PC Drivers & Software

[Shendrach]

Hello @ all,

to be honest, I'm not even 100% sure if this forum is even the right and first place for my problem, but the indications point strongly in that direction.

First of all, about my system:

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core processor 3.70 GHz

32.0 GB RAM

Windows 11 Pro (64 bit)

Adrenalin version 23.9.3

Treiberversion 23.20.11.04-230921a-396203C-AMD-Software-Adrenalin-Edition

AMD Windows driver version 31.0.22011.4008

Now to my problem: Since about a week I notice a recurrent freezing of my PC. It started in the Opera browser: suddenly I could hardly move my mouse. The computer did not freeze completely, but almost. The mouse cursor jumped a little bit every 5 to 6 seconds, even the task manager built up incredibly slowly. As soon as I somehow managed to close the browser (usually via ALT+F4), the computer immediately ran smoothly again. It was noticeable that my PC audibly "howled" during the freezing, but it continued afterwards.

Then I noticed the error in an alternative browser (Firefox), while I hovered with the mouse over a video on Youtube. Where normally the video would be soundlessly teased, the system virtually froze again. If I closed the browser or just closed the Youtube tab, everything continued smoothly again.

Then I also noticed a black flickering when working with Microsoft Word - not a freeze, but an annoying flickering.

Through various forums I came across the tip to deactivate the hardware acceleration in Word - and indeed! The flickering was gone.

So, I also deactivated the hardware acceleration in Opera and Firefox and the problem was gone.

Now when I start Steam, the PC also freezes sometimes, it seems to have to do with the advertising sequences build up on the Steam-Shop start page playing in the background. However, it doesn’t occur always, but often.

And today my PC also froze four times in a short time in a row in Baldur's Gate 3 in the game (it never did once for weeks since game release).

Now my question: What could be the cause? The indications point strongly in the direction of the GPU. Unfortunately, I don't know what to do, the PC is hardly usable and I would like to solve the problem urgently.

I am grateful for any help.

[Shendrach]

Ok, it doesn't really make sense somehow, but here's another observation. I just opened my pc case, checked all the connectors and vacuumed out the case. After that I started the PC - and all of a sudden Opera and Firefox were running fine even with hardware acceleration enabled - for about 10 minutes. Then I started Microsoft Edge (don't really need it, but was curious) and immediately the PC froze again and I could virtually watch the Edge windows build up. After I was finally able to quit it again, the PC also froze on Youtube again in Firefox and now I'm back to the status quo.

[goodplay]

23.9.2 & 3 have H A issues, 23.9.1 is ok.

[rjiextreme]

Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)

I was having a lot of the same issues, and this is what fixed it for me. I only had to do the first 2 steps

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

sfc /scannow

it located a lot of files and repaired them. running smooth now

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open an elevated command prompt. To do this, do the following as your appropriate:

2. If you are running Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 8, first run the inbox Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool prior to running the System File Checker.  (If you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista, skip to Step 3.) 

Type the following command, and then press Enter.  It may take several minutes for the command operation to be completed.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Important: When you run this command, DISM uses Windows Update to provide the files that are required to fix corruptions. However, if your Windows Update client is already broken, use a running Windows installation as the repair source, or use a Windows side-by-side folder from a network share or from a removable media, such as the Windows DVD, as the source of the files. To do this, run the following command instead:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\RepairSource\Windows /LimitAccess

Note: Replace the C:\RepairSource\Windows placeholder with the location of your repair source. For more information about using the DISM tool to repair Windows, reference Repair a Windows Image.

1. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

sfc /scannow

The sfc /scannow command will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.
The %WinDir% placeholder represents the Windows operating system folder. For example, C:\Windows.

Note Do not close this Command Prompt window until the verification is 100% complete. The scan results will be shown after this process is finished.

1. After the process is finished, you may receive one of the following messages:

   • Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

     
     This means that you do not have any missing or corrupted system files.

   • Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.

     
     To resolve this problem, perform the System File Checker scan in safe mode, and make sure that the PendingDeletes and PendingRenames folders exist under %WinDir%\WinSxS\Temp.

   • Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.

     
     To view the detail information about the system file scan and restoration, go to How to view details of the System File Checker process.

   • Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.

     
     To repair the corrupted files manually, view details of the System File Checker process to find the corrupted file, and then manually replace the corrupted file with a known good copy of the file.

[ThreeDee]

knowing your full PC specs would be helpful

32GB of RAM? what speed? 2 or 4 sticks?

What power supply?

What video card?

How are your CPU/GPU temps?

Is your motherboard's BIOS up to date? What make/model motherboard?

Do you have the latest AM4 chipset drivers installed from AMD.com website?

Future reference, used canned air and blow the dust out of your case .. preferably outside, lol.

[Bomblibu · Accepted solution]

I had similar issues. Flickering/flashing in videos and when opened, for example, File Explorer. Excel sheets got white and empty. When updated to 23.9.3 then additionally system started to freeze.  I even tried DISM and SFC commands, but those did not help. Then I set down and started to think when all those issues begun and it was middle of summer. So I rolled back to 23.5.2 driver and all my issues are gone now, for now.

So yeah, roll back driver for older one. Lot of people suggest 23.9.1, but I rolled back to 23.5.2.

[Shendrach]

Rolling back to 23.9.1 did it for me. There is occasional flickering, but I am used to that. Maybe one day they will also fix this. No freezing anymore is a bliss nonetheless. 

[sur6e]

Same for me, 23.9.1 is the last one that doesn't have the freezing. I tried 23.9.2 which started the problem, and 23.10.1 today which still has the issue and seems to only freeze up harder/longer/permanently. So I'm back to 9.1.