XP "Freezes"

[Graham Shevlin]

I installed a new CPU on my computer last week (the old CPU was
causing intermittent BSOD).
Now I have a problem...XP keeps intermittently freezing. Symptoms are
that a specific program appears to "hang". The rest of the OS is fine
(I can bring up the task list and switch to another program). The
freezes last anywhere from 10-30 seconds. They occur under the
following circumstances:

- Switching to a different web site in IE (sometimes)
- Going to the "My Computer" level in an Open dialog box (every time)
- Trying to bring up the task bar (sometimes)

I have used Regmon to see if there is any unusual registry activity
when the freezes occur, but the results were inconclusive.
I have a standard paging file on C:, which has 1.7 Gb of free space. I
have 512Mb of RAM.
Anybody have any ideas why I keep getting these freezes?

 

[Malke]

I installed a new CPU on my computer last week (the old CPU was
causing intermittent BSOD).
Now I have a problem...XP keeps intermittently freezing. Symptoms are
that a specific program appears to "hang". The rest of the OS is fine
(I can bring up the task list and switch to another program). The
freezes last anywhere from 10-30 seconds. They occur under the
following circumstances:

- Switching to a different web site in IE (sometimes)
- Going to the "My Computer" level in an Open dialog box (every time)
- Trying to bring up the task bar (sometimes)

I have used Regmon to see if there is any unusual registry activity
when the freezes occur, but the results were inconclusive.
I have a standard paging file on C:, which has 1.7 Gb of free space. I
have 512Mb of RAM.
Anybody have any ideas why I keep getting these freezes?

My guess - and it *is* just a guess - is that you are still having
hardware issues. I'd test the RAM, motherboard, video card. If your old
processor was giving you trouble, there may have been more wrong. Here
are some generic 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).

Good luck,

Malke

 

[MGGP]

"dust bunnies" eh ? You must be a good ole southern
boy . . . I am too . . .

 

[Malke]

"dust bunnies" eh ? You must be a good ole southern
boy . . . I am too . . .

I don't think "dust bunnies" is particularly Southern. No, I'm a native
New Yorker transplanted to California, and I'm not a boy.

Cheers,

Malke

 

[Kelly]

You must be a good ole southern boy . . . I am too . . .

Which parts?

 

[will]

It sounds like an XP annoyance type of problem...
Try looking in your registry for references to your CD-ROM/removable drive
(maybe even A:\) in most recently used lists i.e. search for "D:\".

If it is your CPU then the PC would not usually come back alive. A common
mistake made is people put the heatsink/fan on without removing the plastic
coating on AMD's or jumpers are not set up right if your M/B uses them
(133mhz intead of 100mhz for instance).

A quick test (slow actually) if you want to see if it is a hard disk then
scandisk the entire drive and get it to check the disk media (if scan disk
crashes the PC the disk is blown). If it is blown copy the data off and test
it further with the manufacturers programs (usually from a floppy) then look
the error code it returns on their website and they will sometimes tell you
if it can be fixed with a low level format.

I think it is the recently used lists though or something similar. Also you
could scan all boot sectors for viruses and a program called Adaware might
also be worth a try for other nasties.

regards,
will
http://www.fileant.com/