W10 crashes, no error messages of any kind.

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Aredwood

3885 posts

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#230549 1-Mar-2018 00:43

As above, whatever is displayed on the screens continues to be displayed. But everything else is completely unresponsive. Only a hard reset or power cycle gets the computer out of the crash.

On restart, it boots just fine. Again without any error messages. It doesn't even display a "you didn't shutdown your computer correctly" message.

Are there any hidden log files, a monitoring program etc that I could enable or check? As at this stage I don't even know if I have a software fault or a hardware fault.

gbwelly

1243 posts

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#1966262 1-Mar-2018 07:43

I find a hard lock up like that usually comes back to a failing graphics card.

timmmay

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#1966269 1-Mar-2018 08:05

Could be bad RAM, maybe. Not a typical symptom but worth checking. Run HCI Memtest overnight, or for longer if you can. The free version tests 2GB of RAM at a time, so if you have 16GB RAM you need to run multiple instances, taking into account the OS takes some RAM. For 16 GB RAM you might assume 1GB RAM used by OS, so 15 / 2 = 7 instances.

smalltrader

174 posts

Master Geek

#1966293 1-Mar-2018 08:51

Hard lock up is usually a HW related problem. It could be CPU, RAM, graphic card or the motherboard or a combination of the above. Suggest start trouble shooting with RAM first.

I once had a similar issue about 18 months ago with a new build with parts from PB Tech. Experienced random hard lock up. Only way to recover is to power cycle, not even pressing the reset button will bring it to life. At the end it was a Gigabyte motherboard issue or perhaps the Intel Chipset on the motherboard. Motherboard was replaced and all is well again. Tool over 4 months to trouble shoot as it was random and machine could go for week without problems and then lock up.

mdf

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#1966357 1-Mar-2018 09:58

Have you looked at the event logger? It's... thorough. When I was having repeated crashing issues I spent quite a bit of time going through that. It didn't provide an exact answer, but did help narrow down a few possibilities (in my case, reseating the SSD fixed the problem).

Aredwood

3885 posts

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#1973671 13-Mar-2018 00:02

Update - Have replaced the graphics card. So far it hasn't locked up again. But need to run it for longer to confirm.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Linuxluver

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#1973674 13-Mar-2018 00:23

Aredwood: As above, whatever is displayed on the screens continues to be displayed. But everything else is completely unresponsive. Only a hard reset or power cycle gets the computer out of the crash.

On restart, it boots just fine. Again without any error messages. It doesn't even display a "you didn't shutdown your computer correctly" message.

Are there any hidden log files, a monitoring program etc that I could enable or check? As at this stage I don't even know if I have a software fault or a hardware fault.

I get this too.

W10 crashes completely every 3 days.

The system is an upgrade from an earlier OS, so I can't just do a re-install......maybe that's the idea: force me to buy a copy of W10 and do a fresh install.

The system says it has "low memory"........and things crash.

But the virtual memory is windows managed.....and the Task Manager says memory is only 30% used.

Doesn't matter.....it gets worse and worse until the desktop crashes.

But it can be working fine...and I leave it running for a couple of days and come back and it's black-screen dead....no messages.

I just power it off and on and away I go. Good for another day or so......

The system is on an SSD with no errors or bad sectors. Page files are on a mix of SSD and spinning metal.

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dan

1134 posts

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#1973716 13-Mar-2018 08:10

Linuxluver:

The system is an upgrade from an earlier OS, so I can't just do a re-install......maybe that's the idea: force me to buy a copy of W10 and do a fresh install.

Linux propaganda? :) yes, you can reinstall, and no, you dont have to buy another copy if you already have Windows 10. you simple click "i dont have a product key" during the Win 10

reinstallation, and it will automatically activate itself online after Windows is installed and online since you already had Win10 on that hardware

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Linuxluver

5828 posts

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#1976731 14-Mar-2018 20:30

dan:

Linuxluver:

The system is an upgrade from an earlier OS, so I can't just do a re-install......maybe that's the idea: force me to buy a copy of W10 and do a fresh install.

Linux propaganda? :) yes, you can reinstall, and no, you dont have to buy another copy if you already have Windows 10. you simple click "i dont have a product key" during the Win 10

reinstallation, and it will automatically activate itself online after Windows is installed and online since you already had Win10 on that hardware

First I've heard of that. :-) Thanks.

My main Linux these days is Android.

Otherwise.....things happen for real just as I described.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

lurker

831 posts

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#1976820 14-Mar-2018 22:53

My son's old PC started crashing regularly after an update, turning off "Turn on fast startup" from the Power Options did the trick.

This was in relation to some Northbridge errors that had started showing up in Event Viewer following one of the Win10 updates.

It was strange in that the setting relates to startup but the crashes would be happening well into a gaming session.

But turning off the setting definitely solved the problem

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1976970 15-Mar-2018 09:46

lurker:

My son's old PC started crashing regularly after an update, turning off "Turn on fast startup" from the Power Options did the trick.

This was in relation to some Northbridge errors that had started showing up in Event Viewer following one of the Win10 updates.

It was strange in that the setting relates to startup but the crashes would be happening well into a gaming session.

But turning off the setting definitely solved the problem

Turning that off solves alot of problems.
MS should have it off by default.

nunz

1421 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1978538 16-Mar-2018 11:26

Linuxluver:

Aredwood: As above, whatever is displayed on the screens continues to be displayed. But everything else is completely unresponsive. Only a hard reset or power cycle gets the computer out of the crash.

On restart, it boots just fine. Again without any error messages. It doesn't even display a "you didn't shutdown your computer correctly" message.

Are there any hidden log files, a monitoring program etc that I could enable or check? As at this stage I don't even know if I have a software fault or a hardware fault.

I get this too.

W10 crashes completely every 3 days.

The system is an upgrade from an earlier OS, so I can't just do a re-install......maybe that's the idea: force me to buy a copy of W10 and do a fresh install.

The system says it has "low memory"........and things crash.

But the virtual memory is windows managed.....and the Task Manager says memory is only 30% used.

Doesn't matter.....it gets worse and worse until the desktop crashes.

But it can be working fine...and I leave it running for a couple of days and come back and it's black-screen dead....no messages.

I just power it off and on and away I go. Good for another day or so......

The system is on an SSD with no errors or bad sectors. Page files are on a mix of SSD and spinning metal.

Definitely a reinstall - I hate Win10 as an upgrade - sooo flakey. I suggest Mint or Bhodi linux. Fixed all my windows ten issues perfectly :b but if you go to nirsoft.net they have an app that willl pull out windows license info (produkey) so you can reinstall and use that license key again. Win10 is a free download from MS.