Windows 8 Pro randomly freezes

grfgurljo

New Member
Messages
4
Hi. This is the third time I'm writing this post because of those God damn freezes (I'm using my friend's laptop this time, cause I really don't feel like writing the post for the 4th time).

I upgraded from Win 7 Home Premium to Win 8 Pro 2 days ago. Everything was fine, till it started freezing for no apparent reason. Yesterday it went for a couple of hours without freezing, but today the maximum time without having to restart it has been around 10 minutes. I'm writing this for the third time, because it froze in like 2 mins after restarting it.

It's getting really annoying, since I don't know what causes it. People said it's Chrome's fault, but my laptop froze a few times without Chrome being on. By freezing I mean the Cursor freezes and then disappears and my screen stays the same no matter what I do. Not even the Caps Lock light functions when I press Caps Lock, everything is dead.

I deleted old software that I wasn't using anyway, I updated my Nvidia Geforce 9400M G driver, I uninstalled my antivirus... I tried all the stuff people suggested (the ones that were having similar issues with those Preview versions) and nothing worked.

I knew it would have some issues being so new, but not like this. I literally can't use my laptop cause no matter what I'm doing it's bound to freeze and I have to press Power Button to force shut down and then start everything over again.

14udkb4.jpg


That's a photo of my frozen screen when I was trying to write this post for the second time.
As I was editing this, my laptop froze again, after 10 minutes of being on. It only had Skype and Task Manager running.

Please help me if you can. If you need any other information, let me know. Thanks.

Hope I did the right thing there with W8 :p
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
Since I'm a Computer Science student, I was able to get a copy of Windows 8 Professional. Strangely enough, I'm having the exact same problem-- the weird thing is, I'm convinced that this wasn't happening during the first few days that I used it. Recently, however, everything just locks up-- mouse, keyboard, video and sound (if any) would all freeze. I'm not sure if it is due to one of my internal components failing coincidentally, but after using Windows 7 for so long, I feel safe saying that I never had a "lock up" like what I'm having. It will go anywhere from 12 hours to 30 seconds (it has frozen at the Windows 8 logo screen ...), but I would say 90% of the time it would freeze when using chrome to view flash videos. Memtests, disc scans and virus scans all turn up clean.

I've tried "bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes", enabling Hyper-V, removing and changing up my graphics drivers, and switching from Chrome to Firefox. I still occasionally get freezes. It would seem that none of the RP fixes are working.

The last changes I made to Windows 8 before it started happening had to be installing a few app updates from the Store app. I was exploring and just happened to see that some apps could be updated, and updated them. Not sure how to undo them though. It also could be due to "improperly" shutting down Windows 8. I noticed that W8 will put the computer into some type of hibernation mode instead of shutting it down normally (which prevents me from going into the BIOS since it just resumes), so I've used a command prompt to shut it down occasionally-- maybe that's messing it up.

I think it may have to do with my graphics card because when it freezes and I restart (via restart button 75% of the time), my computer wont post and my graphics card has this LED light just blinks and makes a weird fan noise (the fan speeds up slightly for half a second, then slows down for a half, then speeds up for a half a second, and repeats) until I hold the power button to turn it off and turn it back on.

When did it start freezing for you? Was it necessarily on your first day of use, or do you think something you might have done or installed could have cause it?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Professional
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
    Motherboard
    Asrock M3A770DE
    Memory
    Generic 2 x 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 5770 (Sapphire Vapor-X)
Same as you, I tried everything other people said on other forums...
The first freeze was like 20 minutes after it finished installing and that evening it kept going like that so I shut it down over the night. I remember I was looking at the various apps and at the time it froze when I would go on an app like "People" or "Messages" or "Weather". However, I did mange to have a look at "Store" and download a couple of apps, inluding Skype (which for some reason didn't work at all, so I deleted it the next way).
The second day (Oct 27) was really random, at some point I could go for a couple of hours before freezing, but mostly it went like 30 mins without a freeze. I updated my Nvidia drivers that night, tried installing Windows updates (all worked but 1 and they only worked after numerous tries, cause it kept freezing while installing/downloading).
Anyway, yesterday was the worst, but only the first part of the day. It didn't last for more than 10 minutes without a freeze. I thought it was Chrome's fault, but it froze even when it wasn't on. Then I tried using IE (BIG mistake, it froze even faster) and then Mozilla (froze in like 5 minutes), so out of these, the longest surviving was Chrome. As I said, I couldn't even post the thread here cause every time it froze before I got to post anything. I had Task Manager open all the time, but nothing was out of the ordinary, kept watching it, the figures were random.
Funny thing is, not long after I posted here it didn't have freezes anymore. I've had my laptop on all night, it's been on for like 20 hours now, all fine. What I did between "freezing non-stop" and now was I reinstalled the same Nvidia drivers (cause the little flag on the right said "Solve a problem with Nvidia Graphics Driver", but that message is still there, so apparently nothing changed) and I managed to partly install an important update from Windows Update. I couldn't donwload/install KB2756872 at all at first, but somehow I managed yesterday, but not completely, cause it still says 'failed' (got error code 80073712). I think I struggled for a few hours before I managed to install it. However, I'm confused, cause it says it was 'failed', but but it still said "restart to finish installing updates" (so I did, and it did configure Windows as if installing updates). Anyway, that's the major change it went through that seemed to have done the trick. Also, I didn't start Task Manager anymore :p
Back when it was freezing, I kept uninstalling old software (I unistalled loads of things, including my anti-virus) that I wasn't using, but it didn't make any difference at all, that KB2756872 seems to have changed something. The thing is "When you install update package KB 2756872 from Windows Update, KB 2761094 and KB 2764870 are included in the installation of update package KB 2756872."
So my guess is... the update was failed, cause it only managed to install 1 out of those 2...
Have you managed to install all the updates available? As I said, I struggled a lot till I managed to do that, but I can't think of anything else that made a difference. I haven't had a freeze since I had to (normally, from Power options) restart to install that update.
Oh, and I have a friend who also does Comp Sci and got his for free and he hasn't had any issues at all, as a matter of fact he was really surprised when I told him about mine.
So... maybe someone who knows computers better than I do can make something out of it.
I'm a bit reluctant to shut my laptop down though, to be fair. If it helps, I'm using an Acer Aspire 5737Z.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
Hi. Think its a problem with the wireless device. I switched to a Jenssen USB wireless device and things are all ok. Even Chrome works fine. But when I switch back to internal wifi device it rapidly freezes. I run W8 on a MacBook dual core, via boot camp. W8 is really a quick system.
Liveman
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
To be fair, one of the optional updates included the WiFi adaptor, but that particular update didn't quite do anything at the time. However, I looked at the Event Manager and around the freezes there was an error regarding DHCP, so it I guess it might have been something regarding the Internet.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
Have you managed to install all the updates available? As I said, I struggled a lot till I managed to do that, but I can't think of anything else that made a difference. I haven't had a freeze since I had to (normally, from Power options) restart to install that update.
Oh, and I have a friend who also does Comp Sci and got his for free and he hasn't had any issues at all, as a matter of fact he was really surprised when I told him about mine.
So... maybe someone who knows computers better than I do can make something out of it.
I'm a bit reluctant to shut my laptop down though, to be fair. If it helps, I'm using an Acer Aspire 5737Z.

The last time I checked, I believe I installed all of the "important" updates, excluding this one optional update about a camera driver (lol, I'm using a desktop with no cam). I'm using a desktop that I built ~1-2 years ago that hasn't had any freezing problems since.

I've yet to tried a clean install, but yesterday my uptime was about 6 hours. Then I had to leave for about an hour, so I put it into sleep mode. Once I resumed, within ~15 minutes it resumed a freezing frenzy, freezing every ~10 minutes after each restart. After a while it stopped and I was able to get some homework done without any problems. I really wonder what's causing this for me. It shouldn't be overheating because my CPU temps stay around 40C on light tasks and GPU temps around the same. I plan on installing a better heatsink when it arrives (because the fan speed does tend to get a bit 'scary' when gaming), but I know that won't make much of a difference.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Professional
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
    Motherboard
    Asrock M3A770DE
    Memory
    Generic 2 x 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 5770 (Sapphire Vapor-X)
The annoying part is that it seems so random... my laptop has been on for like 30 hours now with no incidents, I've used a few programs at the same time, no problem whatsoever and Chrome with loads of tabs open. It's all fine for the time being.
Don't think it's the overheating that's causing it. I for one have a cooling pad, so heat is not an issue.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
Once I turned on my computer today after using it for about 6 hours the night before, it started up again. I don't really know what's up-- I've since switched back to the Windows 7 partition. No freezes, even when running 3DMark or Prime95. I don't really have time to keep trying to see what's wrong since I have to get my homework done.

Nonetheless, I'm glad it seems that your problem seemed to resolved itself.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Professional
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
    Motherboard
    Asrock M3A770DE
    Memory
    Generic 2 x 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 5770 (Sapphire Vapor-X)
I'm having the same issue with my machine. I have a samsung NP700Z7C-S01US and I recently installed windows 8. It was running fine for a few days but suddenly started "freezing" randomly today. I put the freezin in quotations because the machine still lets me use my mouse, but won't let me start, open or do anything it just hangs on loading. I can freely switch to the start menu but trying to open anything such as chrome doesn't do anything and doesn't let it load. I left the task manager open before this issue happened and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary happening before this occurred. The machine won't let me restart and hitting the power button or sign out on ctrl+alt+Del menu just makes it hang on loading. The only thing that's worked so far is putting the wifi on airplane mode and unplugging the machine which makes it go into blue screen mode and restart and it tells me to look up DRIVER_POWER_ERROR when it boots up again.

If anyone knows anything about this or can help please let me know... I was loving win 8 until this but I'm thinking of reverting back until the hardware compatibility issues are fixed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
I'm having the same issue with my machine. I have a samsung NP700Z7C-S01US and I recently installed windows 8. It was running fine for a few days but suddenly started "freezing" randomly today. I put the freezin in quotations because the machine still lets me use my mouse, but won't let me start, open or do anything it just hangs on loading. I can freely switch to the start menu but trying to open anything such as chrome doesn't do anything and doesn't let it load. I left the task manager open before this issue happened and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary happening before this occurred. The machine won't let me restart and hitting the power button or sign out on ctrl+alt+Del menu just makes it hang on loading. The only thing that's worked so far is putting the wifi on airplane mode and unplugging the machine which makes it go into blue screen mode and restart and it tells me to look up DRIVER_POWER_ERROR when it boots up again.

If anyone knows anything about this or can help please let me know... I was loving win 8 until this but I'm thinking of reverting back until the hardware compatibility issues are fixed.

I know right? I really like Windows 8 despite what "people" are saying about it. But I can't bear the freezing (complete lockups in m case) because it's just too random.

If you haven't already, why not try the known Windows 8 RP fixes? One was typing "bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes" via cmd
and another was enabling Hyper-V since it was said to help remedy crashes. Someone people also say Chrome causes freeze ups.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Professional
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
    Motherboard
    Asrock M3A770DE
    Memory
    Generic 2 x 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 5770 (Sapphire Vapor-X)
I'm having the same problem. It will randomly freeze and the keyboard/mouse/trackpad will not work; the only solution I've found is holding the power button till it turns off. The problem tended to happen when I was using a web browser(Firefox, Chrom, and IE). On the most recent freeze I had just finished playing Orcs Must Die 2 from steam for 40 minutes with no problems till I switched to Chrome to check Facebook. My computer is a Mid 2009 Macbook Pro. 2.53 Core 2 Duo, 8gb RAM, nVidia GeForce 9400M, running with bootcamp. All bootcamp and windows updates and drivers installed.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64bit
Same here though I'v experienced it onle once. I was using 'MSI' live update and the computer froze and now I cannot start windows 8 or 7 for that matter (I have both on each partition). It just stays there in the boot proces with circle animation and sometimes it says it prepairs for automatic repair or something, but nothing really happens.

Using the windows 7 (f8) for debugging, it stops at \windows\system32\drivers\disk.sys - Windows 8 tells me nothing as it does not enter repair mode and there seems no 'f8' function...

Any suggestion what to do?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 7/8
My system kept freezing over and over again same way as mentioned here in this thread, all between almost directly after login and till 30 minutes later, I got the feeling it was related to Chrome somehow but couldn't find why since it happened even if Chrome nor any other browser were running.

The solution, that now seems to work for me, was to uninstall Flash trough Control Panel -> Uninstall a program (Can't remember exact name).

I feared that now I wouldn't be able to even check a Youtube video but the uninstall only affected Firefox, and somehow both Chrome and IE10 have own flash plugins that are still working and the best of all is that the system dont hang/freeze any more!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 pro
My system kept freezing over and over again same way as mentioned here in this thread, all between almost directly after login and till 30 minutes later, I got the feeling it was related to Chrome somehow but couldn't find why since it happened even if Chrome nor any other browser were running.

The solution, that now seems to work for me, was to uninstall Flash trough Control Panel -> Uninstall a program (Can't remember exact name).

I feared that now I wouldn't be able to even check a Youtube video but the uninstall only affected Firefox, and somehow both Chrome and IE10 have own flash plugins that are still working and the best of all is that the system dont hang/freeze any more!

I just tried that and the problem remains.

I'm starting to get pretty upset. I can't use my computer AT ALL. It will freeze up in games, on the internet, staring at the desktop, typing a document.... I can't pinpoint the cause to anything.

And I've tried to. I tried the RP fixes for freezing issues, didn't work. I re-installed and updated my graphics card and motherboard drivers, didn't work. Updated my motherboard BIOS, didn't work.

What's really driving me crazy is that W8 worked perfectly fine for a week. Then, a couple days ago, it starts freezing. And I hadn't made any system changes or installed anything from the period right before it stopped functioning properly. Then the freezing starts happening more and more often. Now, I can't use my computer for more than 30 minutes to an hour without having to do a hard shutdown.

However, I have noticed an error in my system event log that may be relevant. My Intel 82583V network port gets a "Network link has been disconnected" error from source e1qexpress. But, I've uninstalled and re-installed my network drivers and even switched Ethernet ports on my motherboard. So, once again, this doesn't seem to be the issue.

I am lost.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    N/A
    CPU
    Intel i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    Asus Maximus IV Extreme
    Memory
    2x4gb Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI TFIII GTX 560Ti 448 Core
    Sound Card
    Asus Xonar Essence STX
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic 24" LED
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Curcial M4 128gb SSD
    WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD
    PSU
    Corsair AX850
    Case
    Corsair 600D
    Cooling
    Corsair H60
    Keyboard
    Steelseries 6Gv2
    Mouse
    Cyborg RAT7
    Internet Speed
    not very nice.
My system kept freezing over and over again same way as mentioned here in this thread, all between almost directly after login and till 30 minutes later, I got the feeling it was related to Chrome somehow but couldn't find why since it happened even if Chrome nor any other browser were running.

The solution, that now seems to work for me, was to uninstall Flash trough Control Panel -> Uninstall a program (Can't remember exact name).

I feared that now I wouldn't be able to even check a Youtube video but the uninstall only affected Firefox, and somehow both Chrome and IE10 have own flash plugins that are still working and the best of all is that the system dont hang/freeze any more!


Update...

So the problem came back for me today when starting Windows 8 even tho it was working fine all yesterday evening.

And I have now found (after more troubleshooting) that it is (for me atleast) my SSD system hard drive (The infamous OCZ Vertex 2) that causes the freezes/hangs when it's reaching corrupted/bad sectors (Check Disk keeps hang/freeze the computer at the same percent every time). Did install new firmware to SSD now and did a secure erase on it and re-installed Windows 8. Working fine now but ofc never know for how long, last way out is to send it on warranty back if it keeps producing bad/corruped sectors.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 pro
As mentioned previously, I have since switched back to Windows 7 and have not had any freezing or anything of the sort.

However, this has led me to believe that the issue with the freezing has to do with some hardware and drivers, or more specifically, devices that are connected to your computer with drivers prior to Windows 8 (or even Windows 7). Like someone mentioned before, I think in my case it has to do with my wireless network adapter-- it's pretty old and I think the driver on the CD don't even extend to Windows 7. When I would unplug it and boot into Windows 8, I would be able to do a few things without it freezing (I didn't stay too long because I didn't like the fact that it could freeze randomly).

So anyways, try experimenting with "old", or prior W8 devices. Just throwing out a thought since it seems like no one has any answers.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Professional
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE
    Motherboard
    Asrock M3A770DE
    Memory
    Generic 2 x 2GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 5770 (Sapphire Vapor-X)
I have the same problem with an ASUS N73JQ. More often with Firefox 16.2 than with Chrome. But sometimes when I am not connected. It's strange because there is nothing in the event logs. Yesterday, after a crash, each time I tried to restart : crash. Even after a restoration. Finally, I succeed with safe mode and only after I have disabled some services ASUS (Hcontrol.exe, ATK)... No problem since yesterday, but I am not at all sure that the problem is solved.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
I have been having a similar, if not the same problem with Win8 - System freezes, however after about 5-10 seconds, my screen changes color. Mostly to gray, but has changed red or black. The only way to reboot my system is to hold the power button for 10 seconds. This happened during RTM release, Evaluation release and now the official release. One thing i noticed, is my system was running fine until i enabled Hyper-V, that's when the crashes appear to have started happening. So yesterday afternoon, i removed Hyper-V, and now my system has not crashed since.

Can anyone else confirm this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8
My system kept freezing over and over again same way as mentioned here in this thread, all between almost directly after login and till 30 minutes later, I got the feeling it was related to Chrome somehow but couldn't find why since it happened even if Chrome nor any other browser were running.

The solution, that now seems to work for me, was to uninstall Flash trough Control Panel -> Uninstall a program (Can't remember exact name).

I feared that now I wouldn't be able to even check a Youtube video but the uninstall only affected Firefox, and somehow both Chrome and IE10 have own flash plugins that are still working and the best of all is that the system dont hang/freeze any more!


Update...

So the problem came back for me today when starting Windows 8 even tho it was working fine all yesterday evening.

And I have now found (after more troubleshooting) that it is (for me atleast) my SSD system hard drive (The infamous OCZ Vertex 2) that causes the freezes/hangs when it's reaching corrupted/bad sectors (Check Disk keeps hang/freeze the computer at the same percent every time). Did install new firmware to SSD now and did a secure erase on it and re-installed Windows 8. Working fine now but ofc never know for how long, last way out is to send it on warranty back if it keeps producing bad/corruped sectors.

Wow, my SSD was at fault, too. Crucial M4.
I wonder if the upgrade is what screwed it up. Nawwww.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    N/A
    CPU
    Intel i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    Asus Maximus IV Extreme
    Memory
    2x4gb Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI TFIII GTX 560Ti 448 Core
    Sound Card
    Asus Xonar Essence STX
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic 24" LED
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Curcial M4 128gb SSD
    WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD
    PSU
    Corsair AX850
    Case
    Corsair 600D
    Cooling
    Corsair H60
    Keyboard
    Steelseries 6Gv2
    Mouse
    Cyborg RAT7
    Internet Speed
    not very nice.
Exactly the same problem here, fresh install of windows 8 on release day, no problems whatsoever until last night, i was on the start screen and my mouse suddenly froze, i restarted and assumed it was a 1 off, it's been doing it more today, sometimes after a few hours sometimes after 10 minutes of booting. I've run tests on the hardware but i think the problem is software related. As someone else experienced, i've not had it happen during demanding games, it's usually when i'm in a web browser.

One thing that might be worth checking, when was Java installed (if at all)? I was forced to install java just a couple of hours before the freezing started, and that is something that isn't usually installed right away with a new OS, but when it's needed by software or site. Which if it's the cause, explains why everything was working fine for the first week.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    CPU
    i5 750
    Motherboard
    Asus P7P55D-LX
    Memory
    OCZ 4gb 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI 7850
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