Windows 11 Freezes

I have a Windows 11 machine. 16GB Ram, 1.82 TB open storage

48 Mbps download, 10Mbps upload on a DSL network.

If I walk away from my PC without locking it (WIN L) it almost always freezes if it sits that way for long (hours).

If I lock it with WIN L, most of the time when I try to wake it, it comes alive with no problems. But 1 in 5 times, I have to use the power button to wake it up.

Freezing in this case means that no matter how many keystrokes or mouse movements or clicks wakes it up.

To wake it up when it has locked, I press the power button until the red power light is off, press it again to turn it back on. It doesn’t really reboot, all of my open applications are still running. The machine acts like it is rebooting.

I do leave it with several apps running, Chrome (with several tabs open), Quicken, Outlook, Excel, Calculator.

Any ideas? This is a fairly new problem, maybe 3 months. I have done searches for this problem with no help.

Thanks

 

Check you're task manger and see if any thing is sucking up ram and cpu. Antimalware Service executable tends to be a resource hog.And what version of windows 11 are you running. 23h2,24h2,25,2

 

Could be a 'memory leak', but as you describe it as when you leave the PC for a while, might be more a sleep problem. I don't think MS ever fully mastered sleep/hibernate. You might want to look around power settings and disable sleep, look at what is 'allowed' to wake the computer too. I have my desktop to never sleep, monitor off after 30 mins.. but change the sleep setting and see if it still freezes.

 

I agree with XoXgaming and foogo. Check your power settings to see what and when it puts the computer either to Sleep mode and/or Hibernate mode, maybe there is some settings conflicts.

Also check your computer's BIOS settings for any Power Save modes and power settings including display monitor settings that might cause issues.

Are all your hardware drivers up to date?

 

Open an elevated command prompt. Click Start type cmd, then CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER. An elevated (Admin) prompt should open.

In this prompt copy/paste powercfg -h off hit enter and reboot the machine.

What this does is; turns off hibenate, deletes the hiberfil.sys which often gets corrupted. It also uses a ton of space (I've seen it in the 16-20 GB range) but usually around 2-3 GB.
Hopefully it will help.
If you want to turn it back on just replace the off with on. powercfg -h on

It's the first thing I do when setting up a new desktop. I leave mine off. And like @foogoo stated, set the monitor to shut off at a chosen time.

hyberfil.sys

 

I don't agree. I believe the problem is hardware manufacturers and software developers failing to ensure their products (or drivers) comply properly with industry standards and Microsoft's published requirements.

Sleep works perfectly well for 100s of millions of users. Hard to blame the operating system if it doesn't for a relatively few exceptions. Possible? Sure. Never say never.

I for one, rarely ever shut down my computers when done with my computing sessions. I just let them go to sleep, with rarely a problem. When there is a problem, it is invariably that the computer failed to go completely into sleep mode. Not that it failed to wake. And the cause for it failing to go to sleep is invariably, something is still running and fails to suspend properly.

So IMO, it is MUCH MORE likely to be a program/app that's left running, or fails to suspend properly.

How do you normally try to wake it? Keyboard press or mouse wiggle? Or with the power button?

Note the ATX Form Factor standard requires all ATX compliant power supplies supply +5Vsb standby power to several points on the motherboard whenever the computer is shutdown, but still plugged into the wall (and, if equipped, the master switch on the back of the PSU is set to "|" or "On"). This +5Vsb voltage is what enables the "Wake on Keyboard" and "Wake on Mouse" features. This voltage is also what enables the case's front panel power button to signal the motherboard to signal the PSU to power up.

The power button switch not working properly could suggest a problem with the distribution of that +5Vsb voltage. Failing to wake with a keyboard press or mouse wiggle could also suggest a problem with the USB port. This could even be a motherboard or again, PSU issue. Or even a bit of fuzz, dust bunny in the power button switch.