System Freeze and Audio Problem

While I am still testing hardware I am really thinking this is a Windows problem. I am running Windows 10 version 1909 which is fully updated. Also I get this problem just playing Solitaire which is connected to the internet but I don't need to be watching video with or without music. I have not been playing any serious games because of this problem. I have tried Installing my extra programs very slowly and testing between them to see if they have caused this but so far they seem to not make a difference. Just out of hand are you using WIFI or LAN to connect to the internet ? Perhaps this is caused by the way each is handled by windows.

Just a brief recap on my issues. I first encountered the problem on my previous system, a home build using an Asus Z87 motherboard. It started life as a Windows 7 machine but I allowed it to update. No immediate problems until I started to get crashes where eventually I could not reboot.

I assumed I had a failing disk and replaced it with a new disk and a clean install. It did not cure my crashes, which I eventually tracked down to an intermittent memory card. Looking at my notes, it appears I fitted the new disk in October 2018.

However, immediately on the clean install, this new issue of stuttering audio and system freezes started, the freezes never being released on this computer, having left it in that state once while I had lunch and read a magazine and over an hour later, it was still in the same frozen state.

I concluded that the hardware was getting past its best and decided to replace it, this time finding a reasonably priced ready built system that met my needs. That was about six months ago.

The sound stutter and system freezes began within the first week. I struggled for a while, thinking it may be associated with something I had installed. I gave in about three month ago now and did a reinstall, keeping my existing data.

I have a list of programs and that on new install, I usually go down that list and install everything before I really start using the machine. This time I did not rush to install everything, but on a minimal install, but the problem was back within a few days on a minimal install. I looked at updates in those few days and rolled them back. No really obvious differences, the problem was still there.

I believe there is something in there that is blocking, not allowing other things to run, hence the freeze, or in less serious cases, just interferes with everything such that the audio cannot get the time it needs causing the stutter.

Stutter is always coincident with peaks in CPU load which is often, though not always, coincident with a flurry of activity on Ethernet.

Sometimes the increase in load appears to be triggered by my activity, e.g. switching between active windows, but I can be taking lunch in an adjacent room with audio playing through Bluetooth and the system can freeze. Going to the computer then shows the activity spike that usually accompanies the problem.

With stutter, I can see the activity around 100% for a number of seconds. With a freeze I see a very narrow peak, suggesting that monitoring has been unable to continue due to being totally blocked.

A friend who has observed my problem reports he sees unexplained peaks in CPU activity but has never experienced a freeze.

There now seems to be an increasing number of people reporting issues of this nature. It would appear to me there is a serious problem in Windows 10 which has been there for a clean install since at least October 2018 and is not related to any update since then.

I have a Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Master mother board with a Gigabyte Aorus 2070 super graphics card and a Soundblaster Z sound card.  The mother board, graphics card and memory and Intel 9900K CPU were all new last fall when I did my rebuild. I was using a Samgsung EVO860 SSD when all this started. My problem exists using both the onboard graphics and or sound as I have tried them each by themselves and together, and with the add in cards which I have also tried together and by themselves. The buzzing sound seems to occur while or about the same time as the freezing and mouse studdering.

Interesting.  I have a 2080 card too... but the issue is only with the on-mobo audio

It is interesting that both of our problems started at about the same time. Makes an update of some kind more likely. Both of us have made our own computers for years. I totally redid mine with NO original parts except a couple data drives. The problems take about a day to show up and get worse over time. I have found when the issue occurs if I restart the computer it goes away (or restarts the issue I suppose). After about a day or so it begins over again. At least this build restarts in about 10 seconds. The original took 6 MINUTES! Just for info to see if it is relevant both of my computers used Asus ROG Strix motherboards. the first a z279 and the new one a z370. The problem occurs both using the onchip Intel graphics or the Nvidea 2080 card.