XP Pro freezes occasionally.

[Ian Lowrie]

Shortly after switching on the machine (sometimes after a reboot when I have
a problem with eg video capture), the machine 'freezes'- sometimes even
before invoking an application (although I do have a number of background
processes running - eg Google desktop search, seti-at-home, AVG antivirus,
NetMeeting - but disabling these has no effect on the problem I am
describing!)

Freezes = screen stays on (desktop and/or application if I get that far),
with cursor not reacting to mouse; keyboard Ctrl+Alt+Del has no effect. Only
way out is to press reset...

I have tried to find some 'common' theme/sequence of events to this
occuring, but to no avail. As I say sometimes there are no apps running.
After this happens once I reboot, and it often happens again, but usually
that's it, and the machine runs happily for the rest of the day... some
times longer

M/B is ECS P4VMM2 with 512 Meg, 2 hard drives, 1 floppy, a CDrom, and a DVD
writer.

No other cards installed, no USB devices attached when this occurs.

Have tried removing half the RAM and using them separately to see if the RAM
has some sort of problem. No luck.

Any suggestions? This is getting annoying.

Ian

 

[Rich Barry]

Ian, first thing I would check is for overheating. Make sure all Fans are
running smoothly especially the CPU and Power
Supply fans. Then I would download and install Motherboard Monitor. It will
give you a constant readout of your temps.
and 3.3, 5 and 12v lines. Voltages should not dip below 5%.

 

[Guest]

also make sure youve checked for spyware running in the background hoggin up
you ram if you havent already get adaware and spy bot s&d run them to see if
your bogged with bots

 

[Ian Lowrie]

Thanks for your responses

Have followed all the suggestions, and found nothing... using erronuker
showed several potential problems that I will have to look into.

Noticed that according to MM the CPU temp is about 50C! Is this high?
(Though the CPU should just slow itself down if it overheats. - maybe a
rogue chip!

Will have to consider a complete reinstallation of OS and software :^(
unless someone has a better idea.

Will also try removing 1 hard disk drive and CD drive so that the IDE buses
only have one device each in case there is some sort of conflict.

Anything else?

Ian

 

[T. Waters]

There are ways to cool down your processor. Have a shop determine the actual
temp with their equipment to verify, and then perhaps they will be able to
put a better heat sink and/or fan on it. Or, another fan can be added to
your case, or both!
No need to reinstall the OS. You can Repair Install if you must:
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
Author: Michael Stevens MS-MVP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm