So I've been experiencing rare but disruptive pc freezes. During these freezes, my entire system stops: audio cuts out completely, can't move mouse, etc. However, after 5-10 seconds the system recovers as if nothing had happened. Once or twice these freezes have lasted longer (~30 seconds), and my monitor has gone black, but it always recovers.
The freezes are usually fairly rare (~1 per week) but sometimes I will have multiple freezes within an hour or so. I'm unable to pinpoint anything specific that triggers the freezes - they usually occor when the system is at idle or low-load, such as during browsing or video calls. In fact, I don't recall them ever occurring during gaming or other high-load tasks.
Here is a screenshot of resource manager after a freeze:
And task manager at a different one:
You can see a spike in SSD and CPU usage when the freeze occured. Not sure if this is just the system trying to recover or indicates a hardware issue. I can also hear my system clicking away more than usual (HDD?).
I have been monitoring CPU and GPU temps and found no anomalies - typcially under 50 degrees. I wasn't able to identify any single program using significant resources at these times either.
These freezes have been happening randomly for about 6 months. I built my pc 2 years ago from new components and have had no issues before this. There were no changes to hardware or anything before the freezes started.
System specs:
What I have tried:
Some ideas:
The freezes are usually fairly rare (~1 per week) but sometimes I will have multiple freezes within an hour or so. I'm unable to pinpoint anything specific that triggers the freezes - they usually occor when the system is at idle or low-load, such as during browsing or video calls. In fact, I don't recall them ever occurring during gaming or other high-load tasks.
Here is a screenshot of resource manager after a freeze:
And task manager at a different one:
You can see a spike in SSD and CPU usage when the freeze occured. Not sure if this is just the system trying to recover or indicates a hardware issue. I can also hear my system clicking away more than usual (HDD?).
I have been monitoring CPU and GPU temps and found no anomalies - typcially under 50 degrees. I wasn't able to identify any single program using significant resources at these times either.
These freezes have been happening randomly for about 6 months. I built my pc 2 years ago from new components and have had no issues before this. There were no changes to hardware or anything before the freezes started.
System specs:
- OS: Win 10
- Motherboard: Asus TUF B360M-E
- CPU: Intel Core i7 8700 Processor
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX CMK16GX4M2A2400C16 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4
- PSU: Corsair CX550M 550W Power Supply
- SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 2.5in SATA SSD 500GB
- HDD: 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM008 3.5in Hard Drive
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
What I have tried:
- Various scans using Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
- Cleaned and checked each drive for issues + sfc /scannow
- Ran memory diagnostic mdsched.exe
- Updated as many drivers as I can find (only using device manager and GeForce Experience)
- Installed a new CPU cooler
- Dusting/cleaning case
- Checking cables
- Checked motherboard for damage (though I haven't checked the back, maybe a loose screw or something is bridging a circuit?)
- Changed power cable + outlet
Some ideas:
- Faulty PSU causing power surges?
- Motherboard isn't able to supply enough power to CPU?
- Dodgy/loose cable somewhere in my build?
- Driver issues?