Solved Windows 11 Freezes

Issue:
Computer freezing when not under heavy load..


Hardware:
AMD Ryzen 5900X no OC.
Gigabyte 570x Elite Wifi Mobo.
Video card: Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming OC
RAM: Gigabyte Ballistix 3600 32GB
Storage: 1 new Samsung 970 PRO nvme.
OS: Windows 11 Version 22H2 (OS Build 22621.1778)

Apps:
Steam for games
Chrome
Brave Browser
Discord

Troubleshoot:
I've uninstalled all SATA SSDs and running only off a new nvme drive.
Reinstalled Windows 11 and only installed latest Nvidia Driver for the RTX 3080.

Have completed a lengthy RAM test, passed ok-stable.
Prime 95 on the CPU and monitored temps, they're fine.

I play games on this Apex Legends, DOOM, Battlefield, and no problems, can play hours without any issues.

As soon as I leave it back to just the desktop and a browser, I'm rolling the dice.

This has been going on for a while so I've done quite a bit of investigation in the event viewer and nothing really stands out.
In any case, I've addressed a few DCOM errors and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Eventually, decided I might run Windows 10 on a different drive.
I struggled to get through the installation as it also freezes here, and when it was finally installed, again the operating system freezes.
Since the problem seems to be agnostic to my Windows version, it must be hardware right?

I am using 'freeze' as the main word because there isn't an error like a BSOD to go on with.
I'm at my wits end with this so hoping someone can introduce some fresh ideas?

Now I'm starting to think that the CPU (2 years old) might be starting to fail and need a bit more voltage to just run. is that even possible?
I'm thinking this because it seems stable when under load.

What's the best way to set the voltage minimum so I can have it slightly higher than usual?

So open to advice right now, please, if anyone has any..
[edited to add that it also freezes even in Windows OS 10 or 11 installation]

bit42 said:

Now I'm starting to think that the CPU (2 years old) might be starting to fail and need a bit more voltage to just run. is that even possible?

Click to expand...

I doubt this. What is your cooling setup like? Are your fans all working as they should, thermal paste on CPU - all that stuff. Also if there is a heatwave or something, and then you don't have sufficient cooling this can strain the CPU. I didn't make out that you were overclocking anything - but if so then try undoing all actions to overclock. If your PC is dusty this can also heat it up, making the CPU performance worse.

In short then, it is more than likely to be a heat-related issue whether that is dust, or just higher heats and insufficient cooling hardware.

Hope it helps

Welcome to the forum. Don't know if it will help you, but others on the AMD forum have reported that disabling C-state in bios worked for them. However, for some it did not solve the problem. It would be worth a try. I suggest you make sure you have the the latest bios as well.

If you are overclocking, I also suggest you start your troubleshooting with overclocking off to eliminate one thing at a time.

James said:

I doubt this. What is your cooling setup like? Are your fans all working as they should, thermal paste on CPU - all that stuff. Also if there is a heatwave or something, and then you don't have sufficient cooling this can strain the CPU. I didn't make out that you were overclocking anything - but if so then try undoing all actions to overclock. If your PC is dusty this can also heat it up, making the CPU performance worse.

In short then, it is more than likely to be a heat-related issue whether that is dust, or just higher heats and insufficient cooling hardware.

Hope it helps

Click to expand...

It's winter in the southern hemisphere right now so it's fairly cool, and my room is airconditioned.
I also no longer OC so this is just running stock.

Cooling setup: Pretty standard slightly positive pressure setup.
Case is a LianLi Lancool III
IN: 3x 120mm fan
OUT: 1x 120mm fan + 2x 120mm pushing out through 240 radiator of the
CPU cooler: EKWB AIO 240mm

But taking on that advice, I've reapplied some Thermal Grizzly on the CPU.
It was pretty caked.
Now to wait and see if it does better.

If it's heat though, why would it be really stable when running games or stress testing compared to leaving it to idle?

glasskuter said:

Welcome to the forum. Don't know if it will help you, but others on the AMD forum have reported that disabling C-state in bios worked for them. However, for some it did not solve the problem. It would be worth a try. I suggest you make sure you have the the latest bios as well.

If you are overclocking, I also suggest you start your troubleshooting with overclocking off to eliminate one thing at a time.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I will test this if renewing thermal paste, as above, doesn't help.
No OC on this one running out of box stock on this one.

bit42 said:

It's winter in the southern hemisphere right now so it's fairly cool, and my room is airconditioned.
I also no longer OC so this is just running stock.

Cooling setup: Pretty standard slightly positive pressure setup.
Case is a LianLi Lancool III
IN: 3x 120mm fan
OUT: 1x 120mm fan + 2x 120mm pushing out through 240 radiator of the
CPU cooler: EKWB AIO 240mm

But taking on that advice, I've reapplied some Thermal Grizzly on the CPU.
It was pretty caked.
Now to wait and see if it does better.

If it's heat though, why would it be really stable when running games or stress testing compared to leaving it to idle?

Click to expand...

bit42 said:

Thanks! I will test this if renewing thermal paste, as above, doesn't help.
No OC on this one running out of box stock on this one.

Click to expand...

We can probably rule out a heat issue now, but always good to replace the thermal paste. Follow @glasskuter ‘s advice, see if that helps

Disabled C-state.
A few freezes on the desktop
Played about 2 hours of games and was all good.
Something is messed up here.

If disabling c-states didn't help, enable it again.
Let me make sure I 100% understand this. When you say "freeze but not under heavy load" you are referring to explorer is freezing when NOT gaming. Correct?

Other things that come to mind:
Search 'reliability' and open Reliability Monitor to see if it gives any clues. You can expand any event by clicking on the red X which gives more information. See if repeated errors show a pattern.

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer
(Note-you can follow up with another sfc /scannow command to make sure that dism repaired the files)

Make sure you are running the latest graphics driver. Latest NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers for Windows 11

If you run any 3rd party app that alters the GUI, uninstall it.

You may have some software conflict interfering with explorer. The proper way to troubleshoot this is using clean boot which stops apps and services from running in the background, but since it is happening so seldom it would be difficult to run in clean boot until it does. Instead try disabling any 3rd party apps from running in the background by using task manager-startup apps. Right click on any app and select disable. A restart is required to take effect.
If it makes a difference, enable them one at a time.

If none of that works, the only other thing I could suggest to try is a repair install. Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

glasskuter said:

If disabling c-states didn't help, enable it again.
Let me make sure I 100% understand this. When you say "freeze but not under heavy load" you are referring to explorer is freezing when NOT gaming. Correct?

Other things that come to mind:
Search 'reliability' and open Reliability Monitor to see if it gives any clues. You can expand any event by clicking on the red X which gives more information. See if repeated errors show a pattern.

Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer
(Note-you can follow up with another sfc /scannow command to make sure that dism repaired the files)

Make sure you are running the latest graphics driver. Latest NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers for Windows 11

If you run any 3rd party app that alters the GUI, uninstall it.

You may have some software conflict interfering with explorer. The proper way to troubleshoot this is using clean boot which stops apps and services from running in the background, but since it is happening so seldom it would be difficult to run in clean boot until it does. Instead try disabling any 3rd party apps from running in the background by using task manager-startup apps. Right click on any app and select disable. A restart is required to take effect.
If it makes a difference, enable them one at a time.

If none of that works, the only other thing I could suggest to try is a repair install. Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial

Click to expand...

Freeze/Hang in my definition - computer is not responsive to input from mouse, keyboard, or any control device. Display is stuck on last image transmitted. No graphical glitches on screens. Fans have not ramped up, operating as if the system were still running normally.

On troubleshoot regarding system and software conflict files.
I have tried this previously on the original Windows 11 and current Windows 11 install.
Ruled it out because during a few attempts prior to Windows 10 finally installing, it actually froze a few times.
Finally had Windows 10 installed and with no 3rd party applications installed yet, it still froze.


Ran Ryzen Master optimization last night. Ran curve optimizer and it's been stable at idle for a few hours now.
Let's hope that was the fix it needed.

14 hours uptime now on idle. I think this one is fixed.
Thanks all.

Sorry for reviving this thread, but I’m also having a similar issue to no avail.

I would love to know if you’re still dealing with it or if you’ve been stable?

Are you guys using riser cable maybe or graphic card directly into PCI slot? I had this problem when swapped to a new card and my pc started to lag and freeze. I removed my riser cable and problems dissapeared.