Is Edge browser causing Desktop freezes and abnormal Shutdowns?

1) The logs start on 7/27/2019 so there are few events in this short time period.
2) There was one unexpected restart.
3) The logs were unremarkable.
4) Newer versions of the BIOS may provide improved stability:
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. P2.40, 06/06/2017
ASRock > X370 Taichi

5) If the computer has Ccleaner > click windows tab > scroll down to system and advanced > post an image into the thread

6) In the left lower corner search type: system or system control > open system control panel > on the left pane click advanced system settings
a) > on the advanced tab under startup and recovery > click settings > post an image of the startup and recovery into the thread.
b) > on the advanced tab under performance > click on settings > under performance options > click on the advanced tab > under virtual memory > click on change > post an image of the virtual memory tab into the thread

7) To ensure that there are no improper bios settings please reset the bios.
8) Sometimes there can be failure to boot after resetting the bios.
9) Backup the computer files to another drive or to the cloud.
10) Make a backup image using Macrium:
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free:
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

11) And please create a brand new restore point.

How to Clear Your Computers CMOS to Reset BIOS Settings:
How to Clear Your Computers CMOS to Reset BIOS Settings
3 Ways to Reset Your BIOS - wikiHow:
3 Ways to Reset Your BIOS - wikiHow

dalchina said:

This is by design- MS tying you to MS products. There used to be ways of changing this, but then that seemed no longer possible as I recall. For example, if it is hard coded (not in the registry) then the only way of changing it would be a software patch.

However a web search I have done for you shows this relatively recent result. I've not tried it- let us know if it works.
How to Make Cortana Use Chrome or Your Default Browser - Appuals.com

Norway-based developer Daniel Aleksandersen recently created a program called EdgeDeflector that puts a stop to Cortana’s shenanigans. It forces Cortana’s searches to open in your default browser instead of Edge.

The computer has been working a treat since using EdgeDeflector. The time from end July to beginning October has been without abnormal shutdown.

Then just in last three days, I have experienced two abnormal shutdowns that have same characteristics as the original problem. The shutdowns appear on Reliability Monitor, and are preceeded by two MS Updates:


What is the difference now? Why have the abnormal shutdowns returned all of a sudden, with two and a half months absence?
Because my computer has been stable for the two and a half months since installing EdgeDeflector, I feel almost certain that code in Edge has caused the original problem, and I'm wondering if the recent MS updates have caused these Edge problems to appear in Vivaldi. (There again Vivaldi has also been updated in that time. )

zbook said:

1) The logs start on 7/27/2019 so there are few events in this short time period.
2) There was one unexpected restart.
3) The logs were unremarkable.
4) Newer versions of the BIOS may provide improved stability:
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. P2.40, 06/06/2017
ASRock > X370 Taichi

5) If the computer has Ccleaner > click windows tab > scroll down to system and advanced > post an image into the thread

6) In the left lower corner search type: system or system control > open system control panel > on the left pane click advanced system settings
a) > on the advanced tab under startup and recovery > click settings > post an image of the startup and recovery into the thread.
b) > on the advanced tab under performance > click on settings > under performance options > click on the advanced tab > under virtual memory > click on change > post an image of the virtual memory tab into the thread

7) To ensure that there are no improper bios settings please reset the bios.
8) Sometimes there can be failure to boot after resetting the bios.
9) Backup the computer files to another drive or to the cloud.
10) Make a backup image using Macrium:
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free:
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

11) And please create a brand new restore point.

How to Clear Your Computers CMOS to Reset BIOS Settings:
How to Clear Your Computers CMOS to Reset BIOS Settings
3 Ways to Reset Your BIOS - wikiHow:
3 Ways to Reset Your BIOS - wikiHow

1 - 4) Why does the problem only occur in conjunction with use of Edge browser? If it were a BIOS / Ethernet controller issue, you'd expect all browsers to be affected.

5-6) I don't have ccleaner.

7-8) I am using a Pcie v2 vga card in a Pcie v3 slot. Do you think that makes a difference? I have never seen anyone else try to do this - they should be backwards compatible, but do I need to set Pcie v2 bus speeds in BIOS, for the Pcie v3 card slot?

There were no posts in the thread for 9 weeks.
Please indicate the progress with steps: #4 , and # 7 to 11
When available please post images for steps #6 and #7
Run the beta log collector and post a new zip into the thread:
BSOD - Posting Instructions - Windows 10 Forums
https://www.tenforums.com/attachment...-v2-beta15.zip
(extract all > open)

Hi zbook, thanks for returning to my thread. I have been away testing the stability of the computer with EdgeDeflector, over the past few weeks.

The computer has been very stable with EdgeDeflector put to use, however in the past three days things started going wrong again.

I don't get a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), so there is no error codes, however I can upload the beta log collector here:DESKTOP-P45N556-(2018-10-14_17-28-54).zip
I get desktop freezes, and I get black screens with the fans powering down somewhat.

#4 If you suspect BIOS firmware, why has only the one browser (Edge browser) caused the instability?

#7 Is it possible that I am using my graphics card wrongly? I am using a Pcie2 graphics card in a Pcie3 slot. I don't know anyone else who has done that. They should be backwards compatible with each other, but do I have to tell the BIOS to run the Pcie3 slot at Pcie2 speeds?

#6 I don't have ccleaner installed on the computer.

Thanks for your help

If there are bsod they can be missed.
The windows settings can be modified so that if there is a bsod crash they are more likely to be seen.


In the left lower corner search type: system or system control > open system control panel > on the left pane click advanced system settings
a) > on the advanced tab under startup and recovery > click settings > post an image of the startup and recovery into the thread.
b) > on the advanced tab under performance > click on settings > under performance options > click on the advanced tab > under virtual memory > click on change > post an image of the virtual memory tab into the thread

The event logs were unremarkable with the exception of an abnormal shutdown.
There was an unexpected restart.
A power off can cause these.

In the right lower corner search type reliability and post an image of the reliability control panel.

Open device manager > click view > click show hidden devices > manually expand all rows > look for any row displaying a yellow triangle with black exclamation mark or unknown device > post an image into the thread

startup and recovery

virtual memory

reliability monitor
see post #32 in this thread, for most recent image of reliability monitor.

I checked device manager, ticked "show hidden devices" and none yellow triangles showed up.

1) For startup and recovery system failure:
a) uncheck automatically restart
b) reboot to save changes

It can be easy to miss bsod if automatically restart is checked.
With automatically restart unchecked if there is a bsod there should be a bsod window with bugcheck and : (
Sometimes it may display a misbehaving driver in the form *.sys
At the very beginning of a bsod there is a % counter.
If you see the % counter allow it to move to 100% before rebooting so that there is sufficient time to generate the dump file.

2) For the reliability control panel:
a) click on the 3 red circles and post 3 images into the thread

I have unticked startup and recovery > automatically restart, I also unchecked the overwrite dump file, as I thought I could afford a little disk space for this, at the moment.
I shall wait until the next one happens, and see if a BSOD is generated. Thank you for spotting that.

The three reliability red circles are reported here:

For the reliability control panel please post the source > informational events.

The images that were just posted were also seen in the event viewer.
So it appears that there was no new information.

Open the BIOS :

What are the BIOS 3.3, 5 and 12 voltage values?

What are the CPU voltage and frequency?

Use a camera or smartphone camera to take pictures and post images into the thread.
If there are problems posting images please use share links (one drive, drop box, or google drive)

If possible please use the computer for several days in safe mode with networking.
Report into the thread whether there are any unexpected shutdowns or reboots while in safe mode.
Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials