XP keeps freezing up

[Gerry]

Alaye

May I suggest you downoad and run Spybot S & D.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Are you running McAfee Site Advisor?



--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Daave]

lately my PC keeps freezing. No response no C-A-D nothing.

i have the latest drivers, cleaned, defragged, chkdsk, virus scanned,
vacuumed, and everything else that im supposed to do.
can any1 help me with this 1???

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600

Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2695 Mhz

Total Physical Memory 2,048.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 1.44 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.85 GB
drive 0 is 295GB w/ partitions 70/70/50/50
drive1 is 40 GB

Alaye, I have been following this thread and although you've provided a
lot of information, more is still needed.

First of all, please define "freeze." In another post you mentioned this
occurred during a virus scan. Did the system itself freeze? Or did
McAfee simply hang? Is the freeze permanent or does it eventually
resolve itself? Does this behavior occur during other activities? Or is
it only during virus scans? I'd be tempted to ditch McAfee regardless;
it's quite the resource hog.

Have you tried running in Safe Mode? If there are no hangs/freezes in
Safe Mode, then I would try clean boot troubleshooting:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

If you would rather try a quicker (but less thorough) method, just use
msconfig. Uncheck half the items and see if you get any freezes. If you
don't, then you know the problem lies somewhere in the other half.
Narrow down further until you find the culprit.

As Grand_Poobah suggested, this might very well be a hardware issue. And
since you stated Event Viewer did not show any Errors, I have a feeling
your problems are hardware-related (quite possibly a flaky power
supply). More information:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html

 

[Alaye]

Thanx Daave, by freezing i mean the screen is stuck where it is. the mouse
doesnt respond and neither does ctrl-alt-delete. i have to do a hard shut
down <turn the power supply button off>. it happens at all different times,
i cannot say that such and such causes it because it does it whenever.
i used msconfig to shut down ALL running applications and still it froze.

now something else that i mentioned is that there is event log activity
during the time its frozen. it happened last night @ 12:06 and i left the
screen frozen there. this morning my screen saver had kicked in but was
frozen in mid animation...go figure. i had to do a hard shut down and there
were no error codes but there was normal event codes <information codes>. i
may be crazy but it seems to NOT freeze if im playing windows media player
while i use it. maybe its a coincidence.
in addition there is nothing new on my PC its been this way w/ mcafee et al.
since february.
i think the answer lies in the fact that it freezes while still having
activity. if it is hardware what could it be. the hard drive checks 8 ways
against the sun. is it RAM? if its the power supply what part? power to the
disks? iot doesnt make sense and im thissssss close to callin M$ knowing
they probably cant help me.

i hope this was thorough enough. thanx for your help sir.

 

[Daave]

Thanx Daave, by freezing i mean the screen is stuck where it is. the
mouse
doesnt respond and neither does ctrl-alt-delete. i have to do a hard
shut
down <turn the power supply button off>. it happens at all different
times,
i cannot say that such and such causes it because it does it whenever.
i used msconfig to shut down ALL running applications and still it
froze.

now something else that i mentioned is that there is event log
activity
during the time its frozen. it happened last night @ 12:06 and i left
the
screen frozen there. this morning my screen saver had kicked in but
was
frozen in mid animation...go figure. i had to do a hard shut down and
there
were no error codes but there was normal event codes <information
codes>. i
may be crazy but it seems to NOT freeze if im playing windows media
player
while i use it. maybe its a coincidence.
in addition there is nothing new on my PC its been this way w/ mcafee
et al.
since february.
i think the answer lies in the fact that it freezes while still having
activity. if it is hardware what could it be. the hard drive checks
8 ways
against the sun. is it RAM? if its the power supply what part? power
to the
disks? iot doesnt make sense and im thissssss close to callin M$
knowing
they probably cant help me.

i hope this was thorough enough. thanx for your help sir.

This really seems like a hardware issue, Alaye. So, definitely don't
waste any money on a service call to Microsoft!

The only thing that puzzles me is activity in the event log during the
time of the freeze. Perhaps your clock or time zone is set incorrectly.

The link I gave you
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html
has just about all the information you need to diagnose hardware issues,
including Memtest 86+ for checking RAM
(and if you want another diagnostic utility, you can try the Windows
Memory Diagnostic at http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp )

Regarding the power supply, you could try checking it with a multimeter.
Or if you can get your hands on another working power supply, just swap
it in.

Make sure all the dust bunnies are blown away. Your problems may just be
the result of overheating! (Make sure all the fans are working, too.)

Obviously, if this sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, take your PC to
a qualified technician, making sure to avoid the big chain superstores.

One last thought is you may want to disable your screensaver and set all
of your power schemes to "Never."

 

[Gerry]

Alaye

In addition to what Daave is saying it is likely that your RAM memory is
made up of more than one stick and if so this offers a simple way to
check for faulty memory. Open the computer casing and carefully remove
one memory card (stick) from it's slot and run the computer with it
removed to see whether the problem occurs. Repeat the process putting
the first memory card back in and removing the second memory card and
test that card. Make sure you allow sufficient time for an error to
occur. When removing the card you will need to lift a retaining clip
each end of the memory card to allow it to be removed. Take great care
not to touch the motherboard. You can also get an Anti-Static wrist
band from a computer store to prevent a static
electricity discharge from you damaging the motherboard.
http://www.ehow.com/how_895_install-ram.html


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Alaye]

Thanx Daave and Gerry, I built the PC so those are suggestions that seem
reasonable to do.
Im still trying to figure out how to use the mem test from elephantboys. i
made floppy and booted on it but it doesnt work.

No the time zone setting is correct so that puzzling question lingers.
besides it was several hrs worth of activity that occurred while frozen.

I'll try all you guys suggested and will let ya know how it turns out.
PS i never heard of randomly bad mem sticks, only good or bad .

 

[Gerry]

Allaye

Not randomly bad. One can be good and one bad.

Have you run Spybot S & D yet? No anti-virus or anti-spyware software
has the capability to detect all malware all of the time.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Alaye]

I cant thank you guys enough for all your help. I isolated the bad memory
stick removed it and been running my PC all day now.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL.

 

[Daave]

That's great that you fixed your problem, Alaye! (And nice call, Gerry.)

If you think you need to purchase a replacement stick of RAM, I've had
good experiences with:

http://www.crucial.com

and

http://www.kingston.com