I'm having a frustrating issue where my Task Manager freezes every time I try to open it, and as a result, I can't launch any games. This started happening two days ago. Other apps like Word and Excel, as well as web browsing, work just fine, but games like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 won't boot up at all—no error messages or anything. When I try to open Task Manager, it initially works but then goes blank and freezes if I try to access performance stats or end tasks. Restarting or shutting down my laptop takes forever, and I have to perform a hard reset each time. I really need help with this since I won't be able to get a new laptop until college starts!
4 Answers
It sounds like you might be dealing with a Windows or driver issue rather than a problem with the games themselves. Here’s a step-by-step to troubleshoot:
1. Open Command Prompt as an admin and run `sfc /scannow`, followed by `DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth`.
2. Make sure your GPU drivers are updated or consider doing a clean reinstall.
3. Check for any overlays or unusual programs running, like antivirus software or the Xbox Game Bar, and disable them.
If the Task Manager keeps freezing and shutdowns are slow, it’s likely due to a bad system file or driver. If nothing works, a clean reinstall of Windows usually fixes these types of issues fairly quickly.
Have you checked your storage drive? It might be faulty and causing these problems.
You should run a tool like CrystalDiskInfo to check your SSD or hard drive for any issues. This sounds similar to what happened to my computer before the hard drive started failing—thankfully, I had a spare to transfer my data.
I tried the second step, but it gave me ERROR Code 87! I'm hoping that just reinstalling my GPU will help; if not, then I guess I'll need to do a full reinstall.