computer freezing

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osho67

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Suddenly last two three days my computer freezes, particularly when it is idle, i come back after two or three hours and find my computer is frozen. I have not installed or downloaded anything .

Any help please how to resolve the problem? I use XP . I have checked for viruses and found nothing.

Thanks
 
Easy things first:

Start --> All Programs -->Accessories-->System Tools --> System Restore.

Take it back to a restore point a few days before the problem started and see if it persists.

Did you run the scans in safe mode or normal mode? Make sure you run them in safe mode.
 
On a similar theme...

my laptop sometimes "hangs"...it has not frozen, but has stopped responding. I had a "restart" button on a previous laptop, which allowed me to reboot without disconnecting the power supply. Now I have to disconnect all power, and switch on again. Is there something I can do to get around this?

I have noticed that CTRL+ALT+DEL is very ineffective in Windows XP, whereas it used to be a way out...
 
Pippppin said:
my laptop sometimes "hangs"...it has not frozen, but has stopped responding. I had a "restart" button on a previous laptop, which allowed me to reboot without disconnecting the power supply. Now I have to disconnect all power, and switch on again. Is there something I can do to get around this?

I have noticed that CTRL+ALT+DEL is very ineffective in Windows XP, whereas it used to be a way out...
Click to expand...

Other than what you're doing, not really. You could try using the Power Options settings to turn the "on/off" button into the "shutdown" button if you don't have it set like that already (Start --> Control Panel --> Power Options --> Advanced) My lappies sometimes do the same, so I prod the power button and walk off for a minute, while it sorts its head out and shuts down.

Othewise, just hold the Power Button in until the unit shuts off - there's really not a lot else you can do.
 
This may not apply to your situation, Osho67, but I've found that when I'm running McAfee Firewall, my PC (Pentium 3, Windows98) can freeze for several seconds - very annoying. It'll do that every 2 minutes until I disable the firewall and just run with McAfee's virus-checker. Then everything's okay again.

Turning off the firewall kind of defeats the purpose I know, but it makes using my PC easier.

guest16
 
Osho67, don't know if your problem is associated with any settings, presume there's something similar in XP as in W2000Pro — see Control Panel - Power Options Properties/Power Schemes and review the settings.

Guest16, I had McAfee and it auto checked for 'updates', hanging my system and I couldn't find a way to stop that so uninstalled it. I don't run an antivirus, think it's far behind the requirement of a firewall which is a MUST. There's several free firewalls including Sygate that I'm using. I only antivirus at the weekend and use the free — 1email account only — MailWasher which prevents downloading worms, viruses etc contained in emails. There are also free antivirus programs, and many av programs seem to auto update check and I wonder if they aren't data mining since most companies don't update more than once a week.
 
Rossored

System restore is not working. I tried to set 2-3 previous dated but I get message that windows was unable to do system restore.

I have done scans in normal mode. How do i do in safe mode?

I use Nortons antivirus.

Thanks
 
Hit F8 a couple of times as the motherboard manufacturer screen comes up (ie the first screen that you see, before the WinXP boot screen).

You'll then get a couple of options in DOS - "Safe Mode", "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" etc - just choose normal old Safe Mode.

The PC will boot and start as normal, but displaying "Safe Mode" in each corner of the screen. There will also be a prompt asking if you want to work in Safe Mode - just click yes.

In Safe Mode, a whole host of windows applications and drivers are not loaded, so some things won't work - your modem, for example. However, just browse to the files where you've got your AV/Spyware stuff installed and scan from there, as not all your icons will ness. appear on the desktop.

The fact that system restore isn't working is a bit odd, but run through the scans first and go from there. Does it give you a particular error message as to why it can't restore? If so, google it and you'll probably find some answers.

EDIT : see if you can run SystRestore from Safe Mode, too. Sometimes it helps.
 
Rossored

The message I get is "your computer cannot be restored to ........................(date)
 
OK well sounds like your restore points are corrupt - no big deal, it happens (sometimes XP service pack upgrades can cause problems, and there were some a couple of days ago, although that doesn't mean you'll have got them yet) - i'm assuming you have AutoUpdate turned on?

You'll need to turn system restore off and then on again to clear it, but this will of course delete any old restore points. To do this, click Start-->Control Panel-->System-->System Restore tab and tick the box. Click Apply/OK, and reboot.

Once the PC's rebooted, go back through the same procedure to turn SystRest back on.

As for the other problem - have you run all the scans in safe mode yet?
 
Rossored

I am running scans in safe mode now. Will post the progress. THanks

Oatman- How do I check the memory? Thanks
 
osho67 said:
Suddenly last two three days my computer freezes, particularly when it is idle, i come back after two or three hours and find my computer is frozen. I have not installed or downloaded anything .

Any help please how to resolve the problem? I use XP . I have checked for viruses and found nothing.

Thanks
Click to expand...

When I'm freezing I jump up and down to keep warm.
 
rossored , oatman

All tests were done. The problem was which had never come to my mind. While talking to BT (my broadband is from BT) the tecnician suggested to trey a new ADSL filter. It has worked. A new filter has solved thew problem . I still donot understand what could go wrong in a filter. Has anybody experienced this problem?
 
an adsl filter was causing your PC to freeze?

My word, that's a new one on me! (makes mental note for next time)

Glad to hear it has worked out OK.
 
oatman

pc worked very well for two days and started freezing again. So not the adsl filter. My computer came with wireless networking but as the strength was very low I have connected the computer with a cable from router. Yesterday removed the wireless card in case that was the conflict. I hope it works now
 
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