XP freezing every 20 mins

RedXIV

Hi guys, i'm looking for suggestions.

My computer is freezing up every 20 mins or so, regardless of use. The toolbar cannot be used at all, anything using the internet dies yet i can Alt + Tab through applications? I need my computer back, it's a week before the end of college exams!

I've got XP with SP 2, 1GB of RAM, intel dual core 2.66Ghz and i've been defragmenting all day, CPU temp at 30-33 and plenty of space on my harddrive. any ideas? really save my ass if it can be fixed!

Red

cahirhennessy

Run a good anti virus in safe mode(avg for example). After that I would run an anti spyware program like spybot-search and destroy. Failing that I would run a system restore to a date prior to the problem arising.Im on a phone so sorry if details are somewhat sparse!

RedXIV

Thanks for replying

I've ran Avast antivirus twice on it and also ran spybot. still no luck. I don't really want to do a system restore as i'm on the last legs of college and can't really afford to restart all my work

fluffy.death

Does it stay frozen or does it come back to life without a reboot?

RedXIV

stays frozen, i have to reboot to get it to work again. I can't access the task manager or similar to get access to the processes either

fluffy.death

Same thing happens in safe mode? Might want to copy whatever data you need off it pronto if it's at all possible, just in case.

Time allowing, check the event log (control panel -> admin tools), might be some hint in there.
Also, are you able to alt tab (or open a run prompt? win key + r) and whatnot continuously or does the entire comp freeze?

RedXIV

haven't yet had a stab at it in safe mode but every other user on the machine seems to get affected.

I wouldn't really know what i'm looking for in the event log to be honest

but yes i can alt tab through apps, haven't checked the run window yet though, due another freeze soon so i'll tell you then :P

EDIT: just to clarify, the run window hot key doesn't work. when i minimise the apps on screen i can click on desktop icons however?

fluffy.death

Right. Can you still open folders and the like? If so, go into the windows folder on your hard drive. Next go into the System32 folder and there'll be a shortcut to task manager in there called taskmgr, check the processes and see if there's anything unusual.
If there isn't, end the process called explorer.exe. Presuming that works, go to file -> new task and enter explorer.exe.

If that doesn't work, in the Windows folder go to SericePackFiles and in the i386 folder open the app called msconfig.
This'll give a list of all the services that run on booting, if you're confident enough try disabling the suspect ones that you're not sure of. Ideally, boot the pc with only the basic services (ie. just the Microsoft ones) and work on elimination.

Uh this is of course on the assumption that you can get into said folders, try safe mode anyway and report back.

RedXIV

Ok i'm in safe mode, and the 20 minute limit has been bypassed. i've 21 out of my 44 processes showing so is it safe to assume one of the other 23 processes is responsible for the regular freezing?

fluffy.death

It could be, now comes the fun eliminate 'n' test game. Usually helps to figure out what you've installed or changed recently, how soon did this start happening? And go from there.

To stop a process from auto starting, win key + r and enter msconfig. There's a start/don't start list under the services tab.
On a side note, if you don't seem to be winning, try disabling your network card or whatever adapter you have and then booting it.

Merch

From the sounds of it you dont have your work backed up?
If you can, then I'd do that before anything else? or maybe you have??
I know someone that never backed up their documents and refused on the basis that it was too much hassle and then the PC went fizz 3 days before final exam/report was due in.
Or there are places in the goldenpages, data recovery will put everything on a few discs for you, before the restore or re-install OS option.