Freezing...yup...again. Help please.

[Kat]

Hello.
Okay, I solved the problem with works files vs word files. Thank you
all.
Now a new problem.

We did a clean install from windows me to xp-home three days ago.
Since then the computer randomly freezes. There is no rhyme or reason
to it. Today it has frozen during a download, while surfing the net,
during installation of an application and after saving a works file.
Once it would not reboot into windows and I had to reinstall cd and
run a repair. Keyboard and mouse are unusable when it freezes.

Here are the specs: Compaq Presario 5000, 3 year old machine. 700 mhz,
64mgb,
20gig hard drive. I downloaded all microsoft updates, and compaq
updates, drivers.

I checked the event manager. While there are error messages relating
to ZoneAlarm, they do not coincide with the freezes. There were some
warnings with the items listed as i8042prt and dhcp, but the warnings
didn't coincide with freezes either.

I have no idea about my bios. Barely know what the darn thing is. Did
some research where apparently it stated Compaq does not have
upgradeable bios? Do I even need it?

Any ideas? Anyone? At least when windows ME froze five times a day I
could hit cntrl/alt/delete. Now I have to power down and restart,
losing everything. Not workable.

Help is appreciated!!!
Kate

 

[D.Currie]

64 Mb of ram is the bare minimum to install XP. If you actually want it to
run, you might want to buy more.

 

[Kat]

64 Mb of ram is the bare minimum to install XP. If you actually want it to
run, you might want to buy more.

You know, I checked with my husband and forgot that about three months
ago we added 256 of Ram, so we have 330mb. That should certainly be
enough. Now what?
Thanks,
Kate

 

[Kat]

64 Mb of ram is the bare minimum to install XP. If you actually want it to
run, you might want to buy more.

While I'm thinking about it...another thing Xp is doing is when I try
to open outlook express...sometimes it will, sometimes it won't.
Sometimes switching between screen names it'll just poof go away.
Fascinating. I have to restart comp to get outlook to work again.

Thanks,
Kate

 

[D.Currie]

"D.Currie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
While I'm thinking about it...another thing Xp is doing is when I try
to open outlook express...sometimes it will, sometimes it won't.
Sometimes switching between screen names it'll just poof go away.
Fascinating. I have to restart comp to get outlook to work again.

Thanks,
Kate

Random errors are hard to diagnose from a distance. It could be a program
that's gone bad, it could be a virus, it could be bad memory, a bad power
supply, a bad motherboard, power problems, overheating, or just about any
part going bad.

 

[Kat]

Random errors are hard to diagnose from a distance. It could be a program
that's gone bad, it could be a virus, it could be bad memory, a bad power
supply, a bad motherboard, power problems, overheating, or just about any
part going bad.

Thanks D. Currie,
But do you have any ideas at all about the freezing? This issue has
come up repeatedly on this group but I haven't seen any definitive
solutions. Since I have enough ram, all updates etc...and did a clean
install, can you recommend anything else I should look into?
TIA,
Kate

 

[D.Currie]

"D.Currie" <[email protected]> wrote in message

Thanks D. Currie,
But do you have any ideas at all about the freezing? This issue has
come up repeatedly on this group but I haven't seen any definitive
solutions. Since I have enough ram, all updates etc...and did a clean
install, can you recommend anything else I should look into?
TIA,
Kate

If you've done a clean install, it doesn't leave much but hardware. I could
be something overheating, or it could be a part failing. Or it could be
something that's incompatible. Freezing can be a symptom of so many
different things that it's nearly impossible to pin it down without some
testing. Which is why there's no definitive solution. It could be caused by
many things, like if you said you couldn't get your car out of the driveway.
That could mean anything from the car being out of gas to flat tires, to
something blocking the way.

The only way to diagnose the freezing (unless there are other symptoms or
error messages you haven't mentioned) would require some tools, some spare
parts, and someone with some experience to poke around a bit. Otherwise it's
just a shot in the dark.

 

[Kat]

The only way to diagnose the freezing (unless there are other symptoms or
error messages you haven't mentioned) would require some tools, some spare
parts, and someone with some experience to poke around a bit. Otherwise it's
just a shot in the dark.

Ick. I was afraid you were going to say something like that. Thanks
anyway. We'll see what we can do. If nothing works, we may have to
dump this and go to Windows 98.
Thanks again,
Kate

 

[D.Currie]

Ick. I was afraid you were going to say something like that. Thanks
anyway. We'll see what we can do. If nothing works, we may have to
dump this and go to Windows 98.
Thanks again,
Kate

If it's a hardware problem, changing the operating system isn't going to fix
it. Your best bet might be to take it to a decent shop and just have them
fix it. If they've got the right tools, it shouldn't be that tough.