Every few hours my games freeze with buzzing, then unfreeze

Thirteenera · 16 Jan 2019

Hello!

Approximately once every 2-3 hours (not tied to any specific time, this is just how often i feel this happens) any game im playing will freeze for 2-3 seconds, and then in my headphones i will hear the "buzzing" noise that usually happens when PC is about to BSOD.

However, BSOD doesnt happen. After 2-3 seconds pass, game resumes and everything is fine. There are no errors, no flashing screen, etc. Its as if nothing happened.

My steps so far:

1. Disable CPU, GPU and Memory overclock: Freeze still happens
2. Run stress test on CPU, GPU and Memory: All tests pass
3. Run Memtest86 to check RAM: 12 hour test finds 0 errors
4. I run 2x 2080ti's in NVLink, so my next step was disabling NVlink: Freeze still happens
5. Removed NVLink bridge, monitors etc only connected to first GPU: Freeze still happens
6. Connected all monitors to second GPU: Freeze still happens
7. Checked Event viewer - there are no WHEA or errors of any kind that i can find. The only event that happened at same time as this freeze are the three User Profile Service warnings:

Profile notification of event Load for component {B31118B2-1F49-48E5-B6F5-BC21CAEC56FB} failed, error code is See Tracelogging for error details.

Profile notification of event Unload for component {B31118B2-1F49-48E5-B6F5-BC21CAEC56FB} failed, error code is See Tracelogging for error details.

Profile notification of event Load for component {B31118B2-1F49-48E5-B6F5-BC21CAEC56FB} failed, error code is See Tracelogging for error details.

At this point i genuinely have no idea what else i could test, or what could be possibly causing this. Any suggestions please?

Win10, 9900k, 2x 2080ti, 64gb 3600 ram (clocked to 3200 normally), 2x nvme ssds, 1x hdd

(FYI this is a fresh build with fresh installs etc)

Also to add, i am monitoring my CPU with CoreTemp, and even during those freezes my CPU temp and useage were normal, and not in any way strange.

BrandonR188 · 16 Jan 2019

sounds like corrupted graphics drivers to me.. consider reinstalling your gpu drivers after clearing out the old ones with display driver uninstaller.

probably unrelated but I've seen many cases where running two gpus(SLI) only causes issues.. some games simply don't support it.. just something to consider.

Thirteenera · 17 Jan 2019

Drivers have been cleaned out and reinstalled already. No change.

Also as i mentioned in my testing, one of my steps was playing with just one GPU (both of them), and problem still remained.

Faith · 17 Jan 2019

Does this happen only in game or also on desktop, watching videos etc? Did you run DDU in safe mode to clear the nvidia driver out? It's the best way to be sure if it isn't in a corrupt driver state. It does seem like the graphics driver is about to crash but recovers (TDR). Usually this will give a warning in the event viewer, but since it doesn't do that for you - and that the audio is crashing aswell - it's probably something else. It could be power related, cpu and memory aswell. What PSU do you have? I know you didn't get any reports of bad RAM modules, but have you considered taking some out just to see? You have a very new PC so it could be some compatiblity issue going on. Might aswell look for an updated BIOS for the mainboard if you haven't already.

Other than that, I know the 2080Ti have higher failure rates than normal on the first models due to it being rushed (Nvidia Admits RTX 2080 Ti Cards Dying Due to Quality Assurance Issue | Digital Trends), but usually it should give you a crash and artifacts if it's dying, not a 3 sec freeze.

And it's hard to believe both of your cards are bad. Obviously taking one out into another computer should eliminate this theory.

Thirteenera · 17 Jan 2019

At first i only noticed it in games, but i am reasonably sure now that it also happens just on desktop - i notice this because my mouse also stops responding.

Yes, i did a full driver clean and reinstall.

I have 1200W PSU

You are correct that there are 0 events in event log.

I did try removing 2 of the sticks (issue remained), then replacing them with 2 other sticks (issue remained). Considering they came as 2x 32gb kits (rather than 1x64) i find it unlikely that both kits are faulty.

Additionally, i did a full burn in test when machine was assembled - hours of 3dmark, realbench, cinebench, linx etc. No crashes, no errors, nothing. Every single test i threw at the hardware was passed with flying colors :/

Also, as you mentioned, its extremely unlikely that both GPUs have exact same error (2-3 sec freeze every 2-3-4 hours or so).

You can see why im saying i have no idea what else i could possibly test or fix :/

EDIT: I originally had Windows 1803 installed, and the issue was happening. I am currently on 1809, and its still happening. Also latest drivers, latest bios, latest chipset... Hell, i even checked my SSD health :/

Faith · 17 Jan 2019

Yea, I have no clue either. I'm no good at troubleshooting very technical stuff.

You should ask some of the mods here to maybe move your thread to another hardware sub-forum (not in games) because there's not a lot of traction in post/threads here. Maybe you can get more ideas and help in a different section.

Compumind · 17 Jan 2019

Hi Thirteenera -

Did you build it?

Sounds like a custom system to me. Everything has to go back to basics.

Have you checked the entire configuration and ensured that all hardware/software is compatible and that all the settings are correct?

Each component must be checked, one at a time, with vendor diagnostics and support.
So start with the most basic configuration and go from there.

I would suggest not to overclock anything until you are rock stable.

Now, if you didn't build it and it is an OEM system, I would call their technical support, level 2 or 3.

These type of problems are very difficult to track down with granularity.

Kindly let us know.

Thanks.

Thirteenera · 17 Jan 2019

I did build it. As i mentioned in my original post, i dropped all overclocks, and also performed a large selection of various burn in / benchmark tests to verify integrity. 3d mark, realbench, cinebench, userbench, linx, aida64, valley/heave/superposition benchmarks, etc etc while monitoring everything with CPU-Z, CoreTemp, GPU-Z and HWInfo. I also ran a 12 hour marathon of Memtest86 as well.

Keep in mind that apart from this freeze, there is NOTHING out of the ordinary on the system. No errors, no question marks in device manager, nothing in event viewer, no actual crashes or bsods, no glitches. Everything is 100% perfect - except for the freeze for 2-3 sec every 3-4 hours or so.

The build was also checked by pcpartpicker (and a few of my friends for sanity check) pre-assembly, so i am confident that all things are compatible.

takitezsdc · 03 Apr 2019

Thirteenera Did you ever figure this out? Cause i have been having the SAME dam issues.....I have a titan Z gpu and a Rampage 10 asus MB, with samsung nvme ssd and intel 5960 cpu......... Did you narrow it down? i am stumped.

i used to have two titan Z in SLI but not anymore........it does the same freeze in SLI or single mode.

I did read that it might be due the thermal paste getting old , i am going to try this but i doubt it the issue.

ram1220 · 03 Apr 2019

I read an article about this just a few days ago. But for the life of me I can not remember what publication it came from. The author states this is a problem with 1809 and MS is aware of the issue. No fix was given other than wait for MS to fix it.