Question PC freezing up / lag spikes, rebooting fixes

jackington

Commendable
Dec 18, 2017
69
1
1,535
My build is 7 months old, only recently started having this problem, maybe 2 months ago. It doesn't happen often but when it does, it's always when my PC has been on for several, say 6+ hours. Happened just now, happened previously about a week ago?

Out of nowhere my PC starts having some lag spikes. YouTube videos and everything start freezing, cursor too. Everything. Some programs close themselves. Cursor lags and then it doesn't. PC is completely unusable once it starts happening, the lag won't go away. Some windows go completely black. Ctrl+alt+del opens the menu fast but then it lags right after.

Ryzen 5 3600
2070 Super
G.Skill TridentZ 16GB
Strix X570-E Gaming
Seasonic PRIME Ultra 750W Gold

Only fix I found was a hard reset by holding the power button. Restarting explorer.exe didn't help.

Thanks!
 
cpu/gpu temp?
memory usage?
malware scan?

Thanks!

No malware. Memory usage was about 5,4/15,9GB when it last happened. CPU temp anywhere between about 50-70° , averaging at 64° , which should be normal for a Ryzen 5 last I checked? I've had the same temps ever since I got the pc, no problems until 2 months ago. GPU temp is / was between 35-40° . Should be good airflow in my case and I regularly blow away the dust and am careful in doing so. Room temperature 24° .
 
Uptime: 2 hours 12 minutes, my PC started freezing again. Stuff freezes every now and then but it's not nearly as bad as before, I can still use the computer.

Processor usage 9%
RAM usage 5,6/15,9GB
GPU usage 36%

edit: PC was usable for 3 mins and then it got real bad, I was unable to do anything. I tried unplugging my mouse, keyboard and VR stuff, basically every USB but that did nothing. Shortly after my monitor went black and lost signal..?? I unplugged the monitor's HDMI and plugged it back in, the signal is back and so far the PC isn't lagging at all? Seems to be fine and I didn't even restart it.

I was watching Netflix and playing OldSchool RuneScape when it started freezing, like every other time this has happened IIRC. When I reconnected the monitor HDMI and got the signal back, said game was no longer open but everything else was. I doubt the game is the issue, I mean I do play it 8+ hours a day and the freezing comes at random times so IDK.

Next time as soon as there's any small freezing, I'll try disconnecting and reconnecting the monitor HDMI, see if it fixes it before it gets too bad.

The monitor is 5 months old; VG27BQ. And I'm using adaptive sync. If that helps.

Sorry for the messy text eh.........
 
Last edited:
It just happened again, it's been a while. This time it lagged for a good 10 seconds and then froze completely, forcing me to reboot the machine. PC was on for about 11 hours and I was doing the usual, watching YouTube and playing OSRS.

I don't know what's causing this, but within the next 3 weeks I'm going to reseat everything in the case except the cpu (cba), hope that fixes it. I've been postponing Windows updates for a solid two months now, doubt that could be the issue? I haven't felt like updating after hearing bad things regarding performance etc.
 
Again.

Started acting up, I was watching YouTube and playing a game. Screen went black, I couldn't do anything but I heard the video's audio. It was black for a good minute and came back, game wasn't open anymore and now it's good again.

IDK. Hoping to do the reseating of components tomorrow.

edit: it was good for a while; I managed to write everything above with no problems. Didn't reboot, as soon as I opened YouTube and resumed the video, freezing. This time too bad so I had to reboot, all good now.