Seemingly Random Crashes

[DarQ]

Lately, HWInfo64 keeps freezing and crashing.

Settings:
  I use default settings with "Use PHET" being disabled since it has been suggested in a different forum. I also disabled some sensors which I don't need. Additionally, I enabled tray        symbols for CPU Package Temp, GPU Core Temp and Chassis Temp as measured by my mainboard (Screenshot 57).

Issue:
  Very often, the tray symbols disappear, leaving blank space behind (Screenshot 58). When I hover over these, they disappear too. The HWInfo-tray Icon remains visible until I hover    over it and it disappears. They won't come back until I start HWInfo64 again.

My system:
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  Intel i7 6700k @4.60 GHz[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980Ti MSI OC Edition @1400.00 MHz[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  Corsair Vengeance DDR4 2x8 GB @3600 MHz[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  MSI Z170A Gaming M3[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  (Issue existed before OC)[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  I ran "Driver Booster 5" (IObit) to ensure that I use the latest drivers.[/font]

Attachments:
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  The .DBG file is 30MB and wont upload to this site, so I uploaded it to Dropbox instead: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o4jq2evorkqnicw/HWiNFO64.DBG?dl=0[/font][/SIZE]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]  Screenshot (57).png[/font]
  [font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Screenshot (58).png[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Thanks for your help,[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]DarQ[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]_________________________[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Edit: "Use HPET" instead of "Use PHET"[/font]

 

[extrem0]

Confirm this.
Noticed that random crashes begun after updating videocard drivers to "397.31-desktop-win8-win7-64bit-international-whql" version (previous was 384.76).

Specs:
- Windows 7 x64 SP1 + updates
- ASUS P8H61M-LE
- Intel Core i5 3470
- RAM Hynix 8GB
- Gigabyte Geforce 750 Ti 2GB

Zipped Debug-file attached to this message.
[attachment=2849]

 

[Martin]

DarQ: Try to do a "Reset Preferences" in HWiNFO. Doing this you'll loose all settings, but try to setup them again and see if the problem persists.
extrem0: If this problem happens only with latest GeForce drivers then I'm afraid I can't do anything, NVIDIA will need to fix this.

 

[DarQ]

DarQ: Try to do a "Reset Preferences" in HWiNFO. Doing this you'll loose all settings, but try to setup them again and see if the problem persists.
extrem0: If this problem happens only with latest GeForce drivers then I'm afraid I can't do anything, NVIDIA will need to fix this.

So, after hitting the "Reset Preferences" button it ran about two hours and froze again. One thing I noticed was that "Use PHET" was not reset and the tray symbols were still visible, even after I restarted HWInfo64. All sensors were scanning again tho and it asked me if I wanted to disable the sensors for my "Corsair H100i" which I did. I'm not sure if reinstalling HWInfo will help since I already had this issue before I reset my PC (a week ago, I noticed the issure about two weeks ago).

Thank you,

DarQ
[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]_________________________[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Edit: "Use HPET" instead of "Use PHET"[/font]

 

[Martin]

I believe HPET is not a problem in this case. So after doing the "Reset Preferences" you again configured tray icons to be shown and hidden some items too? What other changes have you done?

 

[DarQ]

I believe HPET is not a problem in this case. So after doing the "Reset Preferences" you again configured tray icons to be shown and hidden some items too? What other changes have you done?

After resetting the preferences, nothing happened apart from all the sensors being enabled until I rebooted my PC. After rebooting I had to set up the tray symbols again. Maybe only rebooting resets the preferences properly.
However, now that the preferences were reset and I enabled the tray symbols it still freezes and the issue persists. Having removed the tray symbols again, HWInfo runs in the background and does not crash.

 

[Martin]

So when the problem occurs, HWiNFO is still running? If yes, are you able to open the sensors window and do the sensor items refresh?

 

[DarQ]

So when the problem occurs, HWiNFO is still running? If yes, are you able to open the sensors window and do the sensor items refresh?

The problem only occurs when I add symbols to the tray bar.Unfortunately, I only notice it when its too late and I'm seeing blank space in the tray bar so I cannot tell what's happening or whether it's running or not in the exact moment it freezes.

With additional tray symbols enabled, HWiNFO freezes and is not listed in the Task Manager after it froze. The tray symbols leave blank space behind and the HWiNFO tray symbol is still visible although the app is not running anymore. So after the problem has occured, HWiNFO is in a state where it's not running but displaying its tray symbols. As soon as i hover over the HWiNFO logo in the tray bar to do "rightclick -> Sensors" which would open the Sensors window, it disappears.

With all additional tray symbols disabled, HWiNFO keeps running, is listed in the Task Manager and I can open the sensors window by rightclicking the HWiNFO logo in the tray bar and selecting "Sensors".

 

[Martin]

Thanks for the additional information. That means HWiNFO crashes silently, the initial appearance of tray icons and disappearing is just the result of an application which doesn't refresh them because it terminated unexpectedly. Strange is that the crash happens silent and Windows doesn't display any notification. Perhaps the Event Viewer contains more clues...
Can you please try to run HWiNFO again and watch via Task Manager the memory usage, if it maybe grows during the whole runtime?
I'm trying to reproduce this problem too, but wasn't able to make it crash yet.

Btw, which version of GeForce drivers are you using? I've seen several reports (by extrem0 here and in other forums too) saying that GeForce 397.xx drivers can cause heavy memory leaks in GDI objects. Not sure if this might be the cause... Might be worth checking global and process memory usage while monitoring with HWiNFO.

 

[DarQ]

Thanks for the additional information. That means HWiNFO crashes silently, the initial appearance of tray icons and disappearing is just the result of an application which doesn't refresh them because it terminated unexpectedly. Strange is that the crash happens silent and Windows doesn't display any notification. Perhaps the Event Viewer contains more clues...
Can you please try to run HWiNFO again and watch via Task Manager the memory usage, if it maybe grows during the whole runtime?
I'm trying to reproduce this problem too, but wasn't able to make it crash yet.

Btw, which version of GeForce drivers are you using? I've seen several reports (by extrem0 here and in other forums too) saying that GeForce 397.xx drivers can cause heavy memory leaks in GDI objects. Not sure if this might be the cause... Might be worth checking global and process memory usage while monitoring with HWiNFO.

So, during the first run, memory usage was sitting at 10.00 MB. It dropped a bit to about 9.7 MB and then it crashed. (ran for 2 mintutes)
During the second run, memory usage went as high as 36,2 MB, slowly rising from 34,3 MB, so every couple of seconds it rises by 0.1 MB. (has been running for 20 minutes).

Global memory usage is 3.8 GB / 16 GB maximum and I'm running the latest BIOS version (7978vAC).
I'm running the GeForce Game Ready Driver version 397.31 from April 25 2018.

My overall graphics cards memory usage did not rise and sits at 222 MB, if that's of any use.
I attached the .INI file as .txt, maybe this helps too.

 

[Martin]

Can you please try to downgrade the NVIDIA GeForce driver to an older version than 397 and then see if that behaves different?

 

[extrem0]

Yesturday morning downgraded Nvidia Geforce Driver from 397.31 to 388.71 - no crashes. HWiNFO works stable and fine with active system tray icons (CPU Core Max Temp and GPU Temp).

 

[DarQ]

Can you please try to downgrade the NVIDIA GeForce driver to an older version than 397 and then see if that behaves different?

After downloading and installing an older NVIDIA GeForce driver, version 391.95, HWiNFO has been running for more than half an hour without freezing or crashing so it seems to have fixed the issue.

Older versions of NVIDIA drivers can be found here: http://www.nvidia.com/drivers/beta

@Martin Thank you for your help and patience,

DarQ

 

[Martin]

Thanks guys for the feedback. A nasty NVIDIA bug is this...

 

[Martin]

UPDATE: According to this post: https://www.hwinfo.com/forum/Thread-HWInfo64-Won-t-Show-UI?pid=18330#pid18330
upgrading the NVIDIA driver to 397.92 should resolve the problem.