Question (CAPTURED) Laptop frequent random windows freezes 10-15 seconds

[NKarakunjol]

Dear technical peeps,

For about a month and a half now I've had the issue of my laptop freezing completely random for 10-20 seconds, around 1-2 hours apart or sometimes more frequently. I thought it was a windows problem, so I made a fresh install. The first 1-2 weeks were non-problematic, but it's been around a week now where the same problem has appeared.

Checked my SSD health - good. Cleaned my laptop. My BIOS says that it's the latest version, so can't update it. Turned off disk turn-off option.

I finally managed to capture it with Task Manager open - noticeable is a spike in CPU, GPU, Disk and Ethernet at the same time. I'm attaching a few different photos.

Probably important to mention - a few months ago my laptop booted with a S.M.A.R.T message, stating the hard drive could be having an issue. Although the health is good.

Thank you very much for the time in advance, attaching specs:

• Asus VivoBook Pro N580VD 17'
• Win10 Home 64 bit
• Intel Core i5 7300HQ @ 2.50GHz
• 8.00GB Single-Channel Unknown @ 1197MHz
• 2 GPUs - Intel HD Graphics 630 internal; 4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
• 447GB Soli (SATA (SSD))

Attachments:

• During Lag: https://ibb.co/TPtsnvr
• Right after Lag: https://ibb.co/pfbMjbg
• Right after Lag (Disk): https://ibb.co/1nnWJmK
• Right after lag (GPU): https://ibb.co/QHkc16t

Really looking forward to fixing this problem! Thanks again.

Kindest regards,
NK

 

[rgd1101]

check the app tab, see what is running during the lag

 

[NKarakunjol]

check the app tab, see what is running during the lag

Heya,

Just woke up the laptop, opened Task Manager, clicked on App History and it froze. I managed to capture it again, 3 images:

• During Lag: https://ibb.co/Vpfs3Wb
• 1 Sec after Lag: https://ibb.co/Ldzqq7g
• A few seconds after Lag: https://ibb.co/8gx5PQG

Could XBox Game Bar be crushing my laptop?

 

[rgd1101]

try the process tab instead. seq on the cpu %
are you using game bar at all? should turn it off if you don't use it

 

[NKarakunjol]

Heya, updating:

I again managed to capture it with task manager bugging. What I see as a pattern a lot is System Interrupts, System and Antimalware Service Executable showing up quite a bit when the lag is present. The lag usually appears after Disk hits 100% instantly - photo: https://ibb.co/2SkMqMv.

Photos of the Processes during and right after the lag:

• During - https://ibb.co/4tDNWFN
• Right after - https://ibb.co/2qqr2t3

I also checked my event viewer, and I seem to be having ALOT of warnings for DistributedCOM: https://ibb.co/DVhvBVw

I will try and update my second GPU's drivers - though the laptop uses the internal GPU if not in-game, so I doubt that will fix it. I did a memory diagnostic test - no problems. I deleted the Microsoft Photos app, since it was taking a lot of CPU usage, and did my best to remove the Xbox Game Bar through the PowerShell. I stopped OneDrive from synching (potentially using CPU).

I'm getting desperate. The freezes are getting slowly more frequent. Help!

Thank you so far!

EDIT: Managed to capture System Interrupts process at 100% immediately after lag: https://ibb.co/rvJbn4y

 

[NKarakunjol]

try the process tab instead. seq on the cpu %
are you using game bar at all? should turn it off if you don't use it

Second update on the thread - I was on videocall on Discord with a friend, when the system froze. On his screen Iw as still moving and responsive, we could talk and hear each other and he apparently could see me moving while my screen was frozen.

This is getting weird... Any ideas?

 

[rgd1101]

sound like something wrong with the gpu. check the gpu temp?

 

[NKarakunjol]

sound like something wrong with the gpu. check the gpu temp?

Internal GPU doesn't have a temp meter, the external one hovers on 45 degrees. External GPU doesn't start unless in-game, but the freezes persist both in-game and performing normal tasks (as in problem happens to both GPUs)

Could it be the CPU paste? It hasn't been changed for quite some time now.

 

[NKarakunjol]

GOOD UPDATE!

Two days ago I deleted WoW from my PC. As you now, it's around 100-120GB, and since I have a 450GB SSD on 2 partitions, my second virtual disk (without the Windows on it) was halfway full with only WoW and a few other ~10GB programs like Lightroom and Photoshop.

After deleting WoW I haven't had any stutters, freezes, lags or anything like that.

Now, what I image could be the problem here is 2 situations, and I might need your help with the resolution:

• The whole WoW game was actually "transferred" before the Windows re-install. I never updated it afterwards, but it was still migrated and not properly downloaded, so this might be flooding my disk with read-write info it doesn't know how to process, OR
• My SSD is dying (following the S.M.A.R.T. message I received a few months ago) and getting it filled over 50% makes it slower.

Maybe it's a good idea to make a complete wipe of the SSD at some point. I feel like there may be some junk that doesn't get removed and stays in the logs.

Anyways, PC is alright now. Could be short, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Cheers!