System Freeze

Generally, a system freeze of this nature means that you have run out of memory, either real, or virtual.

Start by closing down items in the system tray.
Then, try and install AdAware from www.lavasoft.de
this program searches for and removes spyware that just uses up system resources.

Next, clean up your hard drive.
Any file in the C:\windows\temp folder that is over 2 weeks old is not needed.

You can try downloading and using a memory manager.
look at www.nonags.com
or www.completelyfreesoftware.com for free ones.

You may need to add RAM, or wipe the hard drive and re-install windows to correct the problem.

There is also a bug in Windows 9X/Me that can cause this kind of problem if you have over 511MB of RAM.

Chas

Try disabling any startup programs like antivirus & firewalls untill the problem stops, do you recall what if any programs you've installed at the same time the freezes started? something you've just installed would be the most obvious cause since your PC was running fine previously. The program likely has a memory leak, ZoneAlarm has done it to me on one of my PC's before.

Some other files to clean up would be any *.tmp files in the windows directory or root of c: should be erased. These are created for the most part by scandisk and left out there taking up valuable system resources. Once you have your system up andrunning to a point you can try and rerun scandisk, erase the temp files, run a defrag and generally do a little clean up.
Good luck!

If you are running Windows 9X or Me, reduce the ram to between 256MB and 384MB, and see if that clears things up.

As I stated there is a memory bug in W9X that can cause strange problems.

While the MS knowledge base articles refer to 512MB ormore, some users have reported problems with 512MB.

This bug is VERY configuration dependant.

I limit all my 9X boxes to 384MB.

Chas

Don't know if this is applicable, but... Windows of various versions has certain limits to size, particularly of the SYSVOL (usually c:\) Some of them don't trigger problems until certain criteria are breached.
These limits were sort of acknowledged by MS until Win2K came out; now you have to sort through implications in the Knowledge Base.

Win98 - has 16 bit code in its heart c:\ should not be over 2GB
WinNT4 - 4GB C:\ limit & a problem with DB's > 2GB under older software
Win2K - 8GB C:\
The Extended partitions don't seem to affect performance in this way, but the problems with the system partition include mysterious hardware hangs & BSOD's.
Use Patition Magic or similar program to resize the partitions (there's a DOS level engine)

Could be either infected with virus or memory become faulty. I would update antivirus s/w then run the scan. if no virus, run a memory check program to test the system memory or change or reduce the system ram to see the effect (if bsod error is Vxderror it is usually mem. fault)
Other solution is to uninstall the latest installed applications or programs (or games)and keep doing this backward untill you find the culprit. if all else fail reload windows, hardware fault if error still there after reload.
yes i agree there are problems with win98 and Me and 512MB ram issue. Other day by putting a 512 MB stick increase (512MB existing) in a fresh copy (format and reinstall) of win98 causes it to be BSOD. Took it off it work fine.

The Chas
Reduced RAM as you suggested and so far so good. Reduction is an unusual solution. I guess the old adage more is better is not necessarily true. Thanks everyone. Problem resolved.

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