - Windows 10 Help Forums

Haven't had a chance to test my system much but for now its not freezing up, the disk checking has stopped, and the computer has been restarting and booting normally. Installed a few programs and going to test it for ~4 days.
Do you think it's possible that the drives needing to be reformatted/the SSD being misconfiguring with the TCG Command could be the root cause?

If nothing breaks then I'll install Geforce Experience (GPU software) and test, Malwarebytes (Antivirus) and test, and finally Razer Synapse 2.0 (Keyboard software) and test. These programs could be all fine but I feel like they could be prone to creating problems (just a guess). Hopefully everything just works or I'll be able to narrow it down if something breaks after installing a program. If not I'll have to do as you suggested earlier and undo the hardware changes and test.

Does that sound like a sound plan?