New install randomly freezes and releases

[Guest]

I have recently installed (clean) XP Pro on hardware that ran Win 2k Pro
without a problem. Now I get a random freeze that releases after about a
minute (no BSOD or crash). Sometimes the freeze is a day apart and sometimes
only minutes apart. Release generally takes about a minute and the system
continues as if nothing happened. The freeze includes screen, mouse and
keyboard but buffered input from mouse and keybord occurs on release. A
restart will generally delay any freeze for a longer period of time but once
it occured on restart. Nor can I see unusual activity on my DSL modem LEDs.

I have noticed that the network icon on the taskbar no longer appears soon
after restart. Now it may take a minute or two to appear even though
ZoneAlarm shows activity on startup (seems like more activity than it used
to). The icon does appear when I start IE or another browser.

There are no unusual entries in EventViewer. Device Manager shows no errors
and Windows Update doesn't find newer drivers. I've run malware detectors and
removed any adware/spyware found. No virus found. This is almost like
something is trying to access or hijack the network but timing out. If
legitimate, I would expect something in EventViewer.

Sorry for the long post. Does anyone have an idea what is happening or how
to capture/track it? Thanks...

Best regards,
Sturdy

 

[R. McCarty]

Quite possibly the "Indexing" service is cataloging your drives. Unless
you have a specific need for extensive search capabilities disabling the
Indexing service and deselecting the option box "Allow Windows to
Index this drive for fast file searches" on each volume's properties may
resolve the problem.

 

[Guest]

Thanks R. I don't see any unusual HD lights. I've seen indexing block a
window for a short period but not the whole UI. I'll give that a try tonight.
Thanks again.

 

[Bob I]

Perhaps Norton anti-virus attempting to auto update?

 

[Guest]

Thanks Bob,

I should have mentioned that I unloaded everything including AV and it still
occurs. It's either OS/driver related or something left behind.

Sturdy

 

[Bob I]

Pop open task manager and see what is active at that instant.

 

[Guest]

Unfortunately, I can't open TM at that time since mouse and keyboard are
frozen. I have continually run TM to try to ID the current process at time of
freeze. It is often System but not always. This probably isn't very accurate
since there are a couple of seconds between TM updates. Nothing looks unusual
but the d*** thing keeps going out to lunch!

 

[Bob I]

Humm, perhaps there is malware involved? Run something like root kit
revealer on the PC and see what comes up?

 

[Unknown]

Since you updated from Windows 2K to Windows XP have you verified all your
drivers are XP compatible?

 

[Guest]

Hi Unknown,

XP is a clean install so drivers were not brought forward. They are
confirmed to be the latest avail for XP. But I may have stumbled upon the
answer. Don't yet know for sure. I've found several forum threads that
complain about similar issues while 3D gaming. I don't play but tried the
registry mod two days ago and I haven't had a system freeze yet. Or (sigh)
the problem may return as I reinstall software removed for troubleshooting.

Thanks to all who responded. I'll post a final comment on Monday.

 

[Guest]

Hi Bob,

I ran rkr as you suggested. Had to do some research since I'm new to rkr.
Only had three lines reported and all are benign. As I noted to Unknown, I
may have found the cause in my nVidia driver. Two days without a freeze.
Another day or two and I'll start re-installing software. Thanks for the
assist.

Sturdy

 

[Bob I]

You're welcome, sounds like you may have gotten the bug covered.

 

[Guest]

My thanks to all who responded. The system appears to be stable since
modifying the registry entry for the nVidia FX5200 driver. I don't know why
this issue would still exist after so much forum discussion two years ago.
This is a low-end video card so maybe not worth updating drivers. sigh...

Thanks again,
Sturdy