How to Fix 3DMark Stuck on Collecting System Info

ByThe Answerlode Editorial Team

Why 3DMark Gets Stuck on System Info

3DMark’s “Collecting System Info” phase scans your PC’s hardware configuration—drivers, video cards, storage devices, memory, and system registry. This scan should take a few seconds. When it hangs, something in your hardware setup is either broken, misconfigured, or reporting incorrect information to Windows.

The hang happens because 3DMark’s SystemInfo component is trying to query or enumerate a device, and that device isn’t responding properly. Since the scan doesn’t time out, you’re left waiting indefinitely.

Check USB Audio and Storage Devices First

The #1 culprit: USB audio equipment. Some USB speakers, microphones, headphones, and RGB controllers incorrectly register themselves as USB storage devices to Windows. When SystemInfo tries to scan them, they don’t respond like real storage should, and the whole scan locks up.

The fix is straightforward. Open Windows Device Manager (right-click Start, select Device Manager), expand “Disk drives” or “Storage devices,” and look for anything that doesn’t belong—an Edifier speaker, a Bluetooth dongle, a USB headset. Right-click it and select “Disable device.” You don’t lose the audio functionality; you just hide it from storage enumeration. If that unblocks the scan, plug things back in one at a time to find the exact culprit.

A faster first step: unplug all USB devices except your mouse and keyboard, then try 3DMark again.

Close Hardware Monitoring Software

Motherboard control software conflicts are the #2 cause. Gigabyte Control Center, ASUS AI Suite, MSI Dragon Center, and similar utilities hook into your system hardware at low levels. They sometimes interfere with SystemInfo’s scanning process.

Close these applications entirely before running 3DMark. Don’t just minimize them. And if you have RGB or fan control utilities running, close those too. You can restart them after the benchmark.

Check for Failing Storage Drives

If you have a failing hard drive, an external USB drive with file system issues, or a Linux partition with EXT4 formatting, 3DMark will hang when it tries to enumerate or query that storage.

You can test this by temporarily disconnecting any external drives or secondary internal drives, then running 3DMark. If it works, you’ve found the problem drive. To keep using that drive while benchmarking, disable it in Device Manager the same way you would with USB audio devices.

Use FMSIDiag to Pinpoint the Exact Cause

FMSIDiag is a diagnostic tool built into 3DMark’s SystemInfo component. It lets you turn off individual scanners and see which one is causing the hang.

Find it here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Futuremark\SystemInfo\FMSIDiag.exe

Run it and go to the second tab (the one with checkboxes). Start by unchecking “CPUID” and “GPU-Z,” then click “Run Scan” on the first tab. If the scan completes, you’ve narrowed it down. Enable them back one by one to find which one hangs. Some users report that disabling “WMI Info” (if available) also resolves the issue.

When you find the culprit module, check if there’s a Windows update for your hardware, drivers, or BIOS that addresses it.

Update Your BIOS

Outdated BIOS with known hardware enumeration bugs can cause 3DMark hangs. Check your motherboard manufacturer’s support page, download the latest BIOS, and update. Most boards include a tool to do this safely from Windows.

Delete Your 3DMark Settings

Occasionally a corrupted settings file can cause repeated hangs even after you’ve fixed the underlying cause. Delete your 3DMark folder from Documents (not Program Files—your actual Documents folder), then relaunch 3DMark. It will rebuild its configuration from scratch.

Disable System Info Collection

As a last resort, if you just want to run benchmarks and don’t need hardware details submitted with your score, go into 3DMark settings and disable system information collection entirely. You’ll still get benchmark results; they just won’t have the detailed hardware profile attached.

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