6:00 Computer Locks up.

[Bikini Browser]

Hello everyone...

I have a client that says her computer locks up around 6:00 almost every
evening. So I set the clock for 5:45, and waited and nothing happened. So
then I waited for the real 6:00 to pass, and nothing happened. I can't
recreate the problem.

I ran LavaSoft Spyware and installed the latest version of Norton Anti-Virus
and had no luck. Meaning that those tools did not find any problems.

Now I plan on running AVG Anti-Spyware on it to see what it can find. I will
check for open connections.

The client runs MS Word and WordPerfect on the same Computer. I can't find
any other patterns of client behavior that I can report. Such as if she was
printing at the time or if she had more than two applications opened at one
time. I can't find a pattern yet.

It appears as the computer is not totally locked up because we can run the
task manager.

I checked the Scheduler to see if anything was scheduled at 6:00 and
nothing.

When the computer is actually "locked up", the client reboots the computer
and everything works again normally.

The last time it locked up, I had them run the task manager and after we
opened the task manager, the computer did not seem to be locked up anymore.
This time, we did not have to reboot it.

Can anyone tell me where else to look? How can I recreate the problem?

When the computer is actually "locked up", what can I do to locate the
source of the "lockup"?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dale

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hello everyone...

I have a client that says her computer locks up around 6:00 almost every
evening. So I set the clock for 5:45, and waited and nothing happened. So
then I waited for the real 6:00 to pass, and nothing happened. I can't
recreate the problem.

I ran LavaSoft Spyware and installed the latest version of Norton Anti-Virus
and had no luck. Meaning that those tools did not find any problems.

Now I plan on running AVG Anti-Spyware on it to see what it can find. I will
check for open connections.

The client runs MS Word and WordPerfect on the same Computer. I can't find
any other patterns of client behavior that I can report. Such as if she was
printing at the time or if she had more than two applications opened at one
time. I can't find a pattern yet.

It appears as the computer is not totally locked up because we can run the
task manager.

I checked the Scheduler to see if anything was scheduled at 6:00 and
nothing.

When the computer is actually "locked up", the client reboots the computer
and everything works again normally.

The last time it locked up, I had them run the task manager and after we
opened the task manager, the computer did not seem to be locked up anymore.
This time, we did not have to reboot it.

Can anyone tell me where else to look? How can I recreate the problem?

When the computer is actually "locked up", what can I do to locate the
source of the "lockup"?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dale

You might have a memory leak and the computer might not lock
up at 6:00 but after x hours of running time. You can easily verify
this by rebooting the machine at 5:00 and check how long it takes
before it locks up again.

You should provide more details about the locked up status, e.g.
- Does the mouse still work?
- Does the CapsLock light work?
- Can you press Ctrl+Shift+Esc?
- Can you ping the machine?
- What does the Task Manger tell you? What tasks are running?
What is the CPU loading?

 

[Bikini Browser]

Thanks for the ideas... I will check your list of things to check and
report back to this group.

How do you check for a memory leak? Why would a memory leak cause it to
lock up at a special time?

I really appreciate your fast reply,,,

Dale

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Check the Task Manager for the amount of memory
and which application keeps increasing its demands.

Memory leaks don't cause a lockup at a given time -
they cause a lockup when the available memory is
exhausted, which is usually after x hours.

BTW, the Subject line for your post in the Server
group is terrible (as opposed to this one, which gives
a neat summary of the problem). It might fail to attract
the best respondents.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Another note: You multiposted your other question in
several newsgroups. This will get you unpopular very
quickly, because it wastes everybody's time. Use
cross-posting when you wish to post in several groups.

 

[Bikini Browser]

How do you use "Cross Posting"? I never did that before...

Dale

 

[Lem]

How do you use "Cross Posting"? I never did that before...

Dale

Since you're using Outlook Express, see
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
and scroll part way down to "cross-posts"

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

How do you use "Cross Posting"? I never did that before...

Crossposting is simply adressing a single message to multiple newsgroups.
Put all their names in the "Newsgroups" field, separated by semicolons.

Here's my standard message on multi-posting vs. crossposting:

Please do not send the same message separately to more than one newsgroup
(called multiposting). Doing so just fragments the thread, so someone who
answers in one newsgroup doesn't get to see answers from others in another
newsgroup. And for those who read all the newsgroups the message is
multiposted to, they see the message multiple times instead of once (they
would see it only once if you correctly crossposted instead). This wastes
everyone's time, and gets you poorer help than you should get.

If you must send the same message to more than one newsgroup, please do so
by crossposting (but only to a *few* related newsgroups).

Please see "What is the accepted way to share a message across multiple
newsgroups?" at http://smjg.port5.com/faqs/usenet/xpost.html

 

[Bikini Browser]

I just wanted to thank you for teaching me how to cross post. I was even
able to setup Outlook 2003 using the GO menu. Its super cool!

I will take (follow) your advice about cross posting and again thanks so
much.

Dale

 

[V Green]

Is this computer on a network, either wireless
or wired?

It may be that something is happening on the network at 600,
or, if wireless is involved, that some source of RF interference
kicks in at 600.