My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
> DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>
> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
> Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the
malware/virus status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what
programs (and versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware

If everything looks good after answering the First Two Questions, check
your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr. You will make a bootable cd/floppy from this file. Boot with
it and do a thorough test of the hard drive. If it fails any physical
tests, back up your data and replace the drive.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:21:57 -0600 from Chris Shearer Cooper
<(E-Mail Removed)>:
> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
> DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>
> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
> Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.
>
> What else can I try?
>
Install a good virus scanner and run a full scan.

Or else do a Windows repair install. Something is seriously hosed.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

You are of course right with the First and Second Questions.

1) Not sure. Since it doesn't happen regularly, I can't pinpoint exactly
when it happened, so I can't correlate with any major changes with the
computer. I installed a new mobo a couple months ago, but the puter worked
fine for 4-6 weeks, so I don't think that's it. No major software installs
around the time when I started seeing this problem.
2) SpySweeper with AntiVirus is run regularly.

I do have a hard drive that from time to time gives me warnings ... I've
physically removed it to see if that helps. If a dying hard drive is
capable of producing the symptoms I've seen, that seems very likely the
culprit.

Thanks!
Chris

"Malke" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
>> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
>> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
>> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
>> a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
>> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
>> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
>> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>>
>> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
>> C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.
>
> The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
> things worked and the time they didn't?
>
> The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
> status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
> versions) did you use to determine this?
>
> Be sure the computer is clean:
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
>
> If everything looks good after answering the First Two Questions, check
> your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
> drive mftr. You will make a bootable cd/floppy from this file. Boot with
> it and do a thorough test of the hard drive. If it fails any physical
> tests, back up your data and replace the drive.
>
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

reboot into safemode,
then check if the symptoms
alleviate or perpetuate...
"Chris Shearer Cooper" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

What do I lose by doing a Windows repair install? For example, do I have to
re-install all my software?

Thanks,
Chris

"Stan Brown" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:21:57 -0600 from Chris Shearer Cooper
> <(E-Mail Removed)>:
>> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
>> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
>> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
>> a
>> DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
>> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
>> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
>> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>>
>> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
>> C:
>> Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.
>>
>> What else can I try?
>>
> Install a good virus scanner and run a full scan.
>
> Or else do a Windows repair install. Something is seriously hosed.
>
> --
> Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
> http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Nope, took out the offending hard drive, and the problem still happened. I
will next try diagnostic utilities for the remaining hard drives.

"Chris Shearer Cooper" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> You are of course right with the First and Second Questions.
>
> 1) Not sure. Since it doesn't happen regularly, I can't pinpoint exactly
> when it happened, so I can't correlate with any major changes with the
> computer. I installed a new mobo a couple months ago, but the puter
> worked fine for 4-6 weeks, so I don't think that's it. No major software
> installs around the time when I started seeing this problem.
> 2) SpySweeper with AntiVirus is run regularly.
>
> I do have a hard drive that from time to time gives me warnings ... I've
> physically removed it to see if that helps. If a dying hard drive is
> capable of producing the symptoms I've seen, that seems very likely the
> culprit.
>
> Thanks!
> Chris
>
> "Malke" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
>>> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
>>> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
>>> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
>>> a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
>>> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
>>> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
>>> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>>>
>>> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on
>>> my C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to
>>> help.
>>
>> The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
>> things worked and the time they didn't?
>>
>> The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
>> status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
>> versions) did you use to determine this?
>>
>> Be sure the computer is clean:
>> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
>>
>> If everything looks good after answering the First Two Questions, check
>> your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
>> drive mftr. You will make a bootable cd/floppy from this file. Boot with
>> it and do a thorough test of the hard drive. If it fails any physical
>> tests, back up your data and replace the drive.
>>
>>
>> Malke
>> --
>> Elephant Boy Computers
>> www.elephantboycomputers.com
>> "Don't Panic!"
>> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>
>

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
> What do I lose by doing a Windows repair install? For example, do I have to
> re-install all my software?

You don't lose anything but Windows Updates when you do a Repair
Install, but I'd always have all data backed up first.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Remember to answer the First and Second questions before you do the
Repair Install. Since I can't see your computer, I can't rule out
hardware issues either. Here are some general hardware troubleshooting
steps:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...ardware_Tshoot


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Hello,

Sounds like it is running out of memory.

Try closing some programs. Also, did you disable virtual memory?

Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced (tab) > Settings (Performance) >
Advanced (tab) > What does Total Paging file size say?

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
> DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>
> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
> C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.
>
> What else can I try?
>
> Thanks,
> Chris
>
>

Total paging file size = 2046M

I have 2G of RAM, and looking at task manager, I never use it all ... so I
could disable virtual memory, but I don't see how that could be causing the
specific problem I'm having. If my virtual memory were somehow hosed,
wouldn't that cause more problems?

Thanks,
Chris


"SingaporeWebDesign" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> Sounds like it is running out of memory.
>
> Try closing some programs. Also, did you disable virtual memory?
>
> Start > Control Panel > System > Advanced (tab) > Settings (Performance) >
> Advanced (tab) > What does Total Paging file size say?
>
> --
> Singapore Website Design
> http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
> Singapore Web Hosting
> http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
> Windows XP FAQ
>
> "Chris Shearer Cooper" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
>> quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
>> 1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
>> a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
>> 2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
>> 3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
>> 4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)
>>
>> At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
>> C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.
>>
>> What else can I try?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Chris
>>
>>
>
>