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Programs "Stop Responding" when computer is left idle

By ankurq7 ·
I am having a very serious and irritating issue with my Dell XPS M1730 laptop running on Windows Vista Home Premium. If I leave my laptop running idle for some time, all the running programs stop responding. The computer itself doesn't hang as i can move my cursor and see the time change. But otherwise i cannot open any folder or open task manager, etc. I cant even restart from start menu. All the downloads are stuck midway and the browser and other programs become inaccessible.
The surprising thing is that I have no issues whatsoever as long as I use my computer. I have even used it for 8 hrs or more straight. Its only when i leave it idle for a little while, like just go out for a walk, i return to find all the programs stuck.
I have scanned my hard drives for viruses using NOD32, AdAware & Malwarebytes, found no infections. Scanned my disk for errors, found no problems. I scanned and fixed my registry errors but to no avail.
Any help regarding this issue would be highly appreciated.Thanks.

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Power Settings? ...

by OldER Mycroft In reply to Programs "Stop Responding ...

Right click on an empty space on your Desktop, select 'Properties' and access the Screensaver TAB.

Access the Power Management settings at the bottom of the Window.

Check in case the current settings turn your system components (hard drive, network, wireless lan, etc) OFF after a pre-set period of inactivity.

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Tried...

by ankurq7 In reply to Power Settings? ...

have tried that already..set sleep to "never", hibernate to "never", everything to "never", even turn off display to "never"..still the problem persists.

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Hibernate could be the problem

by Charles Bundy In reply to Programs "Stop Responding ...

I think [OldER Mycroft] is on to something with power settings, but if you turn off all powersaving features and it still hangs it could be hibernate mode. Go to control panel - Power Options - Hibernate tab and if checked, uncheck.

Hibernate saves state to disk, and sometimes if a sector is going you could wind up not coming back from the deep sleep...

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It doesnt go into hibernation

by ankurq7 In reply to Hibernate could be the pr ...

As i said, I can move the mouse.. the time on taskbar changes.. and some programs still run in the background.

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RE: "..and some programs still run in the background." ...

by OldER Mycroft In reply to It doesnt go into hiberna ...

That's a bit odd. Initially you posted "..i can move my cursor and see the time change. But otherwise i cannot open any folder or open task manager, etc. I cant even restart from start menu. All the downloads are stuck midway and the browser and other programs become inaccessible."

So - what are these programs that "still run in the background" ??

Have you checked your Event Viewer yet ?

Other than that, all I can suggest is that you stop using the computer and pretend to 'go for a walk' - but stay right there and concentrate on what the laptop is doing. Maybe it'll flash, or make a sound, or manifest the lock-up in some way that you can report back with.

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well..sry for the late reply

by ankurq7 In reply to RE: "..and some programs ...

Examples of programs that still partially run in the background are ApexDC++ and Proxifier. By this I mean that i can scroll through the chat boxes,etc but nothing apart from that. The task bar still shows them running as its completely stuck and inaccessable. Almost every other program gets stuck including utorrent and gtalk.

Checked event viewer. No help as such.Two warning I found were:
The previous system shutdown at 17:27:16 on 10-08-2009 was unexpected.
and
Audit events have been dropped by the transport. The real time backup file was corrupt due to improper shutdown.

This doesnt really say much..just about the improper shutdown that i have to do by directly pressing the shutdown button on my laptop.

And..no it doesnt make a flash or sound or anything.Everything seems to be the same as I had left before. Just that the programs had stopped responding.

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Then I suspect OS corruption

by Charles Bundy In reply to It doesnt go into hiberna ...

Yes, but you didn't say in your post what the state of the machine was prior to shaking the mouse. And mouse movements and clocks would probably continue even if the OS was locked up tighter than a tick on a hound dog.

We are talking Vista. And you do mention registry errors. Thus as [Jacky] suggested try another OS to nail down that it isn't a hardware issue. Preferably NOT Vista.

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The good news is...

by ankurq7 In reply to Then I suspect OS corrupt ...

I am having no problems (at least up till now) running windows in safe mode. So that hopefully means that my hardware is clean.

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Just curious....

by CaptBilly1Eye In reply to Programs "Stop Responding ...

Are there any anti-virus or spyware programs set to do an auto-scan?
...or perhaps a defrag program?

just a thought.

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Umm..

by ankurq7 In reply to Just curious....

Auto scan happens only at startup. Still I quit all the running antiviruses as well as other programs...left it idle..and the same problem again.

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