Frequent Freezing

[chrisT]

Yep, alot of freezing.

Does anyone know what causes a computer to freeze?

My parents new office computer is feezing alot, I'm not sure what to check or fix to make it stop.

It's a brand new computer, and there's no particular action thats done to make it freeze.

Suggestions?

Thanx;~)

[Susan]

It could be a variety of things that are making the system freeze. How does the system as a whole load up? Very slowly?

What's in the system?

[MrEd]

If you have a lot of stuff running in the background, hogging up resources, that could cause you to freeze up. Also, if you try running more than one graphic intensive program, at the same time, that could do it.
Could be the processor running too hot. Is it a Cyrix? Those are known to run hotter than usual. You may needs a bigger heatsink and fan. Also, if your hd is running full, you may be causing problems there also. The sources of your freezing are endless. Does it freeze while you're in a specific program? Does it freeze at the same time every time? Can it be reproduced? Could be a driver problem. Try and reproduce the problem a couple of times, and that will narrow it down a little bit. Also check to make sure that there are no conflicts in your System-> Device Manager...

Let us know what you find out. Also, what are the specs on that system, if you know?

Good Luck
-MrEd
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

(Sorry Susan, I posted this at the same time as you.)



[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 08-10-99).]

[GB]

.

[This message has been edited by GB (edited 08-19-99).]

[chrisT]

Basically, the system is a PIII-450, 128MBa RAM, 8 or 9 Gig H-D, 8Meg Video AGP Card...and so on. It's not a brandname system but a put together kind.

The freezing, as far as I can remember, may have started around the time that I installed Norton Antivirus. Maybe a couple of time before that, which would have been while install win98.

Its frozen at some of the oddest times. Once even while only having the solitaire game that comes on the win98 CD.

Other than that, occasionally while closing a program, a few time in WordPerfect9(from the wordperfect2000 suite) and then quickly click something new, either on the desktop, or in the toolbar at the bottom.

Susan, Startup is...takes about 30-45 seconds, which I assume is because of the boot up scan with Norton's.

GB, I generally run Defrag & Scan disk after everything I install.

Oh, the most repetitive thing is that it freezes while using the mouse.

[This message has been edited by chrisT (edited 08-10-99).]

[Underclocked]

Try going into the device manager to see if there are any yellow or red marks beside any of the components. If so, start the hardware conflict troubleshooter and see if you can correct the problem.
Also, you may have a problem with the video card drivers and need to reinstall or update them. Could be about a a great number of things I'm afraid.

[Susan]

The pause at startup is probably caused by Norton. But your freeze problems sound like it could be a video problem.

Do you have the latest drivers installed for the card? There could also be some different settings in the BIOS and MB drivers that could help you.

What is the Video Card and MB?

[MrEd]

I think your problem is with Norton. Try uninstalling it, and running without it awhile. If I remember, there were previous posts here about that same thing. Try using McAfee for your virus protection.

Anyone want to add to that, that has had this experience?

-MrEd
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[bdog]

Freezing is a very difiicult problem to solve. My dad has a Gateway laptop, with nothing but the stock from the factory equipment and software on it that freezes all the time. Gateway could not even figure it out. I had a K62 400 system that froze all the time in windows 98, or in NT. I just rebuilt it with a celeron 400 and an ABIT mobo and all the same other componets and it hasn't froze yet. Maybe some hardware and motherboards don't get along real well, even though they are supposed to be compatible...

[chrisT]

Under, I've been to the device manager and it doesn't say there's any conflicts. No yellow or red marks.

Susan, For some godforsaken reason, the drivers for the VideoCard, weren't supplied so I had to go find them myself on the 'net, so I assume they are the most updated ones.
The video card is IDEMA? I know I had a heck of time finding them.

The MB, I hadn't thought of. I assumed the software they gave was the right stuff but...;~)

MrEd, I don't relish leaving the computer without an antivirus, considering my father...Not a good idea*grin*
It would suck having to buy a new one also, since we just finally got around to by one.
I'll have to see about that.

[Underclocked]

Go into System Information, hardware and see how many devices are on each irq. If there are more than two on any one irq, try moving one of them off to a free irq. Also, you might try changing your parallel port irq settings in bios if that is an option. I think you DO have a conflict that windows isn't recognizing as such. Mouse, modem, serial, parallel, and video would be my main suspects.

[Susan]

There may be a BIOS update or updated drivers for your MB that could help any AGP related problems.

What's the chipset on the video card?

You can temporarily disable the virus protection and can also turn down the video acceleration to see if either improve the situation.

[chrisT]

Under..,

The only possible conflict I saw was COM2 & COM4. The people at the store seemed to have added a COM4, and they use the same IRQ, but if I have nothing using COM4, would just the 2 ports on 1 IRQ cause this problem?

Susan, BIOS Update, I tried to update it but it wouldn't let me?

Not sure about the chipset.

Where would I turn down the video acceleration?

[Susan]

System Properties/Performance Tab/Graphics.

Is the video made by Pine Products? Follow the links from here and see if there are updated drivers, but you may have to know the particular model # of the card.

www.fastmodems.com/video1.htm (http://www.fastmodems.com/video1.htm)

[Johnny5]

Chris, Symantec has a patch when running 98 and Norton 5. Give it a try, it's better than going without protection.
Johnny

[This message has been edited by Johnny5 (edited 08-12-99).]

[chrisT]

Out of these, which would be a conflict or are they all sharing??

IRQ 5 V.90 K56Flex HSP PCI Modem
IRQ 5 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 5 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
IRQ 10 FM801 PCI Joystick
IRQ 10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
IRQ 11 FM801 PCI Audio
IRQ 11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
IRQ 14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IRQ 14 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IRQ 15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller


Susan, I tried lowering the acceleration, which, I think may have made it worse, if that's possible.

The MB is ASUS. I couldn't check the processor tho.




[This message has been edited by chrisT (edited 08-12-99).]

[Jesus Calvino]

We had a similar problem with a put together computer. Aparently the crashes were caused by overheat. With the computer case in place, the CPU reached a temperature of 63C. With the computer case open, the CPU temperature never reaches 54C and no crashes at all. When we put the case back in place the computer started to crash again. I believe the problem is caused by the air intakes for the case fan which are very small...

[Underclocked]

I don't see a direct conflict, but you might try moving that modem to 4, even if it conflicts with a com port.
Question: does your video card not require an IRQ or did you just not list it? Many video cards should be assigned an IRQ in the bios. I would consider removing that joystick and it's irq holder for pci steering, then reboot and assign an irq to the video card and let windows reconfigure the joystick.
Any port in a storm http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Arman]

I had some similars problems like you, and my solution was:
1) I have changed the Video Card to a Diamond Monster Fusion, AND
2) Replace the memory
I don't know which one was the cause, but I have no 'hungs' anymore.

For you to check if it's a hardware or software problem, try reinstalling windows in a different directory: If blue problem screem appears or run32.ddll in kernell.dll errors messages comes up..., think on hardware incopatibility (video or memory are the most common)
If reinstalling goes good, so setup up could be the most probable cause. What I'll do in your case (if you do not want to take the PC to a service) is to eliminate one by one each device in Control Panel/System and use a simple VGA driver, and check case by case.
Good luck

[MadMatt]

Could be a single bad peripheral causing the problem. I had constant problems with my system - random freezes and reboots, BSOD's, etc. I couldn't figure it out! I drove me nuts! Then, one day smoke started coming out of my CD-ROM drive!!! Quick unplug and pulled that POS outta there! After calming down, I went over to CompUSA (I was desperate)for a new drive. Installed the new drive and, waddya know, perfectly stable (well as stable as Win98 gets) ever since!

I guess what I'm saying is take your sys apart one component at a time, testing stability after each item is removed. It'll be a pain, but it might be the only way to identify the culprit.

P.S.: If anyone is unfortunate enough to own a Creative Labs product, I urge you to go buy a fire extinguisher right now!

[AndreBranco]

i think the problem might be your modem. i have a 56k rockwell am56hcf k56flex. my computer was crashing all the time the connection was also kind slow, then i removed my 56k modem put my old 33.6k modem in its place now i have no problems no crash and the connection is even faster than before.

[jensenbr]

I am having the same problem. I have an AMD K6/2 475 and I am experiencing random lockups in games and even at the desktop just sitting there using a word processor. I have done everything to include stripping the entire system down to nothing but CPU, memory, and Video and reinstalling Win98, and that still doesn't do it. I tried another video card that I knew that worked and it didn't..The weirdest thing was that I had this system up and stable for 3 months before the lockups began..any ideas? My next avenue is to replace the RAM and the CPU to see if that stops the problem...I also have the latest drivers for all my hardware, and am running Direct X 7.0. I have also ran Wintune 98 against my machine and run the hard drive diagnostics that came with the hard drive, but no dice..any ideas?


System Specs:

AMD K6/2 475
128 MB Fast Page RAM
Windows 98 OSR1
Diamond Monster Fusion AGP Card
Diamond Monster Sound MX300
Adaptec Ultra Wide SCSI Card
US Robotics 56K .V90 modem (internal)

[jensenbr]

I am having the same problem. I have an AMD K6/2 475 and I am experiencing random lockups in games and even at the desktop just sitting there using a word processor. I have done everything to include stripping the entire system down to nothing but CPU, memory, and Video and reinstalling Win98, and that still doesn't do it. I tried another video card that I knew that worked and it didn't..The weirdest thing was that I had this system up and stable for 3 months before the lockups began..any ideas? My next avenue is to replace the RAM and the CPU to see if that stops the problem...I also have the latest drivers for all my hardware, and am running Direct X 7.0. I have also ran Wintune 98 against my machine and run the hard drive diagnostics that came with the hard drive, but no dice..any ideas?


System Specs:

AMD K6/2 475
128 MB Fast Page RAM
Windows 98 OSR1
Diamond Monster Fusion AGP Card
Diamond Monster Sound MX300
Adaptec Ultra Wide SCSI Card
US Robotics 56K .V90 modem (internal)