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WTFIsStalling 0.4.0

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@github-actions github-actions released this 20 Sep 18:16
· 41 commits to main since this release
v0.4.0
585e26a

What's new

This release asks a second question next to "what stalled the PC?": is the hardware itself unwell?

Why a disk was slow, not just that it was. Each slow request is explained from the traffic around it:

  • The disk was busy, and which programs were moving the data. Windows' own background work (Defender, Search indexing, Windows Update, background tasks) is named as such, with the setting that actually controls it, instead of "close it".
  • The drive was asleep and had to wake up, with the power settings that stop that.
  • A program forced its writes out to the drive.
  • The disk had nothing else to do and was slow anyway: the drive, its cable or its firmware.

Drive health. Temperature, the NVMe health log (critical warnings, media errors, wear, thermal throttling) and SATA SMART (bad sectors, CRC cable errors) are read when monitoring starts and again when it stops. Counters that moved while you were monitoring are flagged as the cause; lifetime totals are only background. Serial numbers are never read, so reports stay safe to post.

What Windows itself logged in the last 7 days

  • Hardware errors (WHEA): corrected memory errors (unstable XMP/EXPO, a bad stick), corrected processor errors (undervolt, PBO, overclock), PCI Express link errors with the device in that slot named (riser cables, GPU, NVMe), and fatal errors that crashed the PC
  • Storage errors: drive resets, retried I/O, bad blocks, paging errors, surprise disconnects
  • Graphics driver resets: "display driver stopped responding and has recovered"

The details section lists every drive's health line and the event-log counts, so a clean bill of health is visible too.

Please report odd output

The hardware-error, SATA SMART and graphics-reset paths could only be tested against the documented formats, because the development PC is healthy and has no SATA drive. They are written to stay silent rather than guess when something cannot be read. If a report looks wrong on your PC, or misses an error you know is in Event Viewer, please open an issue with the report file.

Download

WTFIsStalling.exe is the app. wtfis-cli.exe is the same engine for the console.

Windows SmartScreen may warn about a new unsigned program: More info -> Run anyway. Checksums are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

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