Since yesterday, my entire PC has started heavily stuttering at random times, making it almost unusable. I suspect a web browser is triggering it because the problem occurs with both Chrome and Firefox open. Oddly, pressing the Windows key to open the Start menu immediately stops the stuttering, even while scrolling through a webpage. The system works normally with the menu open, but the stutter returns as soon as I close it. Hardware acceleration is already enabled in both browsers, and the issue sometimes disappears temporarily before returning. On one startup, the PC froze badly, the keyboard LEDs turned off, and afterward Windows acted as though a second storage drive had been disconnected and reconnected. It also requested a restart related to the PCI bus. The issue happens even when the computer is not connected to the internet.
4 Answers
The Start menu changing the behavior points more toward a Windows graphics or desktop-compositing issue than an internet problem. Since it happens offline and with two different browsers, try updating or clean-installing the graphics driver, then test whether disabling browser hardware acceleration changes anything. It may also be worth checking Event Viewer for display-driver, storage, or PCI-related errors around the time of a freeze.
Check the browser graphics-acceleration setting in both Chrome and Firefox. In Chrome it’s under Settings > System, and Firefox has a similar option in its performance settings. Hardware acceleration can sometimes cause desktop rendering problems, although you mentioned it is already enabled, so testing with it disabled may also be worthwhile.
There’s no need to focus on the router if the problem occurs before the PC is connected to the internet. Reproduce it offline and compare whether the stutter appears in another graphics-heavy application; that can help distinguish a browser rendering issue from a graphics card, driver, storage, or motherboard problem.
The keyboard LEDs shutting off and Windows reporting that a storage device was disconnected and reconnected are more concerning than the browser symptom alone. Check the second drive’s SATA or power cable if it’s an internal drive, and inspect its health with a SMART tool. Also reseat PCIe devices and check motherboard power connections, since a bus or hardware connection problem could cause system-wide freezes that only appear to be browser-related.
I’ve already tried leaving hardware acceleration enabled. The strange part is that the computer can run perfectly for a while, then the stuttering suddenly comes back.