Input freeze exactly every 10 minutes for about 1-2 seconds

A couple of months ago this problem started on my (Windows 10 Version 20H2) computer, and it's been very consistent since it started. Exactly every 10 minutes, the inputs I put into my computer freeze. For example, If I am playing any video game and I am trying to move forward when the freeze starts, I will continue to move forward until the freeze stops even if I try to do something else, and any mouse input happens all at once at the end of the freeze.

It doesn't matter what I'm doing on the computer at the time, whether it's playing a video game or just browsing the internet, or just sitting on the desktop.

I'm a little worried because I think the freezes started sometime after I cleaned my computer with a computer duster and cleaned out my CPU's heatsink, so I could have a loose connector, but I don't want to just go into my computer's guts and unplug/plug in everything in case I screw something up more unless I know it'll work. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Ghot said:

Hello @Juatarandom, Welcome to Ten Forums.


First thing I would do is check the temperatures.
Temperature problems could account for the 10 minute thing.
Computer runs for ten minutes, heats up and goes into thermal overload.

You can use a program like Speccy or HWMonitor to check the temps.

As an example... fans without sealed bearings can be affected by dust being blown around during cleaning. It can get in the fan bearings, and degrade the fan's performance, which could lead to higher temps, sooner than otherwise expected.

I've no idea whether or not your fans have sealed bearings. I'm just pointing this out as one possible cause for your symptoms.



Another thing to check would be the make/model and wattage of your power supply. Many times in prebuilt computers, they use power supplies that can barely run the computer. As computers age, these power supplies can start to show symptoms like you have mentioned.

Thanks for the help Ghot, but I don't believe it's either of the problems you suggested. I did get a prebuilt PC, but I have since upgraded a few parts in it, including the Power supply to be one that is a lot better than I need, and I use CoreTemp that is telling me that my computer isn't overheating. Plus, if it was overheating, I doubt it would cause a freeze every 10 minutes to the second, my guess is it would be a little more random than that, and would probably overheat more when more intensive programs are running, which isn't the case.