Many games experience frequent random crashes.
Many games experience frequent random crashes.
Over the last couple of months, the games have occasionally stalled for a few seconds every few minutes. The main clue is that when you open Task Manager, the system and controller app spikes heavily in CPU usage. In Halo Infinite, loading assets during gameplay—like models, environment details, scope overlays, and crosshair—takes an unusually long time. I’m running on Windows 10 with a Dell Inspiron 7567, an Intel i5 7300HQ processor, a 1050 Ti, and 16GB RAM. It’s quite old now, but I’m hoping it can last until a framework update is available. Anyone know what might be causing this? Most people seem to report the same problem without a clear solution.
I believe it's not about storage capacity. My games are divided between a 1TB HDD and a Seagate 4TB external drive, yet they function equally well no matter which drive is used.
Is your windows on that hard drive per chance? The freezing is the system having to wait for the hard drive to catch-up with it. I would recommend getting an SSD. This should fix your issue.
Windows runs on its own dedicated SSD with 256GB capacity, since the main drive is too limited for additional storage.
Storage considerations or dust accumulation? It's been a while, but I'm not sure if it's overheating. It only does that during games that don't stress the system heavily, and it also happens when starting fresh.
It seems both Halo Infinite and MCC are experiencing crashes during startup, even after moving them to an SSD. I checked the files but found nothing changed. Updated: MCC launched normally but later ran out of VRAM in the main menu, causing constant crashes and a specific error message about software exception. The issue also appeared when the HDMI port on my laptop failed, requiring a restart before I could connect my external monitor as my primary display.
Dust could be an issue—checking around the heatsinks and fans might help. During freezes, do you notice the CPU and GPU speeds displayed? That would be useful. Are you playing the Master Chief Collection? Have you only tried these games on an SSD? Did Halo Infinite crash at startup before you began troubleshooting? Do you see any error messages when it crashes? Are your GPU drivers current? Is Steam installed on your SSD or HDD? How much space remains on your SSD? Are other programs running in the background while gaming? You might try turning off the Steam overlay to see if it prevents crashes at startup.