Freezing (NOT BSOD), network isues, and potentail driver problems


  1. Posts : 14
    Windows 10 Pro - OS Build 19044.1288, 21H2
       #1

    Freezing (NOT BSOD), network isues, and potentail driver problems


    Winver 21H2 OS Build 19044,1889.
    The most recent update was KB5016616, corresponding security updates, and KB5015807 cumulative. [FYI, my minidump folder is empty].

    Something updated earlier this week, and since then I cannot operate my computer for longer than about 5-10 minutes without it freezing to a point where I must restart. I can't uninstall any updates, update drivers, or do security scans (see below for everything I've done so far).

    Before that, I was having trouble with my network hard wire connection not connecting but after a lot of fiddling, I got it to work intermittently. Wireless works fine. **

    I had a few Intel driver updates that tried to run, but the computer freezes before they can run.

    I am able to run some things, like I attempted to do non-intel driver updates (my CCLeaner said that I had some out of date) but my computer freezes before any of them can be downloaded. I checked all of my drivers in the device menu, and there weren't any that had the little alert on them.

    Here are the things I've done so far
    • Power cycled
    • chkdsk (froze at 68%)
    • SFC /scannow (on regular and safe mode - in both situations froze at 60-80%)
    • I've tried to uninstall updates in regular and safe mode (froze at 10%)
    • I've tried to install any missing drivers, but as far as I could tell from the devices menu, there weren't any that were bad. Even if I did find some, they wouldn't download fast enough before the computer froze.
    • DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth (In regular and safe mode). Made it through on safe mode, froze on regular mode.


    **I suspect this is a driver issue, but I'm unable to download any drivers due to the freezing.

    Is my only option at this point to do a reinstall of windows, or is there some magic thing I can do to get all of my drivers updated? Are there any quality driver updaters that are free? All the ones I've found cost. Thanks in advance for your help!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 298
    Win 10 and 11
       #2

    At the very least, I would do a repair install and see if that works first. You'll be able to keep your files and apps. All it will do is reinstall Windows. There is a tutorial here:

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #3

    It could be the hd the fact it stalled on chkdsk suggest something bad and would account for problems. Goto disk makers website they normally have their own disk test. Failing that run chkdsk again and let it run no matter how long it takes.

    I would copy any files off you may want to keep. If chkdsk finds bad blocks it keeps test for a long time
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 4,752
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       #4

    You can download Disk Genius in my signature. Select your disk and go up to the toolbar to Disk. Choose View SMART Information. This will give you a snapshot of your Drives health. Anything less then Good the drive should be replaced.
    You can also go to View or Repair Bad Sectors/Start Verify. This will take a long time, it will give you a map of the bad sectors on the drive if any. If you have more then a couple, you don't have to finish the test, the drive needs to be replaced.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 14
    Windows 10 Pro - OS Build 19044.1288, 21H2
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Catnip said:
    At the very least, I would do a repair install and see if that works first. You'll be able to keep your files and apps. All it will do is reinstall Windows. There is a tutorial here:

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade
    This will be my last resort. Not because of anything nefarious, I just don't like doing it.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Samuria said:
    It could be the hd the fact it stalled on chkdsk suggest something bad and would account for problems. Goto disk makers website they normally have their own disk test. Failing that run chkdsk again and let it run no matter how long it takes.

    I would copy any files off you may want to keep. If chkdsk finds bad blocks it keeps test for a long time
    I have several hard drives, but my C:/ is an SSD. I will try chkdsk again, but when the computer freezes, there is no mouse movement or anything else allowed. Should I restart then, or just let it sit?
    Thanks!

    - - - Updated - - -

    spunk said:
    You can download Disk Genius in my signature. Select your disk and go up to the toolbar to Disk. Choose View SMART Information. This will give you a snapshot of your Drives health. Anything less then Good the drive should be replaced.
    You can also go to View or Repair Bad Sectors/Start Verify. This will take a long time, it will give you a map of the bad sectors on the drive if any. If you have more then a couple, you don't have to finish the test, the drive needs to be replaced.
    Thank you, I managed to download the program - took a couple of tries. All of my drives list as good. I am running the repair/start verify right now on my C:/ drive to see if that does anything. If it makes it through, I will try again on my other drives.

    Whenever I run sfc /scannow on my drives, I always get the old, "We found corrupt files, but we can't fix it" nonsense. Do you think this might help with that? I know I might be getting that message because I have compatibility issues with Nvidia or something, but I'm hoping this process might fix it.
    If not, I will do a repair install of windows. I appreciate this. I'll let you know how it works out.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4,752
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       #6

    If all drives test good, then start a Command Prompt as Admin and copy and paste or type the bold command
    DISM /Online /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RestoreHealth and press Enter. When that completes, then type
    SFC /scannow After that finishes, You should see There are no Violations meaning it fixed the errors. You can also try a Clean Boot. If this works, you can keep it this way or you can add one Service or Startup item at a time until the behavior starts then you will know the culprit.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 14
    Windows 10 Pro - OS Build 19044.1288, 21H2
    Thread Starter
       #7

    What I did


    So I didn't disappear on you guys, I've just been facing a hell of a situation.

    I ran the disk genius on all of the drives I have, and it made it through all but one (I'll come back to this).
    I ran the DISM, chkdsk, and sfc on all the drives, and they all continued to freeze - except the C: drive.
    At some point, the machine just decided to stop, so I engaged in power cycling to try and get it to safe mode or even just the startup window with no luck.
    I tried to do a repair install, and that resulted in the same issue, so I did a clean install without any of my drives attached. I deleted all the old partitions, de-bloated my OS, and here I sit at over an hour with no freezing.
    ETA: I also wanted to run memtest because I have had a corrupted slot on my motherboard and a bad stick of ram, but that was ultimately froze the whole thing.

    Next, I'm still going to try running disk genius on the disk that it didn't make it through, and then I'm going to attempt to install my old apps one by one very carefully since I started with a clean slate. We shall see what happens. Thank you all for you assistance!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 4,752
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       #8

    I think the problem is caused by the one drive that did not complete DiskGenius. You could have unplugged the troublesome drive and see if the C: drive works without issue.
    Since you did a clean install, do not plug in any other drives until you install all your apps and do all the Windows Updates, Once you get your computer the way you like it, plug in one of the good working drives then make an Image File of the computer using Macrium Reflect or your favorite imaging app and save the image to one of the other drives. After that, plug in every good working drive. If the computer is working well, then proceed to testing the bad drive. You can test it on another computer to eliminate any issues with your main computer.
    You can run Memtest, it wouldn't hurt but since your computer is running well, that is not the issue.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 14
    Windows 10 Pro - OS Build 19044.1288, 21H2
    Thread Starter
       #9

    This is great thank you. When I did unplug the drives and try to run just on my C: drive I still had issues. I will follow this advice and let you know. Thank you!

    - - - Updated - - -

    spunk said:
    I think the problem is caused by the one drive that did not complete DiskGenius. You could have unplugged the troublesome drive and see if the C: drive works without issue.
    Since you did a clean install, do not plug in any other drives until you install all your apps and do all the Windows Updates, Once you get your computer the way you like it, plug in one of the good working drives then make an Image File of the computer using Macrium Reflect or your favorite imaging app and save the image to one of the other drives.
    UPDATE
    The operating system is currently running, and it's doing great. I used Bloatbox to get rid of a bunch of stuff I didn't want.
    I'm going to do an image file after I write this message.

    HOWEVER
    The problem I'm running into right now is the PCI Data Acquisition, memory controller, and SM Bus controller drivers are bad. So, I'm currently looking for the drivers for those.

    So three things could be wrong here.
    1. My drivers are out of date.
    2. My PCI ports on my motherboard are bad - which wouldn't be a surprise because I do have a bad memory port on my motherboard.
    3. The SATA ports are bad, which would be an issue. But I'm only using 2 of the 4 I have.
    Again, I'm not surprised at any of these things, because I do suspect that my motherboard is going belly up, but I'm trying to stop that from happening, especially because I just got everything working.
    If I can get just a single hard drive to work at a time, I'd be fine with that too.

    Here goes nothing, I'll keep you updated.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 4,752
    Windows 11 Pro 64 Bit 22H2
       #10

    What is the Make and Model # of your computer or Motherboard?
    Press the Windows key +X and choose Device Manager. Any devices with yellow marks need to have drivers.
    Go to the Manufacturers Download Drivers site, type in your Make and Model# and download the Chipset Driver, install and restart. Then download any other drivers you need from the Device Manager.
      My Computer


 

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