100% SSD HDD PC Lockup / freezes my top 5 Solutions for Windows

[Umbrella]

Long story:
I recently installed a new SSD I was given from a friend, very nice gift & a great friend. I got it up & working no problems as a 2nd drive, a storage device. I honestly had no issues with it. My bud / friend, he suggested me to install my OS on it for overall better system stability & performance. I agreed. I started the process, backed up files, formatted the drive & got win 10 clean installed on my new SSD. I had to fix my own problem & did research online. Here is to hoping if anyone eles had or has this issue, I hope all this can help!

Long story short & down to the problem:
My SSD would lockup, at first, I had no idea it was my OS or SSD. I tried to find more information while trying to solve this issue. I caught it a couple times only if I had taskmanager pre loaded before the stutter happened. I began doing some digging, process wouldn't show anything, resource monitor, nothing. Event viewer, again, nothing... I searched online & asked about. It was very difficult to fix this problem.

For me, the #1 Solution is what had solved my issue. This took me some time to fix & almost had to refunded the SSD. Any application like Chrome or Origin would cause the system to lockup & freeze. Games worked fine but blizzard app or steam, app's essentially would lockup & unfreeze shortly after loading without errors. It didn't happen every time or right away, it could happen at random making this difficult to re-create.

Be sure your windows is upto date & SSD is upto date before wasting time on solutions that could help or just end up wasting time. I tried my best to write this out to guide all OS of Windows. This is not just for windows 10. Please remember, these are only idea's & suggestions that could help solve SSD or HDD lockups.

Image:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/411214951911391232/741849368331812994/lockups.jpg

Image2:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/411214951911391232/742184726412132432/lockups2.jpg





Solution 1:
Check the little things!
This can also be the most over looked. Double check connections! Follow these steps! This can be the easiest fix known to hardware malfunctions is re-socketing, adjusting, cleaning.
Believe it or not, these steps had worked for me!

What are the known issues or symptoms?
100% disk activity like shown in the image I took above. You may notice your mouse working still & no BSOD = Blue screen of death. If you try to rush information during the lockup, you can cause app's to crash or not respond. You may also notice broken TEXT in APP's that are running or broken images.


Steps:
1: Be sure you installed the SSD correctly with a good SATA cable. This could result in replacing the cable itself. (Try a different cable)

2: Do a "Dust check or Dust Sweep", be sure everything is clean & nothing in the socket or port.

3: Be sure you have it in the proper MB Ports. Port 0 to 3 is normally good, port 4 & 5 or your last two ports might be slower or support older devices.






Solution 2:
Page file system memory!
If you have not setup you're virtual memory yet. I recommend doing so. If you have issues, this could be the solution for you! Paging can also solve other issues for very demanding software or games that require virtual memory.

What are the known issues or symptoms?
If you have app's randomly close or crash, soundFX crackling during fast scrolling or multitasking. Out of memory errors both virtual & physical. Flashing of screen, desktop, background, taskbar or notice minor lockups & freeze's either with app's, OS or mouse while loading or playing heavy / intense apps.


Steps:
1: Open your "control panel" on any windows OS & click "view" & select small or large view in the top right corner.

2: Click "System" than click "Advanced system setting"

3: Click the "Advanced" TAB located at the top, click "settings..." in the performance section.

4: Click the "Advanced" TAB again in the new window, than, select "Change..." in Virtual memory section.


SIDENOTE:
Before following step 5, please keep in mind your settings might be different. You can enable more virtual memory on the SSD if you think it doesn't have enough & test that first before disabling paging on the SSD. The SSD is much faster & you should do as much heavy lifting with it as you can. This means, It's recommend using the SSD as the page file disk for performance reasons. 


5: Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size" You must either disable SSD paging or set "CUSTOM" for 800 min & 1000 MAX
I recommend setting up paging on your SSD or the next fastest HDD you own & allocate at least 1000 min & 2000 max.

Look online to find out more info on how to allocate set amounts based off the physical RAM that's on your machine. Quick suggestions below.
8GB RAM  Set Min 4000 & Max 8000
16GB RAM Set Min 8000 & Max 16000


6: Reboot & give it a whirl!






Solution 3:
Clean your computer of bugs & problems. Use CCleaner & run command prompt commands!

What are the known issues or symptoms?
Pretty much anything funky or abnormal that shouldn't be happening.


Option 1: If the SSD isn't a clean install, you may have malware or a virus or a bug of some sort. To confirm, you must get anti virus software & check your system. I've noticed many recommendations on CCleaner while solving my own issues. It didn't fix mine, but, it could fix yours! Give it a shot.


Option 2: Windows security or other anti security software. Run any antivirus software you have or trust to check & clean your system!


Option 3: Run command prompt in admin & type "sfc /scannow" to check windows for corrupted files
Ask google how-to open command prompt on your windows OS & be sure to run it with admin.






Solution 4:
Changing settings or Updating with BIOS?
This could be difficult or very easy, but, your gonna have to do research on your motherboard to figure out how. This is a last case scenario.

What are the known issues or symptoms?
SSD or HDD or other hardware disconnecting or losing power but comes back shortly after. OS fails to boot with the SSD &/or isn't visible.


1: Get the motherboard name & search online to find updates. Check the bios frimware version to confirm if your upto date. This can normally be found in the bios menu when you first startup your PC. You'll need to spam a key on startup such as "DEL" or "F12". At startup, the logo & keys are shown on screen.


2: Be sure its not a setting within bios that could be causing problems. Most people recommend AHCI boot settings. Ask google how to check with your motherboards bios to see this setting. Try searching like this = "How-to enable AHCI on YOURMOTHERBOARDNAME"


3: Did you confirm you needed an update? Install the new frimware via USB. Most cases, you'll be doing this & will require a thumb drive to install the new update. Go into boot manager & select the USB device to install the bios update.





Solution 5:
Keep digging for answers online or get a refund!

This is no joke, you might actually need to get a refund. The SSD could have something wrong.Keep a eye on that refund policy & keep trying your luck before time is out. You might find another solution if you keep digging....




Last Edit reasons?:
Fixed spelling
Updated context
Added a 2nd image.
Added long story short.

[Mad Scientist]

It looks like you started a file transfer or did a read test then hit screenshot a few seconds in, most of these things wouldn't help or are otherwise useless. However when it's peaking task manager shows no reading or writing, the image also looks manipulated given Task Manager is giving 0/0 when the top portion is supposedly 100%

Looks like you just copy & pasted a generic troubleshooting, and you're actively deceiving people with this.

[Umbrella]

@Orion
I'm sorry you feel that way & thanks for you're opinion.
This is a generic trouble shoot for people that are having freezes or lockups with windows. I insure you it works & the #1 solution is actually a number one cause to hardware issues, ram, videocard, pci-e slots etc.You do need everything nice & clean & you need the proper connectors.

[Mad Scientist]

You need to troubleshoot issues properly, and one generic symptom often is not caused by the same thing - which is why it's called troubleshooting. Using a fake image is not going to help your appearance as well, you need to be truthful with users, not deceive them into believing what you say has merit when you've already destroyed any credibility.

You have an AMD FX Family 8350 according to your own profile - you of all people are often going to have minor freezes/lockups and other cpu-capped caused issues which can't be avoided due to hardware limitations.

HDD usage at 100% is beyond easy to troubleshoot and explain, an SSD at 100% is likely actively being downloaded to with an adequate connection or is being benchmarked.

Don't attempt to deceive users.

[Umbrella]

@Orion
Again, I'm sorry you feel that way. All I can say is I wrote all this out myself & fixed my own problems I had with my new SSD. I hope it helps someone that has issues with windows locking up & is the whole reason I posted this. Hope you have a good day!

[Autumn_]

Don't have any useful information or input, but every single time you used ampersand, you used it wrong.
Ampersand is usually used in things like company names or formal things (example John, James & Doug), not whenever you feel like not pressing 1 extra key.


But I agree with Orion, photoshopping images and saying a 'one thing fixes all' isn't the soloution. Teach people proper troubleshooting, not insist one thing is the cause of something that can be affected by a couple dozen things.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Umbrella:

@Orion
Again, I'm sorry you feel that way. All I can say is I wrote all this out myself & fixed my own problems I had with my new SSD. I hope it helps someone that has issues with windows locking up & is the whole reason I posted this. Hope you have a good day! :2018bestcoffee::books:

It's insulting to post manipulated images and try to look like you're helping when you're intentionally giving bad information compared to the techs around here that actually bother to troubleshoot with what any one user gives us for information. I have such a strong factual based belief of don't deceive users because you can do more harm than good, and waste peoples time with something that has nothing to do with their issue. Your issue fixed with what you found is the fix for your issue, but as I said - one generic symptom often is not caused by the same thing - which is why it's called troubleshooting. You find out why any one person has an issue with the information they provide, not use your fix for everything, and thus recommend what to look for or attempt.

There is no deception in troubleshooting issues, no photoshop; you find the reported problem, gather information, give recommendations based upon symptoms and more gathered data when available from the user.

Originally posted by Autumn_:

But I agree with Orion, photoshopping images and saying a 'one thing fixes all' isn't the solution. Teach people proper troubleshooting, not insist one thing is the cause of something that can be affected by a couple dozen things.

This, so much this.

[Haurth]

Felt like I might chime in here... I've been helping him troubleshoot for the past few days with his issue. The screenshot that he posted was a genuine one, not manipulated in any way. He was not running any type of storage device benchmark tool. We were in a discord call (with him sharing his screen to me) after he did a fresh boot and the only applications he had open were Discord, Origin, and Task Manager. He would click on Origin, go to his game library and almost immediately his C: drive would start reading like the screenshot shows. I have the same drive that he does, and had never seen his issue before so we were stumped. He tried a wide variety of things to "fix" the problem and decided to share his experience with others. Only reason he did this was because we were finding a lot of forum posts with nearly identical descriptions of the problem, with no solution.

He never stated that the his solutions would be a guarantee fix, he was sharing what helped him. What surprises me the most out of this whole situation is that you guys immediately assume that the screenshot is manipulated since, I assume, you have never seen this unique issue before. You say that it is "insulting to post manipulated images and try to look like you're helping when you're intentionally giving bad information" when he did not do any of what you describe. He offered a genuine screenshot with steps that helped him get to his solution.

Now whether or not you will see through the arrogance or not, I don't know. But what I really do not understand is this: why are you criticizing and berating his workaround if you are trying to help others? Why aren't you expanding on his post, asking why he did what he did? I can understand reading through the post and not fully agreeing with it, but before you start throwing around the "fake news," why don't you ask the author to elaborate?

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Haurth:

Felt like I might chime in here... I've been helping him troubleshoot for the past few days with his issue. The screenshot that he posted was a genuine one, not manipulated in any way.

Oh, really?
Take a screenshot when it's at 100%, it will NOT display 0 and 0 for read/write, when it's at 100% usage.
Do not attempt to help with such a lie.

Originally posted by Haurth:

only applications he had open were Discord, Origin, and Task Manager. He would click on Origin, go to his game library and almost immediately his C: drive would start reading like the screenshot shows.

Except that screenshot is not possible under the conditions shown.

Originally posted by Haurth:

What surprises me the most out of this whole situation is that you guys immediately assume that the screenshot is manipulated since, I assume, you have never seen this unique issue before.

I've seen 100% disk usage and on the active second of being 100% it should show not only FULL speed instead of a partial speed in units of measurement, so yes, it's very clearly manipulated.

Originally posted by Haurth:

You say that it is "insulting to post manipulated images and try to look like you're helping when you're intentionally giving bad information" when he did not do any of what you describe. He offered a genuine screenshot with steps that helped him get to his solution.

It's clearly not genuine. I'm at my workstation, typing this, and any second there's activity it shows the speeds, NOT 0/0 at 100%.

Originally posted by Haurth:

Now whether or not you will see through the arrogance or not, I don't know.

I saw through deception and now someone attempting to help deceive people.

Originally posted by Haurth:

why are you criticizing and berating his workaround if you are trying to help others?

Something manufactured IE a problem that doesn't exist is simply that. The tips as I've mentioned are primarily useless [for a real world application of this issue] as the symptom can be caused by many things, but to be at 100% it would require a serious transfer or benchmark.

Originally posted by Haurth:

Why aren't you expanding on his post, asking why he did what he did? I can understand reading through the post and not fully agreeing with it, but before you start throwing around the "fake news," why don't you ask the author to elaborate?

Manipulating a screenshot, with blatantly bad information which in the screenshot contradicts itself.

Let me give you an example:
I open a Workstation app, Disk goes to 90% usage, transfer rate goes from 100/20 KB/s to 1MB/s disk transfer rate with real world 2.7 MB/s transfer rate, at 90%. Now, given his drive is identical to mine, do you see why this is obviously faked?

You can't help people if you start with a lie and attempt to deceive, the issue is contradictory with all of the information given in the screenshot; non-existent.

[Autumn_]

I don't mean to rag on the guy for trying to help, I love when people try to help. It's just that it doesn't make much sense.

The picture, to me, is fabricated.
I dont see how you can have reading be 100%, but show nothing in the transfer area.

[Haurth]

Originally posted by Autumn_:

I don't mean to rag on the guy for trying to help, I love when people try to help. It's just that it doesn't make much sense.

The picture, to me, is fabricated.
I dont see how you can have reading be 100%, but show nothing in the transfer area.

It does seem suspicious, and because it was showing no transfer speeds it took us almost a week of troubleshooting. If I were in your shoes, I would have a hard time understanding the SS too, cause it just doesn't make much sense. However, I ensure you that it is real and he had no intention to mislead people or provide mis-information.

[xSOSxHawkens]

Dont have a sollution. But I will chime in that you all are jumping down this guys neck without any proof and nothing but your hunch he eddited the images.

Fact is I have seen this *exact* behaviour out of failing SSD's (both NVMe and Sata) and have also seen it from failing HDD. It can *also* be caused by windows and driver issues.

If *any* of you would take the time to read the label on the graph it is called "Active Time". All that means is that the drive is spun up, and the controller is "in use" some how. That does *NOT* mean that it is actively transfering data. Never has, and doesnt in windows 10,

Just *normal* that when you see one you see the other, but they are NOT =/= dependant on each other (well read/write is dependant on active time, but not the other way around).

Something is causing the drive to be "active" but not letting it transfer.... Totally possible and likely totally a legit set of screen grabs.

[Umbrella]

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/2254560552305161591/?ctp=3
I created this topic to help people & that's what I'm trying to do <3 It's to bad I didn't post this in the month of may or had this in may for that person that needed help in the discussion I posted above. I got the SSD in July & yes, its been a fun ride fixing it. (Hasn't been fun at all) No BSOD, No error, no information on anything not even task manager besides the active.. Anyways, thank you all for your feedback! Much love :)

Sidenote:
Has nothing to do with the specs of the or mine hardware, it was 100% the SSD / HDD
The AMD fx 8350 is a beast thank you very much lol still runs todays games & yes, its old. Saved me tons of money. I also got money from AMD from a joint lawsuit, I ain't complaining...

[Lemmy]

Originally posted by Mr. Gentlebot:

Originally posted by Haurth:

Felt like I might chime in here... I've been helping him troubleshoot for the past few days with his issue. The screenshot that he posted was a genuine one, not manipulated in any way.

Oh, really?
Take a screenshot when it's at 100%, it will NOT display 0 and 0 for read/write, when it's at 100% usage.
Do not attempt to help with such a lie.

Originally posted by Haurth:

only applications he had open were Discord, Origin, and Task Manager. He would click on Origin, go to his game library and almost immediately his C: drive would start reading like the screenshot shows.

Except that screenshot is not possible under the conditions shown.

Originally posted by Haurth:

What surprises me the most out of this whole situation is that you guys immediately assume that the screenshot is manipulated since, I assume, you have never seen this unique issue before.

I've seen 100% disk usage and on the active second of being 100% it should show not only FULL speed instead of a partial speed in units of measurement, so yes, it's very clearly manipulated.

Originally posted by Haurth:

You say that it is "insulting to post manipulated images and try to look like you're helping when you're intentionally giving bad information" when he did not do any of what you describe. He offered a genuine screenshot with steps that helped him get to his solution.

It's clearly not genuine. I'm at my workstation, typing this, and any second there's activity it shows the speeds, NOT 0/0 at 100%.

Originally posted by Haurth:

Now whether or not you will see through the arrogance or not, I don't know.

I saw through deception and now someone attempting to help deceive people.

Originally posted by Haurth:

why are you criticizing and berating his workaround if you are trying to help others?

Something manufactured IE a problem that doesn't exist is simply that. The tips as I've mentioned are primarily useless [for a real world application of this issue] as the symptom can be caused by many things, but to be at 100% it would require a serious transfer or benchmark.

Originally posted by Haurth:

Why aren't you expanding on his post, asking why he did what he did? I can understand reading through the post and not fully agreeing with it, but before you start throwing around the "fake news," why don't you ask the author to elaborate?

Manipulating a screenshot, with blatantly bad information which in the screenshot contradicts itself.

Let me give you an example:
I open a Workstation app, Disk goes to 90% usage, transfer rate goes from 100/20 KB/s to 1MB/s disk transfer rate with real world 2.7 MB/s transfer rate, at 90%. Now, given his drive is identical to mine, do you see why this is obviously faked?

You can't help people if you start with a lie and attempt to deceive, the issue is contradictory with all of the information given in the screenshot; non-existent.

shut up! you're just wrong im haviing the exact same issue with disk at 100% and zero transfer. its legit so shut the ♥♥♥♥♥ up

[XOF]

Idk, I have similar issue but somewhat different
I have ssd and hdd, it works okay as normal system work at low load, and medium load like WWZ aftermath, but if I fire up RE4 remake or FF 15 it will freeze the system after 1-2 hours, even though I boot games from hdd and ssd only for system. My guess it is old-y ssd starting to malfunction (it is Kingston v300 so it is not new by any means) or my PSU not handling load properly when my GTX 1660 at 100%.

PS. after freezing and manual reboot, ssd disappearing from BIOS until I unplug it and replug power cable again.

[76561199016052937]

Originally posted by Mad Scientist:

Originally posted by Haurth:

Felt like I might chime in here... I've been helping him troubleshoot for the past few days with his issue. The screenshot that he posted was a genuine one, not manipulated in any way.

Oh, really?
Take a screenshot when it's at 100%, it will NOT display 0 and 0 for read/write, when it's at 100% usage.
Do not attempt to help with such a lie.

Originally posted by Haurth:

only applications he had open were Discord, Origin, and Task Manager. He would click on Origin, go to his game library and almost immediately his C: drive would start reading like the screenshot shows.

Except that screenshot is not possible under the conditions shown.

Originally posted by Haurth:

What surprises me the most out of this whole situation is that you guys immediately assume that the screenshot is manipulated since, I assume, you have never seen this unique issue before.

I've seen 100% disk usage and on the active second of being 100% it should show not only FULL speed instead of a partial speed in units of measurement, so yes, it's very clearly manipulated.

Originally posted by Haurth:

You say that it is "insulting to post manipulated images and try to look like you're helping when you're intentionally giving bad information" when he did not do any of what you describe. He offered a genuine screenshot with steps that helped him get to his solution.

It's clearly not genuine. I'm at my workstation, typing this, and any second there's activity it shows the speeds, NOT 0/0 at 100%.

Originally posted by Haurth:

Now whether or not you will see through the arrogance or not, I don't know.

I saw through deception and now someone attempting to help deceive people.

Originally posted by Haurth:

why are you criticizing and berating his workaround if you are trying to help others?

Something manufactured IE a problem that doesn't exist is simply that. The tips as I've mentioned are primarily useless [for a real world application of this issue] as the symptom can be caused by many things, but to be at 100% it would require a serious transfer or benchmark.

Originally posted by Haurth:

Why aren't you expanding on his post, asking why he did what he did? I can understand reading through the post and not fully agreeing with it, but before you start throwing around the "fake news," why don't you ask the author to elaborate?

Manipulating a screenshot, with blatantly bad information which in the screenshot contradicts itself.

Let me give you an example:
I open a Workstation app, Disk goes to 90% usage, transfer rate goes from 100/20 KB/s to 1MB/s disk transfer rate with real world 2.7 MB/s transfer rate, at 90%. Now, given his drive is identical to mine, do you see why this is obviously faked?

You can't help people if you start with a lie and attempt to deceive, the issue is contradictory with all of the information given in the screenshot; non-existent.

I have the same problem, and for me when the SSD goes at 100%, the read/write is at 0 which is why it is so hard to find a solution. You also can't take a screenshot of task manager at that point because guess what? It won't work, since the whole computer is locked up. I don't know what to do anymore I've tried everything, I reinstalled Windows 10, I even used LTSC in hopes that it would have been some feature that Microsoft introduced to force users to move into 11 but that wasn't the case, I used a different SATA cable, I switched the slot that the cable was connected at the motherboard. Though sometimes, very rarely my PC won't boot into the boot drive at all and it will go straight at the UEFI, and I'll have to reset my computer for the boot drive to get detected. I don't want to waste 60€ on a new drive if it's just a bios setting tho