After auto upgrade in July computer stops after 4:02 (50+ data points)

The system upgraded in July with latest major update. System works fine except for freezing at a regular time after boot up, four hours and 2 minutes almost exactly with a variance of 2 minutes over 50 observations.

The symptom is the mouse and keyboard becomes unresponsive and only hitting the reset button will bring the machine back. The display is normal. I have a clock on the screen that shows the precise time the system froze. I reboot and record the time at the login screen to get the freeze interval.

If I am actively using the computer at the 4:02 mark, the freeze is delayed. I can delay the freeze in what looks like a one hour interval to five hours but the minutes part is not as precise. If I am using the computer it will freeze if after four hours any time I stop using the computer for more than five minutes. After five hours it may freeze while I am using it between five and a half hours and six hours. This shows first that I click for an action and the busy cursor (rolling circle) stays on. I can move the mouse pointer for about another 30 seconds before even the mouse pointer freezes. I also observe that the second counter on the clock stops.

No system logs are updated. No log entries in Windows events are regular or around the time of the freeze. I have Task Manager up and when freeze hits the processes and other data shown are not unusual as I can see. There is no drive activity. I have had performance data up and no unusual activity that I can see.

Caledon Ken said:

Would be interesting if a clean Windows system freezes on time.

Ken

I had been focusing so much on using MSCONFIG for another issue with a laptop and a video issue, that I had not stopped to think about this. Thanks.

I have just followed the articles directions and the experiment stated 8/24 1:10 AM. When I wake up I will up date the thread.

Try3 said:

Is there any relationship between the times the computer freezes & the settings in Power options?
If, just for example, your display should dim or the computer should sleep at the time of the freezing then this would point to a display driver problem. In such a case you'd probably solve it by going to the computer / display card maker's website & getting their latest driver.Denis

Thanks for the question, but that was one of the first things I tried. I have set all the power options to never. Part fo the problem was I could not see the clock because the display would be off. So everything is on all the time and it dies every 4 hours, except when I am using it, and then within 10 minutes of when I stop. Oh, that is keyboard inpu and mouse movement. Playing a video just freezes on time.

Caledon Ken said:

Hi rckrchrdsn. Welcome to the TenForums @rckrchrdsn
Would be interesting if a clean Windows system freezes on time.

After a clean boot last night, system froze after 1:23. I have seen 5 hours and even 6 but never shorter than 4 before. I am going to run another clean boot later today.

Caledon Ken said:

sorry... and there is nothing listed in Reliability History or the event viewer from say one hour and twenty minutes.
I know this makes computer useless but I think I would run the same test with no network connections at all just to isolate any interactions with router or something calling the mother ship.
Ken

Nothing, Note in any of the log files.

After I run the "reliability" test, I will try running the system without a network connection.

I think I tried Safe mode once, too, but I can't rememmber.

So ran a second clean boot, this one went 1:39. But that is still far less than the 4:02 I get when I do a full boot. Checked the even logs nothing within 1 hour of freeze.

Next is a clean boot with the network cable removed.

Clean boot with network cable detached from at 1:33 (hh:mm), so connection to the router isn't an issue

I then rebooted with a normal boot options and the system froze at 5:18 after I stopped moving the mouse and using the keyboard for 5 minutes. (Remember, I can get it to go over 4:02, but I have to be actively using the computer.)

To recap, if I remove all the reboots where I was using the keyboard or mouse over the 4:02 time (5 observations out of 54) the system freezes within +- 2 minutes. If I am over 4 hours and using the computer, it will freeze anytime I am not using the keyboard/mouse for five minutes (4 observations); freezes while using K/M at around 6 hours (2 observations). There are all standard boots.

As per request I have done two clean reboots using MSCONFIG to stop startup programs, Windows freezes between 1:23 (hh:mm) and 1:39. I also did a clean reboot with the network cable disconnected and it failed at 1:33. I then did another reboot with normal start up parameters and it froze at 5:08 because I had to use the computer and then left for around 5 minutes.

So big difference between clean and full start up modes, but very regular in both modes. Logs are pretty clean with no errors or warnings. No event log activity within an hour of freezing.

Note that I did do a restore when this started back in July with the big update. Still got the freezes. Reinstalled update, same freezing pattern. I rolled back the three individual driver updates I could identify, Nvidia driver update, printer update, and a program update. Still same pattern; reinstalled the updates.