PCSX2 stops responding intermittently

[depthfloor]

Hello, I've been having an issue with PCSX2 where the application stops responding for upwards of 30 seconds at a time, usually occurring 1-2 times during each hour it runs. Emulation and audio are still running, but rendering pauses until it "catches up" after the 30-60 second period is over. It also stops taking further input or repeats the last input I placed when I lost control of the application.

This is something I have only encountered with the Qt versions, so I'm having trouble pinning down what's causing it as I can't tell if it's an issue with my system. Because the emulation is still running when the application stops responding, the emulog doesn't show any errors.

- Specs: Intel i5-9600K, 16GB RAM, RTX 2070, Windows 10 Home (10.0.19045)

- I've encountered this issue with PCSX2 1.7.5858 and 2.0.2, but not the older non-Qt versions.

- Happens regardless of hardware/software renderer options and rendering settings.

- I have not tried adjusting external settings for threaded optimization, task priority, or task core affinity. These are all at their default settings (threaded optimization: on, task priority: normal, task core affinity: all cores).

- I've attached an emulog from when I tested the issue. The part of the log that reads "(VMManager) Pausing..." was me trying to pause emulation as soon as possible after PCSX2 stopped responding and then returned to normal.

[MrWizard]

Are you playing from physical disk?

Convert your game dvd to iso file with imgburn. PCSX2 reads isos natively and won't be reading head with dvd for 30 seconds.

[depthfloor]

No, it was still occurring with an iso backup, unfortunately. I've also tried running the iso from an internal HDD and an external HDD, but it seemed the same in both situations.

[jesalvein]

A full emulog would be better

[depthfloor]

I tested for the issue again today and have attached a full emulog. Again, I have tried to pause the virtual machine after I notice PCSX2 has stopped responding.

I have swapped to a new graphics card and enabled CDVD precaching to see if it would help. The issue still persists, but it seems less pronounced and now PCSX2 stops responding for less than ten seconds at a time. Not ideal but much better than what I was experiencing yesterday.

[depthfloor]

Sorry to bump this but I've tested for this issue again on a clean install of Windows 11 on a new SSD, and fortunately the issue has not come up again! It may have had to do with my previous tests running off a hard drive that was already several years old, so it was likely never an issue with PCSX2 in the first place, just hard drive wear and tear affecting the emulator and Windows 10 at the same time since they were on the same hard drive.