[SOLVED] 100% Disk usage in games causing freezing

[insanelyorange]

I posted a topic on this issue in the PC Gaming section of the board but have decided to since move it to a more relevant and higher pop Systems section of the forums.
Original Thread: https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...ameplay-causing-freeze.3667419/#post-22092777

During gameplay and rarely during general use audio will distort and game play will stutter briefly and slowly increase in intensity until a complete freeze occurs (freezing has never occured outside of games). This is accompanied by my hard drives maxing out in usage (on the OS drive and game drive) as pictured:

https://imgur.com/QaAGAMH

View: https://imgur.com/QaAGAMH

At this point the game will completely freeze but programs will continue to function on my second monitor. At this point inputs cause nothing to happen and I'm forced to hard restart, it takes several restarts to boot back into windows.
This is on a brand new build with older drives. I've tried: clean installing on a different SSD, New PSU, new RAM, running chkdsk, checking the health of my drives and flashing my bios.

Specs:
CPU: AMD 5600x
Mobo: ASROCK B550m Steel Legend BIOS 1.51
GPU: RTX 2070 Super
PSU: Corsair RMx 750w
SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB
SSD: Adata SP550
HD x2: Old 1TB 7200rpm

Could this be a Mobo or CPU issue? What are some methods I can use to narrow down whats causing this? I've tried Windows Performance Recorder but I'm unable to save the recording when a freeze occurs.
The freezes themselves aren't quite predictable and usually happen after some extended gameplay.

 

[Lutfij]

Your other thread states that your OS is up to date. Might I ask what version you're on at the time of writing? You should be on version 20H2. If you can backup all your critical data I'd ask you to reinstall the OS, after creating your bootable installer using Windows Media Creation Tools.

The issue you speak of is known across Windows 8/8.1/10 as memory leak whereby the disk usage shoots to 100% or the memory or the CPU even or all of them, without any rhyme or reason. This happens due to a corruption in the OS.

As for reinstalling, you should have all other drives disconnected from your system so that your SSD that you intend to install the OS is connected to the motherboard.

 

[insanelyorange]

Your other thread states that your OS is up to date. Might I ask what version you're on at the time of writing? You should be on version 20H2. If you can backup all your critical data I'd ask you to reinstall the OS, after creating your bootable installer using Windows Media Creation Tools.

The issue you speak of is known across Windows 8/8.1/10 as memory leak whereby the disk usage shoots to 100% or the memory or the CPU even or all of them, without any rhyme or reason. This happens due to a corruption in the OS.

As for reinstalling, you should have all other drives disconnected from your system so that your SSD that you intend to install the OS is connected to the motherboard.

Thank you for the reply!

I'm on 20H2 and currently updating to an Update Preview (KB4586853). I've tried clean installing windows two or three times now, at least once on my main SSD and once on my current SSD. I used the Windows Media Creation Tools when installing windows.
I have never removed all drives aside from the one I'm installing windows on. Is this required?

 

[insanelyorange]

Issue occurred again, many freezes and a lot of spikes in disk usage causing gameplay and audio stuttering which led to a freeze and an automatic reboot from my PC.

https://imgur.com/fYKg6Hv

View: https://imgur.com/fYKg6Hv


Going to do a 4th clean install of windows and will buy an m.2 drive to see if that will solve the issue, though I'm skeptical.

I also recently via reading another thread, found you can enable BSODs on command via editing a few reg files. I've done so and will hopefully be quick enough to do it when a freeze occurs.
Anyone have any ideas?

 

[insanelyorange]

4th clean install did nothing, issue still persists with increased regularity. Last 100% disk usage almost bricked my PC. Took 6+ restarts and tried repairing windows with via bootable usb media.
Gave me an error stating Windows couldn't repair your PC and gave me a log file location with the wrong drive as my os " D:\Windows\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt" whereas C: is my main drive, D has no windows folder but did at one time have a windows install on it.

I formatted my D drive when installing windows so this doesn't make any sense. The file is however correctly stored in my C drive.

Here is the SrtTrail.txt: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16Pd6afeHhKknwxJxOlfE3CG5Jg2licqd/view?usp=sharing

 

[getochkn]

New install, old drives drives are dying. Replace

 

[insanelyorange]

New install, old drives drives are dying. Replace

I'm highly skeptical that BOTH my SSDs would fail at the exact same time exactly after I upgrade my computer.
As this issue happes on both SSDs

 

[getochkn]

I'm highly skeptical that BOTH my SSDs would fail at the exact same time exactly after I upgrade my computer.
As this issue happes on both SSDs

Only takes 1 bad drive to bog out the entire SATA system sometimes. I didn't see and only skimmed the post, but did you try only 1 drive installed, new windows, etc, and then the other drive.

Different sata ports?

 

[insanelyorange]

Only takes 1 bad drive to bog out the entire SATA system sometimes. I didn't see and only skimmed the post, but did you try only 1 drive installed, new windows, etc, and then the other drive.

Different sata ports?

I have 4 Drives, two are HDDs I use for storage and 2 SSDs. I've tried installing windows on both SSDs and have tried moving their sata cable placement on my motherboard. The issue persits regardless it seems.

Since my Adata Sp550 is the older drive, I'll formatting it and unplugging it and install windows again on my Samsung 860 EVO

 

[insanelyorange]

I installed a brand new Corsair MP600 NVME drive, formatted my other SSDs and unplugged them. Windows is now clean installed on the NVME and the issue still persists.
The game I was playing completey "lagged out" my character shot around the area and prompts and such were heavily delayed or did not work. All the while audio distortion occured and the computer eventually froze. I did not observe my drives shoot up in usage at all during this time. I reset my computer and afterward got a BSOD: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Here's the mini dump:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z6xan6q9nKUi0-QNJrUoJBjdwEmAD4lttuEFBSCmiDo/edit?usp=sharing

 

[insanelyorange]

Here's a link to the actual dump file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eUT5ANH0jjz6d46tkJPj2h_8114zRebN/view?usp=sharing
Sadly, I forgot to make windows do smaller dump files, so this is rather large.

 

[vov4ik_il]

Indexing off? AV off? You are not recording, right?
What software is trying to read or write data when it happens?

 

[insanelyorange]

Indexing off? AV off? You are not recording, right?
What software is trying to read or write data when it happens?

Indexing? I do not have any 3rd party AV installed on my PC and I'm not recording.
Last few times I witnessed the 100% usage there was no read or write to the drives. Since my new install of my NVME I did not see any rise in disk usage at all leading up to or during the freeze

 

[insanelyorange]

Seems I solved my issue. Like an idiot, I was able to get a small amount of thermal paste on 3 pins of my cpu, connecting them together. After seeing this I cleaned my CPU all over and made sure there was nothing on any of the pins. After doing so there have been no issues.