Windows 10 Partially Freezes and ALT-CTRL-DEL Won't Work

[burritonator1]

I'm having a problem with Windows 10 "partially" freezing up.

Here's an example of what I mean by partially freezing. I have 2 monitors. I was playing a game on one and watching a video on the other. The game locked up. I got the blue spinning circle in place of the mouse cursor when I tried to interact with the game. ALT-TAB and ALT-CTRL-DEL wouldn't do anything. But all the while, the video was still playing just fine. I couldn't interact with it either, though. I could still move the mouse cursor, but nothing happened when I clicked on anything (including the start menu and quick launch icons on the task bar). For all practical purposes, the computer was hard locked - except that the video was still playing.

I've had a lot of similar problems over the past few days. Whether I'm playing a game that pushes my PC to its limits or just using a web browser, this will happen.

Here are some fixes I've tried so far, without success:

* sfc /scannow in Powershell
* System Maintenance Troubleshooter
* Clean Boot
* Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth (also /CheckHealth and /RestoreHealth) in a command prompt
* Changed Sleep settings so that the PC won't go into sleep mode
* I regularly use CPUID HWmonitor and it hasn't shown any problems with with temps, voltages, etc.
* Used a System Restore Point to restore the system to a date before the problem started.

I've been troubleshooting PCs for years, but this is the first time I remember seeing this specific problem. I'm confused as to why some things like videos and audio keep playing, but everything else is locked up and I can't even get CTRL-ALT-DEL to do anything. If I use the reset button on my PC it tries to restart but doesn't go past the BIOS screen. If I power off and back on, it will work for anywhere to a few hours to just a few minutes before the same problem happens again.

Any and all help is appreciated!

UPDATE (8/2, 11:44 PM):

If it helps, I found several of the following entries in the Event Viewer. However, the time stamps don't always match when I experienced a lock up. Also, I've been having this problem for several days, but the only entries in the Event Viewer for explorer.exe are the past 2 days.

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 10.0.10586.494, time stamp: 0x5775e575
Faulting module name: SHELL32.dll, version: 10.0.10586.494, time stamp: 0x5775e651
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000008e2cf
Faulting process id: 0x15f0
Faulting application start time: 0x01d1ed34098be029
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll
Report Id: 6878a002-3e23-46c8-ae4e-db6e1a913885
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

 

[Colif]

Have you checked you have latest drivers? Since SFC & DISM showed no corruption it seems an outside factor is at play. Curious if its the graphics driver.

win 10 would have BSOD if it knew what cause is. win 10 doesn't just freeze up without giving you a sign.

What are specs of PC?

 

[burritonator1]

Have you checked you have latest drivers? Since SFC & DISM showed no corruption it seems an outside factor is at play. Curious if its the graphics driver.

win 10 would have BSOD if it knew what cause is. win 10 doesn't just freeze up without giving you a sign.

What are specs of PC?

I have the latest drivers as far as I can tell. My graphics driver was last updated on 7/14/16. My problems didn't start until around 7/30. There isn't a newer driver available.

I've noticed some entries in the Event Viewer that say something to affect of Crash Logging Failed. Is it possible that Windows is trying to go to a BSOD but it can't?

Here's a CPU-Z link that shows all of my PC specs: valid.x86.fr/qfvgvx

My CPU is overclocked, and someone suggested I reset it to its default speed to see if that helps. But when I go into the BIOS and make changes, they won't save. After I choose to Save & Reset and then go back into BIOS after the PC reboots, the changes I made are gone and the target processor speed is back to the overclocked value I've been using. Any ideas on why BIOS settings won't save or what I can do about that?

 

[Colif]

Crash logging failed leads me to suspect it is doing a BSOD but not recording the memory dumps that could help us work out this problem. Here are some reasons why it can't produce one: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/130536

Asus boards can overclock based on optimized defaults. I seem to recall there is a setting to just use defaults and not the optimized ones. Motherboard knows it can run CPU faster than the default speed so it does. You may need to reset bios to default before your changes will save.

See what mode bios is running in, on front page yoiu may have Power saving mode, normal mode & Asus Optimal Mode. The last one is the overclock mode that it would appear your Bios is in now. I found it in your manual on page 3-3 http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-I_DELUXE/E7098_P8Z77-I_DELUXE.pdf

the fact your motherboard doesn't have any Win 10 drivers might be part of the cause, if you can work out why its not creating dumps we can look at them and see what PC has to say about it all.

 

[burritonator1]

Crash logging failed leads me to suspect it is doing a BSOD but not recording the memory dumps that could help us work out this problem. Here are some reasons why it can't produce one: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/kb/130536

Asus boards can overclock based on optimized defaults. I seem to recall there is a setting to just use defaults and not the optimized ones. Motherboard knows it can run CPU faster than the default speed so it does. You may need to reset bios to default before your changes will save.

See what mode bios is running in, on front page yoiu may have Power saving mode, normal mode & Asus Optimal Mode. The last one is the overclock mode that it would appear your Bios is in now. I found it in your manual on page 3-3 http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-I_DELUXE/E7098_P8Z77-I_DELUXE.pdf

the fact your motherboard doesn't have any Win 10 drivers might be part of the cause, if you can work out why its not creating dumps we can look at them and see what PC has to say about it all.

Regarding the crash logs, I discovered that the reason they weren't being created could be because I was running without a page file. I turned the page file back on, but the next time it locked up it still didn't create a crash log. The warning message I'd been getting in the Event Viewer about not being able to create a crash log no longer appears, though. I downloaded a freeware program called WhoCrashed to help me analyse the crash logs, but it couldn't find any. The software includes an option to intentionally force the system to crash in order to make sure it is correctly producing crash logs. I tried this and when my PC restarted, there was indeed one crash log. So, when the PC is locking up on me, it's not producing crash logs. Maybe it's because Windows is still running and hasn't fully crashed? I'll check the link you posted about crash logs and see if there is something else I can do to make my PC produce them.

As for the BIOS, I decided to remove the CMOS battery and put it back in so the BIOS would go back to the default settings. After doing this and turning the PC back on, I went back into the BIOS, and everything had reset to defaults as expected. I reset the time and date to the correct values. I went into the advanced options and looked at the overclocking settings, and they were set to defaults as expected. But when I started Windows and used CPU-Z to check my processor speed, it was again running at the original overclocked value. I rebooted, went into BIOS, and the default settings had been replaced by the original settings.

When I ordered my PC from Maingear, they overclocked the processor for me before shipping it. Each time I restart the PC and go into BIOS, the settings have been reset back to the original settings that Maingear set up for me. My processor speed is 3.5 GHz, overclocked to approximately 4.2 GHz. If I set the BIOS back to default settings, it slows the target processor speed to 3.9 GHz. If I manually turn off the "Turbo Mode", it sets it to 3.5 GHz, which is what I want for now. I've tried manually changing some other settings as well. But every time I restart and go back into BIOS, it has reset not to the BIOS default of 3.9 GHz, but to 4.2 GHz as when the system shipped. I'm confused as to where it's getting these settings from, especially since I reset the CMOS. Since the BIOS isn't saving any changes I make, I would think it would revert back to defaults instead of changing back to the settings as they were when the system shipped. This has me stumped.

Concerning the optimized defaults, you are correct. I have an option in the BIOS to set it to "optimized defaults", but I can't find an option to set it to "true defaults", if that makes sense. The settings you mentioned for Power saving mode, normal mode & Asus Optimal Mode are shown when the BIOS is in "EZ" mode. I go into advanced mode to actually view the settings. But whether I select a different mode on the "EZ" screen or change settings in advanced mode, it won't save my changes.

And the drivers - it did surprise me when I went to the ASUS support page to download the newest version of the BIOS and Windows 10 wasn't an option.

Anyway, I know this is a very long post, but I just wanted to make sure I provide all of the info I can. I'll keep working on it and posting updates here, and if the info in this post gives you any additional ideas as to what I might try, please let me know. Thanks again!

UPDATE (8/4, 3:30 PM): Late last night I discovered that if I make BIOS changes in "EZ" mode instead of Advanced mode, I can successfully save those settings. I can't make detailed manual changes since I can't save the changes I make in Advanced mode, but at least I was able to get the target CPU speed down to 3.9 GHz from 4.3 GHz. I'll run this way for a while and see if the lockups stop. If I still have trouble, I'll see if I can get the target speed down to the processor's native value of 3.5 GHz and see if that helps.

 

[Colif]

Download the latest BIOS, even if its listed under Win 8.1. Asus only update drivers if the old ones won't work in Win 10

Are you running AI suite in win 10? It can be used to do a software overclock that could be replacing the overclock at every start up, regardless of your changes. Your manual mentions it on page 4-4 but the version of AI suite you have now is unlikely to be the same as manual was.

The lack of a page file could be the reason PC was freezing up, it ran out of resources. even with 16gb, if its got nowhere to dump the files it has compressed into ram it will just stop. Win 10 hardly ever uses the page file so having it there isn't a massive waste, not when you have 2.2tb of storage.

possible you need a new battery: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1791455/motherboard-bios-save.html

suggestion here is reflash the bios: http://www.overclock.net/t/1183569/bios-wont-hold-my-setting-once-i-restart-my-computer-after-an-oc

 

[burritonator1]

Hi,

Here's the latest update on my PC problems.

I finally figured out how to save the changes I make in Advanced Mode in my BIOS. I found a setting that let me change the default BIOS mode from "EZ" to Advanced. Now the changes I make are saved successfully. As a result, I have my processor running at its native speed for the first time since I started having problems. Hopefully this will increase my system stability.

 

[Colif]

wait and see. I have similar bios, wonder when I changed that setting as I don't remember having to. Perhaps right away when i tried to set up fans properly.

You don't need to be going at max speed all the time on a fairly new PC. Its why i stopped using AI suite last year as it had set a software overclock that had me at 4.2ghz and it combined with a Setting made by my SSD software that had PC at full speed all the time. Even at idle. I didn't know it was a combo of things until I was still running at 3.85GHZ all the time without the overclock running.

Now PC is generally running at .77Ghz when at idle, much cooler all round too. Still feels just as fast when i need it.

 

[Colif]

Overclock + no page file + watching video and playing game a t same time would jam any PC up eventually. See if with no OC and a page file if it makes any difference now.