so ya its sounding more like what we thought in the beginning which was a RAM issue. but before you go to best buy lets try doing one more set of quick fixes so we can save u some $$ just in case... first try to run the dism/sfc tools.. this will make sure there are no corruptions in any of the root folders that keep your machine running and also make sure your windows update is cool also.. hopefully you are already looking for windows updates every day as it is right? ( for a performance boost, i disable auto update and look for updates everyday sometimes 4 times a day..) also make sure everything in microsoft store is up to date as well. sometimes a file might get corrupt somewhere in the line and the dism/sfc tools clear that up and get you back in shape.. heres how
1) hit the windows key > start typing command and you will see command prompt pop up > run it as administrator > type the following making sure to put a space before every forward slash "dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth" > hit enter >> depending on your system it should take about 10-15 min or so to finish..
when that finishes up it will tell you what all it did but don't close out the prompt yet. next is the sfc tool
just type the following also making sure you have spaces in front of the forward slash "sfc /scannow" > hit enter >> again, depending on your system it should take about the same amount of time and will spit out a message saying what it did and where to find the log of what it did.. restart your pc to seal the magic in...
this isnt to say this will fix your problem but if it was, and it may very well be, a driver issue then this could be.. but since its also looking like a RAM thing and might even a MoBo issue.. id say try downloading memtest86 and running that after the dism/sfc tools. it will tell you more on the problem sticks and give you a better look (hopefully).. lets see what that takes you first cuz the next step would be to take out each stick and run with about 8gb for a day then slowly add more until you can find the problem stick by process of elimination. also you may want to look at getting Onedrive and backing up your files and what not in that.. if you dont like the $8/month sub for office then i think they have a 1tb option for around $3/month i think.. but that will save you a lot of time if you did need to format in the future..
