Windows freezes randomly

[jnelsoninjax]

For the past week or so, Windows just randomly freezes, but it is such a way that I still have mouse/keyboard control, but if I try to restart, or anything else, it does not work. I have checked the event viewer and the only errors seem to be related to the Razer keyboard that I was using, and how a program that it needed could not be started. I have now switched back to the Logitech keyboard, but I really want to know what is causing these freezes. I have done virus and malware scans, they come back clean. I have done SFC and it finds no errors. The OS is installed on M.2 and I have not had any issues until now with any freezes etc. The odd thing about the freeze is I have dual monitors, and I usually have my surveillance cameras pulled up on the second monitor, and it has a clock that shows seconds, it will have stopped, which then gives me the indication that something is going on, or I can be in the middle of browsing YouTube or something else, and it suddenly stops responding.  There have been a few warnings in the event viewer, one of them is: Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error calling routine QueryFullProcessImageNameW.  hr = 0x8007001f, A device attached to the system is not functioning. Another error is: The IPv4 TCP/IP interface with index 9 failed to bind to its provider. Also get the same error except IPv6. I have googled these errors, and really can not tell what they mean and what I should do. Drivers are all up to date, windows is up to date.

 

[+Warwagon MVC]

Does the M.2's Smart data get a clean bill of health?

 

You could try downloading hdtune (trial version) and doing an error scan on the drive. Maybe it's a bad drive. I'd also recommend mem testing your ram could be an issue there too. Is it a desktop? Maybe the graphics card is over heating. Are the fans clean?

 

Does the system have onboard video? if it does, pull the graphics card (if there is one) and plug it into the onboard video and see if your issue goes away.

[Jose_49]

I know you said sfc scannow... I just fixed a computer today running the

chkdsk /f /r 

command.

[bikeman25]

Mine has also frozen up randomly today twice,  will be troubleshooting mine more time,   So far tests done so far, come back all good with mine, and heck mine was just clean installed,    Will get a flash drive ready for Memtest86, and let that run over night asap,  then move on to further tests if needed.     Hope your able to solve your issue asap OP, and i solve mine in the coming days here, or it just magically goes away lol

 

[jnelsoninjax]

1 hour ago, warwagon said:

Does the M.2's Smart data get a clean bill of health?

 

You could try downloading hdtune (trial version) and doing an error scan on the drive. Maybe it's a bad drive. I'd also recommend mem testing your ram could be an issue there too. Is it a desktop? Maybe the graphics card is over heating. Are the fans clean?

 

Does the system have onboard video? if it does, pull the graphics card (if there is one) and plug it into the onboard video and see if your issue goes away.

Yes it's SMART says no issues, no onboard video, and I have cleaned the system (internally) about 2 months ago.

 

45 minutes ago, Jose_49 said:

I know you said sfc scannow... I just fixed a computer today running the

chkdsk /f /r 

command.

On one of the reboots (having to power the system totally off) it came up and decided it needed to do a disk check

[Joe User]

This might help with the VSS issues:

 

Free Diagnostics & Repair for Volume Shadow Copy Service (acronis.com)

 

If you're not confident with using advanced tools, you might want to pass on this.  (It's not that advanced, think of it as power user lite)

Edited December 29, 2020 by Joe User

[jnelsoninjax]

54 minutes ago, Joe User said:

This might help with the VSS issues:

 

Free Diagnostics & Repair for Volume Shadow Copy Service (acronis.com)

 

If you're not confident with using advanced tools, you might want to pass on this.  (It's not that advanced, think of it as power user lite)

 

I'm not sure what I am supposed to about the free space issue:

 

[Joe User]

Looking at that. I don't think the VSS error is your root cause unless it's repeating constantly whenever your system pauses. The VSS error looks like an issue with system restore or image backup.

 

Does the mouse pointer freeze as well or is it still moving?

 

 

[jnelsoninjax]

39 minutes ago, Joe User said:

Looking at that. I don't think the VSS error is your root cause unless it's repeating constantly whenever your system pauses. The VSS error looks like an issue with system restore or image backup.

 

Does the mouse pointer freeze as well or is it still moving?

 

 

Mouse still moves, which is even more strange!

[Joe User]

18 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Mouse still moves, which is even more strange!

It means the issue is more likely software related. The mouse and keyboard have some of the highest priorities in Windows, if they stop moving it's usually an indication of a major hardware failure. The other thing to try is hitting the numlock during a pause, if the light doesn't turn off and on it's usually hardware. 

 

This isn't 100% accurate. HDD or SSD problems can cause pauses but keep the mouse and keyboard working. So the next thing to do is check the event log for disk timeouts or errors. They'll be pretty obvious if they're the cause of your problems, there will be lots of them within a few seconds of every pause.

Moving on to less likely, remove as many USB devices as you can.

 

If none of this turns up anything, your next decision is if you want to spend hours tracking down a software issue or hours reinstalling Windows.

 

[jnelsoninjax]

21 minutes ago, Joe User said:

It means the issue is more likely software related. The mouse and keyboard have some of the highest priorities in Windows, if they stop moving it's usually an indication of a major hardware failure. The other thing to try is hitting the numlock during a pause, if the light doesn't turn off and on it's usually hardware. 

 

This isn't 100% accurate. HDD or SSD problems can cause pauses but keep the mouse and keyboard working. So the next thing to do is check the event log for disk timeouts or errors. They'll be pretty obvious if they're the cause of your problems, there will be lots of them within a few seconds of every pause.

Moving on to less likely, remove as many USB devices as you can.

 

If none of this turns up anything, your next decision is if you want to spend hours tracking down a software issue or hours reinstalling Windows.

 

I uploaded the event log in a csv format here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/46jizumt276fs0n/Event.csv?dl=0

If you are interested in trying to help me decipher it.

[Joe User]

12 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I uploaded the event log in a csv format here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/46jizumt276fs0n/Event.csv?dl=0

If you are interested in trying to help me decipher it.

What version and build of Windows 10 are you using? You can run winver.exe and get the info.

 

Make sure you have your latest network card drivers installed. There are some errors that may be network card related. Normally network errors don't pause the system, they just drop the network connection, but it's worth looking at.

 

Other things:

The WinRing0... error is most likely caused by some monitoring software you installed and most likely uninstalled, but it didn't remove everything.

Audible for Windows Phone error looks like an incompatible app, but I don't use audible, so I don't know if the Windows 10 version calls itself that. I would reinstall it if you use it, uninstall it if you don't.

Windows photos might need to be reinstalled.

Does Paperscan work? Are you using it? 

 

 

[jnelsoninjax]

15 minutes ago, Joe User said:

What version and build of Windows 10 are you using? You can run winver.exe and get the info.

 

Make sure you have your latest network card drivers installed. There are some errors that may be network card related. Normally network errors don't pause the system, they just drop the network connection, but it's worth looking at.

 

Other things:

The WinRing0... error is most likely caused by some monitoring software you installed and most likely uninstalled, but it didn't remove everything.

Audible for Windows Phone error looks like an incompatible app, but I don't use audible, so I don't know if the Windows 10 version calls itself that. I would reinstall it if you use it, uninstall it if you don't.

Windows photos might need to be reinstalled.

Does Paperscan work? Are you using it? 

 

 

20H2

AFIK the network driver is up to date.

No idea why there are so many network adapters listed.

 

Audible, I've never used it, and it is supposedly uninstalled (don't even have a Windows Phone, so I have no idea why it would be installed), same with Windows Photo (I uninstalled it, don't need it), Paperscan works, just used it today.

The WinRing0 error, I have no idea, I have not installed any monitoring software other than Glasswire, and it is installed and running.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Regarding Ring Zero, I read that if you have the HP Analytics Service  disable it and restart and see if the ring zero's stop showing up in the error log.

[+Warwagon MVC]

53 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

20H2

AFIK the network driver is up to date.

No idea why there are so many network adapters listed.

 

Audible, I've never used it, and it is supposedly uninstalled (don't even have a Windows Phone, so I have no idea why it would be installed), same with Windows Photo (I uninstalled it, don't need it), Paperscan works, just used it today.

The WinRing0 error, I have no idea, I have not installed any monitoring software other than Glasswire, and it is installed and running.

The WAN miniport's are normal. Are you using NordVPN?

 

Found this too ..

 

 

 

[jnelsoninjax]

31 minutes ago, warwagon said:

The WAN miniport's are normal. Are you using NordVPN?

 

Found this too ..

 

 

 

Yes, I use NordVPN. As for the reddit post, I read through it, and have done everything that they suggested (dism, sfc, etc)

[+Warwagon MVC]

16 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Yes, I use NordVPN. As for the reddit post, I read through it, and have done everything that they suggested (dism, sfc, etc)

including this .. dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup

 

Once the computer freezes, how long have you let it sit to see if it comes out of it?

[jnelsoninjax]

13 minutes ago, warwagon said:

including this .. dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup

 

Once the computer freezes, how long have you let it sit to see if it comes out of it?

Once it freezes, it does not come out, I have to turn off the system to regain control.

I use this batch file to do my DISM commands:

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Automatically check & get admin rights V2
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
@echo off
CLS
ECHO.
ECHO =============================
ECHO Running Admin shell
ECHO =============================

:init
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
set "batchPath=%~0"
for %%k in (%0) do set batchName=%%~nk
set "vbsGetPrivileges=%temp%\OEgetPriv_%batchName%.vbs"
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

:checkPrivileges
NET FILE 1>NUL 2>NUL
if '%errorlevel%' == '0' ( goto gotPrivileges ) else ( goto getPrivileges )

:getPrivileges
if '%1'=='ELEV' (echo ELEV & shift /1 & goto gotPrivileges)
ECHO.
ECHO **************************************
ECHO Invoking UAC for Privilege Escalation
ECHO **************************************

ECHO Set UAC = CreateObject^("Shell.Application"^) > "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO args = "ELEV " >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO For Each strArg in WScript.Arguments >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO args = args ^& strArg ^& " "  >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO Next >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
ECHO UAC.ShellExecute "!batchPath!", args, "", "runas", 1 >> "%vbsGetPrivileges%"
"%SystemRoot%\System32\WScript.exe" "%vbsGetPrivileges%" %*
exit /B

:gotPrivileges
setlocal & pushd .
cd /d %~dp0
if '%1'=='ELEV' (del "%vbsGetPrivileges%" 1>nul 2>nul  &  shift /1)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::START
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
REM Run shell as admin (example) - put here code as you like
ECHO %batchName% Arguments: %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\logs\cbs\cbs.log >%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt

[Joe User]

19 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Once it freezes, it does not come out, I have to turn off the system to regain control.

But the mouse pointer is still moving? Do the keyboard numlock and capslock lights still toggle on and off?

 

What video card do you have?

[jnelsoninjax]

1 hour ago, Joe User said:

But the mouse pointer is still moving? Do the keyboard numlock and capslock lights still toggle on and off?

 

What video card do you have?

I assuming that the numlock/capslock still toggle, as I can press ctrl+alt+del, but since changing the keyboard, I have not had any more freezes.

ASUS ROG Nvidia GTX 2080

[Joe User]

7 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

ASUS ROG Nvidia GTX 2080

Did you recently change video cards? If so, from what?

 

[jnelsoninjax]

9 hours ago, Joe User said:

Did you recently change video cards? If so, from what?

 

No, I have had the same GPU since I built the system ~2 years ago

Edit: after almost 3 days of uptime, windows froze up again. I was watching YouTube, and the audio kept going, but the video stalled, and when I refreshed the page, it would not replay. I checked and the caps lock and num lock lights turned on and off while the system was froze, I even attempted (as I have before) to run the command shutdown /r and also restart via the lock screen, neither of which worked.

[Joe User]

5 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

No, I have had the same GPU since I built the system ~2 years ago

Edit: after almost 3 days of uptime, windows froze up again. I was watching YouTube, and the audio kept going, but the video stalled, and when I refreshed the page, it would not replay. I checked and the caps lock and num lock lights turned on and off while the system was froze, I even attempted (as I have before) to run the command shutdown /r and also restart via the lock screen, neither of which worked.

Based on what you're saying I'm almost positive your problem is system software or driver related and not failing hardware.  Does CTRL-ALT-DEL do anything when it's like this? 

[jnelsoninjax]

4 minutes ago, Joe User said:

Based on what you're saying I'm almost positive your problem is system software or driver related and not failing hardware.  Does CTRL-ALT-DEL do anything when it's like this? 

Yes and no, yes it brings up the blue screen with the options, but using that to restart or anything else does not work. I did some digging on WinRing0 error that keeps showing up, and there is no WinRing service on my local machine, but when I search the drive(s) there are quite a few files with the WinRing0 name, same with Audible, I went to the MS Store, and it shows that Audible is installed still, so IDK why it can't be loaded.

[Joe User]

4 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Yes and no, yes it brings up the blue screen with the options, but using that to restart or anything else does not work. I did some digging on WinRing0 error that keeps showing up, and there is no WinRing service on my local machine, but when I search the drive(s) there are quite a few files with the WinRing0 name, same with Audible, I went to the MS Store, and it shows that Audible is installed still, so IDK why it can't be loaded.

Here's a longshot. It's possible something is causing the windows shell to hang.

 

*Warning: Use this at your own risk, make sure you have a backup of everything and a working recovery disk. You are responsible for all changes made and any issues that may arise from those changes.*   While I've never managed to make my computer unbootable via shell extension changes, there's always a first, so please make sure you back up your work, the last thing you want is to lose data. 

 

Nirsoft has a freeware program that I've used to let you see what third party shell extensions you have running. https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html. 

Also, run the Windows Task manager and click the startup tab.

See if there's anything in there that doesn't belong. 

 

And lastly, it couldn't hurt to re-install the latest video card drivers.