12th gen random freezes - Windows 10

Framework Laptop 13
1

Hello,

My unit suffers from quite persistent and very stubborn random freezes. I figured I’ll create a thread tracking all the things I tried so far, as well as to hear any suggestions, no matter how far-fetched.

Symptoms:
Random full freeze. Most frequently occurs while using Microsoft Word. CPU use and temps prior to the freeze are normal. The screen stays on. No error message, no blue screen. Keyboard, trackpad, and mouse don’t respond.

System:

  • CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-1240P
  • Storage: 1TB - WD_BLACK™ SN850 NVMe™
  • Memory: 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200
    Windows 10 home (latest update).
    Expansion cards:
  • 1 USB-A
  • 1 HDMI
  • 1 DP
  • 1 USB-C

Things I tried:
Windows:

  1. Clean windows reinstall/repair from drive.
  2. Open command prompt (as admin), run sfc /scannow. It will find and repair potential corrupted files in windows.
  3. Open command prompt (as admin), run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth. Does basically the same thing as above.

Hardware.

  1. There is a known issue with WD850 firmware. Install the latest firmware from here Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support
  2. There might be a faulty expansion card. Try to run the system with all cards unplugged to find the culprit.
  3. Clean driver install (after clean windows install).

The list will be amended. Feel free to post further suggestions.

2

12th Gen Intel is not supported on Windows 10, could you check if the issue persists when you use Windows 11?

3

Where did you hear that?

Alder Lake is on the list:

Mobile Alder Lake aren’t listed there because of release dates.

4

I wouldn’t say unsupported, but less performance is to be expected. To sell Windows 11 at the very beginning they push the fact that it was “optimize” for 12th Gen hybrid architecture (P-core & E-core) and Windows 10 wasn’t…

There was numerous videos about it, on desktop processor comparing performance on W10 vs W11 (Hardware Unboxed, Gamers Nexus, LTT, etc)…

So a temporary install on an other SDD might be an idea as @Water261 suggested

5
1 Like
6

Update - unplugging all expansion cards fixed stability issues. Any idea what do I do now?

7

Install one expansion card at a time until you isolate which card is causing the freezing.