My comp. freezes/hangs several times a day!

[Paul from New Jersey]

I have Explorer 6.0, Windows XP (75GB with 60 free!) and yet my comp freezes
several times a day. When I try to end program thru the task mgr., I get the
error message with the option to send or not send, and that's where my comp
completely stops at that function with no reponse if I try to send a report
on the error. I have run the help tutors, defragged, scanned (you name
it!),contacted MS CS and received a reply with a link to a page to resolve
this problem as follows: KB Article Number(s): 899420
Language: English
Platform: i386
Location:
(http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows XP/sp3/Fix154780/2600/free/235312_ENU_i386_zip.exe)
However, when I click the link, the page does NOT EXIST! I re-contacted MS
CS only to have them recommend the self help section on their website or post
a question in the forum.
WHAT I FIND INTERESTING, is that ever since I DLed Norton 360, I have had
this problem (I have contacted Symantec as well, and determined the problem
is with XP, not Norton).
Can anyone make any recommendations? I am loathe to uninstall Pack 3 which
was in the most recent critical update, and reinstall it, and experienced no
errors or problesm installing it however, I am at a loss as to what to do. I
am frustrated with having to restart my comp several times a day when this
happens.
I really appreciate any help I can get!

 

[Ramone]

Are you sure it's not Norton? Sounds suspicious to me.

Ramone

 

[VanguardLH]

in

I have Explorer 6.0, Windows XP (75GB with 60 free!) and yet my comp freezes
several times a day. When I try to end program thru the task mgr., I get the
error message with the option to send or not send, and that's where my comp
completely stops at that function with no reponse if I try to send a report
on the error. I have run the help tutors, defragged, scanned (you name
it!),contacted MS CS and received a reply with a link to a page to resolve
this problem as follows: KB Article Number(s): 899420
Language: English
Platform: i386
Location:
(http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows XP/sp3/Fix154780/2600/free/235312_ENU_i386_zip.exe)
However, when I click the link, the page does NOT EXIST! I re-contacted MS
CS only to have them recommend the self help section on their website or post
a question in the forum.
WHAT I FIND INTERESTING, is that ever since I DLed Norton 360, I have had
this problem (I have contacted Symantec as well, and determined the problem
is with XP, not Norton).
Can anyone make any recommendations? I am loathe to uninstall Pack 3 which
was in the most recent critical update, and reinstall it, and experienced no
errors or problesm installing it however, I am at a loss as to what to do. I
am frustrated with having to restart my comp several times a day when this
happens.
I really appreciate any help I can get!

Read the overview notes on SP-3 so you'll know what changed:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...ad-bc34-40be-8d85-6bb4f56f5110&DisplayLang=en

List of fixes in Windows XP Service Pack 3:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946480/

So what in those documents did you see that is an absolute must-have for
your computing environment? Very likely nothing unless you are in a
corporate network, in a domain, and your IT folks commanded that you
install SP-3 (highly unlikely).

Get rid of SP-3. For now, also get rid of Norton 360. Symantec also
has a cleanup tool to eliminate remnant registry entries after their
product's uninstall (you'll have to search their site to find the
download). If you still experience the crashes after the uninstalls and
cleanups, you may have to perform an in-place upgrade (aka repair
install) using the Windows installation CD.

By the way, the URL you showed does not take you to a web page. It gets
you to an .exe file, so a download dialog should appear asking if you
want to download the file.

 

[JS]

I do not have Norton 360 but do use Norton AV and have found in the past
that Norton would connect to the internet and check for updates and if found
download and install. This happened on a random basis and was the cause of
my problem so I simply turned off the autoupdate option.

If Norton is not the problem then try Autoruns from the MS Windows
SysInternals site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx

AutoRuns will show/list all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot
(Boot Execute tab),
when you logon (Logon tab) and other programs that load (grouped by labeled
tabs) for easy viewing.
It also provides the ability to selectively allows you to stop (use with
care) any program that you don't want to load.
This may allow you to isolate the cause of your problem.
You can undo any changes you have made.
Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you may need to
highlight the item (right click) and use the 'Search Online' option to get
the details, especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

Another tool worth looking into is: Process Explorer
It provides a more detailed look at what loading down your CPU.
In your case have it running in the background while your using the PC.
When the slowdown or freeze occurs see if you can bring Process Explorer to
the forefront and display what process is loading the CPU (by %).
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Prerequisites:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage.

You can click on any process of interest that's listed in the CPU % column,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
Search Online
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left of the
entry.

JS

 

[Gerry]

Paul

See if this link works;
An application that calls Cryptography API (CryptoAPI) functions may
stop responding on a Windows XP-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899420/en-us

The Hotfix is included in th Windows XP SP3 Update

Download and save the Hotfix noting the location carefully. Restart the
computer and boot into Safe Mode. Then install the Hotfix. Norton should
not interfere with the installation in Safe Mode.

If that doesn't solve the freeze problem we can look for other
solutions.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[HKLime]

Hi Paul
I had this exact same problem when I first brought my new computer.
Contacted the Tech and had it fixed by replacing the Motherboard.
If your computer is still under warranty, contact service. This may be a
hardware problem.