Windows 8.1 laptop keeps randomly freezing

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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
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hi guys, over the past 4 months or so my laptop has begun to randomly freeze while doing any range of tasks (intensive and basic). normally it will freeze for 5-20 seconds and then resume normally, quite often downloads etc. will continue to work even while my computer is frozen and everything resumes like normal. the frequency is random, some days are better than others.

my laptop is about 2 and a half years old, i have done a disk check and fix on the c drive, that seemed to go ok it took about an hour, i have run a memtest for about 8 hours, and it found that my RAM may be vulnerable to 'high frequency row hammer bit flips', having found the error on 3 passes of test 13. i have also noticed sometimes that my disk usage goes to 100% for no reason, but this doesn't always coincide with crashes, however my computer does sometimes run sluggishly, particular problems including programs lagging and loading slowly.

I am unsure what is causing these issues as research into the test 13 problem came back inconclusive and the disk check gave me no warning messages/errors that i saw, so i was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what is causing my problems, thankyou.

My computer specs are

17-4700mq processor
gt 740m gpu
8gb ddr3L ram pc3-12800
1Tb 5400rpm HDD

(the model is a gigbayte q2556n if that helps also)
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Welcome to the community, Deuteronomy_23-1!

Good job with the troubleshooting so far! However, I'd strongly recommend you backup your data somewhere off-site before you continue with it.
Another important thing you should do is use the drive manufacturer's diagnostic tool to check the health and SMART status, instead of using Windows' CheckDisk utility. If you haven't tried this already, you should also attempt to resolve the issue with the HDD usage by disabling some Windows Services that could be causing the spikes as well.

If you want to completely rule out a software-related issue, you should consider reinstalling Windows from scratch. If, afterwards, the problem persists, the issue is definitely coming from some...
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
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Welcome to the community, Deuteronomy_23-1!

Good job with the troubleshooting so far! However, I'd strongly recommend you backup your data somewhere off-site before you continue with it.
Another important thing you should do is use the drive manufacturer's diagnostic tool to check the health and SMART status, instead of using Windows' CheckDisk utility. If you haven't tried this already, you should also attempt to resolve the issue with the HDD usage by disabling some Windows Services that could be causing the spikes as well.

If you want to completely rule out a software-related issue, you should consider reinstalling Windows from scratch. If, afterwards, the problem persists, the issue is definitely coming from some hardware component in your laptop.
Another alternative for you to avoid the headaches would be to take the notebook to a professional PC repair service and let the guys there perform full diagnostics on the system.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted. :)
SuperSoph_WD
 
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
33
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1,530


Thanks for the reply, i will try what you suggested and get back to you

 
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
33
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1,530
Hi just an update, i have tried disabling the windows services, and the disc still has freezing issues

i have also tried to do the hard disc test using HDtune, but my computer has crashed twice, once on bench marking and also when doing an error test the screen went black and the computer was unresponsive so i had to reset it.

i think tomorrow i will try a clean boot of windows, however does this test crash indicate a RAM or HDD issue?
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Unfortunately, @Deuteronomy_23-1, it seems like your HDD is failing. :( I'd strongly recommend you to check the warranty on your laptop. If, by any chance, it's still covered, you should be able to send an RMA request to the manufacturer's customer support and get the failed component replaced by them.
Otherwise, backup your files elsewhere ASAP and consider getting a hard drive replacement for your laptop. If you don't want to perform this by yourself, you might want to consider contacting a professional PC repair service and let the guys there take care of the replacement for you.

Best of luck.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
33
0
1,530


Hello again, surprisingly after the clean install it seems the laptop is working fine which baffles me, i think i will monitor it for a few days, then consider what i do from there. but for 5 hours or so it seems to be running snappier and without any form of freezes. all my files are backed up now anyway so i think its worth a try, i might try and run the disk scan again overnight to see if the hdd was really the problem or if it was a software issue as you suggested it might possibly be earlier
 
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
33
0
1,530
hello again

i ran the disk checker and it came back with 2.2% bad sectors. so far it has been running fine, all programs seem to be working well, i have had no freezes since the clean install.

do you think i should still replace the drive?
also, does this rule out a memory issue seeing as it is running well after the clean install?
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Hey there again, Deuteronomy_23-1!

I'd still recommend you to use the HDD manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic tool and take a closer look at the S.M.A.R.T. data results. CheckDisk is not the best utility to determine the overall health status of your hard drives.

However, since even ChkDsk is listing corrupted data & sectors, then you should definitely consider replacing the drive. Unfortunately, when bad sectors start showing up, it usually means that the HDD's health and performance will only get worse with time and even more sectors will be remapped eventually.

Best thing to do at this moment is backup your data somewhere off-site/externally and consider replacing the HDD. You should try running memtest to check up on your RAM as well.
Either way, I'd definitely not trust any data with this hard drive.

Best of luck! Hope I was helpful.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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Deuteronomy_23-1

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
33
0
1,530


ye im getting the drive replaced tomorrow, and ill see how it all runs from there. the memtest error i got from my own research (that is the row hammer bit flips one) is generally an error that most ram has and doesn't normally show up doing normal computer tasks/is sometimes not even a real issue so i think ill just go with the drive replacement and leave it at that until i get a newer computer in a few months

thankyou for your help :)
 
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