Windows 10: Crashes, Freezes, and other Seemingly OS-Related Failures

I have had some of these issues before and have posted about them here as well. Last time it seemed like updating CPU drivers was the fix. This time, it doesn’t seem quite so simple.



Last week I started receiving constant BSODs, just about every ten seconds it felt. Doing research on the errors given, it seemed like this was a common issue with a Quallcom Aetheros driver, so I updated that and the BSODs immediately disappeared.



However, over the next couple of days— other issues started popping up. Task manager not being able to quit programs and then freezing when I’d try and close it. The wi-fi button in the taskbar either does not open, or when it does, it shows a blank slate with elipses running across the top, sometmes it does not open in the proper size either. This is problematic because I have to use this tab to actually connect to the internet easily.



Cortana/the spotlight search ocassionally open as a blank slate as well. With all of these things put together, I can’t connect to the internet, I can’t close programs that are having issues at a significantly higher rate than they used to, and with new freezes suddenly happening, I can’t hardly use my PC at all.



Although these issues were only happening *sometimes* on startup over the last week, for whatever reason I’d have extreme issues ocassionally, but a reboot could solve them. As of today, no amount of rebooting has made my PC more usable.



I assumed that drivers could play a role in this again, so I downloaded DriverFix in order to really see what needed updating. ChipSet drivers failed to update, presumably because my BIOS was outdated, so after a somewhat difficult BIOS update, I was able to update one of the ChipSet drivers. Upon trying to update more, it fails again. I’m not sure if this is because they all share a set of drivers or how this works exactly.



I also received a BSOD for the first time in a while today with the stop code DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION, if that’s of any use. Additionally, after the BIOS update, I do get an American Megatrends error screen briefly while booting up that says it detected an error in my CPU Fan Speed, but upon inspecting this, everything seems to be fine.



The sfc/scan has returned zero issues. I’m struggilng to troubleshoot much further given the crashes, freezes, and generaly lack of usability. So a direction to look in so that I might focus my efforts would be appreciated.



Basically nothing works and everything feels broken, help of any kind is greatly appreciated. I’ve attached an image of what some of the issues can look like on the desktop for reference.



Here are my specs, let me know if more information is needed: http://specr.me/show/9c6



:)

 

all games crash!

I suggest you run rthdribl > http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/archives/rthdribl_1_2.zip
Increase the window size step by step and watch your vga temps permanently.
What happens?
If it crashes, run at stock speeds as suggested before and retry.

P.S.: When your system locks, does the display signal turn off after a time?
Stuttering sound or no sound at all when freezing?
What X1800XT model do you own exactly?

 

all games crash!

ive watch my temps and both the cpu and gpu are within normal ranges. when it freezes it simply freezes the image and stops the sound. i must reboot to get back to windows.

 

Random crashes and (seemingly) related issues


The job starts from enabling dump recording.

Now, what may cause a system freeze? Broadly we may categorize it in two fields: hardware related causes and software/driver related causes.

First of all, we will concentrate on finding any failing driver. In order to do it, enable Driver Verifier to monitor the drivers. Driver Verifier - Enable and DisableRun Driver Verifier for 24 hours or the occurrence of the next crash, whichever is earlier.



Information Why Driver Verifier:
It puts a stress on the drivers, ans so it makes the unstable drivers crash. Hopefully the driver that crashes is recorded in the memory dump.

How Can we know that DV is enabled:
It will make the system bit of slow, laggy.


Warning Before enabling DV, make it sure that you have earlier System restore points made in your computer. You can check it easily by using CCleaner looking at Tools > System Restore.

If there is no points, make a System Restore Point manually before enabling DV.


Tip

• If you fail to get on the Desktop because of DV, Boot into Advanced Boot Options > Safe mode. Disable DV there. Now boot normally again, and try following the instruction of enabling DV again.
• If you cannot boot in Safe mode too, do a System Restore to a point you made earlier.

Now the crash dump recording becomes important. If Driver Verifier causes a BSOD, let us see the dumps.