PC developed a weird problem that my mediocre skills can't solve. Anybody recommend any in-home repair/geek squad type companies?
PC developed a weird problem that my mediocre skills can't solve. Anybody recommend any in-home repair/geek squad type companies?
What's the problem? There are a number of folks with technical skills around here who might be able to help troubleshoot or may have encountered your issue before.
Taskbar freezes. Every few minutes it’s unresponsive. Ctrl alt del to open task mgr solves it just by opening and canceling out.
I tried all that google had to offer. Sfc scan, powershell, created new windows 10 user account, restarted windows explorer, ran memory scan, file checker, dism image scan
No, appeared just a couple days ago. I can’t prove it, but my kid was working on a google docs slideshow for school and left it open. Next time I used it slideshow was frozen open. Sometime after that I noticed issue. Maybe coincidence
Quoted from Wickerman2:Newer PC as well, had it just a few months
What brand PC?
Do you have an antivirus/firewall?
Load Control Panel (you can use windows search to find it on your machine) and go to uninstall program, then click at the top of the date column to sort by the install date of the programs on the list. Were any programs listed as installed around when you started having this problem? If so what is it?
If your file system's screwed up, it can cause these issues if it's NOT an infection. You need to run the system file checker. There's a post on how to do it here:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-scan-windows-10-files-with-sfc-scannow.2498567/
Quoted from PinMonk:What brand PC?
It's a custom build ibuypower: System: Intel Core i7-8700K Six-Core Processor 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Max Turbo) | 16GB DDR4-2666MHz RAM | 1TB Solid state Drive | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Quoted from PinMonk:Do you have an antivirus/firewall?
Trend Micro Maximum Security plus standard Windows Security
Latest program installs were Nvidia display drivers/updates, Firefox update, everything else was over a week before I saw any issues--those were the last Windows updates to visual C ++
Quoted from Wickerman2:It's a custom build ibuypower: System: Intel Core i7-8700K Six-Core Processor 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Max Turbo) | 16GB DDR4-2666MHz RAM | 1TB Solid state Drive | Genuine Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Trend Micro Maximum Security plus standard Windows Security
Latest program installs were Nvidia display drivers/updates, Firefox update, everything else was over a week before I saw any issues--those were the last Windows updates to visual C ++
Yeah, then I'd do the SFC next using the instructions at that link to see if your file system has been corrupted. If it has, that will fix it in most cases.
Also, what brand is the SSD? Some of the crap brands do not have a great record with length of uncorrupted service.
Try installing the free version of malwarebytes (downloaded direct from their site ONLY) and see if it finds anything. It often takes care of things antivirus misses.
Quoted from Wickerman2:ADATA SU800 SSD
Ugh. ADATA has a really bad failure record. They are a bottom-tier producer scraping nand seconds from manufacturers to make their drives.
You have a recent backup, right? If not, make one.
I'm not sure if crystal disk info works with SSDs, but you basically need to check out that drive's SMART data ASAP.
If that comes up clear, then I'd try the malwarebytes, but I wouldn't stress that drive any more than you have to until you know it's not failing.
Quoted from PinMonk:try the malwarebytes
got 1 "potentially unwanted" and I think that's a false positive:
PUP.Optional.InstallCore, C:\USERS\JFK18\DOWNLOADS\PDFTOJPG_SETUP.MSI, No Action By User, [447], [528787],1.0.12269
Quoted from Wickerman2:got 1 "potentially unwanted" and I think that's a false positive:
PUP.Optional.InstallCore, C:\USERS\JFK18\DOWNLOADS\PDFTOJPG_SETUP.MSI, No Action By User, [447], [528787],1.0.12269
That's a PDF to JPG converter that can serve adware or spy on you, making your system potentially unstable. "PUP" in malware-speak stands for "potentially unwanted program" which can be an actual program installed, or, in this case some plug-in or attachment to your browser, more likely.
I'd let it remove that, then reboot and see what you get.
Quoted from Wickerman2:Not sure how crystal operates will try and post pic[quoted image]
You don't want the performance, you want the health. The main screen of CrystalDiskInfo tells you all the hard drive health stats.
(you can get a clean screen grab by clicking on the window you want to capture, then hitting ALT-PrtSc then opening MSPaint (if you don't have something better like photoshop) and hitting CTRL-V to paste it in, then save it as a jpg)
The CrystalDiskInfo page you're looking for is this - you see it when it boots up:
crystal-disk-info (resized).jpg
Quoted from Wickerman2:It tests automatically? Just by opening correct? Or do I need to select stuff and run it?
It's reading the drive's diagnostic block(s) when it opens. The drive keeps those stats all the time.
I don't see anything on that, but still suspicious of ADATA drives. Make SURE you keep a backup, because it could suddenly just stop completely.
Did you have MWB remove the PUP and reboot?
Quoted from PinMonk:Did you have MWB remove the PUP and reboot?
It had quarantine as an option so I did that and restarted(didn't see a delete option). Still having issue.
Quoted from PinMonk:Make SURE you keep a backup
I have carbonite, that should capture most of files correct?
When was the last antivirus definition installed? Was it around the time the issue started?
Also, when this happens, try ALT-Tab to window switch through the open windows instead and see if the "freeze" is actually a message/alert window that's active off-screen. That would LOOK like a freeze, but not actually be one.
Also, you might want to try making an additional user login for your machine then logging off your existing one completely and logging into the new one you created and seeing if the problem persists.
Quoted from PinMonk:antivirus definition
I'll have to figure out where I find that in the Trend Micro console
Quoted from PinMonk:When was the last antivirus definition installed?
I can tell it's up to date, I don't know how to tell when they checked in the past. I think they check every few hours for updates. Not sure if there's a log of any sort.
Quoted from Wickerman2:I'll have to figure out where I find that in the Trend Micro console
Also, I forgot about Event Viewer. You can check out the internal events Windows logs to see if it give you a clue about what's happening internally. Use windows search to find the event viewer on your machine then check the logs around the times you had freezes.
Quoted from Wickerman2:I can tell it's up to date, I don't know how to tell when they checked in the past. I think they check every few hours for updates. Not sure if there's a log of any sort.
Don't use Trend Micro, so I can't help there. Just trying to see if a definition or program update was installed around the time you noticed issues. Most decent AV have a log, but I don't know where that would be with TM.
Quoted from Wickerman2:just tried--just shows Chrome, no other windows
What are the plug-ins installed on Chrome, and when were they installed?
Quoted from PinMonk:Event Viewer.
Lots of info there...no idea what any of it means!
289C374E-2CF8-4B6B-A2B7-E4AD259F14C9 (resized).jpeg5CBC6BF3-368F-4DE3-871C-F8E08A097211 (resized).jpegQuoted from PinMonk:plug-ins installed on Chrome
Quoted from Wickerman2:Lots of info there...no idea what any of it means![quoted image][quoted image]
Forget the warnings, what are the ones flagged as "Error"?
Quoted from Wickerman2:[quoted image]
Is Chrome always open when this happens? (BTW, side point - Chrome and google products in general are bad. Google has gone full on evil with the spying in search of even more profits. Googleupdate and other modules behave like a virus now)
You're better off with Firefox and all Chrome, google earth, etc local to your machine uninstalled.
But that's a future concern.
Those ESENT errors in the log may be problem. Here's a microsoft site discussion about how to get rid of the errors:
Quoted from PinMonk:Forget the warnings, what are the ones flagged as "Error"?
Quoted from PinMonk:Is Chrome always open when this happens?
No, I checked that yesterday with Firefox only still happens
Quoted from Wickerman2:No, I checked that yesterday with Firefox only still happens
The two largest number of actual errors are ESENT and App. The Esent link fix is above. For the app one, try the Win10 App troubleshooter:
Run the troubleshooter hit the Start button -> select Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot, and then from the list select Windows Store apps > Run the troubleshooter
Quoted from PinMonk:Run the troubleshooter hit the Start button -> select Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot, and then from the list select Windows Store apps > Run the troubleshooter
Ha, was just doing that:
8BAAE5D2-573C-483A-AF6A-CD2E693CD100 (resized).jpegQuoted from Wickerman2:Says "issue not present" in troubleshooter details
Then try the ESENT Error fix.
Quoted from PinMonk:Then try the ESENT Error fix.
Did that, stuff is appearing in the folder they recommended creating so I think that worked.
Taskbar still freezing unfortunately.
Quoted from Wickerman2:Did that, stuff is appearing in the folder they recommended creating so I think that worked.
Taskbar still freezing unfortunately.
Did you make a completely new user account for that machine (option is on the control panel under "users"), reboot and then log into the new user instead and see if the issue remains?
Quoted from PinMonk:new user instead
Yeah, tried that earlier, got it all setup and still did it on that account
Quoted from Wickerman2:Yeah, tried that earlier, got it all setup and still did it on that account
What processes are listed in your task manager process listing?
Also, does the problem happen if you boot into Win 10 Safe Mode (where it loads the bare minimum of drivers to function)?
Quoted from PinMonk:What processes are listed in your task manager process listing?
A lot:
96C53D2E-DCE0-48B4-AC87-9C3E81C61568 (resized).jpegAB71429A-B813-4FF3-9D87-C0983BA98555 (resized).jpegAC8D30D2-0AA7-468D-B8D2-1BDDB126FA88 (resized).jpegC7AE72AD-1164-41BE-99A6-5A7A8F6AA196 (resized).jpegCBA9856F-1748-47C5-9E03-1B3FAD34ED42 (resized).jpegE6DD0AB8-B2C0-438D-913A-077A8E80C6F6 (resized).jpegWanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
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