Hey everyone! I'm really struggling with my parents' PC lately. It keeps freezing on the lock screen after being idle for about an hour. A bit of background: my mom reported a BSOD earlier with the CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT stop code. I thought I fixed it by updating all the drivers, but now this new issue has popped up.
The PC is a Windows 10 machine built in 2021, and I've done regular dust cleanouts. The CPU temps sit at 50-55C, and the system's running an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with 32GB of DDR4 RAM. No recent hardware changes and everything seems to be connected properly.
I've tried a bunch of troubleshooting steps: I checked the Event Viewer, fixed errors, increased shadow volume copies, scanned for malware, and ran DISM and SFC checks. The lingering errors include some about the system rebooting unexpectedly and Secure Boot not being enabled. I'm currently remote accessing the PC via AnyDesk, but plan to enable Secure Boot, update the BIOS, and possibly do a clean installation of Windows 11 when I can get physical access.
Honestly, I'm out of ideas and really need help! Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
1 Answer
It’s concerning that you had the CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT before; it suggests a potential CPU issue. BIOS updates could definitely help, and since you’re dealing with a Ryzen 5000 series CPU, it’s worth tweaking some voltage settings. Just be careful not to set both types at the same time! You can try a voltage offset of +0.050v for the CPU Core and SoC or set static voltages of 1.3v for the Core and 1.1v for the SoC. It could make a difference!
Thanks for the advice! If it still freezes after a BIOS update and clean Windows install, I'll definitely give those voltage tweaks a shot. Just curious, would you happen to know where to find those settings in my ASUS TUF Gaming B550-Plus motherboard?