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!
