Re: Windows XP instability/freezing
- From: Malke <malke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 10:35:37 -0700
anojjona@xxxxxxx wrote:
Comments inline:
Thanks so much for the suggestions. I generally see a lot of
informational messages in the EventLog that correlate to the times
when I start up, but not to the times when it freezes. But I'll keep
checking. Is there any better log of what's going on that Windows
does, or is that it?
No, you would want to be looking in Event Viewer. Not seeing anything
specific for the times when your machine logs up makes me think of
hardware, but see further down.
The freezing used to occur only occasionally (instead of on average
every 15-20 minutes, like now), and used to happen only when I had a
lot of stuff open and was using virtual memory, so I didn't worry
about it. After having to power down following one of these freezes,
I was unable to get it to start up (IRQL_NOT_LET_OR_EQUAL stop
error). I took it to a repair shop...probably in the category of "big
computer store plus Geek squad" as you say....but how does one tell
the difference between a good repair shop and a bad one?
If the lockups are getting worse, this would tend to point to failing
hardware. Software faults usually aren't random and don't get more
frequent. The IRQL_NOT_LET_OR _EQUAL Stop Error usually points to bad
drivers (software), but it can also mean bad hardware.
So the first thing I'd do is update all drivers. Since you have a laptop,
get the drivers only from the laptop mftr.'s tech support website for your
specific model machine. Test afterwards. If that solves the issue, great.
They did a hardware checkup, and they said that the hardware was fine
and that the problem must therefore be software. Since I'm on travel
and don't have all my software disks with me, I asked them to repair
the installation, as the only option Vaio gives is to restore the
computer to factory condition (no Windows disk was included with
Vaio). They did the repair, and it started up fine, but didn't shut
down. I couldn't install automatic updates, but I read an article on
Microsoft's site that said to reinstall the Windows updater if
automatic updates don't install after repairing Windows from the CD.
I did that, and then the Windows updates installed. There were about
90+ security updates. I think the freezing got much worse after
installing the Microsoft XP security updates, but I don't want to roll
them back and not install them, because that might be a security risk.
I'm skeptical of any "tech support" given by a GeekSquad type of place. I'm
sorry but I've seen the results of work done by these folks and it's not a
pretty sight. So I wouldn't rely on their findings. Of course you were out
of town so you were stuck, but you may want to take the machine to a good
shop once you are back home. Most people I know find good help via word of
mouth - asking family, friends, colleagues. Of course there's no 100%
guarantee, but this is just as applicable to picking a doctor or a hair
dresser as it is to picking a good computer tech.
One other thing I noticed: The freezing seems to be more likely to
occur if I'm doing something with a browser. It doesn't matter if
it's IE or Firefox; they can both cause it to happen.
Although I'm really leaning towards it being either the drivers for your
network adapters (wired, wireless depending on how you connect) or the
network adapter hardware itself, you should make sure your computer is
virus/malware-free so you're working from a clean base.
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
Another way to determine if the issue is hardware or software would be to
either:
1. Boot the computer with a Linux Live CD such as Knoppix or Ubuntu. If the
machine behaves beautifully under Linux, then you know the issue is being
caused by software (drivers, probably). If the machine misbehaves under the
different operating system, it has to be hardware.
2. Back up your data (which you should do in any case) and restore the
machine to factory condition by whatever method Sony provided. If the
machine still has the issue, it's hardware.
Hopefully this will give you a troubleshooting path.
Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!
.
- References:
- Windows XP instability/freezing
- From: anojjona
- Re: Windows XP instability/freezing
- From: Malke
- Re: Windows XP instability/freezing
- From: anojjona
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