Question PC micro-freezing after rebuild with new components

May 8, 2019
4
0
10
Hi everyone! So I recently bought new components for my 5-ish year old PC, replacing the mobo/RAM/CPU and the GPU. Ever since installing Windows 10 and all of the necessary software, I've been experiencing these seemingly random micro-freezes, where everything completely stops, the mouse pointer won't move, for about 2-3 seconds. The system doesn't crash or reboot, and after the freeze everything resumes normally. Sometimes the monitor turns off and then back on. I've observed that sometimes these freezes happen when I run photoshop (which promptly crashes after the freeze), but they also happen without it running. It happened once while I was gaming, but other than that gaming performance has been great. Thermals are within 40C. Specs:

MSI Z390 Pro Gaming*
i7-9700K*
32GB RAM @ 2133 (max 3200)*
EVGA RTX 2080*
Intel M.2 SSD*
Samsung EVO 850 SSD
Noctua NH-U14S
Rosewill 750W Gold
Some kinda 1TB HDD
Various external drives and other USB hardware
Win10 Pro*

* Purchased recently

I honestly have no idea what could be causing this. My drivers are up to date, and as you can see, it's a pretty high-end system. I haven't had any of these freezes on my old hardware and Windows 7. Is there any way I can at least track them with more precision?

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
May 8, 2019
4
0
10
So I just updated my BIOS to the latest version, but after the update I got an M.2 Genie error. The computer booted up after I had disabled M.2 Genie and switched to AHCI in setup, but I'm not sure if this is the right way to do it? I'll try safe mode now.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
So I just updated my BIOS to the latest version, but after the update I got an M.2 Genie error. The computer booted up after I had disabled M.2 Genie and switched to AHCI in setup, but I'm not sure if this is the right way to do it? I'll try safe mode now.

When you installed Windows did you have only the OS drive connected? Because if you have more than one drive connected then the Windows 10 install will often dump critical boot files on the second and third drives, if you unplug everything but the boot drive during the install then it will clear up this confusion.
 
May 8, 2019
4
0
10
When you installed Windows did you have only the OS drive connected? Because if you have more than one drive connected then the Windows 10 install will often dump critical boot files on the second and third drives, if you unplug everything but the boot drive during the install then it will clear up this confusion.
I had all of the internal drives plugged in. I managed to switch back to RAID, but I haven't enabled M.2 Genie because it tells me data will be lost. Would you suggest that I run a clean Windows 10 install with only the M.2 drive enabled and then plug in everything else? Also, no freezes YET after BIOS update, will see what happens. I don't know how to simulate the conditions under which those freezes occur (they really seem quite random), so I'm not sure if safe mode will be all that helpful in terms of that.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
I had all of the internal drives plugged in. I managed to switch back to RAID, but I haven't enabled M.2 Genie because it tells me data will be lost. Would you suggest that I run a clean Windows 10 install with only the M.2 drive enabled and then plug in everything else? Also, no freezes YET after BIOS update, will see what happens. I don't know how to simulate the conditions under which those freezes occur (they really seem quite random), so I'm not sure if safe mode will be all that helpful in terms of that.

Yes, clean install and only the main drive plugged in. Then install all your other drives once Windows is installed and boots fully. It's a pain and that is a very annoying feature of Windows 10, but it really is the best way to ensure that you get a full working boot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tequila_mockingbird
May 8, 2019
4
0
10
Yes, clean install and only the main drive plugged in. Then install all your other drives once Windows is installed and boots fully. It's a pain and that is a very annoying feature of Windows 10, but it really is the best way to ensure that you get a full working boot.
Gotcha. Had no idea about this - thank you! This'll definitely delay my work, so for now I'll have to see if that BIOS update actually did change things, but I'll run a clean install in the near future. Will I need to buy a different product key?
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Gotcha. Had no idea about this - thank you! This'll definitely delay my work, so for now I'll have to see if that BIOS update actually did change things, but I'll run a clean install in the near future. Will I need to buy a different product key?

Not if it's a reinstall, that key should work fine. I don't know if the BIOS will change much about your install though.