Question Windows 10 hanging briefly...

[formulafox]

So a weird issue has cropped up the past few days... While sleeping at night I usually have Winamp(yes, I still use Winamp because I've yet to see anything) playback my MP3 library on Shuffle. The past few nights, however, ever few minutes the system would buzz and hang for 1-3 seconds. Event Viewer logged no errors resulting from these hangs - I only know it hung up because of the sound.

The hanging did not seems to happen during the day while I was using my system.

I have made sure Windows is up to date, Run a diagnostic on my hard drives and RAM, and everything comes back fine. I could find zero reason for the hanging until I was coming here to type up this thread, when the entire system hung for a good 15-20 seconds, and Event Viewer finally threw me up an error corresponding to the exact moment:

Event 1002, Application Hang
The program SearchUI.exe version 10.0.18362.752 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.
Process ID: 1e64
Start Time: 01d619e1752a2d11
Termination Time: 4294967295
Application Path: C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe
Report Id: a6000cfd-ede3-4ef3-a618-772d83eba85a
Faulting package full name: Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_1.13.0.18362_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: CortanaUI
Hang type: Quiesce


- <Event xmlns="

http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event

">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Application Hang" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1002</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>101</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2020-04-24T18:19:43.112944400Z" />
<EventRecordID>21170</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>DESKTOP-7CHPQQG</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data>SearchUI.exe</Data>
<Data>10.0.18362.752</Data>
<Data>1e64</Data>
<Data>01d619e1752a2d11</Data>
<Data>4294967295</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchUI.exe</Data>
<Data>a6000cfd-ede3-4ef3-a618-772d83eba85a</Data>
<Data>Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_1.13.0.18362_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy</Data>
<Data>CortanaUI</Data>
<Data>Quiesce</Data>
<Binary>510075006900650073006300650000000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

While typing this, the system hung AGAIN for a couple seconds, but once again generated no error in the Event Viewer.

In order to cover all bases, I did have Winamp still playing music when the extended hang occurred, but I had stopped playback a few seconds before the shorter hang occurred while typing this all up. So maybe it's related to Winamp? But I don't see how, or why it'd just now start to become an issue...

Any and all help appreciated. I built this system in July 2018, and the only hardware issues I've ever had was a with hard drive I had transferred over from my previous system. I'm hoping none of the expensive components are going.

Okay, as I was typing that last sentence, the system hung again. Winamp not only not playing, but but completely shut down. No error in the Event Viewer. This is getting VERY irritating.

EDIT: Looked over my post timing in a Discord server where I'm tracking the issues in case a friend might have an idea of what's up - the hangs appear to be happening about every ten minutes., and every time they occur my CPU cooler fan speeds up a bit.

 

[Grobe]

Run a diagnostic on my hard drives and RAM, and everything comes back fine.

Please be more specific, and include S.M.A.R.T. result in the post, maybe somebody else will disagree on this.

 

[formulafox]

I think I've figured it out. After I noticed it seemed to be happening every ten minutes, I started paying attention every ten minutes, and it's indeed occurring every ten minutes like clockwork. How badly it hangs varies, but it always hung for at least a brief moment.

So I watched the task manager to see if anything jumped to the top of the CPU usage right before or in the split-second after recovering.

Emby Media Server was the culprit - jumped to the top right before it hung up twice. I turned it off and ten minutes later, no hang. Ten minutes after that, no hanging.

So...software issue. I use Emby for remote media access(it functions better than Plex in my experience, and they have better user support) while I'm on desk duty at work, but I'll have to keep it shut down until the next software update in the hopes that it fixes things, I guess.

If this indicates any other potential issues I should check for, please let me know - I am aware that this can still sometimes point to an underlying issue.