Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

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caesay
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Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by caesay »

If a specific set of circumstances are met, this will cause a complete OS lock for me - requiring a hard reset. It has not resulted in a bsod and I've not managed to capture any memory dumps. The system is Windows 10 1903 x64.

1) Enable PrimoCache 3.2 with the following settings
- L1 cache disabled (0 bytes)
- L2 cache read & write (any size)
- write delay enabled (so all writes go to the L2 instead of the underlying drive)

2) Run CrystalDiskMark 7.0 on the cached drive

The hard lock occurs for me the moment the RND4K/Q32T16 test begins. The system will no longer process anything, all processes halt immediately until a hard reset. If the L1 cache is enabled (size > 0) then the issue does not occur. Verified multiple times, system always locked up at the same CDM test - only when PrimoCache is running, and only when the L1 cache is disabled.
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by Support »

We did some tests following your steps. Unfortunately we haven't reproduced the problem yet. Not sure if the problem is hardware-related or specific to your Windows. Could you export your System Information and send it to [email protected] for our reference? Below are steps to export the system information.
1) Click on the Windows Start menu, and click "Run",
2) Type msinfo32.exe in the inputbox and then click OK. You shall see the "System Information" dialog,
3) Click the menu item "File" -> Export, export the system information to a text file.
Many thanks.
BitBuster
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by BitBuster »

Interestingly I encountered the same problem.

My Windows 10 (versions from 1903 until recently 2004) has a problem where, after about 4 days of use (continuous or alternating with complete shutdown of the OS) I lose access to the GUI completely. The mouse cursor moves, but without interaction with the OS. If I'm using Microsoft Teams in a meeting, I listen and speak normally for hours without the GUI.

The only way to get back to the OS is through Hard Shutdown.

I have already tested several capacity adjustments of L2 and L1 in addition to being without one of the two without success.

Currently I live with this "bug" not completely clarified, because the OS becomes inaccessible simply preventing receiving any information from "blue screen" or "crash window". I waited for hours and nothing came up.
TomB
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by TomB »

I also have the symptoms described above by BitBuster.

No BSOD, but interface stops responding. The machine continues to run and function, and the mouse cursor moves around, but no response from the GUI.

No dump file is generated, because the machine doesn't actually crash. The GUI just locks up and the only recovery is hard reset. I am able to reset by Ctl-ALt-Dlt and then click the Shutdown Option in the lower right corner. So far, I have not had an actual crash nor data loss, as I am always able to shut down gracefully so far. This has happened probably 3 - 4 times since I've installed PrimoCache, which was about 3 - 4 weeks ago.

I have separate read and write caches both for L1 and L2, and I am also using Deferred Write, but with fairly short Latency (delay) times, about 5 - 7 seconds. I am using Write Mode of "Average". My block sizes are 4kb, which is the same as the cluster sizes on the underlying disks (target disk and the L2 SSD.)

I am running Windows 10 Home v2004 and PrimoCache 4.0 Alpha.

Thank you ...
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by Support »

@BitBuster, @TomB, could you please export your system information (see above) and sent it to [email protected] for our reference, together with a screenshot of your PrimoCache main dialog showing the cache configuration and statistics by highlighting the target volume item?
Thank you very much.
TomB
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by TomB »

Thank you, Support.

Data and screenshots sent, along with some notes on my PC configuration and many of my exported PrimoCache configurations.

If this extra information is not useful to your purposes, please just ignore it.

Thank you again ...

Tom
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by Support »

@TomB, we got your files, thank you very much!
BitBuster
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by BitBuster »

@Support sorry for my delayed response.

Sent all files. The exported information from msinfo I packed with 7zip.

After the last W10 compilation 19041.508 I think stabled the issue.
Since Sep 8th GUI hung wasn't presented. Maybe was resolved but is some early to confirm.
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by Support »

@BitBuster, we have received your files. Thank you very much for your follow up!
ryh
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Re: Reproducible OS hard lock / crash (Win10)

Post by ryh »

Got the same. Sorry for my english...
Looks like when some heavy drive tasks is going on all I/O disk operations are locked (maybe except what is in RAM/Windows cache).

My adventrue was like that...

I was installing Steam game (big one 100GB+) was during download (at beginning) and at the same time i wanted to uninstall other game to free space (also big one about 100GB). Sudently "delete" stoped at middle and Steam download stopped (like 0Mbit download). Trying to open some folders on any HDD/SDD locked Explorer. Had to hardreset.

After hardreset, Steam startuped and started to continue game download. Again wanted to unistall that other game and again like above.
Did this third time - the same.

After 4th restart i stopped Steam. Then turn off completly PrimoCache task (just delted cache task so ive got blank screen of PrimoCache configuration). Started Steam, game downloading again, trying to unistall 2nd game and again Windows locked and need to hardreset.

After hardreset PrimoCache was still without configuration (no cache task). Trying again downloading 1st game and at the same time unistall 2nd game. Again need to hardreste.

After hardreset I unistalled PrimoCache completly but didn't restart Windows when unistaller asked for that.
Witout restart repeated 1st game download and 2nd uninstall at the same time - again need to hardreset.

After that state was: PrimoCache unstalled and restarted after PrimoCachce unistall.
This time downloading 1st game and unistalling 2nd game at the same time - no problem.
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