I have an HP PC Pentium D 3.GHz, 3 GB DRAM, 4 ea. 500 GB HD's. It's approx. 18 months old. It's been a great machine until recently. It began freezing up several months ago. At first only once every 2-3 weeks, but it had grown increasingly worse, now freezing several times daily.
I've de-fragged, ran virus scan (no problem), ran PC Tools Registry Mechanic. None have had any effect on the problem.
I've recently upgraded from CS2 to CS3, but this issue started before the upgrade, albeit it does seem worse now. I've re-installed CS3 three times trying to get it stabilzed (to no avail!).
Any suggestions (besides the obvious, junking this and getting a MAC)would be GREATLY appreciated.
Bill, it sounds like you have checked the usual suspects. Besides installing CS3, have you installed anything else? If so, that would be the first suspect. If not, there may have been an automatic update which is causing grief. Or, there may be a corruption caused by hardware.
When the computer freezes, can you still get to the Task Manager via Cntrl-Alt-Del? If so, then you can see which process is utilizing the CPU. Most of the time when a computer seems to freeze it really just has its CPU running at 100% with an errant application hogging the resource. If so, then you can kill the process.
Assuming that you cannot get to the Task Manager, you might want to eliminate items which are on your Start-up list. See if the freezing goes away. Besides the Start-up list, you may also want to run MSCONFIG which starts additional processes. I have a problem with the virus scan on this machine occasionally going to 100%. The bad news is that this process is trial and error, with it being mostly error.
Unfortunately, it can also be hardware related. Two weeks ago my wife's company laptop started getting flaky. She had been using it for about 4 months. It was previously used by someone else and was not "imaged" when it was issued to her. First, MS Word started to have problems and it got worse. The technicians said that they have had problems with that brand and the only cure was to re-image the disk. She was able to back off the data files before the disk was wiped and then re-imaged. That particular laptop had nothing else installed by us. And, it has never been used to surf the Internet. It has a VPN connection to a major bank with lots of security. Her user ID does not have administrative authority.
I guess the moral of the story is that once something starts to go wrong, it may cause other problems throughout the computer. Her case was extreme and I hope you can find your culprit. But, it sounds like you have some serious damage.
David's advice covered anything I could think of. Does the machine always freeze up when you're in Photoshop? Is there any particular action that you're doing in PS at the time.
If it's not PS related, I'd take David's advice about what else you've installed in the last 3 weeks and start taking things out of start up. Did you install any new hardare that required drivers? Did you update any software?
Thanks David. When it freezes, I cannot access the Task Manager; I have tried. When it freezes. I can only cut it off via shutting off the surge protector. Also, when it freezes, sometimes it's just the cursor freezing, other times it's the entire system.
Copying files this morning to a new HD via NTI Shadow - the cursor has since frozen but the files are still copying. Last night when I tried it, both the cursor AND system froze. I've looked at the start-up menu before and have reduced it to a bare minimum. Haven't looked at MSCONFIG, but honestly I wouldn't even know where to look or what I was looking at when I got there!
Is there any ind of program you can buy that will diagnose such issues and fix them, or at least tell you what to have fixed?
Hi Dan - it freezes regardless of the program it's in - certainly not PS exclusive. Haven't installed any other software (besides CS3) or updated any other hardware in quite a while. The last update was to the latest Capture One version but that was a month or so ago.
One of my HD's was VERY full. Can that have any effect on the machine? I have since moved half of it to a new HD.
I've had a similar cursor freeze-up problem myself and just had to have a new (and larger) power supply installed.
Posted by Ken Atkinson on May 30, 2007 at 11:36 AM
Bill - Within the last week I just asked the computer guru at work how full a HD could get before it started to affect the computer's performance. He said if you had 1 GB of room left, you should be OK. Did that fit your situation?
Thank Ken - I had about 15GB left so I guess that was fine. I did move about 250GB off that disc last night though and put it on a new one though, so I should now be good for a while longer.
There is an excellent site for all things WinXP. The Elder Geek. The site has loads of trouble shooting tips and an excellent forum. Before you do any additional tweaking, you may want to check this site. I will say that the tips I've found there have gotten me out of a pickle more than once.
You can see what errors are occurring by using the 'Event Viewer' under 'Administrative Tools'. Once you open the viewer, look at the entries under each category listed on the left side. associated 'events' will show in the right pane. Select an 'event,, then right click, select 'Properties' A small window will pop up showing info about the 'event'. In many cases, there will be a link to MS that will give detailed info and, in some cases, possible fixes.
I would start with the 'event viewer', sse what kinds of errors are occurring and then head over to the Elder Geek to get some help.
You access MSCONFIG by doing the following:
Start>Run
Type "msconfig" (without the quotes)
Click 'OK'
Look for the tab called 'Startup' It shows all of the applications that run at startup. You have to be very careful disabling items shown. If you disable the wrong ones, Windoz may not start properly!
Bill, Preston above beat me to the explanation of running MSCONFIG
A couple of hints may be in order. You can disable the individual entries on the startup list in MSCONFIG without having to delete them. That way, you can re-enable those which are not causing a problem.
Using MSCONFIG is a way of tweaking your system to improve performance. How many utilities have we all installed that the authors think we just need to have running all the time. The answer is too many. With MSCONFIG it is possible to turn them off.
You might wish to Google MSCONFIG to see if there are any articles available which discuss tweaking your system. A lot of times one can figure out what program is being started by looking at the name of the sub-directory (folder) in which the program has been installed.
And, don't forget the hardware. Improving the system power supply is a good idea. Plus, I will add another reply to check the temperature of the CPU as the main board may be shutting down the computer due to heat.
Bill, one other possibility may causing your problem.
Check the CPU TEMPERATURE. Three or four years ago we had a flaky computer which had a low temperature set for its maximum. The setting is stored in the CMOS memory of the main board. Usually those settings can be reached by pressing the DEL key during the POST (power on self test) at startup.
Besides the CPU temperature, other components can cause a freeze up, most notably the video card.
If I think of anything else, I will add another reply.
Thanks again everyone! Looks like I have my plate full for the afternoon! Still irritating to pay this much $$ for a system and then have to continually figure out why it doesn't run the way it's supposed to.
maxing your HD can have a serious impact. You have to have a certain amount to even run certain things. plus the more you have, the more it bogs you down anyway. How about moving the photo files over to your external drives and leave only the applications on the main HD?
Hi Richard - that's exactly what I did. I bought another 500GB drive yesterday so I now have 4 drives. One 500 GB internal for "normal" stuff and one 500 GB for a back-up for the "normal" stuff, then one 500GB for photo only with a 500 GB for photo back-up. Hopefully that'll work for me.
Bill,
I had a similar problem a while back. Mine mostly slowed down, not locked up.
Did you check your tower's cooling fan for proper operation. My cooling fan was working but the intakes and several other components were covered and blocked with dust & lint. Cleaned it up real good and my computer ran much faster.
Hi Ronnie - yeah, I've had that issue before. I now take a paint brush to all the intakes and holes once a month to prevent any dust build up. It's amazing how much dust can collect there, and quickly! Thanks for the tip though!
I had a very similar problem last year. It eventually got to the point where I could only occasionally get it to boot up and it refused to go into safe mode. The boot logs told me what was failing but I couldn't get to the suspect files to replace or delete them. I finally had to insert the original Windows Install disk and get into DOS mode in order to search and destroy some of the problem files in the Windows System folder. I was able to get it to boot again by replacing some bad files and then on my Sister's recommendation (she had experienced the same problem) I purchased Webroot "Spy Sweeper". It found a whole bunch of phishing programs and spyware programs that had rewritten or replaced many of the Windows XP program files as a way of hiding themselves. Neither Norton Anti-virus or McAfee Anti-virus had recognized them. The spyware programs were using a huge amount of processor time and system memory but more importantly they were replacing or corrupting Windows system files and causing all kinds of different booting and running failures. Since then I have had "Spy Sweeper" running in the background and it has been eliminating new attempts. My computer is staying clean and performing like it was brand new! I don't know that it is your specific problem but it sure could be worth checking. BTW, you can download a trial version that will identify any malware but won't fix it until you make the purchase. I can appreciate your pain and wish you the very best of luck!
Thanks Gary - I should have mentioned in my first post that I do run Spybot in the BG. I did the same as you before. After I downloaded Spybot and ran it the first time I was astounded at the spyware it found, something like 1300 files if i remember correctly. Have since wiped them all out and Spybot has kept a tight lid on that thankfully. Thanks for the tip and comment though.
Is your mouse connected through USB? You may have a bad port. Im incline to say its a hardware problem and not software thats causing you grief. My first thought was that it was a heat issue, but you said that you keep all the openings clear. Have you taken the side cover off and blown out the dust from your processor fan, and the power supply fan? Could also be one of the sticks of Ram went bad. There are a lot of thing that it could be, and thats what make it hard to figure out. May be time to take it to the Doctor.
Harold
Are those SATA disks? Check the I/O cables. I had trouble with instability on one machine because the SATA cables would get loose. It didn't take much looseness to cause problems. Eventually I replaced them with cables that had a metal clip to hold them in place. I know this sounds like an obscure problem but if you do a Google search for something like "loose SATA cable" you will find that it's quite common.
Have you tested your memory? Try running a memory test utility overnight. Many Linux CDs can boot and run memtest without installing anything.
I hope you get it figured out. Those intermittent problems can be devilish.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Following a suggestion posted on another forum I downloaded a new mouse driver last night and so far I haven't had any more problems, but it hasn't been very long. I certainly hope that's all it was, but will wait a day or two longer before I celebrate! Your suggestions have given me lots of ideas and new insights on things I probably should be doing anyway. Thanks again.
Discussion
21 repliesI have an HP PC Pentium D 3.GHz, 3 GB DRAM, 4 ea. 500 GB HD's. It's approx. 18 months old. It's been a great machine until recently. It began freezing up several months ago. At first only once every 2-3 weeks, but it had grown increasingly worse, now freezing several times daily.
I've de-fragged, ran virus scan (no problem), ran PC Tools Registry Mechanic. None have had any effect on the problem.
I've recently upgraded from CS2 to CS3, but this issue started before the upgrade, albeit it does seem worse now. I've re-installed CS3 three times trying to get it stabilzed (to no avail!).
Any suggestions (besides the obvious, junking this and getting a MAC)would be GREATLY appreciated.
When the computer freezes, can you still get to the Task Manager via Cntrl-Alt-Del? If so, then you can see which process is utilizing the CPU. Most of the time when a computer seems to freeze it really just has its CPU running at 100% with an errant application hogging the resource. If so, then you can kill the process.
Assuming that you cannot get to the Task Manager, you might want to eliminate items which are on your Start-up list. See if the freezing goes away. Besides the Start-up list, you may also want to run MSCONFIG which starts additional processes. I have a problem with the virus scan on this machine occasionally going to 100%. The bad news is that this process is trial and error, with it being mostly error.
Unfortunately, it can also be hardware related. Two weeks ago my wife's company laptop started getting flaky. She had been using it for about 4 months. It was previously used by someone else and was not "imaged" when it was issued to her. First, MS Word started to have problems and it got worse. The technicians said that they have had problems with that brand and the only cure was to re-image the disk. She was able to back off the data files before the disk was wiped and then re-imaged. That particular laptop had nothing else installed by us. And, it has never been used to surf the Internet. It has a VPN connection to a major bank with lots of security. Her user ID does not have administrative authority.
I guess the moral of the story is that once something starts to go wrong, it may cause other problems throughout the computer. Her case was extreme and I hope you can find your culprit. But, it sounds like you have some serious damage.
If it's not PS related, I'd take David's advice about what else you've installed in the last 3 weeks and start taking things out of start up. Did you install any new hardare that required drivers? Did you update any software?
- Dan
Copying files this morning to a new HD via NTI Shadow - the cursor has since frozen but the files are still copying. Last night when I tried it, both the cursor AND system froze. I've looked at the start-up menu before and have reduced it to a bare minimum. Haven't looked at MSCONFIG, but honestly I wouldn't even know where to look or what I was looking at when I got there!
Is there any ind of program you can buy that will diagnose such issues and fix them, or at least tell you what to have fixed?
One of my HD's was VERY full. Can that have any effect on the machine? I have since moved half of it to a new HD.
Ken
There is an excellent site for all things WinXP. The Elder Geek. The site has loads of trouble shooting tips and an excellent forum. Before you do any additional tweaking, you may want to check this site. I will say that the tips I've found there have gotten me out of a pickle more than once.
You can see what errors are occurring by using the 'Event Viewer' under 'Administrative Tools'. Once you open the viewer, look at the entries under each category listed on the left side. associated 'events' will show in the right pane. Select an 'event,, then right click, select 'Properties' A small window will pop up showing info about the 'event'. In many cases, there will be a link to MS that will give detailed info and, in some cases, possible fixes.
I would start with the 'event viewer', sse what kinds of errors are occurring and then head over to the Elder Geek to get some help.
You access MSCONFIG by doing the following:
Start>Run
Type "msconfig" (without the quotes)
Click 'OK'
Look for the tab called 'Startup' It shows all of the applications that run at startup. You have to be very careful disabling items shown. If you disable the wrong ones, Windoz may not start properly!
I hope you can get this sorted out.
-PB
A couple of hints may be in order. You can disable the individual entries on the startup list in MSCONFIG without having to delete them. That way, you can re-enable those which are not causing a problem.
Using MSCONFIG is a way of tweaking your system to improve performance. How many utilities have we all installed that the authors think we just need to have running all the time. The answer is too many. With MSCONFIG it is possible to turn them off.
You might wish to Google MSCONFIG to see if there are any articles available which discuss tweaking your system. A lot of times one can figure out what program is being started by looking at the name of the sub-directory (folder) in which the program has been installed.
And, don't forget the hardware. Improving the system power supply is a good idea. Plus, I will add another reply to check the temperature of the CPU as the main board may be shutting down the computer due to heat.
Check the CPU TEMPERATURE. Three or four years ago we had a flaky computer which had a low temperature set for its maximum. The setting is stored in the CMOS memory of the main board. Usually those settings can be reached by pressing the DEL key during the POST (power on self test) at startup.
Besides the CPU temperature, other components can cause a freeze up, most notably the video card.
If I think of anything else, I will add another reply.
I had a similar problem a while back. Mine mostly slowed down, not locked up.
Did you check your tower's cooling fan for proper operation. My cooling fan was working but the intakes and several other components were covered and blocked with dust & lint. Cleaned it up real good and my computer ran much faster.
I had a very similar problem last year. It eventually got to the point where I could only occasionally get it to boot up and it refused to go into safe mode. The boot logs told me what was failing but I couldn't get to the suspect files to replace or delete them. I finally had to insert the original Windows Install disk and get into DOS mode in order to search and destroy some of the problem files in the Windows System folder. I was able to get it to boot again by replacing some bad files and then on my Sister's recommendation (she had experienced the same problem) I purchased Webroot "Spy Sweeper". It found a whole bunch of phishing programs and spyware programs that had rewritten or replaced many of the Windows XP program files as a way of hiding themselves. Neither Norton Anti-virus or McAfee Anti-virus had recognized them. The spyware programs were using a huge amount of processor time and system memory but more importantly they were replacing or corrupting Windows system files and causing all kinds of different booting and running failures. Since then I have had "Spy Sweeper" running in the background and it has been eliminating new attempts. My computer is staying clean and performing like it was brand new! I don't know that it is your specific problem but it sure could be worth checking. BTW, you can download a trial version that will identify any malware but won't fix it until you make the purchase. I can appreciate your pain and wish you the very best of luck!
Harold
A couple of things come to mind.
Are those SATA disks? Check the I/O cables. I had trouble with instability on one machine because the SATA cables would get loose. It didn't take much looseness to cause problems. Eventually I replaced them with cables that had a metal clip to hold them in place. I know this sounds like an obscure problem but if you do a Google search for something like "loose SATA cable" you will find that it's quite common.
Have you tested your memory? Try running a memory test utility overnight. Many Linux CDs can boot and run memtest without installing anything.
I hope you get it figured out. Those intermittent problems can be devilish.
Cheers,