For the past few weeks, multiple times daily (4-5x), I've been constantly having problems with random freezes on Asus N76Vz notebook @ Windows 8.1 x 64 with latest updates. I don't remember updating any drivers or installing any software that could be capable of doing that, so it has begun out of sudden. Freezes are actually pretty weird. It starts with a partial freeze, i.e. I can still switch between opened programs, I can still open new tabs in Chrome (it won't open any new sites though, just rotating circle icon), winamp will keep playing music etc., actually all programs will freeze only partially, nothing like I've ever seen before. But I can't close any currently opened programs or open new ones, including task manager. Explorer (+Classic shell) will freeze (become completely non-responding) as well, so sooner or later, I will have to force shutdown computer and turn it on again. I really have no idea where to look at because there's not a single minidump report. S.M.A.R.T status is telling me that SSD (with latest firmware) and HDD (0 bad sectors) are completely fine (checked with Hard Disk Sentinel). Computer is not infected nor have ever been (Comodo Internet Security for active protection, also scanned with malwarebytes, hitmanpro, TDSSkiller and adw cleaner). I have the latest BIOS and the latest drivers from official ASUS support website. There are no other problems with Windows, except a lot of times I can't reboot Windows normally - it will stay at reboot screen forever. I've already tried few solutions I've Googled about, but none helped, including turning off hybrid shutdown. And another problem unrelated to Windows freezing mentioned above. Sometimes I can't close an application (Winamp and iTunes mostly) and killing in task manager from Processes tab also won't do anything. But if I try to kill it from Details tab, I get "The operation could not be completed. Access is denied." error. I've Googled about that one as well, most solutions were solved by unplugging USB devices, but I don't have any connected at all, so dead end here too. I've also tried with Unlocker and FileAssasin and they can't do anything as well in that case. Since there are no minidumps, I've collected system, application and administrative events around occurrence of random crash. I'm also posting system summary and hardware report from AIDA64. Please have a look at them here: dropbox.com/sh/zbshbr1pmnk3kux/AAApt-kSUs0l9WSNoEdCafkya?dl=0 Let me know if you need any other reports, I'd be glad to post them. Thanks in advance for help!
here is what I will start with: -RUN as admin sfc /scannow if that fails to correct anything, use: Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth Then, I will check the latest update, and uninstall the problematic ones that got pulled by MS. So how did you install win 8.1? was it an upgrade, oem....?
IIRC, I had a similar issue several years ago on a SSD, I think it was a OCZ Vertex 2. I don't suppose you have an spare SSD you could swap out... Image SSD to HD, swap SSDs, restore image to new SSD... Another example of why it is a good idea to keep a recent backup, or two.
I've just updated my dropbox folder with the following files: sfc_scannow.txt - as you may see, no errors CHKDSKResults.txt - not sure if that fixed anything 1st_boot_after_chkdsk.png - interesting thing, happened for the first time. Just after the CHKDSK ran, a bunch of identical CMD windows opened up on the 1st boot. I did not replace any components, nor did I upgrade RAM, so it's stock. Only SSD has been installed.
But, you have two different RAMs installed on the system, a 4 GB SK Hynix and a 2 GB Samsung RAMs making it total of 6 GB. It is not hard to do. If you aren't willing to do what I told you then run the Windows 'Memory Diagnostic Tool' to check for any problem with any of the RAMs. I am very suspicious there is problem coming from that area.
I would change to the default paging file. I was having similar issues I set mine to minimum of 4096 MB - 8192 MB. That fixed my problem.
You should list here: 1. List of installed applications 2. List of present services 3. List of installed drivers Also run Sysinternals Process Explorer at the background and when the issue manifests, switch to it and sort all processes according CPU Load to watch, if any process doesn't take 100% of system resources...
Have you considered resetting Windows and installing everything as a process of elimination ? Chrome, iTunes , Firefox and even some updates have been known to cause issues.
I agree and also same with hardware like Paul said. Could be hardware. Yet so many things could do this. Just with me. I keep installing updates and then black screen on next boot. Safe mode same black screen. It was nothing more then a THEME. I can turn on this theme and black screen ever time. So turn off all start up or msconfig and boot with nothing running and .. or REFRESH windows
So I just though that it would be nice to share how I fixed my problem. Steps I mentioned in previous post didn't help at all, so I did these steps: - disable dynamic tick - change all scheduled tasks to Win8.1 compatibility - uninstall Comodo Internet Security I'm not sure which one helped, but one of these 3 did, so far I didn't have any freeze at all. I already installed Comodo again and it looks fine so far. Perhaps I'll also try to re-enable dynamic tick to see if that was the real issue.