XP Pro hangs up and won't re-boot till machine cools

[Doug D.]

I've got a Gateway notebook (2.2GH, 512meg, 40 gig HD)
running XP Pro. It ran fine until I updated some maint
from Microsoft in mid-June. Also updated to Media Player
9.0. Boots fine when machine is cold, will hang up (freeze
tight) after running for a while (can range from cpl hours
to 6-7 hrs). When hangs up, only way out is to power off,
3-finger salute doesn't work, nothing, nada, zilch.

If I try to re-boot, it continues to hang during initial
XP logo screen. This includes any/all Safe mode boots.
The Gateway guys are hinting that their are certain video
chipsets that XP doesn't handle correctly and that's the
source of my problem and are leaning toward re-format HD
and re-load XP. Anybody (Microsoft?) got any suggestions?

Thanks, Doug

 

[Ron Martell]

I've got a Gateway notebook (2.2GH, 512meg, 40 gig HD)
running XP Pro. It ran fine until I updated some maint
from Microsoft in mid-June. Also updated to Media Player
9.0. Boots fine when machine is cold, will hang up (freeze
tight) after running for a while (can range from cpl hours
to 6-7 hrs). When hangs up, only way out is to power off,
3-finger salute doesn't work, nothing, nada, zilch.

If I try to re-boot, it continues to hang during initial
XP logo screen. This includes any/all Safe mode boots.
The Gateway guys are hinting that their are certain video
chipsets that XP doesn't handle correctly and that's the
source of my problem and are leaning toward re-format HD
and re-load XP. Anybody (Microsoft?) got any suggestions?

Thanks, Doug

I would put the probability at something like 99 and 44/100% that it
is a hardware problem.

The comments from Gateway do not make sense. If the problem is with
XP and certain video chipsets then how would reinstalling XP fix the
problem? It would still be Windows XP and still be the same video
chipset.

If what they were talking about is a driver related issue then you can
roll back any video driver updates that have been installed by using
Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager.

Good luck.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."