Question Occasional 100% spike in C drive usage, freezing the entire PC, sometimes follow up with a BSOD, critical_process_died

[Smasher42k]

So I've been dealing with this for quite a while, throughout multiple different OS systems (Windows 10/11/freshly reinstalled Windows 10). Still, my C drive would randomly spike up to 100, freezing the computer, and sometimes follow up with a BSOD, paging critical_process_died. I was running Windows 10 when I first encountered this problem. Hence, I freshly reinstalled Windows 10, and the problem did not occur for a while until my PC was automatically updated to Windows 11 about a month ago. Now it's happening all over again. Sometimes it happens when the PC is idle, and sometimes when I play video games. I tried most of the basic problem-solving like SFC scans, or checking the health of my SSD and such, but nothing seemed to ultimately fix the problem.

CPU: 11th Gen Intel I9-11900K @ 3.5GHz, 3504 Mhz, 8 core, 16 logical processor
GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming OC 16G Graphics Card
MOBO: TUF GAMING Z590-PLUS WIFI
RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 64GB (2x32GB) 3200MHz CL16 Intel XMP 2.0 Computer Memory
STORAGE: Lexar 1.92TB NQ100 SSD 2.5” SATA III Internal Solid State Drive
PSU: ASUS ROG STRIX 1000W Gold PSU

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

(Windows 10/11/freshly reinstalled Windows 10)
Where did you source the installer for your OS? Did you recreate the bootable USB installer, to rule out a corrupt installer and did you install the OS in an offline mode? You're advised to manually install all drivers in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

How old is the PSU in your build?

BIOS version for your motherboar?

 

[DaleH]

So I've been dealing with this for quite a while, throughout multiple different OS systems (Windows 10/11/freshly reinstalled Windows 10). Still, my C drive would randomly spike up to 100, freezing the computer, and sometimes follow up with a BSOD, paging critical_process_died. I was running Windows 10 when I first encountered this problem. Hence, I freshly reinstalled Windows 10, and the problem did not occur for a while until my PC was automatically updated to Windows 11 about a month ago. Now it's happening all over again. Sometimes it happens when the PC is idle, and sometimes when I play video games. I tried most of the basic problem-solving like SFC scans, or checking the health of my SSD and such, but nothing seemed to ultimately fix the problem.

CPU: 11th Gen Intel I9-11900K @ 3.5GHz, 3504 Mhz, 8 core, 16 logical processor
GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming OC 16G Graphics Card
MOBO: TUF GAMING Z590-PLUS WIFI
RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 64GB (2x32GB) 3200MHz CL16 Intel XMP 2.0 Computer Memory
STORAGE: Lexar 1.92TB NQ100 SSD 2.5” SATA III Internal Solid State Drive
PSU: ASUS ROG STRIX 1000W Gold PSU

My guess would be that there are actually problems with the C drive.

 

[NedSmelly]

I’d be interested in what CrystalDiskInfo has to say about C: drive.

 

[Smasher42k]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

(Windows 10/11/freshly reinstalled Windows 10)
Where did you source the installer for your OS? Did you recreate the bootable USB installer, to rule out a corrupt installer and did you install the OS in an offline mode? You're advised to manually install all drivers in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

How old is the PSU in your build?

BIOS version for your motherboar?

The PSU was ordered and installed on Sep 1st, 2022
Bios version 1801

 

[Smasher42k]

I’d be interested in what CrystalDiskInfo has to say about C: drive.

https://imgur.com/a/A3JSwgg

View: https://imgur.com/a/A3JSwgg


It looks good.

 

[Smasher42k]

Sorry I was out of town. Came back and PC is even worse, crashed 3 times just yesterday. The exact same thing, C drive spike to 100 then BSOD.

 

[NedSmelly]

Check logs in Windows Event Viewer
Run Memtest86 overnight to assess for faulty RAM

 

[Smasher42k]

Check logs in Windows Event Viewer
Run Memtest86 overnight to assess for faulty RAM

Windows Event viewer showed nothing significant, aside from "PC shut down unexpectedly", which was pretty obvious

Link to my minidump files

I asked around on Discord and apparently, someone said something along the line of my CRSS (Desktop environment) crashing every time BSOD happens. Also, I ran an OCCT mem test for an hour and detected no error. (My rams are new, I got them only a few months ago).