Computer freezes up

[Greg Hines]

Hi all,

XP/SP2, 1GB RAM, 3 GHz, Dell Dimension 3100.

My computer is a member of a domain with several mapped network drives and 3
internal HDDs.

Every now and then "My Computer" (the program) , or any program that tries
to read the disk drive information (eg: save as or open) just displays a
blank screen and hangs at that point. Other programs function OK when this
problem occurs. Start | Run | C: (or any other drive) will work fine when
it's in this problem state.

Done the following:-

Chkdsk on all drives
Run Adaware and Spybot for Malware
Run a complete Virus Scan using avast
Uncheck all the items under Performance Options | Visual Effects
Installed the tweak to make "My Computer" open faster.

This is just driving me mad as it happens a couple of times a day. You just
wait 1 - 3 mins. and it will display the info. that it locked up on and work
great until next time.

Any help appreciated.

TIA

Greg

 

[Mark F.]

Hi all,

XP/SP2, 1GB RAM, 3 GHz, Dell Dimension 3100.

My computer is a member of a domain with several mapped network drives and
3 internal HDDs.

Every now and then "My Computer" (the program) , or any program that tries
to read the disk drive information (eg: save as or open) just displays a
blank screen and hangs at that point. Other programs function OK when
this problem occurs. Start | Run | C: (or any other drive) will work fine
when it's in this problem state.

Done the following:-

Chkdsk on all drives
Run Adaware and Spybot for Malware
Run a complete Virus Scan using avast
Uncheck all the items under Performance Options | Visual Effects
Installed the tweak to make "My Computer" open faster.

This is just driving me mad as it happens a couple of times a day. You
just wait 1 - 3 mins. and it will display the info. that it locked up on
and work great until next time.

Any help appreciated.

TIA

Greg

I would check the CPU temperature in the CMOS Setup. Usually listed as the
"PC Health" option. Although some processors can run as hot as 160 F,
generally 130 F is the higher end. Later model CPUs have thermal transistors
under then to monitor the temperature. BIOS manufacturers have also
implemented fail safe shutdown parameters for high CPU temps. An overheated
video card can also cause these anomalies. Check with the manufacturer
(e.g., AMD, Intel) for chip temperature specs.

Mark

 

[Mark F.]

Since it sounds like you are having problems reading the hard drive,
you might also try running the hard drive diagnostic. You can access
the onboard diags by pressing F12 at the Dell splash screen just after
powering on the computer. One of the options in the diags test the hard
drive.

Just to verify, does it ever have this problem reading files that are
*not* on the local hard drive? I have seen the same problem when trying
to access files across the network that are currently unavailable for
whatever reason. If it is local files only, I would definitely test the
hard drive.

Larry
Dell Customer Advocate

Either my news reader is screwy or you replied to the wrong person.

(c:
Mark