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PC freezing up constantly

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17 replies

by mary.schingeck

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User has Compaq DeskPro EP 466 MHz w/3GB hard drive, NT 4.0, 64 MB ram and not too many apps installed. Frequently user will be working on any application and before she can save the pc freezes and the only way to reboot is turn off pc then all information is lost. We have upgraded to SP5, uninstalled and reinstalled Office2000 and everything except reformatting the hard drive (which might be next). This happens once a week then increases to two/three times/day. Are there any troublshootingideas with the pc that I haven't tried? This pc is about a year old and she wants to take a 2 x 4 plank to it right now. We could never recreate the problem in our area when trying to work on it. Any ideas would be helpful and thanks.

17 replies

by g s

Have you tried replaceing the memory with some you know works. It may be possible that one of your RAM sticks is causing undetected errors. Also check for viruses, it is odd that NT is not letting you access the task manager. It is possible that there is a new program that has been loaded that does not get along with Office 2000. I have seen lock ups before with a DOS based program being open while Outlook was open. Outlook sometimes does not like to share...

by dan-o

That first answer was right on the money, here might be another answer.

I was having the same problems, but the lockup was more severe. Processes would continue to run, but I was unable to enter keyboard and mouse commands, Ctrl-Alt-Del would not work, either. I was forced to physically power off my machine.

This particular problem was due to a faulty mouse. When it was swapped out, the problem was fixed, and has not reoccured. Sometimes mice can build up static, and poorly built onescan lock up your machine.

Hope this helps.

by sweichenthal

I have worked on many systems that have had the same problem. If you were unable to recreate the problem in your area, then it is reasonable to think that the problem is local to her location. I would get an electrician to check her wiring for a reverse ground, or any other wiring problems. Turn the PC on and change the wallpaper to a light color, look for any discoloration in the wallpaper, as that might be a sign of either magnetic or electrical interference. If she has either a network cable or a phone cable plugged in, check those too. It sounds to me like she is experiencing power spikes/surges.

by lpierre

As a PC helpdesk/support supervisor, I've received a few of the same complaints from users. And in troubleshooting these problems, I noticed that in many cases, there were loose hardwares, either a memory card, network card, modem card etc... My suggestion to you is to make sure that all components are seated correctly in their proper slots and are free of interference, like wires etc... I hope that helps.

Good luck!!!

Luc

by bill cassada

Go into the BIOS and check memory settings...slowing the bus and system speed down to see if the problem continues. If the problem goes away it is most likely that your memory is not being properly detected and that you need to manually enter the settings. A little experimentation here can't hurt, but be sure to write down any previous settings. Most lockups are due to memory and if you've upgraded the memory in this system (Especially if it's non-compaq memory then you could experience this)

by dheupel

I would agree with everyone else that says check PC with known good sticks of memory, re-seat all SIMMs/DIMMs, cables, and expansion cards to ensure good connections. The electric grounding issue in the user's office is also an excellent suggestion, and I would check on this as well.

However, one key point you mentioned, "We could never recreate the problem in our area when trying to work on it," leads me to believe you have checked her machine out in your shop and found nothing wrong with it. There is a reasonably good chance there really is nothing wrong with the computer, and the errors encountered are user-generated. The PC has 64 MB RAM, and depending on how many (and which) apps are running concurrently when this user sees thisproblem can make a big difference. You might want to add more RAM to the PC, as NT will use as much RAM as you throw at it. A user will see this problem frequently, especially if they are working with a large Word or Excel document for an extendedperiod of time, without saving their work frequently (every 15 minutes or so). Find out how often the user actually is saving their work. Remember that all "AutoSave" does is write changes to the base file to a temporary file on disk, and pages that in and out of RAM, until the next "fully-qualified" file save operation is requested from the pull-down menu/shortcut keystroke. If a file is large enough (couple of megs or so) the PC can run out of physical/virtual memory rather quickly. Additionally, if the user's NT paging file is anything less than 1.5 to 2 times the size of physically installed memory, it should be increased within that range - so for 64 MB installed RAM, page file size should be 96 MB minimum.

Hope this helps...

by mary.schingeck

User-generated occured to me also and I asked her how many apps and how big was the job. So I already did this route as one of my first steps. Thanks a lot for trying to help.

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