Windows XP: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this?
- 12/5/08 3:48 PM
freezing issues
by docqualizer - 11/21/08 6:56 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You may want to consider purchasing a larger laptop hard drive. Once you start getting under 50% of capacity, you can have issues.
Also, I would go to windowsupdate.com or Dell's web site and make sure you have every current update for Windows and other products.
I would also download the following programs:
AdAware
Hijack This
Spybot Search and Destroy
Once you download and install those programs, they should be able to tell you if you have spyware, malware, or other bad stuff on your PC.
McAfee is good for detecting viruses.
You should also consider purchasing Diskkeeper for your PC, It is a great product for keeping your PC and defragmented as possible.
The only product out of these 4 you would have to pay for is Diskeeper.
Good luck
Lou Lange
Manchester, CT
Freezing issues
by btdeines - 12/5/08 6:59 PM In reply to: freezing issues by docqualizerWhy down load more program's. That's not alway a solition but a contributing factor to more headaches. The best thing I did was get rid of Mcfee and norton. Spybot never catches what you want it to. Panda internet security has been the best by far for catching all those nasty spyware, troj, and viruses for me. Spyware can really slow a system down and freeze it up. All the microsoft updates can cause alot of problems also. They want you to keep up to date but boy howdy some of them are NIGHTMARES!
Free drive space
by tekyle2000 - 12/6/08 4:16 PM In reply to: freezing issues by docqualizerSo you're saying if my 1TB drive goes below 400GB free space I'll have problems? Rubbish...
Under 50% free space causes problems???
by Alain Martel1 - 12/9/08 10:49 AM In reply to: freezing issues by docqualizer...Get real!
For years, on several computers, I routinely have drives with less than 20% free space, sometimes as low as 5 to 2% free space and it never caused me any problem at all.
The only isue with filled up drives, is a slowdown when accessing SOME files, and the fact that some defragmenters can't work with less than 15% free space, like the one that comes with Windows.
Anytime you have more than 20% free space, disk clutter is NOT the cause of your problems.
In my experience, McAfee is not so great. I used to use it. Then, after some very serious performence degradation and false positives, not resolved by uninstalling, reinsytalling, I switched to another. I then found that it missed a few nasties. A friend had worst experience with Norton AV, that missed about 15 virus. I now use a free AV.
I don't recommend "hijack this" to a novice user. It's very powerfull, and usualy TO powerfull for a great many.
I agree that Diskkeeper is a marvelous application. I've been using it for the last 7 years. One of the best defragmenter you can get. It CAN defragment a drive with only 1% free space, it will only take more time for the job to finish. The only one that could beat it was Norton SpeedDisk for DOS of the late 80' end early 90's that only needed 1 free cluster...
My computer just freezes
by Watzman - 11/21/08 6:57 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This is a VERY difficult problem to diagnose because so many things can cause it. Usually, you do this by elimination, but it's even more difficult in a laptop because you can't substitute "known good" parts when dealing with a laptop.
First thing: Download Memtest or Memtest86 (memory diagnostics) and run them. This is easy to do and quick and is a good candidate for a possible cause. You want to run quite a few passes (may take hours or even overnight). You MUST get ZERO errors. If memtest freezes up, then you KNOW it's a hardware problem and not a software problem (that is not an insignificant point). Other than new memory, almost all other hardware problems will have to involve the manufacturer or MAJOR new parts (e.g. motherboard).
If that passes (or even if it fails) ... CPU overheating is a common problem in laptops. The cooling systems clog up with dust, hair, etc. These can be cleaned but the procedure varies by model (this happens on desktops also but it's more obvious and easier to deal with). Disassembly of the laptop may be required to do a complete cleaning, but a "good enough" job MAY be possible without disassembly. The primary tool is a can of compressed air.
On a desktop, the power supply would be my next suspect, but on a laptop the supply in question (which is NOT the AC adapter) is part of the motherboard.
At this point, especially on a laptop, the HARDWARE options begin to point to the motherboard. This is, however, usually impossible to deal with if the laptop is out of warranty (it will often cost as much as a new laptop).
That leaves the software causes, of which there are many. The only practical way to attack software causes is to wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows. That is an involved and difficult process, and I actually suggest that you do this on a different hard drive (if necessary, consider buying a small (possibly used) hard drive cheap to do this on). If the new installation doesn't freeze, you can presume that it's a software issue.
Barry Watzman
An addition to my above post
by Watzman - 11/21/08 7:03 PM In reply to: My computer just freezes by WatzmanTwo other comments:
1. Is the computer REALLY locked up? Does control-Alt-Delete work? Does the caps lock key LIGHT go on and off when you press the caps lock key? If either of these works, the computer is not REALLY locked up and it's almost certainly a software problem (fix: reinstall Windows). BUT ...
2. People are too quick to assume it's a software problem, when, often, it IS a hardware problem.
computer freezes
by gopinathradhakrishnan - 12/7/08 9:16 PM In reply to: My computer just freezes by Watzmanclick start, click run type prefetch, select all and then delete all the files,click start, click run type temp, select all and then delete all the files,click start, click run type % temp%, select all and then delete all the files,click start, click run type msconfig, under startup tab, select disable all and then restart the computer, that would do, if still is the problem, run the memory test, or else simply, reseat the hdd data and power cables, and reseat the memory, possible clean with a soft cloth, donot use canned air, or any liquid cleaner, click start->allprograms->accessories->system tools->system restore, and restore the computer to an earlier date,say to some date in the early november, with 2 gb ram and winxp, the computer would work fine, being a dell technician i would recommend these, also possible run ccleaner, note down which application mostly causes the system to freeze, note down when it actually happens and post the same, open task manager and under process tab find which application is taking up too much memory and then post the same, if you have doubts on how to do the above procedures, visit http://screenshots.leeindy.com/msconfig_general.shtml
dell technician here to help
by gopinathradhakrishnan - 12/7/08 9:26 PM In reply to: computer freezes by gopinathradhakrishnansometimes this mightbe a hardware issue, so what i would suggest, turn off the computer and when you turn on your laptop press and hold the fn key on the keyboard and turn on the computer using the power button, you would see a diagnostics test menu, wherein you should run the quick test on the hardware, if any issues with the hard ware then you can easily identify which is causing this issue, ,, for desktop restart the computer and on dell logo, keep tappping the f12 key and get into boot to utility partition and then run the quick test to check your hardware functionality, if you guys find any error message post the same, help would come for sure!!!!
good luck
Obvious answer not so obvious
by Dale E Marcum - 11/21/08 7:01 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Try using a usb cooler under your 1501. I had a 1501 do the same thing and found it was getting too warm. Hope this helps.
Check the vents
by papa_bear - 11/21/08 7:03 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Often dust clogs up the tiny ventilation ports on computers overheating the system and causing it to freeze.
Some possible solutions...
by PJWomble - 11/21/08 7:04 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It may be a device driver problem: try starting your system in safe mode (press F8 while booting and choose "safe mode" from the boot menu), with just the minimal set of drivers loaded. If you can run the system for a decent length of time in safe mode, try rebooting back into normal mode and disabling your device drivers from "My Computer" properties, one by one, until you find any driver that's causing the problem. Don't forget to re-enable the drivers which *weren't* causing the problem, afterwards!
If this doesn't help, then check the Windows Task Manager (press CTRL-ALT-DEL together, once) and select the "Processes" tab to see if there's something running in the background which is using a lot of your processor power (more than [roughly] 80% of processor is usually a problem if it's doing it for a long time). If so, right-click on it and choose "end process" to kill the offending program.
Also, you can check the programs which are running at startup by choosing "Run" from the start menu and then typing "msconfig" in the box which appears. Go to the "startup" tab and then scroll through the list of programs which are loaded at startup. If there are any which you don't recognise, then try searching for them by Googling the name of the program file. If you find anything which isn't necessary, then disable it.
One more thing which may cause problems is conflicts between programs, eg having 2 lots of antivirus software running simultaneously, or a firewall that doesn't agree with your antivirus. You can try turning off your security software to see if this helps, but always make sure you have scanned your computer for viruses before switching the antivirus program off, AND *ALWAYS* MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET IF YOU HAVE YOUR FIREWALL OR ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE SWITCHED OFF!!!
Hope this is of help.
Dell laptop stps
by harry2494 - 11/21/08 7:08 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You need to have yor laptop cleaned out It is over heating
Freezes, Hangs, and Tilts on Your PC or Laptop
by galvang - 11/21/08 7:15 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Depending on the industry you are in, different terminology can be used for the same phenomenon; Your screen freezes up. This is not an easy answer. Most of time it's poor quality from the PC manufacturer. I have dealt with these issues all of time. It could be from the following:
1. Hardware problem related to the CPU on how it executes certain instructions.
2. Software problem in the BIOS.
3. Heat related issue. Internals get too hot and the CPU begins to act flakey, system freezes.
For number 1 you can't really do anything about it. It's just poor quality from the chip manfacturer (Intel/AMD)that the PC manufacturer failed to Identify. Sometimes the CPU manufacturer ship substandard CPU chips to the PC manufacturer that contain errors where these freezes can occur.
For 2 check if your PC manufacturer has an update to the BIOS and see if you can reload the latest version. Most of the time it's just flashing the BIOS. Sometimes this can correct the problem.
For 3, heat. My Toshiba freezes when it doesn't get enough ventilation. So I purchased a little stand with a fan and my laptop not longer freezes. You can aquire these little built-in fan-stands at Best-Buy. Make sure your laptop gets plenty of ventiltion. Determine if there are any fans in the laptop and make sure they are not obstructed.
There could be other issues that could cause the freeze ups but the 3 above seems to be to be the most prevelant based on my experience. I have Windows Vista in my HP laptop and it never freezes. I don't think Vista is the cuprit unless you load it on to an old PC/laptop. Vista requires at leaast 2Gbytes of RAM memory.
cheap computers freeze!
by LloydSchulz - 12/5/08 11:44 PM In reply to: Freezes, Hangs, and Tilts on Your PC or Laptop by galvangI totally agree!! I used to buy the cheap on sale computers, and they freeze. Since I now only buy high quality - no more freezes! An "off-lease" high quality PC is both cheaper and better than new "junk". I would decline an Inspiron as a gift...Dell's Lattitude line (designed for the 'business' user) is much better. I use mostly IBM, and only their higher end models, freezes are extremely rare. I have one running as ftp server that is over 10 years old. Replaced HD couple of years ago. I restart it every few months (if I remember) and it just runs. Lots of freezes when I used to buy clones etc, but none with good equip.
Frozen Laptop...
by jaimin.bhatt - 11/21/08 7:17 PM In reply to: Windows XP system just randomly freezes, what’s causing this? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There are many different reasons why you get a frozen screen. First off, there does not seem to be any reason for you to get an external hard drive. Your memory at 2GB is also acceptable and should not be an issue. So here goes the different things that can be wrong:
- Have you upgraded your laptop's ram? Sometimes a defective memory module can cause such freeze ups. If you have not upgraded, it is also possible that the original memory module can have an issue.
- You have not mentioned what kind of processor your laptop has. However, I have in the past had problems of freeze up with P4-M processor based laptop, where it would freeze for no reason. Finally I figured out that there was something wrong with the transition from low processor frequency to high processor frequency. When I set the power options profile to "Always On", it solved the problem for me! (NOTE: this is a very rare occurance and may not be what's wrong in your case)
- You have not mentioned what type of graphics you have, however, if the graphics driver was updated and is not fully compatible, it can cause such freeze ups.
There may be more reasons that I can't think of, but hope this helps.
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