[SOLVED] PC freezes if no processes are running, needs to be rebooted

[ClassV]

I've had this problem for a while, and it seemed to stop itself, although now it has come back in the past couple days a bit more consistently. Basically if I don't have a game, discord, or a video/stream playing, my computer runs the chance of just freezing all my screens and needing to be rebooted. It wont go into sleep either, so if I happened to walk away when it occurred, I can look at the clock to see when the freeze happened. It has never happened when watching a video/stream, or playing games, or talking in discord with friends, or listening to Spotify. Basically any time there is video or audio playing on one of my monitors (I have 4) it is fine. This is really annoying obviously, as I often load up my PC and instantly open a stream or video, put it to the side and let it run until I play games with my friends later in the day. The most common times it freezes are if I am just browsing through regular google chrome on websites like twitter or amazon, or if I am looking through steam library etc...

I can't really find a fix for this so I am a bit stuck. I did run the ram tests a while back and after a long time all the sticks came back fine. All of my drivers are up to date and have been pretty consistently.

Specs:
Windows 11
Intel i5 12600KF
Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super
Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X
4x8GB G Skill Ripjaws
Samsung 980 1TB NVME SSD
1TB SSD Sata
1TB HDD


If you have any questions about the occurrences or about the PC I have notifications on and would be glad to answer or work along with you.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Colif]

Do you have latest BIOS on motherboard?

What PSU do you have?

Does it freeze up if you idle in safe mode?
go to settings/system/recovery
next to advanced startup, click restart now

• this restarts PC in a blue menu
  
• choose troubleshoot
  
• choose advanced
  
• choose startup options
  
• click the restart button
  
• choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  
• Pc will restart and load safe mode
  

 

[ClassV]

Do you have latest BIOS on motherboard?

What PSU do you have?

Does it freeze up if you idle in safe mode?
go to settings/system/recovery
next to advanced startup, click restart now

• this restarts PC in a blue menu
• choose troubleshoot
• choose advanced
• choose startup options
• click the restart button
• choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
• Pc will restart and load safe mode

Sorry for the late response, got sick over the week and haven't been online much at all. Going to try the safe mode right now and will let you know how that fares.

For the PSU, I have an EVGA 850 B5. Bought it new in the summer as I needed it for the CPU and motherboard upgrade I did.

I am unsure about the BIOS, but saying that makes me think there is a very likely chance it could be out of date. I'll wait for your response to do anything about that first though bedcause I understand that is a process that shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

[Colif]

No need to apologise, its your question... i be here somewhere.

See how it behaves in safe mode.

the not being able to sleep thing makes me think its a driver.

Bios: have a look in the system information app. the header named: Bios Version/Date will show the version you have now.
since latest BIOS is dated 2 weeks ago I can guess you aren't on it. You can't be that many versions behind as there are only 5 total.

You probably want to update Intel Management Engine Interface if/when you do bios - https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10/support#support-dl-driver-chipset

 

[ClassV]

No need to apologise, its your question... i be here somewhere.

See how it behaves in safe mode.

the not being able to sleep thing makes me think its a driver.

Bios: have a look in the system information app. the header named: Bios Version/Date will show the version you have now.
since latest BIOS is dated 2 weeks ago I can guess you aren't on it. You can't be that many versions behind as there are only 5 total.

You probably want to update Intel Management Engine Interface if/when you do bios - https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10/support#support-dl-driver-chipset

Ok so I left the PC in just standard safe mode for about an hour, checked on it a few times, and it even went to sleep and woke back up instantly. When the freeze happens it is random, but I feel that it normally should have happened if I weren't in safe mode.

It would also appear that the bios is very out of date, being listed as American Megatrends International, LLC. F6, 2021-12-27

So then I assume I should update my BIOS, what else would I be installing along with the one link you've provided, and in what order?

Thank a ton by the way, this is a great help.

 

[Colif]

Ok so I left the PC in just standard safe mode for about an hour, checked on it a few times, and it even went to sleep and woke back up instantly. When the freeze happens it is random, but I feel that it normally should have happened if I weren't in safe mode.

could be a driver then. Drivers don't run in safe mode.

I sort of need to know what you have installed to compare

Can you download and run Driverview - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

All it does is looks at drivers installed; it won't install any (this is intentional as 3rd party driver updaters often get it wrong)

When you run it, go into view tab and set it to hide all Microsoft drivers, will make list shorter.

Please take a screenshot from (and including)Driver name to (and including)Creation date.

upload it to an image sharing website and show link here

I will compare that against the driver list on Gigabyte website, and other sites to find newer drivers.

 

[ClassV]

could be a driver then. Drivers don't run in safe mode.

I sort of need to know what you have installed to compare

Can you download and run Driverview - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

All it does is looks at drivers installed; it won't install any (this is intentional as 3rd party driver updaters often get it wrong)

When you run it, go into view tab and set it to hide all Microsoft drivers, will make list shorter.

Please take a screenshot from (and including)Driver name to (and including)Creation date.

upload it to an image sharing website and show link here

I will compare that against the driver list on Gigabyte website, and other sites to find newer drivers.

Just changed the view like you said and stretched it on my ultrawide. Hopefully this is what you were looking for.

 

[Colif]

Note: this shows all drivers on PC, they might not actually be running

Apple charger: You probably don't need this unless you have an Apple phone
Bluestacks: I have seen this cause errors before
gdrv3.sys - gigabyte driver, can cause problems.

Intel Serial I/O driver version 30.100.2221.20 on motherbaord website is newer than what you have installed

do you have a bluetooth dongle?

Realtek lan drivers - download Win11 Auto Installation Program (NetAdapterCx) from under windows header here - https://www.realtek.com/en/componen...0-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-pci-express-software

I don't know if there is a new version of Occulus

 

[ClassV]

Note: this shows all drivers on PC, they might not actually be running

Apple charger: You probably don't need this unless you have an Apple phone
Bluestacks: I have seen this cause errors before
gdrv3.sys - gigabyte driver, can cause problems.

Intel Serial I/O driver version 30.100.2221.20 on motherbaord website is newer than what you have installed

do you have a bluetooth dongle?

Realtek lan drivers - download Win11 Auto Installation Program (NetAdapterCx) from under windows header here - https://www.realtek.com/en/componen...0-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-pci-express-software

I don't know if there is a new version of Oculus

I do have a bluetooth dongle for my controller that I installed after the freezing began. Oculus I did run the other day but can check to see if tehre are any new drivers as well.

I can download the realtek lan drivers and the updated intel drivers, what should I do about the others?

I don't use bluestacks so I don't mind getting rid of it all
Rarely plug iPhone into my PC
How should I handle the Gigabyte driver

Thanks

 

[Colif]

I would uninstall any GIgabyte programs you have as that might remove the drivers. I have an Aorus board, I have had gdrv3.sys myself and uninstalling programs removed it last time. I think its part of their rgb program. Or the App centre.

Safe mode isn't as stressing on hardware as normal mode so its not totally proof its drivers. Same would apply to testing PC in linux, it just doesn't work PC as hard as windows.

 

[ClassV]

I would uninstall any GIgabyte programs you have as that might remove the drivers. I have an Aorus board, I have had gdrv3.sys myself and uninstalling programs removed it last time. I think its part of their rgb program. Or the App centre.

Safe mode isn't as stressing on hardware as normal mode so its not totally proof its drivers. Same would apply to testing PC in linux, it just doesn't work PC as hard as windows.

Ok I uninstalled the APP centre, and it seemed to uninstall a couple programs in the process. I am still seeing dgrv3.sys in the driver view however.

 

[Colif]

You can run this as admin and look on drivers tab and untick that driver, that will stop it running with windows at startup if it is now - there is a search feature near title row. So can type driver name in and will find it if it is running (remember, driver view shows all drivers, they may not be running)
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

 

[ClassV]

You can run this as admin and look on drivers tab and untick that driver, that will stop it running with windows at startup if it is now - there is a search feature near title row. So can type driver name in and will find it if it is running (remember, driver view shows all drivers, they may not be running)
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

Ok, I ran it as administrator and unticked the gigabyte driver. So now its just down to waiting and potentially seeing if this was a cause to the problem?

 

[Colif]

Yes.

 

[ClassV]

Yes.

Unfortunately the problem has come back. It hadn't frozen on the couple times I had left it idle, and some of them were hours. But today it froze when I decided to leave for about an hour. Froze about 10~ minutes after I left with discord and a chrome page the only visible processes on my monitors.

 

[Colif]

So it only happens at idle... so when PC is running background processes like defrag or indexing. There are others, they just came to mind

I wonder if you left it in safe mode long enough for it to do the action that makes it freeze.

I am not sure its a driver. Safe mode doesn't place PC under as much stress as normal mode does, so it could be hardware. Not getting BSOD is also a clue.

Specs:
Windows 11
Intel i5 12600KF
Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super
Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X
4x8GB G Skill Ripjaws
Samsung 980 1TB NVME SSD
1TB SSD Sata
1TB HDD

what makes/models are the other drives apart from the 980?
download and run Magician on the 980, should be able to run diagnostics.
it might need you to have the Samsung nvme driver, its lower down page on same link below

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

 

[ClassV]

So it only happens at idle... so when PC is running background processes like defrag or indexing. There are others, they just came to mind

I wonder if you left it in safe mode long enough for it to do the action that makes it freeze.

I am not sure its a driver. Safe mode doesn't place PC under as much stress as normal mode does, so it could be hardware. Not getting BSOD is also a clue.



what makes/models are the other drives apart from the 980?
download and run Magician on the 980, should be able to run diagnostics.
it might need you to have the Samsung nvme driver, its lower down page on same link below

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

The other drives should be an ADATA SU800 and a WD Blue HDD, both 1TB while windows is installed on the samsung.

Currently running the long scan on my drive, will take about 1-2 hours and will post results. Here is the results form the 2 short scans.

 

[ClassV]

Full scan, no issues found.

 

[Colif]

try running this on adata - https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/adata_ssd_toolbox.html
and this on WD drive - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=279

 

[ClassV]

try running this on adata - https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/adata_ssd_toolbox.html
and this on WD drive - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=279

Let me know if there is somehting you are looking for in these programs besides what I posted

 

[Colif]

It would also appear that the bios is very out of date, being listed as American Megatrends International, LLC. F6, 2021-12-27

So then I assume I should update my BIOS, what else would I be installing along with the one link you've provided, and in what order?

i missed this
you only 2 BIOS behind
it might help - https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios
as for drivers, your version of Intel Management Engine Interface is newer than current installed bios, so it doesn't need a change but updating bios might make it happier.

 

[ClassV]

i missed this
you only 2 BIOS behind
it might help - https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios
as for drivers, your version of Intel Management Engine Interface is newer than current installed bios, so it doesn't need a change but updating bios might make it happier.

Ok, I've got the bios update on a usb, does gigabyte have a section where they recommend he best way to update bios. I've seen videos online but it seems all a little different from one another, so just want to make sure I'm doing it the correct way

 

[Colif]

Giagbyte call their BIOS Updater as either Q Flash or Q Flash +
Q Flash does it inside bios
Q Flash + can be run with only a PSU attached.

How to Use Q Flash - https://www.gigabyte.com/FileUpload/us/WebPage/20/images/utiltiy_qflash_uefi.pdf

You also have Q Flash + which uses a USB slot on back of motherboard - marked D on page 17 here - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...1002_n.pdf?v=ca025f3c833951b87973f59d54cf6704

this explains both Q Flash & Q Flash + - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z590-features.pdf

How to Flash a Gigabyte Motherboard with Q-Flash Plus - Glenn's SQL Server Performance

Introduction I recently released a new YouTube video, called "How to Flash the Gigabyte B550 AORUS MASTER BIOS with Q-Flash Plus". This video walks though and demonstrates all of the steps required to use the Q-Flash Plus feature on this motherboard. Final Words I think this is a useful video...

glennsqlperformance.com

 

[ClassV]

Giagbyte call their BIOS Updater as either Q Flash or Q Flash +
Q Flash does it inside bios
Q Flash + can be run with only a PSU attached.

How to Use Q Flash - https://www.gigabyte.com/FileUpload/us/WebPage/20/images/utiltiy_qflash_uefi.pdf

You also have Q Flash + which uses a USB slot on back of motherboard - marked D on page 17 here - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...1002_n.pdf?v=ca025f3c833951b87973f59d54cf6704

this explains both Q Flash & Q Flash + - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z590-features.pdf

How to Flash a Gigabyte Motherboard with Q-Flash Plus - Glenn's SQL Server Performance

Introduction I recently released a new YouTube video, called "How to Flash the Gigabyte B550 AORUS MASTER BIOS with Q-Flash Plus". This video walks though and demonstrates all of the steps required to use the Q-Flash Plus feature on this motherboard. Final Words I think this is a useful video...

glennsqlperformance.com

Ok, bios updated to F8. Will update if problems are fixed or persist. Thank you again.

 

[ClassV]

Giagbyte call their BIOS Updater as either Q Flash or Q Flash +
Q Flash does it inside bios
Q Flash + can be run with only a PSU attached.

How to Use Q Flash - https://www.gigabyte.com/FileUpload/us/WebPage/20/images/utiltiy_qflash_uefi.pdf

You also have Q Flash + which uses a USB slot on back of motherboard - marked D on page 17 here - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...1002_n.pdf?v=ca025f3c833951b87973f59d54cf6704

this explains both Q Flash & Q Flash + - https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z590-features.pdf

How to Flash a Gigabyte Motherboard with Q-Flash Plus - Glenn's SQL Server Performance

Introduction I recently released a new YouTube video, called "How to Flash the Gigabyte B550 AORUS MASTER BIOS with Q-Flash Plus". This video walks though and demonstrates all of the steps required to use the Q-Flash Plus feature on this motherboard. Final Words I think this is a useful video...

glennsqlperformance.com

The error has occurred again unfortunately, so doesn't seem to be a bios problem