Thanks - I'll try the single stick test in the different modules and see if it makes a difference. I doubt if I bent a CPU pin - it slid into the socket very easily...thanks for your inputmost of the times, freezing while gaming or word processing has been the ram to be suspicious... use 1 stick and then test all the ram modules and motherboard ram ports and see which is faulty, also it can happen if u have unknowinly bent any cpu pins...
Update - I tried 1 stick then the other in several Ram slots - still freezes.Even if it went easily into the socket, if you did not keep one finger lightly pressing down on the CPU while you locked the lever arm down, I've seen them raise just enough that at a certain point, a few pins along one side of the CPU slightly bends. What that does is it either breaks the connection for those pins or shorts them to something. It's not common, but I have seen it happen. If before too long you can figure the problem out I would absolutely check for that but you'll want to make sure you have some replacement thermal paste and a bottle of 91% isopropyl alcohol on hand before you do because you will need it to repaste the CPU and put it back together again if nothing is wrong.
Norton sucks, and has been problematic for years. Windows defender actually beats them all out in the most recent roundup anyhow if you consider the fact that it tied three other top paid options, while being free, AND while not having ANY of the major code bloat associated with Norton and others. Especially Norton. Might as well just install a virus yourself as use Norton for as much as it flubs up your system.
Honestly, I've seen Norton and Kaspersky end up being the ENTIRE problem on a number of systems where we couldn't find a culprit until looking at installed programs and those ended up being the issue. Antiviral and malware utilities are always a potential culprit.
try running the ram at 2933 mhz and see if the freezing stops...Update 12-12-19. Machine still freezes randomly. Yesterday it actually froze at the Win 10 logon screen. Today, it froze when trying to log onto my yahoo e-mail. It freezes for 10-15 seconds - then seems to operate normally. Sometimes it freezes while watching a youtube video. This freezing could happen once an hour to once in 3 hours. I did take the CPU out to inspect for bent pins - I found none. I am now running the latest BETA BIOS from MSI - runs great except I still have the freezing. I uninstalled Norton - using Win defender. Ran the system on one single RAM stick - then the other - in different slots - didn't make a difference. Tried USB generic mouse and keyboard - no change. All drivers are up to date. I have run several stress tests (3D Mark), Heaven Benchmark - all run flawlessly. Tried disconnecting all the storage drives (except the SSD WIN drive - no difference. Ran WD and Seagate storage drive tests - no failures. Ran Win 10 memory tests - no issues.
Rig:
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (new)
MOBO - MSI Tomahawk B450 MS 7C02 (new)- BIOS 1.D 1 BETA
GPU RX 5700 8 GIG (new)
RAM - 2X8 Ballistix 3200 DDR4 (new)
PSU - EVGA GQ 750 (new)
Storage:
SSD PNY CS1111 240 GIG (Win 10 home - 10.0.18363 Build 18363 - fresh install)
HDD Seagate Firecuda 2TB (new)
HDD Seagate Barracuda 1 TB
HDD Easystore 1TB (USB backup)
Monitor - ACER KG240 freesync
Sound - Realtek onboard
Speakers - Creative Inspire T3-100 2.1
Optical drives - 2
Mouse and Keyboard - Redragon Model S101-3 gaming
try running the ram at 2933 mhz and see if the freezing stops...
And THAT, can be a problem. These days, it's VERY rare, except on OEM type systems that have very limited BIOS options anyhow, that you can get away without at least making handful of changes in the BIOS setup program. And for memory, unless you are running 2133mhz sticks, it's practically never.
You ALWAYS have to enable the XMP profile in the BIOS if you are running memory that is profiled faster than the CPU can support by default. For Ryzen, that has generally been 2133mhz. Supposedly X570 supports 3200mhz by default but most users I've helped that have X570 boards have been seeing them default to 2133mhz. So anything over that, or for the advertised profile of the memory in general as hard coded/imprinted on the memory module itself, needs to be set in the BIOS using the XMP, A-XMP or DOCP profile settings.
XMP at 3199.4 is the same as 3200mhz, which should be right if your sticks are 3200mhz sticks. That could definitely have an impact on latency and lag, but I'm not sure it would cause any freezing, however anything is possible and I'd never rule anything out until I know for sure.
Setting the memory profile is the biggest one, especially if you have fast memory installed.
Others settings that might be of importance are ensuring Cool N Quiet is enabled for AMD platforms or Intel speed step for Intel platforms. I also like to disable Intel speed SHIFT, because I have yet to find it work properly on anything.
Usually, when running Windows 10, you want to make sure the primary boot device is set to "Windows boot manager", rather than any specific drive letter or designation. Usually. I've encountered a couple of instances where the drive itself had to be enabled on some legacy Windows 10 configurations but for UEFI configurations you want the boot manager. Probably doesn't apply here because you probably already have it set to that by default anyhow.
There's lots of changes that might be necessary, based on the configuration. For people with M.2 NVME drives there may be settings that have to be changed in order for THAT to work right, especially as a boot device. And sometimes nothing special needs done.
Obviously, for people who are overclocking there are a TON of options that might be desirable or necessary, that people running the stock configuration would never need to worry about.
I would turn game boost back off.
I wouldn't worry about the boot settings. If it's working, just leave it. You would probably need to change a few settings AND then do a complete clean install of Windows in order to get a full UEFI installation, which would result in seeing the Windows boot manager. One thing to check though, is that in the secure boot or other area of the boot settings that the OS version is set to Windows 8/10 and not "Other OS". If that was set to "Other OS" when Windows was installed, that is probably why it is not a full UEFI installation.
It could absolutely affect it. If there is a USB port malfunctioning, well, USB ports and devices are high probability culprits for latency and lag issues. Whether due to driver problems related to a USB device, the USB device itself, or a USB port or wiring, they can all absolutely cause these exact types of problems MUCH as keyboards and mice often do which is why a lot of people recommend trying a different keyboard or mouse right off the bat when this kind of thing starts happening just to eliminate them. Sometimes it's the ports, not the hardware. Or even the motherboard, but obviously it's not AS likely since it's a new board. A spark from a USB port is probably a very HIGH indicator that something is wrong with the circuit whether it is the mini I/O board on the front of the case, or something further down the chain.
Try unplugging the wiring that comes from the front USB panel to the motherboard, and see if that solves the problem. Obviously, do so when it is powered off.
I don't think I would want you to worry about doing another installation of Windows until this problem is sorted out, since you just did one not long ago. Once the problem is resolved we can worry about getting you switched to a full UEFI installation assuming all your hardware is UEFI compatible.
If you are not using a legacy graphics card or motherboard, which you are not SFAIK, then it shouldn't be any problem to do that later and was likely a legacy installation due to the BIOS settings at the time of the Windows installation.
Well, that sucks. Was hoping you had stumbled onto the problem.
I would download and install, and run. LatencyMon. See if that picks up anything.
Did you ever run Memtest on those memory modules like I suggested or did you just decide you weren't going to do that? If you did not do that, I would go back to the top of this page and do as outlined there. You have nothing to lose really and you might find the problem if you actually do the testing that is recommended. There is a reason we recommend specific tests be done at specific points in the process, which is to eliminate having to do a whole bunch of other crap for no reason. Right now, I don't think we really know that the memory is proven to not be the problem so it might be a good idea to do that before you go any further. Testing with just one stick or the other is not the same as testing the memory in general.
could run off a ubuntu live USB and see if it has same problems - https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#0
if its stalling in the bios screen before windows ever loads, its not going to be windows.
unplugging drives makes sense
tests for the drives DB mentioned above
WD - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3&lang=en
Seagate - https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/seatools-win-master/