# GPU-Z (driver?) causes Windows 10 PC to hard lock (freeze)



## Naki (Mar 23, 2017)

Here is how this happened - this should NEVER happen!!
1) Using Windows 10 OS, hi-end ASUS Intel socket 1155 motherboard, 32 GB RAM, Intel Core i7 CPU, AMD Radeon R9 290 video card with 4 GB videoRAM.
AMD Radeon drivers are latest AMD ReLive 17.x. Audio is motherboard built-in.
(HDMI audio not used.)

2) I enabled (turned on) Folding@Home, which loads the GPU and/or CPU - I think I had CPU folding enabled when this happened, sometimes I turn that off and fold only on GPU.

3) Then I ran WinAMP and started playing some music. All fine until this point.

4) Then I ran GPU-Z - PC display (2 monitors, both 27" FullHD, one uses DVI, one HDMI) went completely frozen, i.e. the screen with running programs and GPU-Z startup/splash screen showed, but the mouse pointer disappeared, and nothing changed on the screen - GPU-Z splash screen never went away.
However, music kept playing for 20-30 seconds more.

5) Then after that, soundcard (i.e. speakers) started making VROOM noises, then my PC completely froze, with a constant hum sound coming from the speakers.
I had to reset the PC via Reset button, which caused me much grief & suffering.

Expected: NO freezing, ever. Any ideas?
Even if I run 2, 3 or even 4-5 heavy programs, I do not expect GPU-Z to ever freeze the screen or whole PC this way.

EDIT - edited on 30.03.2017 to add system info -->
Here are CPU-Z and MSInfo32 logs from the PC in question:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2kt6syq5wvexw1g/AABg4dZJgIWFH793kx6sgIaxa?dl=0

Here is a screenshot of the basic Windows 10 OS info: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/emiW/EtvwjfgGZ


----------



## fullinfusion (Mar 23, 2017)

Sounds like a common unstable clock speed to me.

Or the PSU is on the way out.


----------



## Halo3Addict (Mar 23, 2017)

It doesn't matter how 'beastly' your setup is. If it's not calibrated correctly, then it won't perform as expected.

Is the freezing reproducible? Anything of note in Event Viewer?


----------



## Naki (Mar 23, 2017)

fullinfusion said:


> Sounds like a common unstable clock speed to me.
> 
> Or the PSU is on the way out.


It is neither. I do not overclock the CPU or GPU, in fact, never did. CPU is 3770K, so overclockable, but I am not doing it.
Same PC works for weeks without any hitch.

*@Halo3Addict,* no. I have no freezing or crashing except this way. So, it must be a GPU-Z driver bug.
I did not try a 2nd time, as my PC (or Windows 10 OS?) has a major issue if I reset the PC after a freeze.
So, not going to do this any time soon, as I cannot afford this time-wise.

Issue is after a hard reset sometimes it may need 2-3 hours for me to get it to boot. 
Other than that (re)boot issue, my PC is rock stable, working for weeks without any issues.


----------



## Naki (Mar 29, 2017)

Hello? Any feedback, please? This is not acceptable.


----------



## basco (Mar 29, 2017)

@Naki
quote: Issue is after a hard reset sometimes it may need 2-3 hours for me to get it to boot.
Other than that (re)boot issue, my PC is rock stable: quote.

and you still think it has something to do with gpu-z
if you cannot reproduce something you cannot call out a bug

for me this sound more like power supply issues.
like a faulty protection mode or a capacitor that needs to empty before you can reboot


----------



## Naki (Mar 29, 2017)

Quite the opposite - if my system never freezes, and only did so with GPU-Z, then it must be a bug in the GPU-Z drivers - driver it uses to read GPU data.
Anyway, OK, I will try to reproduce today. (Although likely my PC will then be unusable for 2-3 hours!)


----------



## basco (Mar 29, 2017)

this is not normal restart behavior.
a hard reset is not harmful to your system if you only do it when its necessary.
there is something really not right when you need to wait 2-3 hours after reset.

i hope a goodguy from tpu helps me out here but i am very certain thats to do with power supply that needs to get discharged after a reset and then you can boot.

could you lend a power supply from someone for testing?

what happens if you restart windows normally?


----------



## kn00tcn (Mar 29, 2017)

you must reproduce an issue consistently to be sure that it is the actual problem

although i wouldnt be surprised if this is an amd driver issue, i have seen lockups on a 7850 apu when opening multiple hardware monitors at the same time, or when the gpu was in use before opening a monitor compared to opening the monitor first

(iskah da napisha neshto na bulgarski da te isnenadvam, no neznam kakvo)


----------



## Flow (Mar 29, 2017)

If you remove the power from the system after such a hard lockup, and press powerbutton on your pc case several times, making sure the motherboard has no power left, you then should wait for a couple of minutes.
Attach power again and boot your system. It should work now because any leftover error in memory should be gone due to no power.

Still have to wait for 2 or 3 hours? Likely a motherboard fault. When it boots it can appear rock stable, you can throw any app at it, any game, stressing to the max.
Yet on a sudden moment it can lockup again.

Anyway, after a crash/freeze or hard lockup the system usually will stay in this state untill all power is cut off.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 29, 2017)

@Naki, if your system will not start for 2-3 hours after, guess what it is not?  Software.  

This is a hardware issue that probably got exposed at that specific point in time.


----------



## Naki (Mar 30, 2017)

rtwjunkie said:


> @Naki, if your system will not start for 2-3 hours after, guess what it is not?  Software.
> 
> This is a hardware issue that probably got exposed at that specific point in time.


Nope. This is a software issue, namely WIndows 10 issue. It could be drivers issue, but is not any hardware issue in any way.
Windows 10 is work in progress, so despite it working fine on my 2 other PCs, on my main & most powerful one it often does this should I try to reset or need to do a hard reset.
It could be an Avira Free conflict, but I am not wanting to remove Avira at this point.
WHEN this happens, the Windows 10 spinning circle of death keeps circling/animating, so the system is not frozen, just won't continue to boot and show the desktop/startup programs.
I think it is loading some driver and can't, or maybe loading some system process/etc.

Anyway, this is beside the point here, I just want GPU-Z driver fixed so it does not cause hard freezes like this.


----------



## Flow (Mar 30, 2017)

GPU-Z does not cause hard freezes to functional hardware.
And any system that refuses to boot into bios for 2 or 3 hours, even after disconnecting all power, is a defective one.
You see, there is zero windows software when you fire up your system, and certainly not any other software app/util. Only after post and after bios option, then the system detects windows and wants to start from it.
I'm in basic dos when my dual boot screen appears. No windows driver is loaded yet at this point.

But, there are many gpuz versions, there must be at least one that does work on your system? Or are all the gpuz versions crashing your system?


----------



## Naki (Mar 30, 2017)

I do not want to argue. You are clearly wrong and have no idea what you are talking about.
My PC in question works for weeks without any hitch.

I am using Windows 10 since several months prior to its release, and am a Windows Insider, so I know what could be wrong very well, but was not able to fix this for now.
I do not use dual boot, so this has nothing to do with this. And no, this is not DOS in any way anyway.

All GPU-Z versions work for me, please note. The issue was ONLY when there is a heavy load on the PC - running Folding@Home, playing music (MP3s) in WinAMP.
I cannot afford fighting with my main PC for hours at this point, so not going to try again.


----------



## rtwjunkie (Mar 30, 2017)

Naki said:


> Nope. This is a software issue, namely WIndows 10 issue. It could be drivers issue, but is not any hardware issue in any way.
> Windows 10 is work in progress, so despite it working fine on my 2 other PCs, on my main & most powerful one it often does this should I try to reset or need to do a hard reset.
> It could be an Avira Free conflict, but I am not wanting to remove Avira at this point.
> WHEN this happens, the Windows 10 spinning circle of death keeps circling/animating, so the system is not frozen, just won't continue to boot and show the desktop/startup programs.
> ...



Then sadly, you do not understand the relationship between software, drivers, and hardware.

When you start a system, and the hardware will not fire up, you have a hardware problem, specifically with either the motherboard or your power supply. 

Let me repeat that: HARDWARE.


----------



## Naki (Mar 30, 2017)

You don't say! 
I use PCs since before Windows existed. It was DOS first. Then I used Windows 3.x, Windows 95, 98/etc, so I know very well how this works, there is no need to assume anything about me wrongly this way.
(I used Windows 2.x only for a bit, so do not remember it much)

No. Windows 10 is faulty for many people, it is not just me.
YES, this one PC, has lots of stuff inside it and outside too. So, likely a driver issue somewhere due to the large amount of hardware.
For example, it has 2 USB 3.0 HDDs, a USB 3.0 card reader, and also inside it has 2 SSDs in RAID0, plus many HDDs. Sometimes I use 2-3 USB flash drives also, a scanner and some other USB devices too.

IF there was any hardware issue, it would show in day to day use, such as via crashing, freezing, or artifacts.
NO such things happen, thus this cannot be any hardware issue.
All kinds of tests also work fine, such as MemTest86, Unigine Heaven, Valley, 3DMark (several versions of it), FurMark, OCCT and whatever you can name.

Also, the PC has 32 GBs of RAM and sometimes I am running FIVE virtual machines in VMware at once, which works properly, so even with such a load no issues exist.


----------



## puma99dk| (Mar 30, 2017)

rtwjunkie said:


> Then sadly, you do not understand the relationship between software, drivers, and hardware.
> 
> When you start a system, and the hardware will not fire up, you have a hardware problem, specifically with either the motherboard or your power supply.
> 
> Let me repeat that: HARDWARE.



yeh I agree with u @rtwjunkie GPU-Z needs the GFX driver otherwise it won't list the correct card, it's not like Aida64 that can PCI / AGP Video without having the driver installed.


----------



## Naki (Mar 30, 2017)

My drivers are fine. I use latest, and have no PCs (I have several PCs) without proper drivers for the videocard.
On my AMD Radeon PCs I use latest Radeon ReLive drivers, and use latest GeForce drivers on the 1 PC that has such a card.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 30, 2017)

windows insider is Plagued with issues, and being that it is by definition "pre-release" software, you surely cant expect there to be support for a version of windows that isnt released yet for all the other crap (stuff not actual crap btw)you have plugged into the pc , Or GPU-z either(not saying it is a GPU-z issue), but I have been an insider since day one, and I have been into PC's for a Very long time, there has never been a time that i had MORE system issues, than when i was running insider program builds, If I were You, I'd do the following.

install a retail stable version of windows.
remove all unnecessary (to RUN PC) HW


*Keep an open mind*, You seem to have an "idea' of what the issue is, but yet your looking for help in a public forum. the moment you begin to rule out possible problems, you begin to rule out possible solutions. At the end of the day, your posting in a forum people use to get help from others....if you dont want that feedback, (which it seems like you might not, unless it is in tune with what your opinion already is about the issue cause), then dont look for help where others are going to offer theyre opinions, which are often going to be different.
I hope you get the issue resolved, most people here are Genuinely happy to help You, as long as your willing to be realistic about the issues/facts


----------



## Naki (Mar 30, 2017)

Yes, I know Windows 10 Insider Preview is not 100% stable by default.
However, it seems even with RTM/Release version of Windows 10 this one PC of mine - only it, the others are fine - still has issues.

My other PCs - 3 of them - run and get Windows Insider Preview updates and can reset/restart/etc without any such reboot stalling issues.
There is something specific to this 1 PC that fails, but I do not know what it is, nor do I need help with that here.
IF I needed help with this, I would post to the proper forum section, i.e. not this one.

The section here discusses GPU-Z and I only ask for help - such a fix or maybe giving some more info GPU-Z maker may need from me to identify the issue/etc - with that hard lock issue and not my booting issue.


----------



## jboydgolfer (Mar 30, 2017)

Naki said:


> he section here discusses GPU-Z and I only ask for help - such a fix or maybe giving some more info GPU-Z maker may need from me to identify the issue/etc - with that hard lock issue and not my booting issue.



i dont know what help that "*some guy who has windows insider installed on his PC (no version mentioned) & a bunch of other stuff*" is going to be to any developer though. what release of windows are you on?
@ the end of the day however, this doesnt seem to be a GPU-z issue. I can tell Your leaning in that direction, but respectfully i disagree.
with that said, It would behoove you to (if your interested in resolving your actual PC issue) to start looking at what might truly be causing these issue for You.
You say your have several PC's, none of which suffer this issue, which means You possess all the required items to trouble shoot this problem.
figure out where the problem PC is different, and start with the process of elimination, to slowly move towards a solution.

again, I hope you come to a solution, best of luck.
 If your goal was simply to submit feedback to the creator of GPUz,you have done that. Inevitably he'll read this thread and he'll get information that you wanted to provide to him.


----------



## Naki (Mar 30, 2017)

Thanks!
System logs from CPU-Z and MSInfo32 are here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2kt6syq5wvexw1g/AABg4dZJgIWFH793kx6sgIaxa?dl=0
These should show plenty of data necessary to figure out what may be wrong.

Basic Windows 10 OS version & build info is here, please:
https://cloud.mail.ru/public/emiW/EtvwjfgGZ
(does not mention/list Insider Preview, but in fact is that)

EDIT: I have also edited the original post to include same info.


----------



## Vayra86 (Mar 30, 2017)

Naki said:


> Thanks!
> System logs from CPU-Z and MSInfo32 are here:
> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2kt6syq5wvexw1g/AABg4dZJgIWFH793kx6sgIaxa?dl=0
> These should show plenty of data necessary to figure out what may be wrong.
> ...



You still don't seem to get it so I'll word this differently:

- you have an issue that is unique to your rig and not a GPU Z bug.
- your issue is likely hardware related
- you have either a power delivery or power stability problem (+12V line out of ATX spec, old PSU, CPU Vcore issue, pick one)

When you can get to grips with the above three points please do come back and start a serious topic for serious help. Until then, good luck running in circles.


----------



## 95Viper (Mar 30, 2017)

I thought I would give you my assessment... after looking at your usage and log postings.

First... this...

Quote from your zip file:


> <Category name="Problem Devices">
> <Data>
> <Device><![CDATA[D:\Сменяеми\Transcend Card Reader (USB 3.0)\Compact Flash\]]></Device>
> <PNP_Device_ID><![CDATA[SWD\WPDBUSENUM\_??_USBSTOR#DISK&VEN_GENERIC&PROD_STORAGE_DEVICE&REV_TS08#000000059&0#{53F56307-B6BF-11D0-94F2-00A0C91EFB8B}]]></PNP_Device_ID>
> <Error_Code><![CDATA[This device cannot start.]



And, my first guess would be a possiblility of an USB device after seeing the numerous ones you use.



Naki said:


> YES, this one PC, has lots of stuff inside it and outside too. So, likely a driver issue somewhere due to the large amount of hardware.
> For example, it has 2 USB 3.0 HDDs, a USB 3.0 card reader, and also inside it has 2 SSDs in RAID0, plus many HDDs. Sometimes I use 2-3 USB flash drives also, a scanner and some other USB devices too.



You may want to try removing the Transcend Card reader.

The error reporting section of your log shows numerous PNP problems with the device.

Also, you might want to run the Windows troubleshooter to repair your Windows update, as it seems to be pulling errors.

Just my 2¢


----------



## Vayra86 (Mar 30, 2017)

95Viper said:


> I thought I would give you my assessment... after looking at your usage and log postings.
> 
> First... this...
> 
> ...



Card reader may be an issue but it hardly explains hard locking and sound card noise, and it DEFINITELY doesn't explain having to wait 2-3 hours to reboot. Hell the card reader may even function badly as an effect not as a cause.


----------



## 95Viper (Mar 30, 2017)

Vayra86 said:


> Card reader may be an issue but it hardly explains hard locking and sound card noise, and it DEFINITELY doesn't explain having to wait 2-3 hours to reboot. Hell the card reader may even function badly as an effect not as a cause.



I agree with your second sentence... however, I have had USB devices DEFINITELY cause crashing of the system, locking up of the system and delayed/no booting of systems (And, they have at times caused sound problems).

As, I stated, my assessment was based off the log he provided.


----------



## puma99dk| (Mar 31, 2017)

If disconnecting USB and SD-card reader ain't working let me put it simple for u @Naki 

When u run Insider builds it's like alpha and beta software u will experience problems not everything is flawless I know that I been in Microsoft's beta program back in the day of Windows Vista, 7, Windows 8/8.1 and 10. (Also did some beta testing for Oppo's android version for their Find 7 phones nice and awesome phone I still thinking this even I got a iphone 7 plus now.)

I stopped because I don't have the time to wrap my head around it anymore even now with the first 5 updates after Anniversary update I have network quirks with my Intel I219-V when updating doesn't matter if I use KIS2017 or not I loose 10times my download speed and it's Microsoft patch released because removing the patches I get my speed back and tested with older and newer drivers with that said not every system behave the same even they contain the same components ppl often forgets that, I have this question sometimes daily from customers.


----------

