PC Locks Up

[Lisa]

My PC has been locking up for some time. I have an 80g
hard drive and 512 SDRAM. When it locks up I cannot even
get the the Windows Task Manager up by pressing CTRL+ALT-
DEL. I cannot do a proper shut down and I am forced to
shut it down manually. A few days ago Windows would not
come up at all. The screen that appeared was the one that
allows you to choose starting in Safe Mode, Normally or
from the last known good point but no matter what I chose
it would just go back to that same screen. I could not
even start it in Safe Mode. I have an XP disc so I tried
doing a repair but it didn't work. Finally, as a last
resort, I reinstalled Windows XP. Of course I lost
everything and in addition, I still have the same
problem. The PC freezes, I am forced to manually shut it
down. In addition, it will reboot unless I unplug the PC.
I have AVG installed and no viruses are detected. I know
if I continue to power it down, I will lose everything
again. Does anyone have any suggestions. Thanks in
advance!

 

[purplehaz]

First two things to do in freeze up situations.
1 - update your video drivers from the video cards website.
2 - make sure you have proper cooling for the system. Should have a fan on
the power supply, processor, and a case fan. Make sure all are working.
Adding one more case fan never hurts.

 

[Guest]

This can and usually is caused by a faulty driver. When the sytem calls for advanced options for your peripherals it may not be able to find that function as you still have the generic MS XP drivers. This can result in a loop and lockup. Make sure each and every bit of your system has the latest drivers from the manufacturers. This means everything from your modem to your mouse. Aida32 is an excellent and free tool that will tell you what you have and provide links to the manufacturers sites and even direct links to the latest drivers sometimes. I also found this happening to me after a window update and managed to trace it back to a registry change that caused my system to not detect the third button or wheel on my mouse. Their update also altered the mouse buffers and once both of these were corrected my lockups disappeared. You have a good tool in the control panel under the Administrative tools called an " Event Viewer" . This will usually keep a record of your lockups and record which program or service or module actually caused the lockup. Event Viewer contains three logs. The two that are most important to you are the "Application" and "System" logs. Double click the "Application" log to open it's events in the right panel. Now look for any Red Xs. These are the conflicts you have that may have caused your problem. Look for the ones that correspond to the time you locked up. Then double clicking them will bring up a display and details window. Now what is on there you most likely won't understand but if you copy the important info from this window and then post back or click what looks like two overlapping pieces of paper on the right side and this will copy it to the clipboard then you can make a post and right click in the body of the post where you type and then click copy and a copy of the window will be pasted to your post so that we can give you more thorough help. I know this is a lot to take in all at once but if you need additional help then please feel free to e:mail me and I will do what I can. Good luck.

 

[Jack]

make backups of your important data.....to a CD or DVD.....applications you
can re-install......

 

[Plato]

My PC has been locking up for some time. I have an 80g
hard drive and 512 SDRAM. When it locks up I cannot even
get the the Windows Task Manager up by pressing CTRL+ALT-

Hard locks are often due to video card or video card drivers.