SOLVED What to Check When Windows 10 Freezes

[monkeylove]

What do I check to find out why Windows 10 freezes? By that, I mean it just freezes: nothing moves on screen, and the keyboard and mouse no longer work although they are lighted up. There's no BSOD. I had to shut down the computer using the power button.

I checked the event log, and the only error that I saw recorded before the freeze was a warning about a 10016 error (MS components accessing DCOM ones without required permissions), and it was taking place long before the freeze.

I ran BlueScreenView, which reads dump files, but the minidump was empty.

I also ran SFC /scannow and no errors were detected.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi ML,

what version of Win 10 do you have?. An upgrade may solve the problem?. How to upgrade Windows 10 to the latest version | Windows 10 Forums

Have installed any new apps or updates lately and is that when the problem first started?.

 

[monkeylove]

Thanks. I forgot to mention that I installed Process Lasso, but there's nothing in its log or the systems log (Win 10 Home x64 SL, updated given what Microsoft can offer) or the minidump to explain what happened.

 

[BigFeet]

If it was me, I'd do a clean install of Windows (maybe on a spare hdd). If the problem still exists, then you have to start looking at a hardware issue.

 

[Wolfie]

Process Lasso

Hi ML,

try removing it and see if the system becomes stable again!. Are you running the latest version of Win 10?.

 

[monkeylove]

Thanks to everyone. The problem has not taken place again, although it happened once around six months ago. I was just wondering why nothing showed up in the events log.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi ML,

try removing it and see if the system becomes stable again!. Are you running the latest version of Win 10?.

Hi ML,

did you remove the app and are you running the latest version of Win 10?.

 

[Peter Bushill]

I find that, when the system freezes, restarting Windows Explorer ususally allows me to carry on:
Open Taks Manager (ctrl-alt-delete) in the Processes tab (you might need to clisk 'More Details'). Scroll down to 'Windows Explorer' and click) 'Restart'.

 

[flux]

You could check the Reliability function via this path, which may provide the application which is causing issues.
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Security and Maintenance\Reliability Monitor

 

[richard6]

I have found that it helps to "restart" the computer (rather than starting it the normal way) after such a freeze. In fact, I seem to remember another thread some time ago that recommended periodic use of "restart" to give Windows 10 a clean start.

My laptop is running Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 20H2 Build 19042.630 with 8GB RAM. In my case Windows seemed to freeze after about 1.25 hours of watching a Facebook Live stream (FireFox 84.0.1). I found that increasing the paging file size (in advanced system settings) seems to have eliminated this problem, so if you are having random freezes it might be helpful to check your paging file size.

BTW, long YouTube live streams did not cause my system to freeze.

 

[monkeylove]

Hi ML,

did you remove the app and are you running the latest version of Win 10?.

Yes, I removed the app and have the OS update set at auto default, thanks. The weird thing is that the problem never came back even after I continued using the app for the next two weeks.

Also, the same problem (the PC froze, with no response from the mouse or keyboard, all lights in the mouse and keyboard lighted, and no BSOD) took place around six months ago, and a few months before that.

I recall doing SFC, check disk, and mem test after all three events, and results were normal. Also, I had a CPU and GPU temperature monitor in the system tray, and they were in the usual range (around 38 to 45) before and after the freezes.

One thing I did recall was that in all three cases I was browsing using Firefox, and for around 30 minutes before the freeze performance was slowing down: it took longer to load apps or open new tabs or check folder contents.

For the last freeze, I checked the events log and there was no error listed prior to the freeze. Also, I ran BlueScreenView and there was nothing in the minidump folder (probably because there was no BSOD).

 

[monkeylove]

You could check the Reliability function via this path, which may provide the application which is causing issues.
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Security and Maintenance\Reliability Monitor

Thanks. I did not know about that.

 

[MDTerp66]

I have been having the same issue to the point I replaced my wireless keyboard (Logitech) and mouse. When this happens, there is nothing you can do except power off. No keyboard commands work, no mouse movements work. Running Win 10 Pro with all the latest updates. I am not running Process Lasso. I use Chrome almost exclusively. I have had it freeze in Office 2016, Quicken, Chrome, and QuickBooks all pretty straight-line applications. It is frustrating because I lose what I am working on and it takes time to do a hard boot.

 

[MDTerp66]

Thanks. I did not know about that.

You could check the Reliability function via this path, which may provide the application which is causing issues.
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Security and Maintenance\Reliability Monitor

Mine just locked up, so I followed your path and got:

I don't see any way to get beyond this which is not real helpful. I know it was unexpected and Windows was not shut down properly. The question is why.