Large downloads cause whole system to freeze or crash

[Entropy]

Hello,

while downloading large games (i.e. DOOM, The Witcher 3) my PC frequently completely freezes (not a 5 second freeze or something like that, but a crash, and without blue screen or reboot, just complete standstill).

I tried multiple things already:
- update/reinstall all third party drivers (graphics driver, network driver)
- reinstall steam
- check memory using MemTest
- run chkdsk on the HDD where I install my Steam games on
- disable all non-microsoft services (besides the steam client service - without this steam obviously won't start...)

The weird thing is: When downloading other large files, i.e. games via EAs Origin Platform (BF4 ~ 30GB, or Star Citizen (~30 GB) everything works fine - no crashes, no freezes. I have Windows 10 without any third party anti virus scanner, I'm only using Windows Defender and disabling it did not fix the problem. So something must be up with the way Steam downloads/installs the games. I need advise on how to fix this issue, as I cannot install DOOM for instance, because its 60 GB, so the opportunity to freeze/crash is quite high - and after each incident I have to verify the game files via Steam because DOOM (or any other large game I want to play) won't start as the crash/freeze corrupted the files. And especially with DOOM... after verifying the files it wants to download over 20 GB again - so enough time to just crash/freeze again...

Here are my system details:
- AMD FX 8350
- Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 AMD 970
- 3GB PowerColor Radeon HD 7950
- 8GB Corsair ValueSelect DDR3-1333 DIMM CL9 Dual Kit
- 450 Watt Cougar A-Series
- Windows 10 64 Bit, all updates installed

I hope you see my predicament and can give me advise on what to try.

[BlueBanana]

I have the exact same issue since a couple of months ago.
I did weeks and weeks of research and diagnosis, but nothing helped so far.
It gets really frustrating because I simply cannot download large games/updates anymore.
Do you use an SSHD by any chance?

[Entropy]

I tried both an HDD and an SSD, but not an SSHD.

[BlueBanana]

okay thanks. I can scratch that as a potential cause for the issue.

I really need to fix this, it's incredibly annoying. I'll run a few other tests and check a few things and report back to you. I'm fairly certain it's a steam specific issue, since large downloads on other clients (origin, uplay, browser etc) run without any issues.

[BlueBanana]

So I just downloaded 24GB without any issues.

Here's what I found out/did so far:
Looks like you cannot fully deaktivate the windows defender. So I added the steam folder to the exceptions. It's probably wise not to add the whole steam folder, but it will do for testing purpososes.

So far, I did not have a single steam crash, were before it crashed at least 4 or 5 times when downloading a 24GB patch/game.

I can't tell for sure if that solved the issue completely - but it looks promising.

[Entropy]

Hi,

thanks for your responses! I tried your suggestion, but I still got a crash while downloading DOOM :(
After spending a lot of time with the Steam support I kinda came to the conclusion that it's my hardware, that somehow Steam downloads access the hardware differently than Uplay or Origin, so it causes my faulty hardware to crash. I have no proof of this, and I'm tired of trying out stuff now.
Guess I'll have to invest into some new hardware at some point.

[BlueBanana]

Before investing in any new hardware I suggest to run a few diagnosis tools.

The most likely defective hardware that could cause this, would be a faulty harddrive.
Use seatools (Link[www.seagate.com] works with every harddrive not matter which brand) to run a deep diagnosis on your harddrive(s). It takes a long time, let it run over night or so.

Another thing you can do is check your ram for errors.
Check this article[technet.microsoft.com] or use Memtest[hcidesign.com] to do this. This can also take a very long time.

In my optinion it's unlikely that your mainboard, cpu or gpu is faulty. That would cause errors and crashes while gaming and/or working, too.

In the meantime you can use another pc or laptop to download doom and copy the files in your steam library, so you can at least download and play your games.

Ask away if you have questions or need any more help.

[Seven7]

make HDD\SSD Passport with Cristall Disk Info
model of router?
how connected to PC?
ip v6 enabled?
power management for network adapter enabled?
100 mbit 1000 or auto?
background apps?

[Entropy]

I already did a whole lot of diagnosis - Seatools, Memtest etc, everything to no avail.
I even downloaded it the the pc of my girlfriend (we have our pcs in the same room and are connected to the same router), and there the download worked perfectly and it runs nicely. I also tried copying all of the doom files of her pc to my pc - but doom ALWAYS fails to start up, stating something with "files corrupted". I tried recopying files, but also to no avail. I also tried to fix this the Steam-way, i.e. validating the files via Steam on my PC. It ran through, downloading at least a dozen GB of data (and magically running through without crashing... lol), but I still get this "files corrupted" error message. I get the impression that those doom game files are somehow extremely weird and prone to be corrupted or something.
I'm giving up on this issue and try to play doom on my girlfriend's pc when she is not using it. I hope that this issue will not affect any other games on steam...

[BlueBanana]

Have you tried using steams 'backup and restore' functionality to transfer the files to your computer?
I've had some issues too with copying just the files from one pc to another with certain games.

Also: If the diagnosis ran through without any errors, you can be pretty certain there's no hardware fault present. That's good. :)

[Entropy]

So I created a backup of Doom on my girlfriends computer, copied it over to my computer - where the first copy attempt (under windows) caused a crash... the second copy attempt (under ubuntu linux) succeeded. Back to windows - the first Steam restore attempt created a freeze... the second Steam restore attempt magically ran through. But the game didn't start - again with the "files corrupted" error. I'm sick of this... It really appears that my damn hardware is not able to work with the Doom(ed) files. I give up on this. Guess I have to play it on my girlfriends computer when she isn't using it. Thanks for your responses though...

[Reogaz]

I had same issue, but fixed it:
use windows search for: msconfig
on the 'BOOT' tab select "advanced options"
check the number of cpu cores that = ur cpu cores
reboot

WARNING:
cpu cores not theds or logicel cores!!!!
A 6 core AMD FX has only 3 cpu cores and 6 logical cores
you can verify using task manager.

this fix will also make some games that wont load, (no even an error of why) start working.
it is a bug with win10

[KAI]

Originally posted by Reogaz:

I had same issue, but fixed it:
use windows search for: msconfig
on the 'BOOT' tab select "advanced options"
check the number of cpu cores that = ur cpu cores
reboot

WARNING:
cpu cores not theds or logicel cores!!!!
A 6 core AMD FX has only 3 cpu cores and 6 logical cores
you can verify using task manager.

this fix will also make some games that wont load, (no even an error of why) start working.
it is a bug with win10

so if i had 4 core and 8 logical core what should i pick on the boot option. right now the box is untick

[Reogaz]

Check the box, and select 4 as the number of possessors. It seems windows 10 is known for not reading the cpu type correctly, and that should fix it. This was not an issue for windows 7, and I would still be using windows 7 if it only the latest directx was compatible, and the fact I now have 128gb of ram.
You know, PC elitist problems.

[Sworn]

Originally posted by Reogaz:

I had same issue, but fixed it:
use windows search for: msconfig
on the 'BOOT' tab select "advanced options"
check the number of cpu cores that = ur cpu cores
reboot

WARNING:
cpu cores not theds or logicel cores!!!!
A 6 core AMD FX has only 3 cpu cores and 6 logical cores
you can verify using task manager.

this fix will also make some games that wont load, (no even an error of why) start working.
it is a bug with win10

Dammmmmmmm man your the best. All the "fix" that you can find on google didn't solve. That trick with the core number solve everything!

Thanks a lot!

[Not Axel]

Originally posted by Reogaz:

I had same issue, but fixed it:
use windows search for: msconfig
on the 'BOOT' tab select "advanced options"
check the number of cpu cores that = ur cpu cores
reboot

WARNING:
cpu cores not theds or logicel cores!!!!
A 6 core AMD FX has only 3 cpu cores and 6 logical cores
you can verify using task manager.

this fix will also make some games that wont load, (no even an error of why) start working.
it is a bug with win10

You are a gentleman and a scholar. I had this issue for ages and couldn't come across the solution.
Now I went from limiting download to 3MBps to unlimited speed in multiple apps at a time with not a bit of system slowdown.

Thank you thank you thank you.