Split-Second Freezes While Doing Underwhelming Tasks

[Vanessa_Beth]

Okay, I don't really know what category to put this in because I don't know the exact problem and it's really hard to reproduce. Here is my build:

Intel i5-6600k CPU cooled with a Corsair H100i GTX
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 (CMK16GX4M2A2400C14R)
ASUS Maximus Hero VIII
Gigabyte G1 GTX 970 Rev 1.1
Corsair RM750 PSU
Kingston 120GB SSD (SV300S37A120G)
Connected directly to the motherboard:
2x1TB WD Blue HDDs
In a Rosewill Hotswap Bay:
1x2TB WD Black HDD

So the problem is that my system will hang for a split second with a loud audio loop for the duration that equates to an audible BZZZT from my speakers or headphones. It usually occurs during tasks I would definitely not call taxing such as watching YouTube or Netflix. My input is either slowed or halted, I can't say for certain because I seem to recall watching the pointer very slowly move across the screen during the hang, but my hand usually isn't on the mouse when it happens. It might have happened while playing GTA V once. Maybe. I can't say for sure. As I said, I have no idea how to reproduce the problem. My PC has a few other problems that might possibly be the cause: Sometimes after shutting down I'll get a memory error "something something at address something something error" that disappears too quickly to snap a photo of. If I press the power button too quickly after a full shutdown sometimes ASUS Anti-Surge will trigger, but not every time.
HD Tune shows this:

Windows Event Viewer looks like this:

I ran SFC and Windows replaced corrupted files. I've booted into safemode and run prime95 Small FFT and Blend tests for ~20 minutes each with no errors. I ran memtest86 with no errors. I disabled the overclock my motherboard setup with the built-in tool. I flashed my motherboard BIOS.

I don't know what else to do. I'm afraid this tiny problem could be indicative of a larger issue with my computer as a whole and I'm afraid to upgrade anything else about it until I solve this for fear of damaging new components. Any help would be really appreciated.

 

[Colif]

you can try setting power plan to high performance, setting monitor/PC to never turn off, and in advanced power options, set hdd to never turn off

Download data life guard for windows from here: http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en

Run the short and long tests, that is western digital software made for the drives and will give a more accurate result.

Try replacing the sata cable and see if that resolves the problem - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2697812/hdtune-interface-crc-error-count.html

event viewer always has errors, even on a fresh install. Not sure the one you linked means anything.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, @Vanessa_Beth!

I'm sorry to see you struggle with your PC's performance. I'd second what @Colif mentioned and advise you to run WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics' QUICK and EXTENDED tests as well as checking and swapping the SATA cable and the port on the mobo where the problematic WD Black is connected.
However, don't forget to backup all your data from the system somewhere off-site before proceeding with the troubleshooting.
Another thing you should try is unplugging the WD Black from the system altogether and boot without it to see if the freezes and stutters will still be present. If they are, try unplugging all the HDDs and boot only with the SSD connected. Afterwards, start adding the secondary HDDs back one by one. This way you will be able to find out what might be causing the stutters, since all the other hardware troubleshooting tests showed no errors with the components.

Keep us posted. Hope this helps you, too.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Vanessa_Beth]

I just misclicked and picked a solution by accident. Darn it.

Could a mod unselect it for me? I still need help with this. I'm going to try the HDD diagnostic software in the morning.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

I just misclicked and picked a solution by accident. Darn it.

Could a mod unselect it for me? I still need help with this. I'm going to try the HDD diagnostic software in the morning.

I unselected it, @Vanessa, don't worry.
Just keep us posted with the HDD diagnostic test results and make sure you share a screenshot of the SMART attributes.
Since we are not working during the weekend, either me or one of my other colleagues will post back first thing Monday morning.

By the way, don't forget to backup your data from the hard drive somewhere off-site before proceeding with the tests and troubleshooting!

Good luck and have a great weekend!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Vanessa_Beth]

First:

Second:

I couldn't change the size of the window, so I had to take two screenshots. It passed both tests.

 

[Colif]

check you have latest drivers for motherboard and/or bios.

 

[Vanessa_Beth]

I just recently flashed my BIOS, I know that it's up to date. I also updated most of my drivers very recently. I may have missed my ethernet adaptor.

 

[Colif]

Check USB devices as well. and maybe any PCI cards you have.

could be defrag, especially since you have three hard drives: http://www.tenforums.com/general-support/47447-windows-10-automatic-disk-maintenance-during-idle-causing-hard-freeze.html

 

[Vanessa_Beth]

This... might take a while.

Especially since that's only the F:/ drive.

 

[Colif]

ouch. I haven't run defrag in a while... but I haven't got a lot on my hdd. Only have 2 1tb partitions on it and both still have over 770gb free on them still. only used 300gb on that drive. I had 3 drives die on me in the early 00's and never got over the pain of restarting from nothing several times, so now I just don't bother filling drives up.

the small amount of defragging I have still thinks it will take 3 hours but I find the timer isn't always right. IT is an estimate.

G drive looks like more fun, and then H....

at least defraggler smart enough not to run on C./ Running defraggler reminds me I have a 73gb folder it can't fix on one of my drives, remainder of an old windows install - especially when it didn't defrag 73gb of the drive and left it with 35% fragmentation... one day I fix that.

 

[Vanessa_Beth]

Yeah I'm gonna stop it for now and finish defragging at least that drive tonight when I go to sleep. To be honest, I keep a lot of games and media downloaded. With my limited download speeds, I hate re-downloading things with a burning passion.

 

[Colif]

Yeah I'm gonna stop it for now and finish defragging at least that drive tonight when I go to sleep. To be honest, I keep a lot of games and media downloaded. With my limited download speeds, I hate re-downloading things with a burning passion.

i know that feeling, i have a ps3 and only reason I kept some games on the thing is cause it would have taken days to get the games again. a 50gb game would have taken a week to download (PS4 isn't actually much better now though my speed has improved). Not being able to download fast is a good reason to store everything local.

Last year my connection went from mega slow to faster than most of my country and now that downloading a 14gb game would take just under one hour, I just don't care about where my files are stored mostly. I use cloud servers for most of my documents and my music collection is on google play and one drive, so the one folder (music) that I have been worried about the last 15 years is now safe. I have more space than I need. I used to dl all my steam games but I haven't had time to play any so I don't see need.

 

[Vanessa_Beth]

So I've been defragging my hard drives when I can, and I think I accidentally discovered what was causing my issues. I'm pretty sure - and I'm incredibly surprised this is the case - that qbittorrent was causing the problem. I hadn't had it running for a while since I'd been doing the defragging and I was concerned about seeding files on a drive I was defragging. During all the time I hadn't had it running, I'd had no freezes. Suspicious, I went to Google and found that qbittorrent doesn't play nice with Windows 10. People who use it have the exact same issue I've been having. If I have another freeze when qbittorrent isn't running, I'll come back. For now, I'm gonna assume it's been the cause and not actively keep it running. I guess egg on my face for wanting to be nice and seed some of the large game mod files I'd used it to download.

 

[Colif]

How far you got with the defrag? Might as well finish it as then win 10 won't take any time to do it in future. PC might feel faster as well.

I didn't think to ask about torrents as I don't use them so the idea never even entertained the idea of entering my head