Computer Freezing

[#1]

@RobPN 

When looking around the BIOS settings I saw the CPU started at 36C and was at 44C about 10 minutes later. I don't run heavy workloads - just the occasional video from news channels would propably but the heaviest.

@richard_25 

Couldn't see any trace of Secure-Boot-Update in Task Scheduler. Couldn't find Secure Boot Enabled in the BIOS settings.

@Champnet 

Did the Event Log picture I posted earlier help?

I'm not an enthusiast as such. Setting up Linux was bad enough.

No new software as such installed recently. In the Task Manager Ithe only things I don't really recognise are igfzEM.exe and iusb3mon.exe

Thanks for all replies so far.

Brian

[#2]

Igfxem.exe is Intel's main control module for their graphics cards. This Intel module sits between the Intel Graphics card and the Windows OS. It allows your video card to rotate the screen, modify keyboard settings, along with several other important Intel graphic card features.

The iusb3mon in iusb3mon. dll stands for Intel(R) USB 3.0 Monitor, which is used by Windows to keep track of the functionality and usage of your USB 3.0 ports in the background and look for possible problems.31 Dec 2017

[#3]

The event log wasn’t helpful and the two files are safe, keep watching….

[#4]

Beaten again this time by @jab1 , must learn to reply quicker……

[#5]

Only one freeze so far today.

I downloaded Core Temp and have attached the results. I have seen the temp go as high as 28C.

Brian

Edit : Just seen spikes up to 45C while downloading images

[#6]

@Champnet @jab1 @RobPN 

After installing Core Temp I found MyEventViewer and installed that.

Core Temp maxed out at 52C yesterday and is back up around that today.

This morning after bring the PC out of hibernation and setting MEV to auto refresh every 10 seconds I checked my email program (Pegasus) and initiated a email retrievel. It indicated 9 emails to download and then froze. On restart only 4 showed up in the program.

More to the point MEV showed a controller error on "raid..." - I foolishly didn't note the message as I expected it to be there when I restarted - it wasn't.

Brian

[#7]

@bmc That 52C is a little 'warm' - have you cleaned the internals of the case, and checked the thermal paste/pad? 

If MEV  showed an error, maybe your system is failing/getting tired?

[#8]

Unfortunately I know of no application that will write and save a log file just as the system freezes.

In MyEventViewer you can select only error and warnings displayed, check auto refresh is selected. Frequently check this log,.
You can leave the program running on your desktop then the log may show events leading up to the freeze.

[#9]

@jab1 

I posted a picture of the internals in #8 - doesn't look too bad but I guess I could run a feather duster over the heat sink. To look for thermal paste I would need to take the heat sink off which is something I'd prefer not to do though it seems relatively easy. Four bolts at the back of the PC (see attached picture).

I don't think the CPU overheating is the problem. It bearly got time to warm up today before the freeze.

@Champnet 

Next time it happens I'll take a picture of MEV on my phone and note the exact error message. Looking at MEV I pressed the Refresh button a couple of hours ago and it's still chuntering away through the files (2378300 so far). CPU temps have got up to an average 50C with a spike of 65C. Loads are hovering around 50%.

Brian

[#10]

That’s big, 32k is an average log size. If you can look at the recent warnings & errors, If not delete all entries (It’s a menu option) and start again. If you’ve set show only warnings & errors then any entry should be noted. You may se a pattern emerging.

[#11]

@Champnet 

I did consider aborting the Refresh but as it's gone on this long I'll let it run and see if it comes up with anything.

I'll set the menu option when I can to display only warnings and errors.

Brian