Question Computer hangs and the freezes when I use two monitors for a while ?

[Hooteyhoo22]

Recently my computer has started to hang then freeze completely, all without showing a BSOD. I can only press the power button to restart and I dont get any sort of report after these freezes. I thought maybe that my drivers/windows/etc were either outdated or corrupted so I redownloaded and repairs all drivers. That didn't work so I tried cleaning my HDD. No issues came up and it also did not fix it.

The problem comes from either a stream, a game, or drawing software being used while also using the other monitor for anything else. Usually it happens when running a stream on one screen and a game on the other, however sometimes even if I just use one screen for something while the other is on causes the freeze. The freezes occur randomly so far, sometimes it starts after only a few minutes and other times I can go for hours without a freeze.

Another weird thing is that when I run a stream on my new monitor it is guarenteed to hang and freeze eventually but I am able to run games on it fine, while if I run a stream on my main monitor It does not crash unless the other monitor is open for a while. I have been able to play retro games and some newer games on the new monitor however when I am trying to run a stream or draw on my tablet at the same time my computer starts to hang then freeze. I have not froze when my other monitors were not displaying or off. I extend the display for my new monitor.

As for my drawing program it also causes my computer to freeze after a while even with mirrored displays. I checked my ram which was running well, as well as seeing if anything was overheating and nothing was. I have tried googling for other options and have tried mostly everything short from an entire reinstallation of windows which would be very annoying, especially if it doesnt work in the end.

The most recent changes to my computers hardware was a new CPU, which has not been overheating or acting oddly so I'm not sure whats going on. I run my first monitor at 60hrtz and my second monitor at 120hz and my tablet is also 60hz. I would like some help with this since I have been trying to fix this for months now.

Computer Specs:
1 Seagate HDD 3tb
Geforce GTX 1660 Super GPU
Ryzen 5 5600x CPU
12 gb of Corsair DDR4 Ram (3 sticks)
MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max
Monitor 1 LG 4k smart TV
Monitor 2 MSI G271 144hrtz gaming monitor
Monitor 3 Xp-pen artist 13.3 Pro drawing tablet

 

[Ralston18]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

"No reports" : Look in both Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and even related informational events.

 

[Hooteyhoo22]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

"No reports" : Look in both Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and even related informational events.

my power supply is an EV3A 500W power supply that is 5 years old and it has an 80 plus rating I'm not sure how to tell the condition, I have had no problems with it.

I had no idea there was a reliabilty history or event viewer, from the reliability monitor the only information it is giving is that windows was not shutm down properly, which was probably me pressing the power buttons to stop the freeze. None of the apps I were using are labelled. As for the event viewer, if I look at the errors present before the crash, there are none, just error codes saying that the system was shut down unexpectantly. I recently did a clean install of my GPU drivers and windows update which seems to be working so far but I will have to see. I am now testing if I can run several apps in the two monitors.

 

[Ralston18]

Having to press the power buttons to physically shut down a frozen PC is, to me, indicative of a failing, faltering PSU.

Especially so with a 5 year old 500 watt PSU.

Two things you can do:

1)

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: browned or blackened components, swollen components, bare conductor showing, melted insulation, pinched or kinked wires, loose brackets, mountings, etc..

2) If you have a multi-meter and know how to use it (or know someone who does) you can do some limited testing on the PSU.

Reference:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a complete test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of spec make the PSU very suspect.

 

[Hooteyhoo22]

Having to press the power buttons to physically shut down a frozen PC is, to me, indicative of a failing, faltering PSU.

Especially so with a 5 year old 500 watt PSU.

Two things you can do:

1)

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage: browned or blackened components, swollen components, bare conductor showing, melted insulation, pinched or kinked wires, loose brackets, mountings, etc..

2) If you have a multi-meter and know how to use it (or know someone who does) you can do some limited testing on the PSU.

Reference:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a complete test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of spec make the PSU very suspect.

Recently dusted and checked each of the connectors to see if anything was loose with no issues, another thing I failed to mention is that when the PC freezes I am always able to move my mouse around and "interact" with things like the start menu and apps react when I hover over them with the mouse it is just that nothing starts if I try to click them. Even pressing restart with my mouse does nothing so thats why I needed to restart with the power button. Not sure if that can shed more light into what is going wrong. Today I made sure to go through all my drivers and clean install them and nothing seems to be wrong yet.
I also dont know how to use a multi-meter so I'll have to find a friend who might know. I'll keep testing with muliple apps on each monitor to see if the problem was fixed with the fresh windows update/driver update.

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"when I hover over them with the mouse it is just that nothing starts if I try to click them. "

Have you tried another known working mouse on your computer?

Have you tried your mouse on another known working computer?

Determine if the freeze problems stay with your computer or follow the mouse.

 

[Hooteyhoo22]

Problem has been fixed, turns out it was a unfinished windows update as well as mixed up GPU sound and video drivers. I dont know how that it only happened when using two monitors but I'm glad it is fixed. I actually had to open the microsoft store to update some apps which apparently cant be updated without opening it.

 

[gottacatchemalls]

Problem has been fixed, turns out it was a unfinished windows update as well as mixed up GPU sound and video drivers. I dont know how that it only happened when using two monitors but I'm glad it is fixed. I actually had to open the microsoft store to update some apps which apparently cant be updated without opening it.

Hello, I too am having this problem when I connected my monitor to my laptop. How did you figure out you had mixed up sound and video drivers?

 

[Hooteyhoo22]

Hello, I too am having this problem when I connected my monitor to my laptop. How did you figure out you had mixed up sound and video drivers?

I saw a few messages on this forum saying that something like this happens when the drivers are mixed up. All I did to fix it was reinstall both sound and audio drivers on my PC for my motherboard and GPU as well as making sure the windows install was completed. Weird thing was it wasnt only that the windows wouldnt finish installing, the thing that was causing the windows install to fail was me not opening up my windows store and updating everything through that for years. so I just had a bunch of old software that is apparently needed to update correctly.

The only thing I found in my error reports that happened exactly at the time of the crashes was some Xbox app that had a critical error. I'm not sure if it was exactly the Xbox app doing this, but the crashes ALWAYS were directly after the error with this Xbox app. So if there is a problem like this try updating all the apps you have through the windows store, go to the motherboard website and clean install the audio drives, as well as do a clean install on whatever video driver you need. I dont think I have seen anything else like this but my PC is fixed now and it was after I updated Xbox.

Hopefully this helps you out, good luck.