I recently encountered a persistent and perplexing issue on my Windows 11 workstation that took several days to isolate. Over the past few weeks, my system would intermittently freeze during regular use—often when resuming from sleep or when I was running moderately intensive applications. The symptoms were not extreme (no complete BSODs, just unresponsiveness) but severe enough that the taskbar would sometimes stop updating, and keyboard/mouse input would lag or be ignored entirely. In some instances, I had to perform a hard reboot.
At first, I followed several common troubleshooting steps suggested on various technical forums:
• I performed a System File Checker (SFC /scannow) and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth scan to rule out any corruption in system files.
• I checked Windows Update and manually updated all device drivers through both Windows Update and the manufacturer’s websites.
• I disabled Fast Startup in the power settings, as it’s known to sometimes introduce issues, and even attempted a clean boot to see if a startup service was the culprit.
• I reviewed the Event Viewer logs for recurring error messages. There were some warnings related to the Intel Management Engine Interface (IMEI) and sporadic entries about unexpected driver terminations.
Despite these efforts, the freezes persisted, albeit in a more random pattern. Eventually, a subtle clue emerged: every time the freeze occurred, a particular driver error would appear in the logs, suggesting that the IMEI driver might be involved. Although it wasn’t the common suspect for such symptoms, I decided to take a closer look.
Following a suggestion from a lesser-known forum thread, I visited the Intel website and downloaded a fresh, stable version of the Management Engine Interface driver rather than relying on the version pushed via Windows Update. I uninstalled the currently installed IMEI driver from Device Manager, rebooted into standard mode, and then installed the freshly downloaded version. After this change, my system’s stability was restored, and the random freezes disappeared.
The unexpected insight from this experience is that sometimes the problem might not lie in the more obvious hardware drivers (graphic, chipset, etc.) but in components that interface closely with system power management. My tip for anyone encountering similar intermittent freezes is to dig deeper into your Event Viewer logs. If you notice repeat errors that aren’t immediately associated with your typical suspects, consider manually reinstalling or rolling back the driver—even if it’s a component like the IMEI driver that you might not suspect at first.
This issue taught me not to disregard the “under the radar” drivers when troubleshooting and to always have a backup of the stable versions you’ve been using. Sometimes the solution isn’t the most glamorous, but rather a simple reinstallation of a driver that has silently become problematic after an update.
