System freeze after initial use of HWInfo64.exe

RichardSchaefer

New Member
Here is my configuration.  I tried to copy it to the end of my post, but it poped up here at the beginning.
 
Intel I7-6700K 4.00 GHz CPU
ASRock Z170 OC Formula Motherboard
G. Skills TridentZ Series 16GB DDR4 3200 F4-3200C16D-16GTZ
EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Video Card
Dell Ultrasharp U2415 24-Inch 1920x1200
ASUS VW-199 20 inch 1440x900
Samsung SM951 - MZHPV256HDGL-00000 256 GB PCIe M.2
2 WDC WD10EFRX-68PJN0 1 TB in RAID 1
Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 3 TB
WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 1TB
Ultra - X4 850 Watt Modular ATX
Corsair Obsidian Series Black 550D Mid Tower
Corsair Hydro Series H110i GT 280 mm
Razer Black Wido Ultimate 2013 Keyboard
Logitech M310 Mouse

This is an unusual problem.  I've been using HWInfo for many years and have always been extremely satisified with the performance except for when on windows 10.  I install HWInfo64 by manually placing it in a Program Files\HWInfo folder and providing write permissions to that folder for the .ini file.  After my initial use of HWInfo, my system freezes randomly.  Even if I stop using HWInfo64, my system continues to freeze as often as every 5 or 10 minutes.  Removing HWInfo does not stop the freezing.  Finding a viable restore point and restoring my system to a time prior to the initial use of HWInfo will clear up the freezes and the system stays that way if I don't use HWInfo.  I've observed this behavior with ASUS Z170 Deluxe and ASRock Z170 OC Formula motherboards and with builds 1511 and 1607 of Windows 10 released by Microsoft in November of 2015 and August 2nd, 2016 respectively.  Once HWInfo is used, the system continuously freezes.  I've been extremely satisified with the HWInfo product, but as an alternative, I tried Speccy which coincidently does the same exact thing.  After Speccy's initial use around October 13th my system started freezing every 5 minutes and I can't find a good System Restore point to eliminate the problem.  At this time, I can only report the problem with HWInfo and can't investigate the problem.  If you have encountered this issue before, please let me know about your findings and I will investigate once I clear up my current problem.  I am using a Samsung SM-951 256GB m.2 Gen3 4X card as my boot drive which I noticed is in common with other systems reporting Freezes, but I've found no other experiences where the system freezes occur when HWInfo is no longer being used on the system.  Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
 
Well, this is a very strange problem and hard to believe that a freezing could occur after running HWiNFO for the first time, even when not using it anymore. When you close HWiNFO, it's no longer active and doesn't have any influence on the system. So just running it, closing and performing a full reboot should clean all potential actions it performed - HWiNFO doesn't change anything in the system. If you're using the portable version, then not even the driver remains in the system (though even if it would, it would just sit idle there).
If would would like to perform some tests, then I'd suggest to try to switch some settings off before first HWiNFO launch and see the results.
 
Martin said:
Well, this is a very strange problem and hard to believe that a freezing could occur after running HWiNFO for the first time, even when not using it anymore. When you close HWiNFO, it's no longer active and doesn't have any influence on the system. So just running it, closing and performing a full reboot should clean all potential actions it performed - HWiNFO doesn't change anything in the system. If you're using the portable version, then not even the driver remains in the system (though even if it would, it would just sit idle there).
If would would like to perform some tests, then I'd suggest to try to switch some settings off before first HWiNFO launch and see the results.

Yes, I agree.  Right now I am dealing with the issue from a different software house.  It's identical to what happens with HWiNFO.  The freezes don't occur in Safe mode so after a regular boot I disabled all non-MS services and all but essential MS services through msconfig and the freezes stopped.  I'm re-enabling the MS services a few at a time.  I've enabled some services I consider essential when I started the testing with no problems and now I'm enabling them alphabetically.  I just made it past the services starting with L and no freezes.
I agree with what you said that removing the software and rebooting should resolve the problem, but it doesn't for some strange reason.  I've checked with Process Explorer and Autoruns to make sure no remnants are left.  As soon as I resolve this and have a solution, I'll test that solution with HWiNFO64 which is what I've used when the problem occurred.  I can reproduce the problem with HWiNFO64 easily and a System Restore can resolve it.  Unfortunately I don't have a good restore point at this time.
Thanks for responding and I'll send more info when it is available.
 
Thanks for the feedback.
If you find the reason, please let me know. I'm really curious why that happens...
 
Martin said:
Thanks for the feedback.
If you find the reason, please let me know. I'm really curious why that happens...
I have narrowed the situation down to the Power service.  I get freezes within 5 minutes with Power service running and no crashes with Power service disabled.  Since I can manipulate the problem by enabling or disabling this service I will see if a "Repair Install" of Windows 10 version 1607 will correct the issue.  If so, I will then do detailed testing with HWiNFO64.exe.  If there is anything you would like me to test at this time before I do the repair install, please let me know.
 
Martin said:
Thanks for the feedback.
If you find the reason, please let me know. I'm really curious why that happens...
The repair install didn't work.  I have to do a clean install and I have a lot of software on my system so it'll be a few days before I post again.  I have the Power service disable in order to use the PC  If the Power service starts, the system does a hard freeze and I have to shut the system down in order to reboot.  The freeze occurs in less than 5 minutes.
 
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