PC micro-freezing during or after gaming

I need helping diagnsing a freezing problem with my PC. This only seems to happen during or just after playing Left4Dead2. My PC will start to freeze completely for a quarter to one second at a time, every 1-5 seconds or so... the mouse cursor will block and completely stop moving on the screen and everything else seems to freeze too. I think this is a software issue as restarting will always fix it and it only ever happens after gaming, but how can I find the origin of the problem?!

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to monitor and/or find the origin of the problem? I am at a loss as how to get more info. I can see spikes in the task monitor, but only tells me what I already know. I have had this problem for a while now and really want to find a solution. Any help would be great.

Have a look in Reliability History and see if there are any red flags.It seems to be a TDR {timeout delay response] and should show in the Tech Details,which will give the info necessary for a search to find a fix,hopefully.

joeandmarg0 said:

Have a look in Reliability History and see if there are any red flags.It seems to be a TDR {timeout delay response] and should show in the Tech Details,which will give the info necessary for a search to find a fix,hopefully.

Oh wow, never used that before, always looked in event viewer. That could be really useful next time it happens. I cleaned up a lot of Windows 10 settings this weekend, turned a lot of things off (all windows apps etc.) and (fingers crossed) last time I played I didn't get the problem. One time is a little premature to believe the problem is fixed however so I will see.

For now looking back the most suspicious thing I can see which may coincide with the freezes is labeled as a "Windows Hardware Error" and gives the following info :

Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEventCode: 141Parameter 1: ffff8a82e67174a0Parameter 2: fffff806663abc3cParameter 3: 0Parameter 4: 4OS version: 10_0_17134Service Pack: 0_0Product: 256_1OS Version: 10.0.17134.2.0.0.256.48Locale ID: 2057
I had always assumed this error was software related as it ONLY seems to happen when playing L4D2 and is always fixed by a restart, is that an incorrect assumption? I haven't played a lot of other games lately so maybe gaming is taxing my system in a way that other things are not, however I do use a lot of 3D editinig programs like 3dsMax and I can't really see a 10 year old game pushing my system harder than that.

This problem has persisted with at least 3 different GPUs so I am pretty sure the card isn't the origin of the problem. I am pretty sure overheating isn't a problem. PC got a good clean a couple of months ago, new thermal paste, and have an Antec case with 4-5 fans.
However my PC is a little old now and maybe components are dying a little, however seems odd I never see any other signs of the problem outside of this one specific situation of playing L4D2. Was playing Arkham city for 2-3 hours last night and it was fine.

Thanks for the reply Joe, really appreciated. If i get the problem again I will definitely note the time and check afterwards in the Reliability Monitor.

Hi gulliwog
Please try disable Fast Startup in Windows
Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10 | Tutorials

The other two useful checks you can make are:
In the lower left search bar,type in dxdiag and go through each page in sequence,the last page "input",gives the health status of your mouse and keyboard.
Then go through Device Manager and see if there are any yellow warnings.
With the infinite variation in hardware/software combinations,it can be time consuming and frustrating finding a solution.

joeandmarg0 said:

The other two useful checks you can make are:
In the lower left search bar,type in dxdiag and go through each page in sequence,the last page "input",gives the health status of your mouse and keyboard.
Then go through Device Manager and see if there are any yellow warnings.
With the infinite variation in hardware/software combinations,it can be time consuming and frustrating finding a solution.

Grom0X said:

Hi gulliwog
Please try disable Fast Startup in Windows
Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10 | Tutorials

Thank you both very much for the help, sry I didn't reply before but been busy and have had no new info until now.

I have turned off fast startup, however in my Windows10 none of the options shown in the tuto page are present so I had to do directly by changing reg value. Mine looks like this, is that normal?



So problem is still happening. Reliablity Monitor shows nothing which corresponds. I don't know if that has fixed things cos I only did it earlier before playing. I got the problem again while playing, and definitely nothing shows up in the reliability monitor. I checked event viewer again and saw one thing which corresponds with the time of the freezes, but I have no idea if could be related, which is this :

Code:

The description for Event ID 1 from source GLedApi cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.The following information was included with the event: Get SMI port fail.

I checked both device manager and dxdiag and nothing obvious is showing up in either. As you so correctly said joe, there are so many possibilities and combinations it's really hard to know where to look.

I am crossing my fingers now that maybe the fast startup option may have helped somehow. Although what difference it makes I have no idea, would be curious to know :)

Thanks again for the help, guys.

Hey again. Freezes definitely still happening, disabling fast startup didn't help sadly. However I have keep a close eye on things and I am pretty sure that the error I mentioned before IS coinciding each time with the freezing problem (GLedApi), the thing is that I am pretty sure this may be a symptom of the problem and not the underlying cause, as it concerns a piece of software I KNOW I didn't have installed when the problem first started happening. GLedApi is part of Gigabytes Aorus engine, but I only installed that when I got my 1080 a couple of months ago. I am going to uninstall that and see what happens, but I think the slowdowns/freezes will not stop.

Please try this:
Download Display Driver Uninstaller
Extract DDU on desktop
Download these drivers Nvidia 398.36 and save it to desktop
Reboot computer in to the Safe Mode use option one
Run Display Driver Uninstaller
Click on the options
Check Prevent downloads of drivers from Windows update when Windows search for a driver for a device (close, ok)
Select device type GPU
Clean and restart
Now run Nvidia drivers installer 398.36
Select custom
Uncheck EVERYTHING excpet the GPU Driver and PHYSX
Check the CLEAN INSTALL box
Finish install
Reboot

If possible,when the freeze next occurs,try resetting the graphics driver------
win+ctrl+shift+b keys.This might cause a slight screen flicker,nothing to worry about.
The next is a "sledge hammer" method,which involves the registry and is at your own risk.
The freezing is normally a function of TDR,timeout detection and response and the default setting is 2 seconds.
The key is: hklm\system\controlset 001\control\graphics drivers
The default setting can be changed to e.g. 10 secs to see if the freeze disappears.
PLEASE,if you try this,then fully inform yourself on registry changes and your graphic card.
I'm not a gamer,but uninstall the game and see how your computer goes and maybe try it on someone else's rig.
I'm now out of suggestions.