Casual browsing in Microsoft Edge is causing my PC to completely freeze?

Question

As stated in the title, I seem to be having a strange issue in which my Windows 11 PC randomly decides to freeze and crash while browsing in Microsoft Edge. It doesn't matter what I'm doing. I could be browsing amazon or checking emails in outlook. There's no warning. Everything suddenly freezes and becomes completely unresponsive. It has already done so 4 times today.

Here is what I have checked and tried to remedy the issue:

• I have checked the event viewer. There is only a Kernel-Power critical error that is fired when I hard shutdown the computer via the button.
• I have tried the "sfc /scannow" console command. While this did find and fix some corrupted Windows files, this did not fix the issue.
• I have repaired Microsoft Edge through the Settings > Apps > Microsoft Edge > Modify method.
• I have updated my processor's drivers.
• I have ensured both Windows 11 AND Microsoft Edge are up to date.
• I have performed a security scan and currently have no detectable malware on my computer.

Things to note:

• This issue to happen in Opera GX at some point last year. I switched to Firefox and have had no problems since then.
• A few months ago I also had similar freezing and crashing in the Windows File browser. This only happened twice, however, and hasn't happened since.
• I have one plugin installed in Edge, and that is for the NordPass password manager. I have yet to test with this uninstalled, though I'm not sure it will make a difference.

PC Specs:

• Windows 11
• RTX 3070 GPU
• Ryzen 5 5600x CPU
• Asus TUF B550-Plus Motherboard
• 64 GB RAM.

At this point I'm pretty frustrated as I have no clue what could possibly be the cause of this issue. Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Hello Mukar. I'm Greg, here to help you with this.

1. Try these fixes for Edge until one works:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsofted...

2. Try these fixes for Edge freezing working for others:

https://geekermag.com/fix-microsoft-edge-freezi...

https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftEdge/comments...

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/microsoft-edge-b... (Avoid ad links which intrude into editorial copy, especially DO NOT INSTALL Restoro, PC Repair Tool and Reimage ads)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqfhalXa5Ek

3. If nothing there works Go over Windows 11 with this Performance Checklist to try to find and fix problems:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Feel free to ask back any questions. Based on the results you post back, I will have other suggestions if necessary.

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Standard Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the sites that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before you decide to download and install it.

Answer 2

Hi Greg! I tried the suggestions in the links and had already done a fair bit of them--probably should have noted that I factory cleared the cache, data, and did an entire factory reset on the browser yesterday before switching back to it from Firefox. Additionally, turning off/uninstalling the NordPass plugin did not help, and neither did disabling hardware acceleration. Even after trying those, I experienced a hardware crash.

After reading your post linked on 3, I noticed my AM4 chipset and bios desperately needed updating--the latter especially needing attention as it was running on a pre-Windows 11 version from December 2020. I updated those and things are running smoothly for now. It would not surprise me if this was caused by some sort of bios compatibility issue with the OS, but I will need to keep using the browser for a while more to ensure this fixed the issue. Fingers crossed that the problem is resolved; I'll make sure to follow up here if I experience the issue again.

Thank you for your help!

Answer 3

I'm glad to hear of your progress, and happy to help.

Let me know if I can help further. I'll stay subscribed to this thread in case you need anything else, until the system locks it in a few months.

Also if any particular post provided the solution, please mark it as Answer or Helpful to help others who find this thread.