Screen Freezing

[Greg Maxey]

Hello,

I was successfully using WindowsXP Professin SP2. Yesterday I had a
catostrophic hard drive problem which required a clean install. Since that
time I am having an intermittent and annoying problem with the screen
freezing. Typically the problem occurs either while using Explorer or after
installing software when I initiate the Restart now feature to complete
software installs.

- With Explorer a notificatin message will pop up about whatever being
unresponsive and then the screen changes to my desktop, then all the icons,
and task bars disappear and I am left with a blank desktop. Sometimes, and
rarely, if I wait long enough things will reappear, but normally it is
nothing. CTRL+ALT+DELETE will bring up task managager and I can see that
Explorer.exe is running but I can stop it or do anything to get control of
the screen again. Finally in frustration I push the power off button and
reboot.

- The problem is similiar with the Restart process after loading software.

Can anyone advise what setting or other issue might be causing this? Thanks
all.

 

[Malke]

Hello,

I was successfully using WindowsXP Professin SP2. Yesterday I had a
catostrophic hard drive problem which required a clean install. Since
that time I am having an intermittent and annoying problem with the
screen
freezing. Typically the problem occurs either while using Explorer or
after installing software when I initiate the Restart now feature to
complete software installs.

- With Explorer a notificatin message will pop up about whatever being
unresponsive and then the screen changes to my desktop, then all the
icons,
and task bars disappear and I am left with a blank desktop.
Sometimes, and rarely, if I wait long enough things will reappear, but
normally it is
nothing. CTRL+ALT+DELETE will bring up task managager and I can see
that Explorer.exe is running but I can stop it or do anything to get
control of
the screen again. Finally in frustration I push the power off button
and reboot.

- The problem is similiar with the Restart process after loading
software.

Can anyone advise what setting or other issue might be causing this?
Thanks all.

I'm not sure what "a catastrophic hard drive problem" means, but you
might have hardware issues. What did you do to troubleshoot? Here are
general hardware troubleshooting steps:

1) open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing); 2) test
the RAM - I like Memtest86 from www.memtest86.com - let the test run
for an extended (like overnight) period of time - unless errors are
seen immediately; 3) test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from
the mftr.; 4) the power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for
the devices you have in the system; 5) test the motherboard with
something like TuffTest from www.tufftest.com. Testing hardware
failures often involves swapping out suspected parts with known-good
parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are uncomfortable
opening your computer, take the machine to a good local computer repair
shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Malke

 

[Greg Maxey]

Malke,

Thanks for the reply. The catastrophic hard drive problem was self
inflicted when I tried to use a program to create a partition. Things
didn't work out as I had hoped and the primary drive containing the
operating systems was wiped.

With the exception of the overnight memory test, I have performed the
other steps and nothing seems apparrent.

 

[Rock]

Hello,

I was successfully using WindowsXP Professin SP2. Yesterday I had a
catostrophic hard drive problem which required a clean install. Since that
time I am having an intermittent and annoying problem with the screen
freezing. Typically the problem occurs either while using Explorer or after
installing software when I initiate the Restart now feature to complete
software installs.

- With Explorer a notificatin message will pop up about whatever being
unresponsive and then the screen changes to my desktop, then all the icons,
and task bars disappear and I am left with a blank desktop. Sometimes, and
rarely, if I wait long enough things will reappear, but normally it is
nothing. CTRL+ALT+DELETE will bring up task managager and I can see that
Explorer.exe is running but I can stop it or do anything to get control of
the screen again. Finally in frustration I push the power off button and
reboot.

- The problem is similiar with the Restart process after loading software.

Can anyone advise what setting or other issue might be causing this? Thanks
all.

Have you run a thorough scan for malware?

 

[Greg Maxey]

No. What is malware and how would I scan for it.

 

[Rock]

No. What is malware and how would I scan for it.

Malware refers to any nasty piece of crud that messes ups systems such
as adware, spyware, viruses, worms, and hijackers. I don't know if
that's what's causing your problem but it's good to be prepared for and
check that these things aren't around on a regular basis to keep your
system running nice.

Run these programs to check for spyware/malware. After installing
update them, then boot into safe mode and run them. You should update
and run them weekly.

Cwshredder
http://aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#cwshred

Ad-aware SE
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10247783.html

Pest Patrol Free Pest Scanner
http://www.pestscan.com/ScanOrTrial.asp

After your system is clean use these programs to help keep it clean:

Spywareblaster
www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

Spywareguard
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html

IE-SPYAD
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm

For viruses you should do at least two of these online scans regularly
in addition to having a recent and up to date AV program running on the
system:

Online and Downloadable Virus Scanning:

Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

Bit Defender Online Virus Scan:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

Symantec Online Virus and Security Scan:
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp

TrendMicro:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

McAfee Online Virus Scan:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

RAV AntiVirus - Scan Online
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

F-Secure:
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

Make sure you have a firewall active at all times. If nothing else use
the one built into XP, but there are a variety of free third party ones
that do a better job from Sygate, Zone Alarm or Kerio.

Sygate Personal Firewall
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Zone Alarm
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=staticcomp_za

Kerio Personal Firewall
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

Lastly check your system for vulnerabilities. Make sure you have all
the latest security patches from Windows Update too.

Websites which will check for vulnerabilities:

Browser Security Tests:
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
https://testzone.secunia.com/browser_checker/
www.pcpitstop.com

 

[Greg Maxey]

Rock,

I believe I am free of such said stuff. I did a clean install yesterday. I
loaded Norton AV CE and scans, I have been protected with Internet Security
Software and I have run Adware SE and spybot.

The problem is occurring intermitently:

While using Explorer
When loggin off
After loading new software when the installer trys to restart the computer.

The screen goes blank except for the desktop photo and there it sits until I
reboot.

Thanks for your suggestions. Good advice to all.

 

[Rock]

Rock,

I believe I am free of such said stuff. I did a clean install yesterday. I
loaded Norton AV CE and scans, I have been protected with Internet Security
Software and I have run Adware SE and spybot.

The problem is occurring intermitently:

While using Explorer
When loggin off
After loading new software when the installer trys to restart the computer.

The screen goes blank except for the desktop photo and there it sits until I
reboot.

Thanks for your suggestions. Good advice to all.

Ok as long as you had the firewall active before going on line then you
are most likely clean.

 

[Ross Durie]

So it was a catastrophic brain failure then.

 

[Greg Maxey]

Well 60/40 I guess. The program could have performed a little better.
Still had I left well enough alone I wouldn't be in this fix. So yes, brain
failure describes it pretty well.