System 'soft crash' + applications not working properly after sleep

Seanmhc · 07 Jan 2023

This problem has been bugging me for a long while now and I can't seem to get to the bottom of it and it seems to be getting worse.

I have noticed the issue tends to occur when the computer is brought back from sleep mode, or when leaving a full screen game/application. It is not reproduceable as I cannot predict when it will happen but it is quite common.

Windows appears to function, as in you can click the task bar and open the start menu, but when you click on an application or folder the menu does not disappear as it should do and the application does not open. I usually have chrome up, and I can open a new tab and click on a link in my favourites bar but it never loads and it displays the loading circle until chrome says the tab is not responding. Task manager (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) , nor CTRL + ALT + DEL does not open no matter how many times the keys are pressed. If I were to try right click close any application in my system tray the right click menu remains and the hover over colour change no longer works - the application does not close.

What confuses me is that the system does seem to be there and running, it's just not functioning. If i were to leave the system for say, 10 / 15 minutes then SOMETIMES all the things I clicked decide to slowly work, though chrome never really loads, but any further action results in the above. If I was playing a game it would work just fine full screen, bordered full screen, but if I were to try load anything on my second screen it would act as above.

The only thing I can do is hold down the power button and switch off and start again.

Troubleshooting steps I have tried:
If I wait 10 minutes and task manager opens, closing explorer.exe and running explorer.exe does NOT fix the problem.
I have tried chkdsk /f /r multiple times which has not fixed the problem.

Does anyone have any ideas? This is slowly driving me crazy. My computer is only 2 years old which I built myself from all new components as per my system specs.
OS is Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.2364 Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0

NTN · 07 Jan 2023

Have you tried "High Performance" power plan?

I'm not so familiar with Radeon RX 570 8 GB, but may there is some settings there where you could give the card more power too..?

And what PSU do you got?

Try3 · 07 Jan 2023

Sean,

Personally, I'd go to the display card maker's support site to download & re-install the latest display driver before bothering with any further diagnostic steps.
- Display driver corruption is a common cause of sleep/hibernation-related problems [and my suggestion used to be in the initial steps recommended by MS in Windows 7 built-in Help].
- And I mean re-install not just check for updates.
- I suspect that the reason this fix can work is that re-installing the driver rewrites cross-references to driver components & related system components.

Best of luck,
Denis

pepanee · 08 Jan 2023

One possibility:
A recent app that you have running in the background is slowing down the computer terribly once it "crashes" in the background.
I use Macro Express Pro, and from time to time, that app freezes, and slows down the computer to a complete freeze, until I end its task from the Task Manager. In my example, I can still access Task Manager, and end its task. Once I end the task, the computer starts working completely normal. If I try to run the app again, the computer starts freezing again, until I restart the computer, then I can run the app normally again.