Re: Xp freezes even when idle

Hi wraith:

One thing you might check if your system seems to freeze for short intervals regularly is whether or not the CPU is a slave to one particular process (i.e., some software might be hogging too much of the CPU's time for way too many consecutive seconds).

For example, right now I'm having a similar situation, so I've set up my screen as described below. Whenever my system seems to stall, I can see that a program called MsMpEng.EXE is using 88 to 94 percent of the CPU's resources for 45 seconds at a time. As soon as this process releases the CPU, my system starts responding again. Clearly, the application to which this process belongs is not performing normally, and now I'm able to troubleshoot it with the developer and other users.

Right-click the taskbar, and select 'Task Manager'.

On the menu bar, click on 'View' --> 'Update Speed', and then select 'Normal' or 'High'.

Maximize the Task Manager window, and then click the 'Processes' tab.

Click on the 'CPU' column-heading, twice. This should sort the list of processes in descending order of current CPU usage.

Leave Task Manager running while you use the computer, and resize all of your other windows so that you can always see the list of process names and the CPU column.

Whenever your system seems to freeze or really slow down, note whether or not a single process is usually at the top of the list during these episodes.

If you can correlate a particular process with your system's performance problem, then you can google its name to find out which application owns it.

You could also make written notes of the time and date of system freezes, and then use the Event Viewer to look for possible issues.

If you cannot correlate a particular process or application with the issue, then more work is required to troubleshoot the issue, and it may be beyond my abilities to suggest what to try next.

I wish us both luck because I know how much it really sucks waiting 35 seconds with a brand new, high-end laptop for something that should take 2 seconds (eg: displaying a graphic image from a thumbnail when the only button on the taskbar is for Windows Explorer).

~ Mark

"wraith" <wraith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

my computer is brand new (2 months old) and xp constantly freezes up, even
when idle. i have tried everything i can find but it hasn't worked. this
includes, drivers, temp monitors, os repairs, cables, and memory. i believe
it is a software problem. i am running xp pro sp2 on an amd processor,
nvidia 7600gt vga, a single 80 gb hdd with others hooked up by usb, and 1gb
of ram. it does not freeze in safe mode. i have run virus scans and the
like to no avail. i need to fix this. thx.

.