Windows 10 freezes randomly

JW0914 · 29 Nov 2015

Many end users running Windows have become use to being coddled and babied, for lack of a better term, by Microsoft and OEMs. I don't take the stance novice users shouldn't learn about these things [more complex Windows issues (clean installs, command line usage, etc)] or use the command line. Some power users do, which I find hubristic and a view point of arrogance with an upturned nose to novice users. If you're utilizing an OS daily, i believe all users should educate themselves with the basics of that OS, from being comfortable using command line tools like DISM and SFC, which an end user will be required to run at some point, to the proper way to perform troubleshooting or a clean install.

This is the way I view it: most rely heavily on their PCs, and while it may take an hour or two more to do something the right way, it will save you hours, days, or even weeks of problems or troubleshooting in the future. Do it right the first time and the end user will save themselves a lot of headache and frustration down the road.

pntrator · 30 Nov 2015

Keepoman said:

Hi! I have been getting these random freezes a couple of times now which locks up the entire system and forces me to do a hard restart and i have tried EVERYTHING to resolve it, but no luck. I tried updating all drivers to the newest, did a sfc /scannow which repaired all the corrupt files, firmware update of HDD and defragging the HDD.
I know there is nothing wrong with my hardware because this ONLY happens in Windows 10 and not in Windows 8.1. This is the 2nd time i'm installing Windows 10 to see if the issue was resolved somehow, but nope. Also tried with a upgrade and with a clean install 2 times.

Does anyone have any tips or fixes for this? It's really starting to drive me crazy..

This happens to me a couple of times and i suspect that has related to google chrome or his html 5 machine, maybe i'm wrong.

But everytime my laptop freezes google chrome is open and has 3 or more tabs open. I don´t know if someone has noticed that??

Then, i have to press the power button power down my laptop and restart and works again.

Except that bug, everything works like a charm!

JW0914 · 30 Nov 2015

pntrator said:

This happens to me a couple of times and i suspect that has related to google chrome or his html 5 machine, maybe i'm wrong.

But everytime my laptop freezes google chrome is open and has 3 or more tabs open. I don´t know if someone has noticed that??

Then, i have to press the power button power down my laptop and restart and works again.

Except that bug, everything works like a charm!

Start with the event viewer

mouthpiec · 30 Nov 2015

my pc crashed

these are my event logs from startup to crash :

JW0914 · 30 Nov 2015

mouthpiec said:

my pc crashed

these are my event logs from startup to crash :

I didn't mean post them, but that was the place to start to rule out whether chrome is the issue. Have you tried resetting chrome's flags to default? chrome://flags/ -> Reset All to Default

It's highly unlikely chrome itself causing the crashes, as it's extremely stable, not to mention when critical issues arise, Google promptly pushes an update within hours normally. The fact others aren't having the issue you're describing points to your issue being environment related, i.e. something you've done to, or installed on, your PC. It could be a corrupted chrome user profile, and you can find instructions on how to force chrome to create a local profile cache for you via google. In other words, it requires research on your end to troubleshoot the problem.

jin · 03 Dec 2015

Keepoman said:

Already did all of that.. still a no-go

Hey, I was having the same problem and I just solved it while I was following one of suggested procedures above.
I ran cleanmgr.exe and cleared the memory dumps and it solved my problem :)
Memory dumps section (I don't know what it's called in English because my Win10 is in Korean) is not ticked initially so you would have to tick it to clear it before execution.
Your case might be different but it worked for me so I think it's worth trying.

JW0914 · 03 Dec 2015

jin said:

Hey, I was having the same problem and I just solved it while I was following one of suggested procedures above.
I ran cleanmgr.exe and cleared the memory dumps and it solved my problem :)
Memory dumps section (I don't know what it's called in English because my Win10 is in Korean) is not ticked initially so you would have to tick it to clear it before execution.
Your case might be different but it worked for me so I think it's worth trying.

Just an FYI... unless an individual actually plans on debugging their own crashes, or having someone do it for them, it's a good idea to turn memory dumps off. Memory dumps are a security risk, as it's literally a raw dump of anything in RAM. Memory dumps also take up a substantial amount of space, generally being above 1.5GB in size. In order to even read the dumps, you need specialized software, such as Microsoft WDK, combined with Debugging Symbols (symbols packs take up a little over 9GB on their own). Without this software, the dumps are gibberish.

It's unlikely simply deleting the dumps solved the problem, as they're, for all intents and purposes, an extremely complex log file.... did you only select the box next to the dumps, or did you select multiple/all the boxes? If it's the latter, the issue was probably cache that got cleared via disk cleanup.

idgat · 03 Dec 2015

Freezing, same here, all 3 computers, all clean installs on new HDDs.
Acer 5740G laptop
Acer 3960 desktop
Asus K72F laptop

Freezing whilst on the web, watching video, word processing, whatever .... random, irregular (an hour >> a couple of days), no obvious reasons. No Windows errors, logs, etc

Going back to 7 ASAP.

JW0914 · 03 Dec 2015

idgat said:

Freezing, same here, all 3 computers, all clean installs on new HDDs.
Acer 5740G laptop
Acer 3960 desktop
Asus K72F laptop

Freezing whilst on the web, watching video, word processing, whatever .... random, irregular (an hour >> a couple of days), no obvious reasons. No Windows errors, logs, etc

Going back to 7 ASAP.

As you can see from the length of this post, your issue could be a wide range of issues...

Did you perform system critical driver installs in the proper order prior to installing any Windows Updates or software?

Did you ensure all drivers installed were Windows 10 drivers?

Do you have a Broadcom WiFi card? If so, disable the card in BIOS as a quick way to rule out it's drivers... if the issue goes away, uninstall those specific drivers, upon reboot, open up Device Manager, select the WiFi card, select uninstall, tick the box to delete install files, reboot afterwards. Broadcom WiFi Windows 10 driver packages are known to contain Windows 8 sys files, and while Broadcom was made aware of this 4 months ago, the specific driver packages have not been pulled or updated.

Your issue isn't Windows 10, so stating something ridiculous like "Going back to 7 ASAP" is simply ignorant, and makes users, like me, contemplate whether it's even worth the time help. Windows 10 is stable and almost every issue thus far can be narrowed down to the end user's environment. In other words, your problem is either due to not following the steps that are required when a clean install is performed (i.e. system critical driver install order prior to installing Windows Updates and software), or installing drivers/software that are not compatible with Windows 10.

If, as you say, there really are "No Windows errors, logs, etc", then that right there irrefutably shows it's not Windows 10. However, it appears you've simply failed to do the research, as there should be something in the Windows Event Logs if the system is hanging due to software/OS issues. If there really is nothing in the event logs, your problem could be a failing/damaged hdd and you need to verify its S.M.A.R.T. data (simply because an HDD is new does negate it's risk of failing right out of the box). Windows doesn't have the best software for this, so I generally use a *nix OS to garnish the data with smartctl -a /dev/ada1 (where ada1 is the disk in question, could be sda as well). You can boot a linux live cd (gpart, PartedMagic, etc.) and run the above command from a terminal. If it's none of the above, have you verified it's not a malware or virus?

Have you installed or ran any warez software or keygens? Almost all keygens and warez patches contain malicious code, with some patch applications installing a hidden exe or com file that's been attached and hidden inside of the patch [CORE's patch for Yamicsoft software is a prime example, and will result in massive performance loss beginning a few days after the patch is applied]. This is a prime example on why it's worth buying software, versus running cracked software... it's extremely easy (taking less than 60 seconds) to attach a hidden exe or com file to another executable which launches upon opening the host exe or com file, and yes, it's quite easy for such software to not be detected by antivirus/HIPS software. This is also why you should only install software that's been downloaded directly from it's developer/manufacturer.

The fact you're stating your issues have occurred on three separate devices in and of itself demonstrates there's a 99.99% probability the issues are environment driven or user error in the clean install process. While I understand how frustrating issues can be, especially if you have little knowledge on where to start, when users state they're going back to a previous OS due to issues that are most likely a result of the end user themselves, it makes me question the point of helping that user. It's the equivalent of buying a new car, changing the brakes yourself, then wanting to return the car because of a horrible squeal and grinding sound when you're braking.

Samsung User · 03 Dec 2015

JW0914
Fully agree with you on all points I look after loads of laptops and computers
All different makes and not once have I hit any problem, because I do 2 things.
Make sure all updates are working and all drivers are genuine.
I have installed a driver updater on all systems I look after, which monitors and updates drivers if and when needed
Scans in the background very 2 hours if it finds any out of date or a newer version then just installs them for me.