Windows Explorer freezes overnight

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   When I leave my system running overnight I see that Windows Explorer has frozen when I get up. My clock shows the time in which it froze, but Event Viewer doesn't have an event at that time to reflect it. At least it didn't when I looked today. I ran a batch file to wipe out all of my logs so it should be easier to read should new errors populate tonight.

Today I had to manually restart my computer, but normally I can use task manager to restart Windows Explorer. Sometimes it doesn't resolve the problem, but I can still restart Windows through task manager.

Now I wonder if this could be a strange stability issue caused by the fact that I did not connect PCIE_PWR1 on the motherboard. The manual states that I should connect power to that connector if I am running 3 or more GPUs. However, I am only using the 1. This particular GPU is high powered though with a 450W cooler and 600W system requirements. Above that I do have a large number of storage devices (4 mechanical and 4 solid state), 2 optical drives, and the rest is in my signature below. Could this in fact be the culprit of my problem?

Fractal Design Define R5 Titanium | Corsair AX1200i | ASRock Z97 Extreme6 | Intel i7-4790K | CRYORIG H7 | GELID GC-Extreme | 2x G.SKILL TridentX F3-2400C10D-16GTX | Gigabyte R9 290 4GB | Samsung SM951 M.2 MZHPV512HDGL-00000 | Samsung 850 Pro MZ-7KE256BW | Samsung 850 Pro MZ-7KE128BW | OCZ VTX3-25SAT3-120G | Seagate ST4000DX001-1CE168 | Western Digital WD30EZRX-00MMMB0 | Western Digital WD2001FASS-00U0B0 | Western Digital WDBACW0030HBK | ASUS USB-AC56 | Logitech G710+ | Mad Catz R.A.T. 9 | Razer Vespula | Logitech G933 | Bluetooth 4.0 (for PS4 controller) | Steam Controller | MS Xbox Wireless Adapter (for Xbox One controller) | Windows 10 Pro x64

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
gniblack Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 21 May 2015 Status: Offline Points: 76	Post Options Post Reply Quote gniblack Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Windows Explorer freezes overnight Posted: 11 Mar 2016 at 6:10am
	When I leave my system running overnight I see that Windows Explorer has frozen when I get up. My clock shows the time in which it froze, but Event Viewer doesn't have an event at that time to reflect it. At least it didn't when I looked today. I ran a batch file to wipe out all of my logs so it should be easier to read should new errors populate tonight. Today I had to manually restart my computer, but normally I can use task manager to restart Windows Explorer. Sometimes it doesn't resolve the problem, but I can still restart Windows through task manager. Now I wonder if this could be a strange stability issue caused by the fact that I did not connect PCIE_PWR1 on the motherboard. The manual states that I should connect power to that connector if I am running 3 or more GPUs. However, I am only using the 1. This particular GPU is high powered though with a 450W cooler and 600W system requirements. Above that I do have a large number of storage devices (4 mechanical and 4 solid state), 2 optical drives, and the rest is in my signature below. Could this in fact be the culprit of my problem? Fractal Design Define R5 Titanium \| Corsair AX1200i \| ASRock Z97 Extreme6 \| Intel i7-4790K \| CRYORIG H7 \| GELID GC-Extreme \| 2x G.SKILL TridentX F3-2400C10D-16GTX \| Gigabyte R9 290 4GB \| Samsung SM951 M.2 MZHPV512HDGL-00000 \| Samsung 850 Pro MZ-7KE256BW \| Samsung 850 Pro MZ-7KE128BW \| OCZ VTX3-25SAT3-120G \| Seagate ST4000DX001-1CE168 \| Western Digital WD30EZRX-00MMMB0 \| Western Digital WD2001FASS-00U0B0 \| Western Digital WDBACW0030HBK \| ASUS USB-AC56 \| Logitech G710+ \| Mad Catz R.A.T. 9 \| Razer Vespula \| Logitech G933 \| Bluetooth 4.0 (for PS4 controller) \| Steam Controller \| MS Xbox Wireless Adapter (for Xbox One controller) \| Windows 10 Pro x64

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11 Mar 2016 at 2:06pm
	When you say Windows Explorer (aka File Explorer), you mean the window that is displayed when you click the file folder icon on the Taskbar, is that right? Otherwise when Windows boots and nothing is manually started, we are at the so called Desktop. If you don't have File Explorer running overnight, does the PC freeze at all or have any problems in the morning? How about if you start File Explorer right away in the morning? I doubt not having the PCIE_PWR1 connected to the PSU is the cause. The PC is idling when it runs overnight, so the video card is not under stress and not drawing much power from the PSU. That is, if you have the PCIe link state power management enabled. When idle, does your card still draw full power all the time? I doubt that it does. Your video card gets most of its power directly from the PCIe cables from the PSU. A PCIe x16 slot can only supply 75W of power to a video card. If you have Windows configured to turn of the display after a period of time, that is even less of a load on the video card. The 24 pin ATX power connector only has two 12V pins/wires coming from the PSU. If someone is using several lower power video cards that use only PCIe slot power, that can over burden those two 12V connections. Multiple cards like yours can do the same thing, but both do that under load. That is why that extra power connection was included. Boards with this power connector will sense when it needs to be connected to the PC, and will display a message during boot, and stop the PC from booting. You've obviously never seen that message. Neither have I, but I am aware of it. Since File Explorer is related to the drives in the PC, I wonder if one of the drives goes to sleep and then has some kind of failure. Or the various types of power management for drives, HIPM and DIPM, is not dealt with well by one or more drives. How do you have your Windows Power Plan configured for Hard Disks, turning off drives? I have a Z97 Extreme6 board, and have never had this problem. But I have fewer drives than you do. I just realized you must have some of your drives connected to the ASMedia SATA controllers, two of which are on our board, providing four SATA ports. They are the four SATA ports at the top of the stack of ports, as seen with the board mounted in a PC case. I'm not a big fan of the ASMedia 1061 SATA chipset. I recently tried running a tool called TRIMcheck on a Samsung 840 Pro SSD connected to an ASMedia SATA port. The TRIMcheck tool failed to run. Never saw that happen with the Intel SATA ports. Then I tried running the drive benchmark AS SSD on that 840 Pro. It would not run at all, again I've never seen that happen using Intel SATA ports. You don't seem to be using RAID mode on the Intel SATA chipset, but did you install the Intel AHCI driver and Windows IRST UI? That software has several drive power saving and performance options, but only work with drives connected to the Intel SATA ports. What drives do you have connected to the ASMedia ports?