Windows 10 freezing forever

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malakar

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Jul 9, 2011
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Everytime I try to run an antivirus scan, install mozilla firefox or try to run a sfc scan,
windows 10 freezes. Can't do anything, can't move mouse, can't access anything like task manager with keyboard. It just freezes there forever. Only solution is to reset the computer.
I tried to install firefox on my ssd and another hard drive but I get the same result, as soon as the installation is done, windows 10 opens the settings screen to change my default browser and it freezes there, forever.

Same thing happens while running an anti virus scan. At some point the computer will just freeze forever.

Tried sfc scan.. freezes at 93%

Really don't know what it could be.

I used crystaldiskinfo, which tells me all of my hard drives are good.

This windows 10 install is an upgrade from windows 7 64bits

My drivers and windows are all up to date.
 
Solution
techgeek
If the OS is on an SSD, it's best to do a Secure Erase which of course will require you to do a clean install. Of course this answers the question about doing if from the recover console, you'll need to use the ISO / USB install method. The benefit is that your SSD will be "factory fresh".

If you've upgraded on that hardware, when it asks you for a product key, just hit Next or Do this Later. It will ask you twice at two separate occasions, just click Next or Do this Later. Rest assured that Windows 10 will allow you to install it without a product key of any kind. The product key you were given when you upgraded isn't unique (or important or useful in anyway), everyone who upgraded to the same version of...
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Try running:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

This is like sfc on steriods. It will fix errors that sfc can't. It uses Windows Update to check the files and to download any that are corrupted. This command needs to be run from an elevated command prompt.
 
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I used it, it got stuck at 20% for a few minutes then restarted the computer. When I logged it windows was showing "setting up windows" or something like that.

Does that mean the test was successful?
 
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Did it just spontaneously restart? Or did it prompt or warn you that a restart was needed? Normally it completes and you close the command prompt windows. It may ask for a reboot, but it normally finishes to 100%.

Admittedly my experience has been limited to a half dozen times though and I'm certain different types of corruption make DISM behave differently.
 
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Try restarting is Safe Mode with networking. This can be done via msconfig > Boot tab. Check the Safe Boot checkbox, and select the Network radio button. Then click Apply. On restart you will be in Safe Mode with networking.

Then try to run the first DISM command I gave you:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Hopefully your system is stable in Safe Mode.
 
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Well if it's freezing in Safe Mode that is bad. There is a chance that its a hardware problem, but I have a few questions first.

How long ago did you upgrade to Windows 10? Did this behaviour begin right after upgrading to Windows 10? Or did you have this or similar in Windows 7?
 
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I had other issues with windows 7, so I decided to format and clean install windows 7. I upgraded to windows 10 right after that. Which was monday or tuesday.
I noticed the problem the 1st time I tried to install firefox.

The windows 7 issues had something to do with a windows explorer crash at startup and me being unable to do anything. So It was a bit similar but much worst. Now I can use windows 10 fine, play games and go online.
 
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Lets eliminate the possibility of bad RAM. RAM is often the cause of lots of system stability problems. Often RAM problems result in BSOD's, spontaneous reboots, lockups, etc. BSOD's are the most common.

Try downloading memtest. It's an ISO, you can put it on DVD / CD or USB and make it bootable. Boot you computer from it and let it run. At the very minimum you should let it run for 4 hours, but overnight is good. Sometimes (depending on how bad the RAM issue) it can take a few hours before the errors appear.
 
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OK, if RAM is good, then I'm thinking that it's likely your PSU.

I don't suppose you have access to another "known working" power supply do you? Usually the answer is no unless you are a geek like me and have 4 other systems in your house. However if you do, you could try running with it and seeing if the problem goes away.

I'm definitely leaning to a hardware problem since you've said that you had problems (though you didn't specify what those were) in Windows 7 as well.

Just to be completely thorough, can I have your complete system specs (CPU, motherboard, RAM, HDD's/SSD's, PSU, etc. The more specific the better, so manufacturer and model is best.
 
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I really doubt it coulb be my PSU since I had to change it like 3 months ago. Old one was failing so I got a much better PSU.

In any case:

3770k OC'd to 3.6
MSI GTX 980 ti
Asus maximus extreme V
3x4gigs Gskills RAM ripjaws Z 1600
Evga supernova 1000w GOLD G2
240 gig SSD muchkin (MKNSSDCR240GB-DX ATA Device)
2x 1 TB mechanical HDD's (7200RPM) seagate
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-224FB (cd-rom drive)
razer black widow ultimate keyboard, death adder mouse

Bios is running on legacy if that means anything to you

Problems with windows 7 was that I had a windowsexplorer.exe crash at startup. Which would freeze or make windows so laggy that nothing would work.
Couldn't open programs, couldn't close it, couldn't go in task manager to end it. Tried to reboot a bunch of times but even when the windowsexplorer.exe pop up didn't appear, windows 7 was still really laggy. Ended up doing a clean install and, 1st time around things didn't get much better. I could go on chrome, mess around on the desktop but when I tried to run a game, it would crash (I didn't install any windows 7 updates yet though)

Re-installed windows 7 with all motherboard drivers and windows 7 updates then upgraded to windows 10 (not the clean install) So maybe something happened there. Could be a driver issues from my old motherboard dvd drivers and I wouldn't it.

 
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I have that exact same PSU, I'm very happy with it. That's not to say you couldn't have gotten a bad one though. But for now, lets assume that the PSU is OK. Which makes it more difficult as these are the two most common culprits for this type of behavior.

Since you said that you had issues running sfc, I'd like you to try one thing. Even though it may not be system corruption, I'd like you to give it a shot. Run this command from an elevated command prompt:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Think of this as sfc on steriods. It scans the OS for corrupted files and if it finds them, rather than using your local repository to overwrite corrupted files, it will use Windows Update and download them. If it fixes something, you should follow it up with sfc afterwards just to be sure it got everything.

Now if you've gotten this far without any improvement, and you want to eliminate "ghosts in the system" (upgrade issues going from Windows 7 to Windows 10), then I suggest a complete clean install of Windows 10. Then if you are still having issues then we are left with a hardware issue as at that point you'd have had issues with two separate OS installs (the upgrade not included).

It's a big undertaking though. I know I've been there (not so much for the sake of troubleshooting a problem though), hours of backing up you data. Then wiping the OS drive, and installing Windows, driver installs, Windows Updates, application updates. Then to possibly find out that the issue remains. However since there's more than one variable at work, we need to eliminate something to proceed. If you go this route, I notice that you have a SSD which I presume is your OS drive. You may want to look into Secure Erasing it before installing Windows 10 on it. I'm not sure if Mushkin provides a program for this (I know Samsung does), some motherboards (mine does) have it built into their BIOS, but these usually support a limited amount of drives. I'm just suggesting this as it's always better to install Windows on a "factory fresh" SSD to eliminate performance issues.

 
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Why would a hardware problem like PSU or bad RAM only manifest when running the very specific tasks he mentioned in the OP? A hardware problem could only manifest when using specific software or performing specific tasks if those tasks were using the hardware resources in an specific way that other tasks don't. Things like games using resources/drivers that aren't used for a lot of other Windows tasks, or maybe software that requires a lot more system resources than usual. I don't see how the tasks mentioned in the OP fall into this category. Maybe hard drive errors could cause problems like that, but outside of that I would be looking far closer at the software environment than the hardware.
 
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I didn't say these were the only possible causes. However as the OP mentioned later, he had issues in a previous Windows 7 install that where he a re-installed of Windows 7 (which later he upgraded to Windows 10), so that is why to eliminate a OS issue, I suggested a clean install of Windows 10. If the problems persist over two different OS's, then it's likely a hardware issue.

I also suggested he try Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) as an alternative to sfc to see if there is some corruption in the OS that may be fixed.

I've had issues almost identical to this with bad RAM. It wasn't until I started to do things like AV, install applications or really anything that would start hitting the RAM that I had issues. Most simple things it seemed to run fine. It wasn't until I ran memtest86 that I found out that I had a bad DIMM (one out of two), RMA's and the issue was fixed. As I had the OP run memtest, we've since eliminated that as a possibility.

As for hard disk issues, usually the system either BSOD's completely, or if it freezes, its usually only for a few seconds until it responds again. I've also been subject to this type of failure. Mine was very obvious though. I had a working system, then I did a re-install of Windows and following the re-install, I had these pauses where the mouse pointer moved, but anything I clicked on didn't respond. When the pause ended, Windows would "catch" up to all the clicking I had done. At the same time, I could hear a faint clicking coming from the HDD (not obvious at first) that corresponded to the pauses. The clicking would stop and Windows would start to respond again. So although a storage failure isn't out of the question, the behavior he describes isn't one I've seen.
 
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Yeah, he did have a problem with windows 7. But then said he clean installed Windows 7 and then upgraded to 10. I logically assumed that if the original windows 7 problem was not fixed by the clean install then he wouldn't have (or wouldn't have been able) to follow through with the upgrade to 10. If a clean reinstall of Windows 7 did fix the original problem then it is unlikely that the problem was caused by the hardware,

Beyond that there seem to be a lot of people having a lot of problems with Windows 10, I think in this case it is dangerous to assume that just because someone was having a problem prior to the upgrade that post upgrade problems are in any way connected to that, it could easily send you down very incorrect avenues when trying to find the source of a problem.

I will admit however that malakar hasn't really given a lot of info about what was going on with win 7 so it is hard to know. But he does say he can do other things like play games etc. and unless he is playing free cell I would have thought that there is no way installing firefox is going to be heavier on the RAM than that.
 
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