Solved PC Crashing (not vague)

PC Crashing

Hi,

(I am not sure if this should be in the crashing/debugging section, but I have no BSOD, so..)

My PC has been crashing a lot recently, and MBAM and avast! scans show no issues.

For example, I can make file explorer crash simply by dragging a file onto the task bar, so it can be dropped onto a program or folder; EVERY time I try to do so, it will totally freeze and crash.

I have to use Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Task manager, and it shows that file explorer has crashed, and another process will show up directly after, "COM Surrogate", and will usually have around 25% CPU. I have virus scanned the file and it shows nothing abnormal.

Restarting the file explorer or ending task and creating a new one fix the issue but it will happen again the moment I attempt to drag and drop again. Apps (and windows) also crash very regularly.

Here is the reliability monitor view (weeks):



And the recent "Informational Events":



Has anyone been experiencing similar issues? Are any of the windows updates or informational events recognizable as something that might cause this? (Ignore the balance drivers, these are not the cause)

I really need help. Thanks!

Laptop Specs:

Model: Dell Inspiron 7000 Series 15" Build 7428
Processor: 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-5500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
OS: Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Display: 15.6-inch 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) Touch Display
Memory: 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx2)
Hard drive: 1TB 5.4k HDD [1TB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive]
Video card: AMD Radeon R7 M270 4GB DDR3
Wireless: 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1

No hardware was changed? What other "things" have been downloaded and changed recently.. assuming it didn't do that when you took it out of the box and used it the first time right?

have you disabled all the startup items in task manager?

try running safe mode and try to get that same problem?

troubleshooting time..

I wonder if it's worth going down the Macrium Image backup route (you make an image of your whole computer that you can just put right back..) and reinstall windows to see if you get this problem after a clean reinstall..

but that's for later.. just start disabled all the programs in startup and maybe look at these :

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx

and

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, I think I found the problem. I disabled a start up program and it seems to work now. The program might have also caused the other application crashes now that I think about it

Thanks

NicholasUE said:

Hi,
(I am not sure if this should be in the crashing/debugging section, but I have no BSOD, so..)
My PC has been crashing a lot recently, and MBAM and avast! scans show no issues.
For example, I can make file explorer crash simply by dragging a file onto the task bar, so it can be dropped onto a program or folder; EVERY time I try to do so, it will totally freeze and crash.
I have to use Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Task manager, and it shows that file explorer has crashed, and another process will show up directly after, "COM Surrogate", and will usually have around 25% CPU. I have virus scanned the file and it shows nothing abnormal.
Restarting the file explorer or ending task and creating a new one fix the issue but it will happen again the moment I attempt to drag and drop again. Apps (and windows) also crash very regularly.
Here is the reliability monitor view (weeks):
And the recent "Informational Events":

View attachment 66921

Has anyone been experiencing similar issues? Are any of the windows updates or informational events recognizable as something that might cause this? (Ignore the balance drivers, these are not the cause)
I really need help. Thanks!
Laptop Specs:
Model: Dell Inspiron 7000 Series 15" Build 7428
Processor: 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-5500U Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
OS: Windows 8.1 (64Bit) English
Display: 15.6-inch 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) Touch Display
Memory: 16GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (8GBx2)
Hard drive: 1TB 5.4k HDD [1TB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive]
Video card: AMD Radeon R7 M270 4GB DDR3
Wireless: 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1

Click to expand...

The number of things that can cause a catastrophic CRASH (total and instant power off) can range from a bad mouse or keyboard, to a bad cell of ram.
But For Whatever it's worth to you...... as a working Computer tech, I'd strongly advise that you get rid of Avast.
I just took it off of a friends PC, installed AVG 2016 FREE, and ran a scan, and AVG found and removed 36 viruses that were living right under Avast's nose. So, if you want to be Virus Free, don't rely on Avast.

You may want to check your RAM memory, with a program like "Memtest 86+" run from a boot disk.
(you can download the ISO to make that boot disk)
It's most efficient if you check just ONE stick of ram at a time.

Good Luck,
TechnoMage