Hi there experts,
I have an intresting problem on my computer.
I have a 2.7GHZ, 1GB RAM machine with XP proffesional installed.
Extra Cards I have that run:
1) ATI 1900x Radeon
2) SoundBlast Live 24!
The actual problem: Computer loads windows and then freezes after a
few minutes allowing me to move the mouse, but not allwoing me to
click on anything and freezes my keyboard as well.
I did not have any issues with it until it started to just start
rebooting by itself. I thought it was just temporary and then now
everytime I start the computer, it freezes at multiple locations.
I am very experienced with computers, since i am a software developer.
Don't be afraid to go technical on me.
Here are some things that I have noticed:
1) If i just let it load normally, it will freeze when the login
screen pops up (the screen that displays all account names and you
click on one to log in). I believe this is when all the drivers get
loaded, is anything else loaded except the drivers at this point?
2) If I log on to some account without waiting, it logs on displaying
my desktop background with no icons (it used to be the opposite where
i would see the icons and then the image or both at the same time -
THIS IS VERY STRANGE) then after it loads everyhthing the icons show
up. 3-5 minutes later, with no memory issues, no applications running,
with my computer on 99% on the Idle process it just freezes. It allows
me to move the mouse, but I can't click on anything and the keyboard
is also disabled.
3) In safe (with networking and without networking) mode, the system
runs fine.
4) I have a 1900X Radeon graphics card which requires a power supply.
I have a 400WATT power supply which should be ok with the Radeon 1900x
series.
5) this is a 3 year old machine that ran like a tank without any
issues. No spyware, no viruses, no trojans. First thing I have
installed on the machine is ZoneAlarm (7.0), AVG anti virus, CCleaner,
Spybot, etc. (All the goodies that protected my computer from even 1
virus). The worst thing that hit me was the AIM virus, but I took care
of that.
6) Another intresting thing is that in "MsConfig" I see that it says
"use original boot.ini"
Things I tried:
1) I tried to uninstall all my drivers one by one, then they
automatically get installed when I click to detect hardware changes.
2) Ran all the possible scans - nothing found (in safemode):
a) CCleaner
b) SpyBot
c) Windows Defender
d) Spyware Terminator
3) Installed sysinternals (
www.sysinternals.com) and saw that NOTHING
is running when the computer freezes. Not one extra byte is used for
any application or anything that could freeze my computer.
4) Dusted my machine - Throughly
Things I will still try to do:
1) Use system restore
2) update ZoneAlarm with the latest version
3) Remove sound card
4) Replace Radeon with my old nvidia card - I hate to do this because
I have to uninstall everything in perfect order and make sure nvidia
is installed correctly.
Any ideas? What would you first do to make