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Resolved Question

Windows 10 PC crash/freeze while gamining

May 4, 2017 1:12AM PDT

Hi all,

I have a custom built PC with Windows 10 Home, my PC will randomly hang/ crash when I'm playing the games and I have to manually turn off the PC as everything just stops working.

I rebuilt the PC 2 times just to check that I dint make some stupid mistake on the build. I have also tried a new power supply, full memory diagnostics, windows reinstalls, chkdsk, sfc /scannow and disabling HD Audio from reinstalling on BIOS, regedit, device installation setting and none of them stopped it from reinstalling so I downloaded gpedit.msc and turned of automatic windows updates, this stops it from downloading but yet I still have the problem.

Any recommendations are welcome!

PC Specs;
PSU- EVGA Supernova 850 W Gold G2
Motherboard- Gigabyte Z170-Gaming
CPU- Intel Core i7-6700K 4GHz
RAM-- Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 2x8GB 3000MHz DDR4
GPU- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070
HD- WD Red 2TB
SSD- Sandisk SSD Plus 480GB SATA III

Discussion is locked

micksrercomputers has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
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Clarification Request
RE : random crashes and Windows updates
May 4, 2017 3:29AM PDT

You said..
" turned of automatic windows updates, this stops it from downloading but yet I still have the problem. "

1. Since you have Windows Home installed , you cannot turn off or postpone downloading those updates nor the installation . To do that you need Win. 10 Professional or above.
2. I see a Z Gaming MB and a K Processor which leads me to ask if you are Overclocking .
3. If you are O.C'ing , Go Back To Stock as it causes lots of overheating and crashes . Pleas don't say that this can't be the problem as we see it happen here every day...
4. What Anti virus are you running ? Norton, McAffee , Kaspersky , turn them off / uninstall for testing using their own uninstaller tool.

If these test's fail ,post a Speccy  so the Pro's can dig deeper into the issues

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RE: Windows 10 crashing
May 4, 2017 5:24AM PDT

1. yes, i had issues from stopping the the HDAudio driver from automatically downloading and reinstalling.
i have a feeling this is what was causing the issue as anytime i have to manually turn the PC of because of the freeze the HDAudio driver would be installed again, since i have installed the gpedit.msc and disabled automatic windows updates on that it hasn't come back to the sounds. unless its going under a different section now?

2. The intention was to overclock at fist however didn't end up doing so after it crash after 4 hours of gaming on it.

3. Yes, i didn't rule out the overheating problems. I have run 3D mark for 3 hours and had a videos running on youtube and having a few programs open like photoshop, ms word, itunes and pictures ect. while doing these tasks i also was keeping an eye one Speccy as this gives the temperature on the program. all components stayed on green apart from the GPU that was very low end orange but not i will link this later when im home.

4. i am currently using Sophos Home however have tryed having no antivirus while playing games not even windows defender and this has no effect on the issue.

i will post the speccy when i get home in a few hours!

Thanks for your reply

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Speccy link for the pro's ;)
May 4, 2017 9:44AM PDT

Best Answer

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I see Glary.
May 4, 2017 9:59AM PDT

Sorry folk but I find this creates more troubles than fixes. If you crash and used Glary, ask Glary for support. I have no kind words for optimizers today.

1. Try it with a single display. 3 displays is pushing the system hard.

2. Glary. Sorry. I've said why many times.

3. Since we are aiming for stability we remove anything optional.
a. CCleaner. Nice stuff but for now, remove.
b. Sophos. Nice but for now, remove. Let Defender do the work for now.
c. Teamviewer. Not required. Removed.
d. AVG. Use AVG's removal tool if need be.

4. DVD drive. Unplug till the machine is stable.

5. CHKDSK /F /X all drives.

6. BIOS. Can be a BIG DEAL. F22 at http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170-Gaming-K3-rev-10#support-dl notes a Vcore adjust. This is a common cause of CPU hangs and crashes. This must get done.

7. swi_fc.exe and the other Sophos sure have a lot of connections. Uninstalling Sophos should clear that up.

All in all only a few glaring issues. May be salvageable.

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Forgot a small thing.
May 4, 2017 9:59AM PDT
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what do you mean by Glary/Glaring
May 4, 2017 11:29AM PDT

1. Now only on 1 monitor while testing.
2. no idea what Glary is lol
3. optional programs removed.
4. DVD drive unpluged
5. set to run on next reboot
6. currently have F21 and updating Bios to F22 now! < probably the problem then....
7. sophos removed, defender turned on.
8. turned it off.

There was some rely good points I will run some tests and let you know how i get on.

Thanks Happy

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It's more than a reading and advice.
May 4, 2017 12:14PM PDT

I may play with the words. For me, when I see Glary, I might glare at the keyboard.

I won't claim these are the fix but we need to work towards a clean machine and once there, add a thing back in such as the monitors and drives.

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Answer
Fixed.
May 8, 2017 1:14AM PDT

After R. Proffitt's answer i tested the PC for a few days and my PC has not crashed since meaning one of his recommendations fixed the issue. i will work backwards within the next week or so adding things back to see if it starts crashing while gaming again. i have a suspicion the BIOS update fixed this issue but no harm in testing before adding everything back.

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That's the thing.
May 8, 2017 6:59AM PDT

Given what a PC is, I rarely can write "this is the thing that will fix it." The method I'm using does seem to work if it's some item that shows in the report. Many tell me the machine works better which is simply it has less installed.

Avoid PC optimizers. They cause more trouble than they fix.

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Good method to have.
May 8, 2017 8:16AM PDT

I dont normaly have PC optomisers or registory cleaners tbh. I have had my pc almost a year now and installed them in hopes it would help. I did do a BIOS update like 5months ago but at that point F22 wasnt out, Im normaly pretty good at fixing problems but this just had me confused. I only have 4 years expariance with pc's and yet i still learn new things.

On older PC's I found that on system properties > advanced > preformance settings. turning all the settings off apart from "use visual style on windows and buttons" makes them run 10 times better instantly and still looks decent, along with removing the crap ect ect ect