Re: Computer Freezing

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I only use the reset button when I have to. My computer will not respond and
will not come back. The OS has at this point shut down. A program isn't
hanging causing it to be frozen. When I say frozen it's frozen for good. I
think you might have missed my first few posts where I explained the problem
I'm having with my PC. The only way to get it to respond is to restart it. I
could pull the plug but the reset button would be the best thing I could
possibly do at this point.

And no it does does run chkdsk automatically after I push the reset button
and restart it.

No my keyboard and mouse are not wireless. They aren't out of batteries and
stop responding. The computer stopped responding not them. You cannot Alt tab
through windows/programs. You cannot hit the windows key and see the windows
menu on your task bar come up. You cannot hit Windows Key + D and see your
desktop. You cannot hit ctrl alt del and see the task manager. The computer
is not frozen due to an application hang.

It does not freeze due to any programs. It will freeze on the logon screen.
It will freeze when logging on. It will freeze when startup programs are
going. It will freeze a couple minutes later. It will freeze a couple hours
later. It will freeze at completely random times. It will freeze with no
programs running. It will freeze when you leave the computer and come back
with nothing running no work on the computer what so ever, no screen saver,
no log on screen after 20 minutes.

"Gerry" wrote:

Anaka

You should only use the Reset button ( you call it a Reboot button ) as
a last resort. You will get problems if you do this regularly. When you
press the reset button it should automatically run chkdsk as part of the
restart process. Is it doing this and do you allow it to be complete?

Whenever you reinstals Windows XP or make significant changes it is
highly desirable to run Disk CleanUp and then Disk Defragmenter so
temporary detritus left over from the installation / changes are removed
and fragmented files defragmented. If you cannot get Disk CleanUp to
work then cCleaner is a good alternative. Running Disk CleanUp before
running chkdsk can also help chkdsk because some temporary files can
cause that utility problems.

Do you your freezes coincide with you using any particular programmes?

Is your mouse and keyboard wired or wireless?


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anaka wrote:
When I say it froze when doing a disk clean up I mean the computer
froze. I'm aware that its deleting unused files. The computer stopped
responding. The mouse stopped moving. No alt tab, no windows, no ctrl
alt del, no movement, no pixelation, no bsod, no white or any of
color screen. The problem the computer is having. Not my impatience
of waiting on it doing its job.

I don't understand how cleaning my computer will help at all. This
computer was just reformatted completely clean. Thats the best clean
it can have. It shouldn't have any need for defrag or disk cleanup.
You can't move the OS files anyways and that and the drivers are the
only thing on it.

Force reboot means manually pushing the reboot button on my computer.

I tested all the memory.

"Gerry" wrote:

Anaka

The problem you have with the graphics card is not unique to you. I
saw another thread a couple of days ago throwing up a similar error
report.

What exactly do you mean by a forced reboot?

What do you mean by Disk CleanUp freezing. The assessing by
DiskCleanUp of how much space it can gain does take quite a while.
It the saving from compressing old files that does this. You just
have to be patient with it. If freezing is happening later then
there is a different problem.

You can use cCleaner (freeware) which does a more thorough job.
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. To be safe you
should create a restore point before using cCleaner. cCleaner also
offers backup before removal.

When using cCleaner think twice before checking Autocomplete Form
History under Internet Explorer. You do get a warning but this one
has irritating consequences. You may need to restore your system's
recollection of passwords after use so keep a record off computer so
that they can easily be re-entered.

Leave the Scan for Issues option alone.

When you removed RAM memory did you do this stick by stick so that
you could identify which stick, if any might be faulty?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Anaka wrote:
I installed the 7.6 display drivers and no longer get this atimtag
error when my computer freezes. I also noticed that this error is
being sent upon force reboot not when the freeze initially occurs. I
think the error is because my computer is force rebooted not because
of the freeze itself. It's probably upset about something in the
driver not being shut down properly.

I attempted a Disk Clean and it froze on me.

Thank you for all your help thus far.

"Anaka" wrote:

I don't see anything relating to a Raedon 9600 with Catalyst 7.7 or
anything about computer freezes. I've uninstalled these drivers and
reinstalled just the display driver and there is still a problem
with freezes.

I have already cleaned out dust when I went to exchange out memory
and check if that was the problem. I've checked that all fans are
properlly working at that time too.

"Gerry" wrote:

Anaka

There are some known unresolved issues with Catalyst 7.7 with
Windows XP.
http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/catalyst_77_release_notes.html#197309

Have you tried removing the computer case side panel and removing
the dust? Ideally you need an Air Duster which contains compressed
to remove the dust. You might be surprised at the amount of dust
inside. Also make sure you can hear / see that the fans are
working. Working fans are very important for the well being of
your computer. If one fails it can result in a fried motherboard,
which is infinitely more expensive to replace than a fan. An Air
Duster is also useful for cleaning out food crumbs trapped in
keyboards.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anaka wrote:
Graphics Card: I have a ATI Radeon 9600 series. I downloaded the
latest drivers from here.
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonx-xp.html I searched
on google and found that people with Catalyst 7.7 have been
recieving this atimtag error in their event viewer. I guess I'll
try uninstalling the driver and reinstalling just the display
driver. It does seem like everytime my computer freezes I get
this atimtag CRT error saying "CRT invalid display type".

Clean Up: I'll do a Disk CleanUp and Disk Defrag. I've cleaned up
temps.

Printer: I haven't used a printer at all on this computer. I did
have one connected via USB but I never installed the drivers or
used it. It currently is not connected as well.

Overheating: The last few times my computer has froze the
temperature has only been 35C which isn't very hot. I don't think
the 2 make a connection.

Yesterday, was a bit strange. I had one freeze in the morning
about 30 minutes after starting it up. After running all the
tests it didn't freeze at all for hours. I thought the probably
mysteriously disappeared. I was able to install Visual Studio
(which is a good 2 hours) without any problems at all. Later that
night I decided to transfer some files over from my laptop
through the network on share documents. After a few minutes of
copying my desktop froze.

This morning I tried powering on my desktop and it wouldn't turn
on. I started to think my power supply went out. I shut it down
fine last night. I decided to check the coord and I exchanged the
power coord and it was able to power up just fine. I read
somewhere when your computer freezes it could be a problem with
your power supply. Maybe it fried my power coord? I have no idea.
It's just really strange.

"Gerry" wrote:

Anaka

The error is linked to your graphics card. What is the make and
model of your graphics card? Don't forget you can roll back as
well as update drivers.

When you provide Event Viewer Reports it helps to provide a
complete report using the copy and paste tip I provided in my
last post.

Cleaning up = Try running Disk CleanUp in all user profiles.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
CleanUp to Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet
Files. Also select Start, All Programs, accessories, System
Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and remove all
but the latest System Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

The list of unsigned drivers all seem to be linked to an XPS
Printer.Problems seem to arise with in Vista but there are no
clear reports of problems when using Windows XP. Do you use your
printer to print documents in Asian languages?

Overheating would cause freezing. Are all your fans working?
Dust bunnies an also cause over heating.
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Anaka wrote:
Event Viewer: I checked the application logs and there were a
few errors and more warnings. In the system logs their were a
number of errors only on ati3mtag. Seeing the ati does that
mean ATI (my graphics card?) or is that something different?
I'm not familiar with these logs.

Windows Update History: It's fine.

Drivers: No yellow question marks. I've run a program called
Driver Detective to find any updated drivers for my computer as
well and it conflicts with the drivers my motherboard gives me.
I don't know if I trust the program.

Cleaned up after all the changes?: I don't understand this
question.

sigverif.exe: The following came up not signed:
mxdwdrv.dll
mxdwdui.dll
mxdwdui.gpd
mxdwdui.ini
stddtype.gdl
stdschem.gdl
stdschmx.gdl
unidrv.dll
unidrvui.dll
unires.dll

HD Tune:
HD Tune: WDC WD800JB-00ETA0 Information

Firmware version : 77.07W77
Serial number : WD-WMAHL1248571
Capacity : 74.5 GB (~80.0 GB)
Buffer size : 8192 KB
Standard : ATA/ATAPI-6
Supported mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)
Current mode : UDMA Mode 5 (Ultra ATA/100)

S.M.A.R.T : yes
48-bit Address : yes
Read Look-Ahead : yes
Write Cache : yes
Host Protected Area : yes
Device Configuration Overlay : yes
Automatic Acoustic Management: yes
Power Management : yes
Advanced Power Management : no
Power-up in Standby : no
Security Mode : yes
Firmware Upgradable : yes

Partition : 1
Drive letter : C:\
Label :
Capacity : 76308 MB
Usage : 26.00%
Type : NTFS
Bootable : Yes

HD Tune: WDC WD800JB-00ETA0 Health

ID Current Worst
ThresholdData Status (01) Raw Read Error Rate 200
197 51 0 Ok (03) Spin Up Time 90 87
.

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