Question System using 100% of SSD, still reading and writing, WiFi adapter stops working - - - any potential causes ?

[SpacedIsland]

Laptop Model: MSI Pulse GL66

Specs:
GPU: 4GB VRM RTX 3050
CPU: 11th Gen Intel i7-11800H @2.30Ghz
RAM: 16gb
Storage: 1TB SSD
Age: ≈3 years
OS: Windows 10

Just recently my laptop started this issue where it begins to use 100% of it's disk. The task manager shows it is the always system doing this. My SSD isn't low on space.

Crystal disk info shows an SSD health of 77% percent. Not great but not terrible. Unsure if this warrants a replacement or not. I've seen and replaced a failing SSD before on a desktop PC that reported a higher health however, so not out of the question. But that one would reach 100% disk usage and reading and writing would drop completely. Instead, I'm seeing the reading and writing to persist but writing is much higher than reading. Reading sometimes reaches zero and it's doing is writing.

I am still able to transfer files, albeit much slower because the System seems to be eating up all the SSD's usage. The computer also intermittently freezes up and I can't move the cursor, however for some reason I can still Alt-Tab sometimes and switch between windows even while the cursor remains unable to move.

Task manager shows it's the System that is causing all this usage. I've checked my event viewer and the only indicator of an issue is that whenever the 100% disk usage occurs, my network adapter stops working. This is proven through any potential networks no longer being detected and I am disconnected to whatever I was initially connected to.

It seems to be happening in higher frequency progressively. It especially seems to trigger when I put the laptop to sleep and then wake it up or shut it down and then turn it back on.

I checked my Optimize drives program and found this:

https://imgur.com/a/551TD3r

View: https://imgur.com/a/551TD3r


It don't have any other volumes on this computer. I'm guessing this is my drive misbehaving. Any thoughts on the cause of this?

Does anyone have a clue what might be causing this issue? As it stands I'm just going to assume failing SSD, but other opinions might help me narrow things down.

 

[rgd1101]

does it do that in safe mode?

 

[Lutfij]

You should disable Defragmentation, by clicking on Change Settings. What version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you on? Usually when system resource usages go to 100% all of a sudden after a system power up, that would indicate that your OS is corrupt. It's known as Memory Leak. The only way around it is to see if a system restore helps(provided the issue cropped up after an OS update). If that doesn't help, you will need to reinstall the OS after recreating the bootable USB installer for your OS.

 

[SpacedIsland]

does it do that in safe mode?

Oh my apologies, I forgot to mention the laptop doesn't shut down from the shut down/restart/sleep options. I have to manually hold down the power button for it to actually shut down. But I did try and safe mode does turn on but the laptop is still running very loudly and I can't use my mouse cursor

 

[SpacedIsland]

You should disable Defragmentation, by clicking on Change Settings. What version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you on? Usually when system resource usages go to 100% all of a sudden after a system power up, that would indicate that your OS is corrupt. It's known as Memory Leak. The only way around it is to see if a system restore helps(provided the issue cropped up after an OS update). If that doesn't help, you will need to reinstall the OS after recreating the bootable USB installer for your OS.

I just recently updated so that might be the issue but if I remember correctly the issue propped up just prior to me updating it I believe. I'll try a system restore

 

[SpacedIsland]

You should disable Defragmentation, by clicking on Change Settings. What version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you on? Usually when system resource usages go to 100% all of a sudden after a system power up, that would indicate that your OS is corrupt. It's known as Memory Leak. The only way around it is to see if a system restore helps(provided the issue cropped up after an OS update). If that doesn't help, you will need to reinstall the OS after recreating the bootable USB installer for your OS.

I tried to do a system restore from safe mode but the screen just went black but the keyboard lights and power indicator are still on and I can till hear it running. Not sure if it's doing anything.

 

[SpacedIsland]

You should disable Defragmentation, by clicking on Change Settings. What version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you on? Usually when system resource usages go to 100% all of a sudden after a system power up, that would indicate that your OS is corrupt. It's known as Memory Leak. The only way around it is to see if a system restore helps(provided the issue cropped up after an OS update). If that doesn't help, you will need to reinstall the OS after recreating the bootable USB installer for your OS.

I'm on version 22H2 quality update 2/9/2024

 

[SpacedIsland]

You should disable Defragmentation, by clicking on Change Settings. What version(not edition) of Windows 10 are you on? Usually when system resource usages go to 100% all of a sudden after a system power up, that would indicate that your OS is corrupt. It's known as Memory Leak. The only way around it is to see if a system restore helps(provided the issue cropped up after an OS update). If that doesn't help, you will need to reinstall the OS after recreating the bootable USB installer for your OS.

After I attempted to do a system restore, and the screen just stayed black while still running, I just powered it down with the power button and turned it back on. After I did so I for a moment considered doing a System reset from the settings, you know the one that keeps your files, chose cloud but then didn't go through with it. But I did notice my computer had not entered 100% usage state. Could be just pure coincidence since it's fixed itself previously multiple times before. I also noticed that after being able to connect to WiFi and checking my windows update it was attempting to download and install 2024-02 Cumulative Update for Window 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems.

 

[rgd1101]

yesterday was windows update 2nd Tuesday. are you sure it wasn't doing the update?

 

[SpacedIsland]

yesterday was windows update 2nd Tuesday. are you sure it wasn't doing the update?

It has been doing this since last Friday. It's possible the new update had something to do with it but the issue with me being unable to connect to the Internet because of the 100% disk usage made it difficult to check for updates. I've since installed the newest update but haven't had time to do any benchmarks or tests to see if the issue has resolved. I intend to check later this evening.

 

[SpacedIsland]

yesterday was windows update 2nd Tuesday. are you sure it wasn't doing the update?

Ok I can confirm the issue hasn't resolved, even after updating.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Just recently my laptop started this issue where it begins to use 100% of it's disk. The task manager shows it is the always system doing this. My SSD isn't low on space.

Use resource monitor to check process, that is causing high disk activity.
Open Resource Monitor,
Switch to Disk Tab,
Find section called Disk Activity,
Order it by column Total.

If will show offending process and file, it is working on.
Post screenshot.

Also show Crystal Disk SMART section.
What is model name of the SSD?

 

[SpacedIsland]

Use resource monitor to check process, that is causing high disk activity.
Open Resource Monitor,
Switch to Disk Tab,
Find section called Disk Activity,
Order it by column Total.

If will show offending process and file, it is working on.
Post screenshot.

Also show Crystal Disk SMART section.
What is model name of the SSD?

It's the System process specifically doing this.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It's the System process specifically doing this.

Please show screenshot from Resource Monitor (as described above).

 

[SpacedIsland]

Please show screenshot from Resource Monitor (as described above).

Currently cannot as its gone back to working fine, but this is how it has been going. It will come and go and its been happening for nearly a week. However, last I checked while the issue was occuring, the resource monitor simply showed the System doing pretty much the only work. I'll send you screenshot of it once it happens again, which I have no doubt will be quite soon (and for some reason at the most inconvenient of times, like sitting down to get uni work done D: ) In the meantime, I'll provide what Crystaldisk reports.

https://imgur.com/a/8hGl6cz

View: https://imgur.com/a/8hGl6cz

 

[SpacedIsland]

Please show screenshot from Resource Monitor (as described above).

So it finally happened again. It seems to particularly happen after I've transported to another location. Unsure if it's just coincidence but it's happened multiple times after I've moved from one place to another turned the laptop on. Anyway, here's images of the resource monitor. Sorry for it taking so long.

Also I apologize for the poor image quality. I can't screenshot and upload via the laptop because when the 100% disk usage happens, my network adapter stops functioning.

Today it also failed to properly start up after a few restarts and launched in safe mode.

https://ibb.co/SnfMysQ

https://ibb.co/SNkPfbD

https://ibb.co/D4bfHmY

 

[SkyNetRising]

Needed to see section "Disk Activity" (not "Processes with Disk Activity").
Expand section "Disk Activity" so file names are fully visible and
order it by column Total (in descending order).

Here is, how a proper screenshot would look like.

 

[SpacedIsland]

Needed to see section "Disk Activity" (not "Processes with Disk Activity").
Expand section "Disk Activity" so file names are fully visible and
order it by column Total (in descending order).

Here is, how a proper screenshot would look like.

Ah I see. The second screenshot I provided does actually show the disk activity but I failed to expand it all the way. To be fair the computer was just barely functioning while I was trying to do this. Based on the image though, it would seem the entirety of the disk activity was from an application called nvcontainer.exe. the entire list was just that.

I looked it up and it's an Nvidia software and apparently people have had similar experiences of it happening when booting up their computer. I can't seem to discern what exact process the software is doing. It's not scanning for games, at least I don't think it is because I did a manual scan and no issues propped up.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Based on the image though, it would seem the entirety of the disk activity was from an application called nvcontainer.exe. the entire list was just that.

No.
Nvcontainer was not the largest offender. It did 1.5MB/s reads and 500KB/s writes.
System process did 186MB/s writes.
You need to find out, what it was doing. What file it was working on.

NVcontainer process may be related to shadowplay. Turn shadowplay off.

 

[Abjal]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share my solution to this problem. I have a MSI GL65 and this same exact issue (no WiFi, Ssd writing at max speed permanently) happened to me too. If you check the system logs, you'll find that the WiFi adaptor has a major error which somehow triggers windows to keep writing on the hard disk at max speed, presumably to try to fix the error. A software disable of the WiFi adaptor will not fix it. I had to open my laptop to physically remove the WiFi adaptor and my laptop was back to normal, albeit without WiFi connectivity. I bought a replacement WiFi adaptor but the same problem happened again, which leads me to think it's a mobo problem. Guess I'll just have to use my phone to usb tether Internet to my laptop.