How to stop computer from freezing up Swift SF314-42

LynneGirdlestone

I've had a Swift SF314-42 for 3 months. Last week it began randomly freezing up while I typed. Had to use the small battery hole on the back to even shut it down. Reboots fine but will freeze up again randomly. I've read every 'solution' offered on Internet and Acer forums and tried many different things. Acer Care Ctr checks all say things are fine. RAM check was OK. CPU usage is minimal. Have eliminated almost all programs I don't use. With so many reports of freezing on the internet, I don't think this is a hardware issue I need to ship in for warranty service.

Thread was edited to add model name to the title

Balatekie

Hi @LynneGirdlestone,

Regret to know that you are experiencing system freezing issue. Before sending the unit for repair, I recommend you to try increasing the virtual RAM and check the performance. 

To adjust the virtual memory size on Windows 10, use these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on About.

4. Under the "Related settings" section, click the System info option.

   Source: Windows Central

5. Click the "Advanced system settings" option from the left pane.

   Source: Windows Central

6. Click the Advanced tab.

7. Under the "Performance" section, click the Settings button.

   Source: Windows Central

8. Click the Advanced tab.

9. Under the "Virtual memory" section, click the Change button.

   Source: Windows Central

10. Clear the Automatically manage paging files size for all drives option.
11. Select the Custom size option.

12. Specify the initial and maximum size for the paging file in megabytes.

    

    Quick tip: The size of the virtual memory is unique to each device, and it can't be generalized. However, usually, it's recommended to use a number that's one and a half times the total available memory for the "Initial size" and three times of available memory for the "Maximum size" when possible.

13. Click the Set button.
14. Click the OK button.
15. Click the OK button again.
16. Restart your device.

Once you complete the steps, you should notice an increase in performance when navigating Windows 10 as well as when running multiple apps at the same time.

If you need to revert the changes, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 10, make sure to check the Automatically manage paging size for all drives option, and restart your device.

Hope this helps!!

Regards, 

Balatekie

LynneGirdlestone

Thanks for your prompt answer, but I don't get the math you are recommending based on your #12 example. Here are my numbers. Would you tell me what is recommended: RAM = 8 GB, Virtual Memory = 5120 MB, Total paging file size for all drives: (minimum) 16 MB, (recommended) 1839 MB, (currently allocated) 5120 MB

billsey

If you fire up Resource Monitor what is it showing for memory usage? With 8GB of physical memory if the usage gets close to that it will start swapping out to disk, using the virtual memory. If you are using a HDD instead of SSD things can get really slow when swapping to disk. Even with a SSD things can be slow, just not as bad as with a HDD. If Resource Monitor isn't showing anywhere near full memory usage we'll need to dig down into what else is going on...

LynneGirdlestone

The Resource Monitor seems to run at about 3% of CPU (with occasional spikes, but they aren't occurring when it freezes), Physical memory runs at ~36%. It just froze again with these numbers. It appears I have an SSD monitor. Should I be contacting Acer 'Live Chat' at this point? If they would have to go onto the computer, would that be better than calling on the Phone?

billsey

Yeah, best bet at this point is to get together with Acer support and let them do the rest of the diagnosis... There is likely something going on with the hardware that causes the freezes.