Question Sudden stutters everywhere

[kanova]

Hi folks. To start, a couple days ago my PC just randomly freezes for about .5 seconds every 2 seconds. Doesn't matter if I'm playing games, watching a video I downloaded or Netflix/Youtube. Not sure why, nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
16gb DDR3

Let me know if I need to include other system specs, anyway I've tried running Malwarebytes and CCleaner, and MB showed four PUPs so I got rid of them.

I see Temp is around 30-45C, and CPU usage on task manager bounces around quite a bit, from 20-50%. Drivers seem to be all up to date, so I don't know what else to try. Anyone have any ideas to help me out?

 

[kanova]

Here is a sample of the stutter https://gfycat.com/anxioustastyasiandamselfly

I can have zero programs running and it will still stutter just on the desktop

 

[Feren142]

First of all more details are always better. Confirming your OS and all hardware is a good place to start. Also, is windows up to date?

Have you tried uninstalling then reinstalling any drivers, the graphics driver in particular? You say that task manager CPU load is bouncing around, can you go to processes and sort by CPU load to try and get a peak at what is bursting your load like that? While you're in there, navigate to Startup and see if there are any programs in there that you don't recognize.

Another thing that comes to mind which has saved me more than once is to verify the integrity of your Windows operating system. It's easy. Open a command prompt as admin and try the following command, be aware it might take a while.
sfc /scannow

 

[kanova]

First of all more details are always better. Confirming your OS and all hardware is a good place to start. Also, is windows up to date?

Have you tried uninstalling then reinstalling any drivers, the graphics driver in particular? You say that task manager CPU load is bouncing around, can you go to processes and sort by CPU load to try and get a peak at what is bursting your load like that? While you're in there, navigate to Startup and see if there are any programs in there that you don't recognize.

Another thing that comes to mind which has saved me more than once is to verify the integrity of your Windows operating system. It's easy. Open a command prompt as admin and try the following command, be aware it might take a while.
sfc /scannow

Windows 10
MSI Z87-G45 GAMING (MS-7821)

CPU usage has bettered itself after I fiddled with Chrome, that was what was eating most of it. Nothing I don't recognize besides "Windows Host Process" and "hpwuSchd Application" in start up.

I'm running the sfc /scannow and I'll try to reinstall my drivers. Thanks for the bit of help, I really don't understand. I can't even scroll through a page without stutters :/

 

[kanova]

This is what the cmd scan said

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

Uninstalled and reinstalled drivers. They were out of date (device manager didn't say they were) but no difference

 

[Feren142]

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by
This is what the cmd scan said

Alright, we'll have to try a more comprehensive approach this time. We're going to attempt to use the DISM command to repair your operating system this time. No sweat, this is also easy. If it's still open, close the previous command prompt and open a new one, again as admin. This time copy paste the following command into the prompt and hit enter.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

This command uses the internet to retrieve a clean image from Microsoft to verify and replace corrupted files. You will need a constant internet connection on the computer for this to work, and it might take even longer than the previous command. Even if the command prompt appears to be doing nothing, leave the computer alone and let the command run until it finishes. When it's done, it will tell you if it finishes successfully or not.

After this command is done, give the computer a restart and see how it runs. I would also run another "sfc /scannow" afterwords because if it worked properly, the first command should come back as verified/successful. Let me know how it goes!

 

[kanova]

Alright, we'll have to try a more comprehensive approach this time. We're going to attempt to use the DISM command to repair your operating system this time. No sweat, this is also easy. If it's still open, close the previous command prompt and open a new one, again as admin. This time copy paste the following command into the prompt and hit enter.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

This command uses the internet to retrieve a clean image from Microsoft to verify and replace corrupted files. You will need a constant internet connection on the computer for this to work, and it might take even longer than the previous command. Even if the command prompt appears to be doing nothing, leave the computer alone and let the command run until it finishes. When it's done, it will tell you if it finishes successfully or not.

After this command is done, give the computer a restart and see how it runs. I would also run another "sfc /scannow" afterwords because if it worked properly, the first command should come back as verified/successful. Let me know how it goes!

Thanks, I'll try that tonight and will update tomorrow

 

[kanova]

Let me know how it goes!

Didn't work

I did the restore health, and it was successful (still choppy) so I restarted and checked it out. For the first 10 seconds of start up, there was no lag on my mouse. Right now it freezes in place every 1-2 seconds, but it wasn't freezing at all on that particular start up.

I then did another sfc /scannow and it again detected corrupt files but were able to replace them. I also saw another update for windows so I just did another restart to update and its still screwed.

I saw in device manager, under mouse and other pointers that were were four "HID compliant mouse" but now there are only two. Not sure if that is relevant at all.

EDIT- I am thinking I'll have to do a clean windows install :/

 

[kanova]

Did a clean install and its still there. Must be a hardware issue then all of a sudden? What could piece could cause this?

 

[Feren142]

Did a clean install and its still there. Must be a hardware issue then all of a sudden? What could piece could cause this?

Hey

I'm really bummed out to hear that didn't work out for you. Since DISM didn't work out for you AND you did a clean install, as in reformat the drive and reinstall from an official windows copy and it's STILL causing you issues, then it does indeed point to a hardware issue rather than a virus or a quite rare but normal windows corruption.

We can somewhat safely rule out your graphics card because even if it were bugging up every now and then, it's not writing to your windows system files (where sfc checks), where you continue to find corrupt files. That's an important piece of information, especially considering you're running a fresh OS install.

While I don't know what hard drives you're using, It's also unlike to be the cause based on the fact that the freeze happens even while nothing is happening that would tax the drive. However, when running into weird issues it's never a bad idea to check the SMART status if possible, but still, I personally don't think that's the problem.

This leaves us with, in my opinion, four likely possibilities. You could have a bad CPU, one or more bad RAM modules (a bad or failing DIMM slot can deceive you in this regard!!) a bad power supply or possibly the motherboard itself, which is unlikely due to the fact that the computer is "working", but at a slower pace. I think some people would suggest a BIOS update but considering the problem seemed to come out of nowhere I do not think that would help you.

So, what now?

I would suggest trying some programs that test/stress the hardware components in question. The first program that comes to mind would be Prime95, which is a free program typically used to check CPU stability and (paired with something like Core Temp) its temperature.

For memory there is actually a built in memory diagnostic in windows 10 but it's not comprehensive, however I would still try this first. It's called windows memory diagnostic and it's very easy to use. It only runs for a short time, so afterwords I would recommend something more custom like memtest86 (old I know) because it lets you run tests for hours at a time, and if your RAM is not overclocked and truly working fine, it should pass even if left running for days.

The motherboard itself can also be hard to test since pretty much nobody has a spare lying around they can just swap out to see how things go. The same can be said for the power supply, so these can be sneaky and tricky.

ALSO - I should have asked this from the start, but if you are overclocked, revert to defaults before you attempt any of these tests.

 

[kanova]

Hey

I'm really bummed out to hear that didn't work out for you. Since DISM didn't work out for you AND you did a clean install, as in reformat the drive and reinstall from an official windows copy and it's STILL causing you issues, then it does indeed point to a hardware issue rather than a virus or a quite rare but normal windows corruption.

We can somewhat safely rule out your graphics card because even if it were bugging up every now and then, it's not writing to your windows system files (where sfc checks), where you continue to find corrupt files. That's an important piece of information, especially considering you're running a fresh OS install.

While I don't know what hard drives you're using, It's also unlike to be the cause based on the fact that the freeze happens even while nothing is happening that would tax the drive. However, when running into weird issues it's never a bad idea to check the SMART status if possible, but still, I personally don't think that's the problem.

This leaves us with, in my opinion, four likely possibilities. You could have a bad CPU, one or more bad RAM modules (a bad or failing DIMM slot can deceive you in this regard!!) a bad power supply or possibly the motherboard itself, which is unlikely due to the fact that the computer is "working", but at a slower pace. I think some people would suggest a BIOS update but considering the problem seemed to come out of nowhere I do not think that would help you.

So, what now?

I would suggest trying some programs that test/stress the hardware components in question. The first program that comes to mind would be Prime95, which is a free program typically used to check CPU stability and (paired with something like Core Temp) its temperature.

For memory there is actually a built in memory diagnostic in windows 10 but it's not comprehensive, however I would still try this first. It's called windows memory diagnostic and it's very easy to use. It only runs for a short time, so afterwords I would recommend something more custom like memtest86 (old I know) because it lets you run tests for hours at a time, and if your RAM is not overclocked and truly working fine, it should pass even if left running for days.

The motherboard itself can also be hard to test since pretty much nobody has a spare lying around they can just swap out to see how things go. The same can be said for the power supply, so these can be sneaky and tricky.

ALSO - I should have asked this from the start, but if you are overclocked, revert to defaults before you attempt any of these tests.

Okay, thanks. The thing I was gonna try next was taking out my C drive (SSD) and install the OS on one of my other HDDs. I'll try that later though, will update :\

 

[kanova]

...

I ran memtest, no memory issues and no cpu issues. I am currently trying to see if my dad drive is the issue, so I unplugged it and am trying to install windows to my HDD with a USB but I can't figure it out. Giving me errors, GPT, enable disk controllers. I can't get it to work. I did the diskpart stuff and tried formatting it but that have me errors as well. I then read I need to have it on UEIF or something but when I turn it to that in BIOS ( it's on UEIF/legacy) then my USB doesn't show up :/