Question Windows Explorer causes freezing which forces me to shut down the PC

[superlosia1234]

I was recently having issues with windows 10 freezing randomly, and suspected my SSD failed. I ended up replacing my SSD and RAM. Did a fresh install of windows too, PC returned to normal and now days later its crashing again. The last crash was caused by right clicking and windows explorer freezing. is this a driver issue at this point, what's going on? Thanks in advance.

GPU - GTX 770
CPU - Intel I5-3570K
RAM - 16GB
SSD - Samsung 870 EVO

*side notes - 1. When I have to force shutdown my pc with the power button, on reboot it does drive repair. 2. I noticed my "PCI simple controller" had a yellow sign next to it on Device Manager, found the correct drivers but I doubt this is linked to all this but putting this information out just in case.

 

[Darkbreeze]

After doing a clean install of Windows did you manually go to the product support page for your motherboard, then download, then install, all the latest drivers for your motherboard chipset, network adapter, audio controller and in some cases SATA controller? And I don't mean allowing Windows to choose them for you by way of it's native driver support, which never offers adequate full featured driver support. And then did you download and install the latest Nvidia drivers for your GTX 770 graphics card?

What Windows version are you running? What is your motherboard model?

What is your current BIOS version?

PCI simple controller says that not all required drivers are installed OR that there is a problem with the motherboard. Given the age, having a faulty or failing motherboard would not be any kind of surprise and yes, a remarked PCI simple controller can absolutely cause problems of all kinds.

Also, you make absolutely no mention of what the EXACT model of your power supply is nor how long that power supply has been in service?

 

[superlosia1234]

After doing a clean install of Windows did you manually go to the product support page for your motherboard, then download, then install, all the latest drivers for your motherboard chipset, network adapter, audio controller and in some cases SATA controller? And I don't mean allowing Windows to choose them for you by way of it's native driver support, which never offers adequate full featured driver support. And then did you download and install the latest Nvidia drivers for your GTX 770 graphics card?

Yes, just did that for the MB. Geforce Experience isn't supported on my device so I'll have to install new GPU drivers manually.

What Windows version are you running? What is your motherboard model?
What is your current BIOS version?

Windows version - 10.0.19045 Build 19045
MB - ASUS P8z77-V LE PLUS.
Bios version - American Megatrends Inc. 0906, 2013-08-23

Also, you make absolutely no mention of what the EXACT model of your power supply is nor how long that power supply has been in service?

My bad, it's a Cooler Master RS-625. I've been using it since 2013.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Motherboard model?

 

[superlosia1234]

Motherboard model?

ASUS P8z77-V LE PLUS.

Thanks for your patience btw.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No worries man. I'm here to help, not to complain. The only time I complain or get impatient is when you have to ask somebody like 50 times for some information and then they get an attitude like they are going out of their way to provide that information even though you are trying to help them, for free, on your own time. LOL. Some people act like we get paid rather than that we are all volunteers, including the entire moderation team and all of the regular members.

Let me see what I can find.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Assuming 64bit Windows but figure I better ask as I DO occasionally still run across somebody running only 32bit Windows?

 

[superlosia1234]

Assuming 64bit Windows but figure I better ask as I DO occasionally still run across somebody running only 32bit Windows?

Yup! 64bit.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok. Even if you already have, I would download, unpack and install ALL of these, then restart the system.

Realtek ethernet/LAN adapter: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/lan/Realtek_LAN_Win10_V1015052015.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Intel chipset driver: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/Intel_Chipset_Win10_V10117.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Intel management engine interface: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/MEI1-5_Win10_VER11001157.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Realtek audio adapter: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...io_Win10_V6_0_1_7503.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Intel VGA driver: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/..._Win10_VER1018104252.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus


I would also highly recommend that you update your BIOS to version 0910. There is compelling reason to do so on some of these older systems that were not originally intended to use Windows 10, aside from the basic fact that a lot of connected modern hardware will not work properly on older BIOS versions regardless of Windows version. These days, BIOS updates are almost as compulsory as driver updates.

I would worry about the drivers first though and be sure to restart the system after unpacking and installing each of the driver updates, then go back into device manager and verify that there are no longer any remarked devices.

 

[superlosia1234]

Ok. Even if you already have, I would download, unpack and install ALL of these, then restart the system.

Realtek ethernet/LAN adapter: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/lan/Realtek_LAN_Win10_V1015052015.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Intel chipset driver: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/Intel_Chipset_Win10_V10117.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Intel management engine interface: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/MEI1-5_Win10_VER11001157.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Realtek audio adapter: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...io_Win10_V6_0_1_7503.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus

Intel VGA driver: https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/..._Win10_VER1018104252.zip?model=p8z77v_le_plus


I would also highly recommend that you update your BIOS to version 0910. There is compelling reason to do so on some of these older systems that were not originally intended to use Windows 10, aside from the basic fact that a lot of connected modern hardware will not work properly on older BIOS versions regardless of Windows version. These days, BIOS updates are almost as compulsory as driver updates.

I would worry about the drivers first though and be sure to restart the system after unpacking and installing each of the driver updates, then go back into device manager and verify that there are no longer any remarked devices.

Sorry to bug you again, but the new SSD (Samsung 870 EVO)I got is now failing after 2 months of use. Why does this keep happening? Both SSD's are Samsung models

 

[lordmogul]

PSU bad?

Maybe you got hit by this (980 Pro keep dying)

Samsung Issues new Firmware to prevent Dying 980 Pro SSDs

If you have a Samsung 980 Pro SSD, make sure to download the firmware fix immediately if it's affected. In recent months, there have been many reports of failures with the Samsung 980 Pro SSD, especi...

www.guru3d.com

also as video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoAFzdz0h5M

And this was also a thing back in the day (970 Evo kept dying)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywwtQ6kFFIc



Besides that, how much stuff is on your desktop?
I have a similar system (3570K, GTX 1060, 16 GB DDR3) and I tend to throw stuff on the desktop before sorting them, and when a couple hundred things are collected, the explorer becomes super laggy, and login takes up to 10 minutes because the explorer (including the taskbar and start menu) simply freeze.

On the other hand, I'm running a Plextor SSD with 36000 hrs runtime and 60 TBW still at 100% health (good old MLC drive) that had a firmware issue that would give it an unstable connection, which caused freezes.In that case there was a firmware update available that fixed it.
Might be worth checking if there is one for your drive as well.