Recently, I had a total meltdown moment with my Windows 11 PC that I just have to share here. Every time I booted up last week, my system would hang for a minute or two and then suddenly freeze, only to restart unexpectedly. At first, I thought it was just a one-off glitch, but the problem kept happening, usually right after I logged into my profile.
I started my troubleshooting by checking the Event Viewer, where I noticed recurring errors that pointed to video driver issues and some system file corruption. Online, everyone was suggesting running the System File Checker (SFC) and DISM commands. So, I opened an elevated Command Prompt and ran SFC /scannow and then DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. Oddly enough, while these commands returned no major errors, they didn’t solve my freezes at all.
Next, I booted into Safe Mode, hoping to pinpoint if it was a software conflict. In Safe Mode, everything seemed to run fine, which led me to suspect that the problem was related to drivers or startup apps. I disabled a few non-essential startup programs and even temporarily uninstalled a couple of third-party antivirus programs (which I’d read online could sometimes clash with Windows updates). Still, the issue persisted once I booted back into normal mode.
After spending hours sifting through forum posts and error codes, I zeroed in on the graphics driver after noticing an error related to the display adapter in my Event Viewer. I had been using an older driver that Windows Update had quietly installed recently. I went to the GPU manufacturer’s website, downloaded the latest WHQL-certified driver, and installed it manually. Once I did that, the mysterious freezes and unexpected reboots were gone!
Tip for anyone encountering similar oddities: don’t underestimate the importance of the official drivers directly from hardware vendors. Sometimes, Windows Update’s “convenient” driver isn’t the best match, especially if you’re using unique hardware or running a newer OS version like Windows 11. Also, consider checking your Event Viewer for any clues—it can often point you in the right direction when generic solutions fail.
It turned out to be a classic case of a driver mismatch causing system instability rather than a deep-seated OS error. Hope this helps anyone else experiencing weird freeze-and-reboot loops on their Windows machine!
