Windows 11 bug is randomly freezing PCs with AMD CPUs

The problem may not be widespread, but it sounds seriously annoying to say the least

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Windows 11users withAMDRyzen processors are reportedly being hit by a bug that in some cases is causing various problems including freezing up the PC and affecting the performance of games.

The issue was introduced with the December cumulative update forWindows 1122H2 (patch KB5021255), andWindows Latesthighlighted a number of users who are suffering at the hands of this gremlin and have posted complaints on Microsoft’s Feedback Hub and Reddit.

While this problem doesn’t seem to be all that widespread, those who are encountering it are getting pretty frustrated as some of the effects observed are nasty indeed.

One poster on theReddit threadwrote: “After installing this update [KB5021255] on Windows 11 22H2, our clients with AMD CPUs started to completely freeze up at random times for minutes, then unfreeze again.”

Apparently uninstalling the patch resolved the issue (and the same thing happened with KB5019980, according to the poster). Furthermore, they observed that the same type of PCs running Windows 11 21H2 weren’t affected by these patches.

Another person with a PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X chimed in on the thread: “These CUs [cumulative updates] are causing my computer to randomly freeze then unfreeze after 10-20 seconds. I’ve been uninstalling apps I’ve recently put on my computer but still [have] the same issue.”

As well as problems around freezing up, Windows Latest notes that some users (presumably on the Feedback Hub, though they aren’t quoted) are further experiencing poor performance with games and drops in frame rates and stuttering. (This may cause some deja-vu for some folks, as well, as stuttering has been a big issue with a previous bugthat has only just been cured).

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Analysis: Bugs that cause more grief than usual

While it isn’t widespread, as we mentioned above, the severity of the bug for some people – with PCs apparently locking up for 20 seconds or even minutes at a time – is going to be supremely irritating. And anything that interferes with gaming frame rates will be very unwelcome, too, obviously enough.

It’s not the first time Windows 11 has come unstuck with Ryzen CPUs either. Back in October 2022, high-end Ryzen modelsran into trouble with the operating system’s thread scheduler effectively throttling them.

With any luck,Microsoftand AMD will be looking into this latest issue, although it may be the case that if the number of impacted users isn’t that many, it won’t be high on the priority list. As there’s a lot of stuff to fix of late with Windows 11, as you can tell from that Reddit thread where there are a number of other miscellaneous complaints. One example that springs readily to mind that we’ve just highlighted isanother annoying bug with File Explorer(where it randomly pops to the front of the desktop, on top of other apps you may be using, obscuring them).

Indeed, there appear to be a few too many strange and frustrating bugs plaguing Microsoft’s desktop OS of late – let’s hope this isn’t going to become a trend for Windows 11.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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