Can’t figure out cause of frequent crashes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Musawwir Spiegel
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Musawwir Spiegel

Can’t figure out cause of frequent crashes

I have been plagued with crashes and can’t figure out their cause.
When they occur, an application has frozen, usually when opening or
saving a file. Other applications may continue running, so I try to
close the application using the Task Manager. However, all that
happens is that I get the dialog asking whether I want to send a
report to Microsoft. Whether or not I send the report, the
application fails to close, and sometimes the dialog that shows the
progress of the sending of the report itself fails to close when I
press the close button. Commanding the computer to re-boot or shut
down via the Start Menu/Turn Off Computer command fails to accomplish
either task. The only solution is to power off the computer.

My anti-virus program fails to show any virus when I run a scan.

I realize that I could uninstall, one by one, each of my applications
and see whether the problem resolves itself, but that would be a
massive undertaking given the need to reinstall them later and my lack
of use of the applications during the time when I am testing to see
whether the freeze-up problem has been cured.

Is there any diagnostic tool that is reliable and might discover the
cause of the problem and provide a cure?


Musawwir Spiegel
(e-mail address removed)
 
Musawwir Spiegel said:
Can't figure out cause of frequent crashes

I have been plagued with crashes and can't figure out their cause.
When they occur, an application has frozen, usually when opening or
saving a file. Other applications may continue running, so I try to
close the application using the Task Manager. However, all that
happens is that I get the dialog asking whether I want to send a
report to Microsoft. Whether or not I send the report, the
application fails to close, and sometimes the dialog that shows the
progress of the sending of the report itself fails to close when I
press the close button. Commanding the computer to re-boot or shut
down via the Start Menu/Turn Off Computer command fails to accomplish
either task. The only solution is to power off the computer.

My anti-virus program fails to show any virus when I run a scan.

I realize that I could uninstall, one by one, each of my applications
and see whether the problem resolves itself, but that would be a
massive undertaking given the need to reinstall them later and my lack
of use of the applications during the time when I am testing to see
whether the freeze-up problem has been cured.

Is there any diagnostic tool that is reliable and might discover the
cause of the problem and provide a cure?


Musawwir Spiegel
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

You could try what I do. I'm sure there is a better way, but I find using
Task Manager > processes and highlighting the drwatson.exe entry then
clicking on 'end process' usually does the trick. Sometimes there are only
predump.exe files and ending these helps too.

Use with caution though in case you lose data. You can usually alt+tab to
the other programs and save them first.
 
Thanks for the response.

If all I were trying to accomplish were to turn off the computer, I
could just hold the power button on for ten seconds or so and the
machine would turn off. I cited the problem of turning the machine
off just to provide a full picture. My real problem is these
application freezes and my inability to shut down such frozen
applications without turning off the computer and having to first
close all of the other applications.

Musawwir

You could try what I do. I'm sure there is a better way, but I find using
Task Manager > processes and highlighting the drwatson.exe entry then
clicking on 'end process' usually does the trick. Sometimes there are only
predump.exe files and ending these helps too.

Use with caution though in case you lose data. You can usually alt+tab to
the other programs and save them first.
Click to expand...

Musawwir Spiegel
(e-mail address removed)
 
Musawwir Spiegel said:
Thanks for the response.

If all I were trying to accomplish were to turn off the computer, I
could just hold the power button on for ten seconds or so and the
machine would turn off. I cited the problem of turning the machine
off just to provide a full picture. My real problem is these
application freezes and my inability to shut down such frozen
applications without turning off the computer and having to first
close all of the other applications.

Musawwir



Musawwir Spiegel
(e-mail address removed)
Click to expand...

You dont have to turn off the computer with the fix I mentioned as you are
just 'killing' the problem which is the drwatson program. Explorer will then
restart. Do you have windows explorer open when these applications freeze?
 
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