System freezing

[F]

My WinXP Pro system has taken to freezing at random times.

The only reasonably common times are at the end of the last note of the
sound played when it is booting and when a folder is being opened. It
will sometimes freeze on shutting down and sometimes just randomly. If a
sound is playing a short snatch of it is left repeating until the
machine is turned off/re-booted.

I've recently had similar problems - the computer would freeze when a
memory card was inserted into a card reader - following the installation
of a USB 2.0 PCI card but they seem to have been fixed since I disabled
USB 1 in the bios (Asus A7V266-E m/board).

Anyone got any thoughts on what the problem/solution might be?

TIA.

 

[Guest]

sounds like you have a bad installation of XP and some of the core files are
corrupt. You may need to try a fix XP with you installation disk or just
re-install XP and start from scratch

 

[S.Sengupta]

go for a clean installation.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

regards,
ssg MS-MVP

 

[Warren]

My system and that of a relative's has also had random freezing problems
this week. We feel the cause may be the new updates which Microsoft sent
out earlier in the week. Did you update and then begin having problems?

 

[F]

We feel the cause may be the new updates which Microsoft sent
out earlier in the week. Did you update and then begin having problems?

No, it was happening before then.

 

[F]

go for a clean installation.

I was trying to avoid a clean installation as there are so many
additional applications and updated drivers loaded on the system.

A 'repair' using the XP CD was suggested (I've not got the posting here:
it isn't on the server I use...), is this almost as good as a clean
install? Are there any risks with a repair?

 

[F]

My WinXP Pro system has taken to freezing at random times.

The only reasonably common times are at the end of the last note of the
sound played when it is booting and when a folder is being opened. It
will sometimes freeze on shutting down and sometimes just randomly. If a
sound is playing a short snatch of it is left repeating until the
machine is turned off/re-booted.

Update:
As there seemed to be a connection with sounds being played I have
disabled CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device in Device Manager. The machine
hasn't frozen since (but I have no sound on it).

Early days, but does this provide any clues as to the problem and a
possible solution? Device Manager claims that the relevant driver is
up-to-date.

 

[F]

On 30/06/2005 19:53 F wrote:

Update:
As there seemed to be a connection with sounds being played I have
disabled CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device in Device Manager. The machine
hasn't frozen since (but I have no sound on it).

Early days, but does this provide any clues as to the problem and a
possible solution? Device Manager claims that the relevant driver is
up-to-date.

Update on the update:
Disabling CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device in Device Manager, or PCI audio
options in the bios, stop the freezes. Re-enabling them starts the
problem again.

Anyone got any thoughts on what might be going on?

I've got a sound blaster card somewhere. Would disabling the built-in
sound and then installing the sound blaster be likely to offer a
solution? Or would that need me to re-enable the CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio
Device in Device Manager and PCI audio options?

TIA

 

[NoStop]

And how would Device Manager know this? Seek out the latest driver for your
sound system from the mobo manufacturer's website.

 

[Malke]

Update on the update:
Disabling CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device in Device Manager, or PCI
audio options in the bios, stop the freezes. Re-enabling them starts
the problem again.

Anyone got any thoughts on what might be going on?

I've got a sound blaster card somewhere. Would disabling the built-in
sound and then installing the sound blaster be likely to offer a
solution? Or would that need me to re-enable the CMI8738/C3DX PCI
Audio Device in Device Manager and PCI audio options?

TIA

It sounds like there is a hardware issue with the built-in sound.
Disable it in the BIOS and throw your SoundBlaster in there and see
what happens. I think I'd uninstall the drivers for the built-in sound
first.

Malke

 

[F]

It sounds like there is a hardware issue with the built-in sound.
Disable it in the BIOS and throw your SoundBlaster in there and see
what happens.

It worked (fingers crossed)!

Thanks for giving me the courage to go ahead and try it...

 

[Guest]

Ya its the 10th of august updates. microsoft sure blew it this time. Even
unistalling the updates won't fix the problem. So were stuck with our
computers locking up in the middle of anything till they get there stuff
togather!