My self-built PC occasionally freezes during windows startup, around 5-10% of the time.
The freeze always happens around the same time, shortly before the windows desktop should appear. The dots under the user name stop spinning, the computer freezes completely and I have to restart manually. Sometimes after the next boot the AMD graphics driver is deactivated and reverted back to the Microsoft basic display driver. I then have to manually re-activate the "AMD Radeon graphics" device in the device manager, which suggests to me that the freeze may be related to the graphics driver. Usually the freeze does not leaves a trace in the event log, but very occasionally the freeze may generate a blue screen like this:
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Dump File : 110921-5359-01.dmp
Crash Time : 09.11.2021 12:13:57
Bug Check String : THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
Bug Check Code : 0x100000ea
Parameter 1 : ffffa10d`e264c080
Parameter 2 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 3 : 00000000`00000000
Parameter 4 : 00000000`00000000
Caused By Driver : amdkmdag.sys
Caused By Address : amdkmdag.sys+1ae5ab
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+3f72a0
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\110921-5359-01.dmp
Processors Count : 16
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 19041
Dump File Size : 1.877.340
Dump File Time : 09.11.2021 12:16:21
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The freeze only happens during startup, once the Windows desktop appears the system is stable (tested with Prime95, Furmark, Memtest...)
Configuration:
- AMD Ryzen 5700G
- Asus B550-F Gaming Wifi, latest BIOS 2423
- 32GB RAM Crucial DDR4-3200
- Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W
- Windows 10 Home, Version 21H2, latest updates installed
- Windows fast boot deactivated
- Latest AMD chipset drivers
DXDiag: https://pastebin.com/Y6R5pmk7
I have tried the following so far:
Hardware measures:
Swapping everything that could cause a hardware-related crash:
- CPU: with another 5700G
- RAM: With a different 2x16GB kit from a different manufacturer
- Mainboard: With another Asus B550-F Gaming Wifi
- PSU: With another Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W
- SSD: With an SSD from a different manufacturer + reinstall Windows
Nothing made a difference. So now I am pretty confident that the issue is not caused by faulty hardware.
Software measures:
- Reinstalling Windows (several times...)
- Disabling all autostart programs
- Disabling all non-Windows services during startup
- Reinstalling latest WHQL AMD drivers from AMD website (after removing previous driver with AMD cleanup utility) (did so several times...)
Again, nothing made a difference. Currently I am using the latest driver that I installed manually via Windows update after a clean Windows install, but the issue remains the same.
I am out of ideas what else to troubleshoot, nothing seems to make a difference. The evidence so far suggests that the freezes are most likely caused by the graphics driver, but what can I do besides doing a clean reinstall of different driver versions (including the one provided by Microsoft Windows update), none of which solved the issue?