XP Pro hangs now and again.

[BrianB]

I have Windows XP Pro SP2 on a several year old Dell M70 laptop (last
reloaded about 5 months ago). Three or four times a week this box will
suddenly stop responding to any external influence. If I'm playing a CD or
DVD, I'll hear a click and it will just stop playing. There will be no
response to the mouse or keyboard. The screen just stays the way it was when
it froze. At least one other user around here reports the same symptoms.
I've checked the disk for errors and have run defrag.

Any suggestions what could be causing this or what I can do to track down
the problem?

Thanks
Brian Bygland

 

[R. McCarty]

Difficult issue to make generalized suggestions on. First thing I'd look at
is
the Event Log. Windows captures events ( Informational, Warning & errors ).
However a system freeze may not actually trigger a logged entry.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]

Notebooks are susceptible to overheating. You should check the vent on
the back of the notebook. Make sure it's not clogged. Afterwards I'd get
SpeedFan and install and check your temps.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Notebooks should throttle themselves as they reach a critical temp, but it's
not uncommon for the notebook to simply "Freeze Up".

Also you should check Dell's support site. Laptops sometimes get BIOS
flash updates that address specific issues. Most releases have a Readme
file that describes what the Flash update fixes. You should determine the
current BIOS revision and see how many updates down from the latest
your unit is at.

A Click sound is always cause for concern. Usually this is associated with
the hard drive and can be indicator of pending failure. SpeedFan provides a
feature to check the drive's SMART monitoring table.

 

[meerkat]

I have Windows XP Pro SP2 on a several year old Dell M70 laptop (last
reloaded about 5 months ago). Three or four times a week this box will
suddenly stop responding to any external influence. If I'm playing a CD
or DVD, I'll hear a click and it will just stop playing. There will be
no response to the mouse or keyboard. The screen just stays the way it
was when it froze. At least one other user around here reports the same
symptoms. I've checked the disk for errors and have run defrag.

Any suggestions what could be causing this or what I can do to track
down the problem?

Thanks
Brian Bygland

Check your temperatures to make sure there`s no
overheating.
Check the Event Viewer for errors in Apps and System.

You say it`s `several` years old, so it could be clogged
with dust.

 

[BrianB]

You bring up very good points. There was nothing in the event logs. I
couldn't install SpeedFan. Its install claims that I don't have
Administrator when I actually do have it. Instead I've installed Hmonitor.
It says that my mainboard is about 64C, the CPU is wavering between 50C and
60C and the GPU is at 66C.

A visual inspection of the vents looks clean, but I cannot see what is on
the inside.

The click sound came over the headphones as the box froze. It was not heard
otherwise.

Brian

Difficult issue to make generalized suggestions on. First thing I'd look
at is
the Event Log. Windows captures events ( Informational, Warning &
errors ).
However a system freeze may not actually trigger a logged entry.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]

Notebooks are susceptible to overheating. You should check the vent on
the back of the notebook. Make sure it's not clogged. Afterwards I'd get
SpeedFan and install and check your temps.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Notebooks should throttle themselves as they reach a critical temp, but
it's
not uncommon for the notebook to simply "Freeze Up".

Also you should check Dell's support site. Laptops sometimes get BIOS
flash updates that address specific issues. Most releases have a Readme
file that describes what the Flash update fixes. You should determine the
current BIOS revision and see how many updates down from the latest
your unit is at.

A Click sound is always cause for concern. Usually this is associated with
the hard drive and can be indicator of pending failure. SpeedFan provides
a
feature to check the drive's SMART monitoring table.

I have Windows XP Pro SP2 on a several year old Dell M70 laptop (last
reloaded about 5 months ago). Three or four times a week this box will
suddenly stop responding to any external influence. If I'm playing a CD or
DVD, I'll hear a click and it will just stop playing. There will be no
response to the mouse or keyboard. The screen just stays the way it was
when it froze. At least one other user around here reports the same
symptoms. I've checked the disk for errors and have run defrag.

Any suggestions what could be causing this or what I can do to track down
the problem?

Thanks
Brian Bygland

 

[R. McCarty]

Click from sound would exclude the hard drive. Those temps seem very
warm to me. There is a specific fan control program for Dell computers.
You might want to check on using it, the GPU at 66 Celsius is very hot
and so is the motherboard sensor.

The program is called I8kfanGUI. It allows more control of fans than the
default BIOS configuration. Dell opts for quiet over cool in it's settings.
The Fan Control app home page is here:
http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html

You bring up very good points. There was nothing in the event logs. I
couldn't install SpeedFan. Its install claims that I don't have
Administrator when I actually do have it. Instead I've installed Hmonitor.
It says that my mainboard is about 64C, the CPU is wavering between 50C
and 60C and the GPU is at 66C.

A visual inspection of the vents looks clean, but I cannot see what is on
the inside.

The click sound came over the headphones as the box froze. It was not
heard otherwise.

Brian

Difficult issue to make generalized suggestions on. First thing I'd look
at is
the Event Log. Windows captures events ( Informational, Warning &
errors ).
However a system freeze may not actually trigger a logged entry.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]

Notebooks are susceptible to overheating. You should check the vent on
the back of the notebook. Make sure it's not clogged. Afterwards I'd get
SpeedFan and install and check your temps.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Notebooks should throttle themselves as they reach a critical temp, but
it's
not uncommon for the notebook to simply "Freeze Up".

Also you should check Dell's support site. Laptops sometimes get BIOS
flash updates that address specific issues. Most releases have a Readme
file that describes what the Flash update fixes. You should determine the
current BIOS revision and see how many updates down from the latest
your unit is at.

A Click sound is always cause for concern. Usually this is associated
with
the hard drive and can be indicator of pending failure. SpeedFan provides
a
feature to check the drive's SMART monitoring table.

I have Windows XP Pro SP2 on a several year old Dell M70 laptop (last
reloaded about 5 months ago). Three or four times a week this box will
suddenly stop responding to any external influence. If I'm playing a CD
or DVD, I'll hear a click and it will just stop playing. There will be no
response to the mouse or keyboard. The screen just stays the way it was
when it froze. At least one other user around here reports the same
symptoms. I've checked the disk for errors and have run defrag.

Any suggestions what could be causing this or what I can do to track
down the problem?

Thanks
Brian Bygland

 

[Paula Allton]

The last time I had 'clicks' and hangs, the HD was going bad

As a precaution, I suggest you back up any important info, "just in case".

Paula

 

[BrianB]

A little follow-up information. Yesterday it happened again when the temps
were all 50C or less. I've also found four other Dell M70 users having the
same problem. And the problem only happens when we're connected to the
corporate intranet. When the PCs are connected to any other network (home or
Starbucks for example), even if I've opened a VPN into the corp. net, it
does not hang. I suspect that my company has some utility that runs only
while on the intranet that is misbehaving.

Brian

Click from sound would exclude the hard drive. Those temps seem very
warm to me. There is a specific fan control program for Dell computers.
You might want to check on using it, the GPU at 66 Celsius is very hot
and so is the motherboard sensor.

The program is called I8kfanGUI. It allows more control of fans than the
default BIOS configuration. Dell opts for quiet over cool in it's
settings.
The Fan Control app home page is here:
http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html

You bring up very good points. There was nothing in the event logs. I
couldn't install SpeedFan. Its install claims that I don't have
Administrator when I actually do have it. Instead I've installed
Hmonitor. It says that my mainboard is about 64C, the CPU is wavering
between 50C and 60C and the GPU is at 66C.

A visual inspection of the vents looks clean, but I cannot see what is on
the inside.

The click sound came over the headphones as the box froze. It was not
heard otherwise.

Brian

Difficult issue to make generalized suggestions on. First thing I'd look
at is
the Event Log. Windows captures events ( Informational, Warning &
errors ).
However a system freeze may not actually trigger a logged entry.
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]

Notebooks are susceptible to overheating. You should check the vent on
the back of the notebook. Make sure it's not clogged. Afterwards I'd get
SpeedFan and install and check your temps.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Notebooks should throttle themselves as they reach a critical temp, but
it's
not uncommon for the notebook to simply "Freeze Up".

Also you should check Dell's support site. Laptops sometimes get BIOS
flash updates that address specific issues. Most releases have a Readme
file that describes what the Flash update fixes. You should determine
the
current BIOS revision and see how many updates down from the latest
your unit is at.

A Click sound is always cause for concern. Usually this is associated
with
the hard drive and can be indicator of pending failure. SpeedFan
provides a
feature to check the drive's SMART monitoring table.

I have Windows XP Pro SP2 on a several year old Dell M70 laptop (last
reloaded about 5 months ago). Three or four times a week this box will
suddenly stop responding to any external influence. If I'm playing a CD
or DVD, I'll hear a click and it will just stop playing. There will be
no response to the mouse or keyboard. The screen just stays the way it
was when it froze. At least one other user around here reports the same
symptoms. I've checked the disk for errors and have run defrag.

Any suggestions what could be causing this or what I can do to track
down the problem?

Thanks
Brian Bygland