Multiple PCs frozen right after update.

We are also seeing the same issues as everyone else on this thread.  Old Dell systems that were working fine locking up starting on September 15th.  All newer systems have no issues.  The Dell systems meet the specifications that Sophos support gave me when I originally opened a ticket with them in October.  Support asked for the same logs which of course you can't get when the systems lock up.  So they gave us a basic troubleshooting directions and closed the ticket on us.  I knew the issue was most likely Sophos since it happened in the middle of the month with no warning.  We did not update Windows at the time so it was not a Microsoft issue.  We were running Win 10 20H2.  The image was created in February with no issues till September.  We upgraded to Win 10 21H1 to see if it fixed any issues which it did not.  I even reimaged my test PC to Win 10 20H2 from February (no updates) still froze up.  I made sure drivers were updated as much as possible (no fix).  The only thing that resolved the issue was removing Sophos completely or a USB network adapter.  I have a few people able to get through a full day without freezing with the adapter but I was able to get my test PC to freeze on a second day of testing.  Sophos needs to step up to the plate to resolve this, at least with a temporary fix (get us the older version of the agent?)

We are also seeing the same issues as everyone else on this thread.  Old Dell systems that were working fine locking up starting on September 15th.  All newer systems have no issues.  The Dell systems meet the specifications that Sophos support gave me when I originally opened a ticket with them in October.  Support asked for the same logs which of course you can't get when the systems lock up.  So they gave us a basic troubleshooting directions and closed the ticket on us.  I knew the issue was most likely Sophos since it happened in the middle of the month with no warning.  We did not update Windows at the time so it was not a Microsoft issue.  We were running Win 10 20H2.  The image was created in February with no issues till September.  We upgraded to Win 10 21H1 to see if it fixed any issues which it did not.  I even reimaged my test PC to Win 10 20H2 from February (no updates) still froze up.  I made sure drivers were updated as much as possible (no fix).  The only thing that resolved the issue was removing Sophos completely or a USB network adapter.  I have a few people able to get through a full day without freezing with the adapter but I was able to get my test PC to freeze on a second day of testing.  Sophos needs to step up to the plate to resolve this, at least with a temporary fix (get us the older version of the agent?)

It seem there could be a chipset issue with the older hardware and Sophos.

What is everyone running?
We have HP 6000 Pro SFF

Intel Core 2 DUO CPU's with Intel Q43 Express chipset

I agree with your assessment:

Dell Optiplex 980 SFF

Intel Core i5 CPU with Intel Q57 Express chipset

Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 Q43 here as well.  Specifically the model number for our 6000 SFF is NV469UT.

HP Z400 Workstation

CPU: Intel Xenon W3565

Chipset: Intel X58 Express

Three flavors of Dell MT  All are Win 10 Pro  64bit

1) Opt 980 MT

Intel Core 3.33 GHZ i5 CPU with Intel Q57 Express chipset
NIC Intel 82578DM
Dell only has Win 7 and  Vista drivers, Win10 not supported.

2) Opt 780

Intel E8500 or E7500 CPU 3.15 GHZ Core 2 Duo
Intel Q45/Q43 Express Chipset.

I have a 3/15/21 baseline on an extra HDD that I'll put in one other 780 PC.
I believe there were no issues with that baseline. Will have to test. 

Have a 32 bit Win 10 as well

Sophos rep keeps wanting Sophos dump or Procmon dump. The system freezes so you can't collect it!! What are they missing here?? I keep telling them this. Agree, Sophos needs to step up to the technical plate. My system only freeze when I play music, otherwise they are fine... 

My laptops run fine! Latitude E6520 w/ Intel i5-2520M 2.5 GHZ       Is there an issue with CPU speed?

Will chk updates on laptop and see what happens.

HP xw4400, Intel Core 2 Duo E6700, Intel 975X
HP xw4600, Intel Core 2 Duo E8300 & E8500, Intel X38 Express
HP Z400, Intel Xeon W3550, Intel X58 Express

The thing is, we have 70 of these models, but it's affecting only about 20 or so.  They're all more or less identical in images, updates, and hardware.  It's not affecting any of our 40 laptops/tablets, or the Z420, Z440, Z4 G4 and they number in the hundreds.  

What's the CPU speed on the MT/SFF and laptops? Laptops usually run slower, 2.5 vs 3.0+ for MT/SFF

I have noticed that the network goes bonders (high link activity) after freeze. Noticed this on the network switch. Anyone else see this? Anyone have workable network monitoring S/W-H/W to capture type of packets being sent by the "frozen" PC? Contents might be useful. 

I did not notice high link activity after the freeze.  That being said I was told that there has been a registry change by Sophos.  I did notice the change on a few computers here and we have not had any freezing today but we also neutered the Sophos policy not knowing about that change.  So not sure if the registry is helping or my changes have helped (or both?).  Anyone having a better day today?

There may be multiple issues that manifest themselves in different ways. I've experienced no freezes with regular apps, only with music.