Win11 often freezes or crashes, yet the VM remains active.
Win11 often freezes or crashes, yet the VM remains active.
Hey everyone,
I'm facing some unusual issues and before making the big reset, I wanted to check if anyone could identify the main problem—it looks quite different from the symptoms we're seeing...
Currently, I'm using Windows 11 on a Ryzen 9500X. The system is becoming increasingly unstable. It began when the machine was idle for a while; it would simply shut down completely on all screens (power-saving after about 15 minutes), and then after some time one screen would appear with a black display (background lights on, but only a black image). The PC became unresponsive and needed a hard reset.
The problem has intensified: freezing also occurs during idle when the monitors are still on. Occasionally, the screen freezes entirely, showing a black or inverted frame. Then, blue screens appeared (DPC watchdog violation).
It seems to be linked to graphics output, sometimes with distorted signals. I replaced the graphics card with another 3080, but it didn’t help. So I removed the GPU from consideration.
There’s also an odd occurrence: when I really use the machine—or run a VM in the background (VMWare Workstation)—it never crashes. It appears the CPU virtualization is preventing this.
I ran stress tests on RAM using memtest86 for 8 hours straight—no errors. The CPU was tested in Windows; it only crashed after being idle.
Given all this, I’m pretty sure my Windows installation might be faulty. I booted into a live Linux from a USB stick, and it froze after some idle time too. This suggests a hardware problem.
I plan to reinstall Windows and see how far I can go with a fresh system. However, I have a lot of configured software and backups, so I’m not sure if that would help. The Linux from USB also freezing isn’t promising either.
Any advice on what to do next? Help figuring out whether the issue is software or hardware?
Thanks a lot!
Hunchi
Welcome to the forums, newcomer! I noticed the graphics output issues seem linked to graphics output and sometimes distorted results. I replaced the graphics card with another 3080, but nothing changed. So I’m focusing on the GPU problems.
Another approach you might try is using DDU to remove all GPU drivers from your system, then manually reinstalling the latest driver for your RTX3080 via an elevated command—Right click installer > Run as Administrator.
For context, what BIOS version do you have installed on your motherboard?
Regarding your operating system, if you decide to reinstall it, be sure to recreate the installer using Windows Media Creation Tools to avoid a corrupted setup.
PSU: Fractal Design Ion+ 860P
How long has your PSU been in your build?
Also check the Reliability History/Monitor for any error codes, alerts, or informational entries captured right before or during the freezes/crashes. It’s much more user-friendly than Event Viewer and easier to navigate. The timeline view might also show patterns in the crashes.
The age of that Fractal Design PSU is unclear, but it has been heavily used for gaming, video editing, or event bit-mining. More errors and different error types suggest it could be a likely cause.
Hi everyone,
Thanks for your feedback so far. It took me some time to manage the details.
Bios Version: F16f (current), previous models F15something, same problems
Reliability History: Thank you! I wasn’t familiar with the tool. No specific data except one driver (MuseFX Hub) that kept failing regularly. I removed it and didn’t make any changes.
PSU: The power supply is no more than 2 years old (around November 2021). I used it for a while before stopping mining. I replaced it with another BeQuiet model, which works well on another system. Still experiencing issues. Also, RAM load tests and memtest ran without problems, so it’s likely not a power-related issue.
DDU / Graphics driver: I tried restarting into safe mode, but the system would freeze completely (once it reaches safe mode it becomes unresponsive). If it does reach safe mode, it usually gets stuck in a loop trying to fix the OS before freezing.
So here’s what happened:
I removed all SSDs, but the original OS SSD I formatted finally… When using the new USB stick as a Windows installer, it didn’t install properly (different error messages: “This PC is not fit for Win 11” and later issues). I tried swapping SSDs multiple times and putting the same one in again – eventually it worked.
But once the installer finishes and I boot from the SSD, it crashes after 1 to 5 minutes. This happens even when still trying to boot.
I removed all SSDs and used an old HDD instead. The same problem occurred: installation succeeded, but crashing after booting from HDD. The HDD works fine on other systems.
I also attempted to boot a live Linux (UEFI) from the USB stick – it sometimes crashes during booting, but usually stabilizes in the last few seconds after the system appears.
Overall, I’m quite confused. If I had to guess without any technical hints: Some PCIe lanes might be damaged? The north bridge? Anything wrong with UEFI?
What bothers me most is that the system runs perfectly in BIOS for hours, just checking health, and does memtest without any freezes or errors.
I’m not sure about much else except the CPU and hardware board. I’ve built systems since 2000 and usually know what’s going on… but this one is really tricky to diagnose.
Any suggestions?
So… after getting the new mainboard, the same thing happened. Eventually, I replaced the CPU with an older 1700x — that worked out. The final decision was to go with the Ryzen 5900x.
According to AMD now, it’s only been two years… so hoping for the best.
The part I least anticipated failing was this one. How could something like this happen? It never faced extreme stress and had a 360 AIO on top. Sure, I was pushing it hard with a 9 series machine, but nothing unusual at all.