System Information > History freezes

F

FloobyMcT

XP Pro SP3 all up to date, no other OS or system problems, Dell Latitude C640
1.8GB P4M, 768 MB RAM, AC power, running in "Adjust for best performance"
mode via Advanced properties.

Attempts to use System Information > View > History (any category) via
either Programs menu or Run > msinfo32 results in freezing for extended
periods while "Refreshing History Information" is displayed over gray screen
on right. Same behavior trying in Safe Mode. It's actually displayed
properly one out of 7 or 8 tries on default System Summary screen but freezes
up when a "view since..." date change or category change is attempted.

I'm stumped and open to suggestions for resolution. Thanks!
 
B

buRford

XP Pro SP3 all up to date, no other OS or system problems, Dell Latitude C640
1.8GB P4M, 768 MB RAM, AC power, running in "Adjust for best performance"
mode via Advanced properties.

Attempts to use System Information > View > History (any category) via
either Programs menu or Run > msinfo32 results in freezing for extended
periods while "Refreshing History Information" is displayed over gray screen
on right. Same behavior trying in Safe Mode. It's actually displayed
properly one out of 7 or 8 tries on default System Summary screen but freezes
up when a "view since..." date change or category change is attempted.

I'm stumped and open to suggestions for resolution. Thanks!

Is there any hard disk activity?
Is it actually frozen, or just blank (can you change it back to view current system?)?

On my computer, it always hangs for a few minutes, as it accesses everything. Often it'll
stay gray for a while. If I shift back to current system, then back to history, this
seems to make it work faster.
Perhaps the history log continues to grow, so accessing it takes longer each time you run
it, but this is entirely conjecture on my part.

Hope this helps a bit...
 
F

FloobyMcT

Little to no HDD activity and any attempt to toggle between functions within
the app results in the window(s) blanking and/or "Not responding"
notifications. On 2 occasions (out of about 20 tries) I've actually been
able to get it to work after a fashion, but this requires leaving the thing
alone for inordinate periods of time (5 to 10 minutes), which isn't what I'd
call normal behavior on an otherwise well running system.
 
F

FloobyMcT

Thanks to both of you for your assistance here!

I cleared the history and it still took 4+ minutes to get anything workable.
Initially I had lots of HD activity for about 30 seconds, my system temp(s)
shot up significantly and the fan(s) got real busy, but I was eventually able
to work within the app (and obviously found nothing, due to the history
clearing). Is this normal behavior? First time I can recall this sort of
thing in 10 years of working with a LOT of different Dell systems under a
variety of operating systems. The subject machine got a clean installation
of WinXP on 01/13/09, so I wouldn't think there'd be a whole lot to wade
through.

Ramesh Srinivasan said:
See if clearing the MSINFO32 history helps.

How to Clear System Information Tool History in Windows XP:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/h...ation-tool-msinfo32exe-history-in-windows-xp/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog


FloobyMcT said:
Little to no HDD activity and any attempt to toggle between functions
within
the app results in the window(s) blanking and/or "Not responding"
notifications. On 2 occasions (out of about 20 tries) I've actually been
able to get it to work after a fashion, but this requires leaving the
thing
alone for inordinate periods of time (5 to 10 minutes), which isn't what
I'd
call normal behavior on an otherwise well running system.
 
R

Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP

Are you also experiencing the problem explained in the following article?

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/msinfofix.htm

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog


FloobyMcT said:
Thanks to both of you for your assistance here!

I cleared the history and it still took 4+ minutes to get anything
workable.
Initially I had lots of HD activity for about 30 seconds, my system
temp(s)
shot up significantly and the fan(s) got real busy, but I was eventually
able
to work within the app (and obviously found nothing, due to the history
clearing). Is this normal behavior? First time I can recall this sort of
thing in 10 years of working with a LOT of different Dell systems under a
variety of operating systems. The subject machine got a clean
installation
of WinXP on 01/13/09, so I wouldn't think there'd be a whole lot to wade
through.

Ramesh Srinivasan said:
See if clearing the MSINFO32 history helps.

How to Clear System Information Tool History in Windows XP:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/h...ation-tool-msinfo32exe-history-in-windows-xp/

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog


FloobyMcT said:
Little to no HDD activity and any attempt to toggle between functions
within
the app results in the window(s) blanking and/or "Not responding"
notifications. On 2 occasions (out of about 20 tries) I've actually
been
able to get it to work after a fashion, but this requires leaving the
thing
alone for inordinate periods of time (5 to 10 minutes), which isn't
what
I'd
call normal behavior on an otherwise well running system.

:

On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:14:04 -0800, FloobyMcT

XP Pro SP3 all up to date, no other OS or system problems, Dell
Latitude
C640
1.8GB P4M, 768 MB RAM, AC power, running in "Adjust for best
performance"
mode via Advanced properties.

Attempts to use System Information > View > History (any category)
via
either Programs menu or Run > msinfo32 results in freezing for
extended
periods while "Refreshing History Information" is displayed over gray
screen
on right. Same behavior trying in Safe Mode. It's actually
displayed
properly one out of 7 or 8 tries on default System Summary screen but
freezes
up when a "view since..." date change or category change is
attempted.

I'm stumped and open to suggestions for resolution. Thanks!

Is there any hard disk activity?
Is it actually frozen, or just blank (can you change it back to view
current system?)?

On my computer, it always hangs for a few minutes, as it accesses
everything. Often it'll
stay gray for a while. If I shift back to current system, then back
to
history, this
seems to make it work faster.
Perhaps the history log continues to grow, so accessing it takes
longer
each time you run
it, but this is entirely conjecture on my part.

Hope this helps a bit...
 

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