PC freezes when navigating to any drive or folder

ubose1 · 07 Jun 2020

My PC freezes for several seconds frequently when I attempt to navigate to a drive or folder to do something such as look for a file, or to save a file from inside apps such as Word or copying and pasting a file. It started doing this since about a couple of months ago though I have had the PC for several years. It also freezes similarly for several seconds when I start navigating in File Explorer. I don't see this behavior usually in the first hour or so of using the desktop computer after starting it. I have set the power option to never sleep for the PC and turn off screen after 10 minutes.

I have attached a screen capture of the memory usage from Task Manager, if that helps. It froze just now for almost 50 seconds first when I attempted to save the image file to my desktop, and again I was trying to select the image file to upload to attach it.

PC freezes when navigating to any drive or folder-capture.jpg

My PC has AMD Phenom II X4 820 quad core processor, and 6 GB DDR3 memory.

Windows version 1803 OS Build 17134.1488

dalchina · 07 Jun 2020

Hi, could you comment on why you're still on build 1803? In particular, is Windows Update working, or is there a particular reason to stay with 1803?

What is the exact model of your PC?
About how old is it? (Noted you said several years).
(Processor first released around 2009)

Does this happen if you create a new user for test purposes and log in as that user?

It started doing this since about a couple of months

Do you know if you had an update of any kind or installed or uninstalled a program or made any other change about 2 months ago? (You can check when programs were installed in Control Panel, Programs and Features).

Does this happen after a clean boot (Google or see tutorial if unsure how)?

Basic checks:
Disks: Download HD Tune v2.55 free (e.g. from softpedia.com) - Health and Error scan tabs.
If ok, then from an admin command or Powershell prompt run
chkdsk c: /scan
If ok, similarly run
SFC /SCANNOW

Report any failure.

Run RAM checks
MemTest86+ - Test RAM
Run Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool in Windows 10

Please note freezes can be due to many things, from drive problems to hardware, including the PSU.
Freezes typically don't produce error logs.

A careful process of elimination is required, and may not be completely possible in a domestic environment.

ubose1 · 07 Jun 2020

I have not suspended Windows updates willfully. When I check for updates, it says I am up to date (see image capture).

The PC is Gateway DX4320-02e purchased in 2011. It is ancient but does what I use it for - browse the internet, word processing, spreadsheet, email, play video. Just that this freezing up every time I use the file explorer tasks is annoying.

PC freezes when navigating to any drive or folder-capture1.jpg

I have not created any new user ever.

I see several programs were installed/updated since March 2020. Some are Microsoft Teams, Zoom, CopyQ, Wacom tablet, Microsoft Visual C++, Adobe Flash Player, Chrome, Opera, Firefox.

I did a SFC /SCANNOW and it came out clean. I have not yet done HD Tune v2.55.

I have not done the RAM checks because I worry it may shut down the browser I am typing this message in. Once I have done it I shall post result here.

Stexred · 07 Jun 2020

6 gb ram ?
4 slots in use ?
are you using different ram sticks?

just put in a set of 8gb or 16gb and do not mix brands all sticks must be the same

dalchina · 08 Jun 2020

When I check for updates, it says I am up to date (see image capture).
The PC is Gateway DX4320-02e purchased in 2011

That makes sense- and it shows the possible feature update to 1909.

Does this happen if you create a new user for test purposes and log in as that user?
I have not created any new user ever.

Sorry, you're missing the point. That's a diagnostic step to discriminate between user profiles and possible corruption.
I.e. do that, try it.

That said, hardware problems are a more likely cause.

The disk check and especially the RAM check as noted above by Stexred are significant here.

ubose1 · 08 Jun 2020

I ran the MemTest86+ - Test RAM but could not run it beyond 7 passes because I needed to get back to work on my computer. It spent 13 hours 38 minutes to complete 7 passes and was in the 10% range of the 8th pass when I had to terminate the check. It had not shown any errors at that point.

I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool when I found a break from work, and it did not show any error.

I have seen a few times this happens after the PC recovers from a freeze where the USB stick I had plugged in no longer shows in the File Explorer. Restarting the PC gets all the drives visible again. Sometimes the mouse plugged in to another USB port freezes. I pull the mouse out of the PC and plug it in back into another USB port and I see it is working again. I am wondering if something is not normal with the USB port controller or something.

All four memory stick slots are occupied - two with 1 GB ram sticks and the other two slots with 2 GB sticks. That is how the PC came with. Considering how old the PC is, I do not intend to upgrade the RAM.

I am also starting to think that this may be a hardware problem unless you advise me something else.

dalchina · 08 Jun 2020

Please complete disk tests as above.

Try booting to Safe Mode and see if you can get any freezes to occur, esp. related to USB ports.

ubose1 · 08 Jun 2020

I booted to safe mode and did a few tasks that would freeze the PC, such as saving a file to the USB stick. It worked smoothly. No freezes. But remember, my freezes during normal operation typically come after using the PC for some time such as an hour or more. I did not spend that long a time in safe mode.

When the PC finished booting to safe mode, it popped this error.

Also, I was not able to launch any of the Office applications. It gave this error.

Are these errors because I booted to safe mode, which in turn caused some normal boot ups to skip?

dalchina · 09 Jun 2020

Hi, I have Roboform installed- including an Edge extension. Given the path you show, I assume that's what that relates to (i.e. from the Store).

Booting to Safe Mode I see no Roboform-related message.

You might try removing and reinstalling the extension.
Roboform is currently v8.9

As for MS Office, I don't use that, so can't comment- you could ask about that error as a topic in the Office section, or elsewhere.

I booted to safe mode and did a few tasks that would freeze the PC, such as saving a file to the USB stick. It worked smoothly. No freezes. But remember, my freezes during normal operation typically come after using the PC for some time such as an hour or more. I did not spend that long a time in safe mode.

Good on one point, but should be 'long enough' and with some sort of activity similar if possible to what prompted problems before.

Try leaving it on overnight running something suitable. Unfortunately anything like that is a matter of probability on a number of counts.

Again please complete chkdsk and disk test as above.

If file explorer has difficulty accessing your file system this might explain things.

Your comments about USB port issues are worth researching- perhaps someone else may comment who's seen this.

ubose1 · 14 Jun 2020

I looked up the Event Viewer right after another computer freeze, which occur when I try to save a file of any kind - Word document, image, music. I found an information event that says "DllHost (10308,G,98) The beta feature EseDiskFlushConsistency is enabled in ESENT due to the beta site mode settings 0x800000." However, I see this event having occurred many other times when I did not realize a freeze.

I googled it and found that others have also experienced computer freezes playing games related to this event. My Google search link is beta feature esediskflushconsistency is enabled in esent - Google Search.

I read some of the discussions, but I am not sure exactly what I can do to move forward.

As for the suggestions made in the other posts, I have update Roboform to 8.9. I also ran HD Tune. It gave a 100% green map after Error Scan and an empty list under the Health tab.