Freezing computer

[BrianB]

I and several others at work have Dell M70 laptops that mysteriously freeze
once just about every day. By freeze I mean that it stops responding to the
keyboard and mouse, both built-in and attached, and any CD that is playing
just stops. The display keeps showing whatever was last on the screen.

After it happens once, it has never happened again on that day. This only
happens when connected directly to the company network via Ethernet. If
we're working from home while disconnected from the company network, it does
not happen. If we're working from home and connected to the company network
via VPN, it does not happen. Our company tech support hasn't a clue what is
happening. So far they've had us try ...
- Defrag and run chkdisk
- Run the command: netsh winsock reset
- Reinstall Proventia Desktop
- Reinstall McAfee

Any suggestions what to look for or what to do about this? We're running
Windows XP Pro SP2. (The company isn't ready or willing to push out SP3
yet.)

Brian

 

[Daave]

I and several others at work have Dell M70 laptops that mysteriously
freeze once just about every day. By freeze I mean that it stops
responding to the keyboard and mouse, both built-in and attached, and
any CD that is playing just stops. The display keeps showing whatever
was last on the screen.

After it happens once, it has never happened again on that day. This
only happens when connected directly to the company network via
Ethernet. If we're working from home while disconnected from the
company network, it does not happen. If we're working from home and
connected to the company network via VPN, it does not happen. Our
company tech support hasn't a clue what is happening. So far they've
had us try ...
- Defrag and run chkdisk
- Run the command: netsh winsock reset
- Reinstall Proventia Desktop
- Reinstall McAfee

Any suggestions what to look for or what to do about this? We're
running Windows XP Pro SP2. (The company isn't ready or willing to
push out SP3 yet.)

You need to find another tech support person who *does* have a clue.
There is something very wrong with the network! There is no evidence
there is anything wrong with the individual workstations. Perhpas the
server doesn't have enough RAM or disk space. It could be any number of
things. Find another tech!

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, February 20, 2009 7:29:55 AM, and on a
whim, BrianB pounded out on the keyboard:

I and several others at work have Dell M70 laptops that mysteriously freeze
once just about every day. By freeze I mean that it stops responding to the
keyboard and mouse, both built-in and attached, and any CD that is playing
just stops. The display keeps showing whatever was last on the screen.

After it happens once, it has never happened again on that day. This only
happens when connected directly to the company network via Ethernet. If
we're working from home while disconnected from the company network, it does
not happen. If we're working from home and connected to the company network
via VPN, it does not happen. Our company tech support hasn't a clue what is
happening. So far they've had us try ...
- Defrag and run chkdisk
- Run the command: netsh winsock reset
- Reinstall Proventia Desktop
- Reinstall McAfee

Any suggestions what to look for or what to do about this? We're running
Windows XP Pro SP2. (The company isn't ready or willing to push out SP3
yet.)

Brian

Hi Brian,

My "guess" is that something may be updating and causing the freeze?

Does it happen to all of you around the same time?

Are you running the Enterprise version of Mcafee? Maybe have your
Administrator turn off auto-updating for a day and see if the freeze stops.

These are long shots, but you never know.

Terry R.

 

[SC Tom]

I and several others at work have Dell M70 laptops that mysteriously freeze
once just about every day. By freeze I mean that it stops responding to the
keyboard and mouse, both built-in and attached, and any CD that is playing
just stops. The display keeps showing whatever was last on the screen.

After it happens once, it has never happened again on that day. This only
happens when connected directly to the company network via Ethernet. If
we're working from home while disconnected from the company network, it
does not happen. If we're working from home and connected to the company
network via VPN, it does not happen. Our company tech support hasn't a
clue what is happening. So far they've had us try ...
- Defrag and run chkdisk
- Run the command: netsh winsock reset
- Reinstall Proventia Desktop
- Reinstall McAfee

Any suggestions what to look for or what to do about this? We're running
Windows XP Pro SP2. (The company isn't ready or willing to push out SP3
yet.)

Brian

It's obviously a server not a laptop issue. Check what the server is trying
to push out to the PC's connected to it. If you are running McAfee
Enterprise (I think that's what it's called), it can be set to push updates
out at a set time, but can be a random time each day. When we were running
McAfee a few years ago, we had the same symptoms. Since changing to
Kaspersky, we haven't had a problem.

SC Tom