Question Irregular program loading slow down

[ChickenPopCrunch]

Hi all. I recently put together my new build, and since then have been having this issue. I've tried pretty much everything I can think of, but am unable to figure out or fix it. So sometimes (10-20%) of the time, but more common on cold boots, certain programs such as Steam will have a very slow load when I try to open them, going from a usual under 10s load time to 2+ minutes before it opens. On Process Explorer, I can see the process open up, but then it just kind of hangs and waits. During this time, system resources are normal (low cpu and ram usage), so it isn't start up programs overloading resources. Most programs load fast like normal, but any sort of typing significantly lags during the load time, as if the system is running out of ram. Closing the affected programs and reopening them results in the same thing, 2+ minute boots. This only disappears when I reboot the system, then it's pretty much a lottery whether it happens again. I haven't been able to isolate what's causing it or fix it, so hopefully someone here who has seen this before can point me towards a fix or what's the cause. Listed below are the build parts and what I've done so far in terms of troubleshooting.

13700K
MSI Z790 Edge
GSkill Trident Z5 7200 16x2GB
Gigabyte 4090 Gaming OC
2x WD SN850X 2TB
SeaSonic Prime TX-1000 80+ Titanium
DeepCool LT720
Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo
10x Arctic P12 ARGB case fans

What I've tried so far:
Reinstall Windows 11 Home with all updates and newest drivers, nothing other than Steam, and monitoring software to check.
Undid my undervolts/overclocks back to all stock setting on the cpu and ram.
Disabled igpu.
Updated ssd firmware.
Boot with minimal start up processes.

I've also tried various setting changes and tweaks to Windows 11, but at this point I'm out of ideas, and can't even reliably replicate the issue. Has anyone ever encountered this before, or seen this before?

 

[Bob.B]

Hi all. I recently put together my new build, and since then have been having this issue. I've tried pretty much everything I can think of, but am unable to figure out or fix it. So sometimes (10-20%) of the time, but more common on cold boots, certain programs such as Steam will have a very slow load when I try to open them, going from a usual under 10s load time to 2+ minutes before it opens. On Process Explorer, I can see the process open up, but then it just kind of hangs and waits. During this time, system resources are normal (low cpu and ram usage), so it isn't start up programs overloading resources. Most programs load fast like normal, but any sort of typing significantly lags during the load time, as if the system is running out of ram. Closing the affected programs and reopening them results in the same thing, 2+ minute boots. This only disappears when I reboot the system, then it's pretty much a lottery whether it happens again. I haven't been able to isolate what's causing it or fix it, so hopefully someone here who has seen this before can point me towards a fix or what's the cause. Listed below are the build parts and what I've done so far in terms of troubleshooting.

13700K
MSI Z790 Edge
GSkill Trident Z5 7200 16x2GB
Gigabyte 4090 Gaming OC
2x WD SN850X 2TB
SeaSonic Prime TX-1000 80+ Titanium
DeepCool LT720
Lian Li O11 Dynamic Evo
10x Arctic P12 ARGB case fans

What I've tried so far:
Reinstall Windows 11 Home with all updates and newest drivers, nothing other than Steam, and monitoring software to check.
Undid my undervolts/overclocks back to all stock setting on the cpu and ram.
Disabled igpu.
Updated ssd firmware.
Boot with minimal start up processes.

I've also tried various setting changes and tweaks to Windows 11, but at this point I'm out of ideas, and can't even reliably replicate the issue. Has anyone ever encountered this before, or seen this before?

Remove the gpu and connect to the igp....test.
Use just one stick of ram....test.

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

Remove the gpu and connect to the igp....test.
Use just one stick of ram....test.

Working on that right now, but since I can't reliably replicate the problem, it might take a while to finish testing each component.

If it's worth anything, I've tested the ram with memtest86, occt, tm5, and windows memory diagnostic. The gpu I just stress tested and benchmarked to undervolt.

 

[Bob.B]

Working on that right now, but since I can't reliably replicate the problem, it might take a while to finish testing each component.

If it's worth anything, I've tested the ram with memtest86, occt, tm5, and windows memory diagnostic. The gpu I just stress tested and benchmarked to undervolt.

This is just making the pot smaller finding out what it is not.

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

This is just making the pot smaller finding out what it is not.

I was able to replicate the problem with each ram stick individually, as well with igpu. At first I thought the gpu was the issue since it took a while until the issue showed up, but looks like it's something else.

 

[Bob.B]

I was able to replicate the problem with each ram stick individually, as well with igpu. At first I thought the gpu was the issue since it took a while until the issue showed up, but looks like it's something else.

What bios level are you running?

Where did you get the drivers from?

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

What bios level are you running?

Where did you get the drivers from?

If you mean motherboard BIOS version, it's the latest one on MSI's site, 7D91vH2. For drivers, most of them came from MSI's site, except for the gpu (nvidia's site) and audio/igpu (windows automatically installed those).

 

[Bob.B]

If you mean motherboard BIOS version, it's the latest one on MSI's site, 7D91vH2. For drivers, most of them came from MSI's site, except for the gpu (nvidia's site) and audio/igpu (windows automatically installed those).

Did you get the chipset driver from the mobo site?

Swap slots with the 2 disk....test.

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

Did you get the chipset driver from the mobo site?

Swap slots with the 2 disk....test.

Yep, the chipset driver are from the mobo site.

Already previously tested swapping the drive.

What's the possibility this is a Windows problem? This is my first system with Windows 11, I've previously stuck to Windows 10.

 

[Bob.B]

Yep, the chipset driver are from the mobo site.

Already previously tested swapping the drive.

What's the possibility this is a Windows problem? This is my first system with Windows 11, I've previously stuck to Windows 10.

W11 problem?......never say never.

Perhaps try a clean boot.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

W11 problem?......never say never.

Perhaps try a clean boot.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

That was the first thing I tried. Clean boot, then clean reinstall of Windows, and tried clean boot again.

At this point if it isn't a hardware issue, which is looking like the case..then it's probably a Windows 11 or driver problem? This issue was happening on a clean Windows 11 install with minimal things installed and running (just drivers and no startup process/program).

 

[Bob.B]

That was the first thing I tried. Clean boot, then clean reinstall of Windows, and tried clean boot again.

At this point if it isn't a hardware issue, which is looking like the case..then it's probably a Windows 11 or driver problem? This issue was happening on a clean Windows 11 install with minimal things installed and running (just drivers and no startup process/program).

Try w10....see what the results are.

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

Try w10....see what the results are.

Don't have Windows 10 available, or I would have tried it already. I don't suppose there's any way to downgrade to Windows 10 from a Windows 11 install?

 

[Bob.B]

Don't have Windows 10 available, or I would have tried it already. I don't suppose there's any way to downgrade to Windows 10 from a Windows 11 install?

Just a guess.
Use the windows media creation tool and grab a copy of w10.
Install w10 on the pc and test.

 

[ChickenPopCrunch]

Just an update in case anyone ever encounters the same issue in the future. It was a faulty motherboard. The motherboard ended up having other issues (fan headers started going bad), so I returned it and got an Asus ROG Strix z790-e instead. Everything's been smooth sailing since then.