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Programs "Stop Responding" when computer is left idle

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by ankurq7 1 view

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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.

20 replies

by older mycroft

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) [b]OFF[/b] after a pre-set period of inactivity.

by ankurq7

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

by charles bundy

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...

by ankurq7

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

by older mycroft

That's a bit odd. Initially you posted [i]"..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."[/i]

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.

by charles bundy

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.

by captbilly1eye

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

just a thought.

by ankurq7

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.

by rob miners

get yourself a wife basher, that will deter the thieves. :p

That'll teach me to post after reading your and Bizzo's response to I nd a nam f m bus ns. ;)

by ankurq7

As I posted I am having no problems running in safe mode. So that (I hope) means that there are no problems with my "hardware", unless hardware functions differently in safe mode ( I am not really sure about this) for example may be GPUs dont function ( I have 2 of them infact). Any info on hardware functioning in safe mode would be really helpful.

by pysces83

There are several things that happen when Windows boots in Safe Mode that differ from a standard boot:

Safe Mode does not run the autoexec.bat or config.sys files.

Most device drivers are not loaded. A device driver is the software that Windows uses to interact with a piece of hardware, such as a printer or scanner.

Instead of the normal graphics device driver, Safe Mode uses standard VGA graphics mode. This mode is supported by all Windows-compatible video cards.

Himem.sys, which is normally loaded as part of the config.sys script, is loaded with the /testmem:on switch. This switch tells the computer to test the extended memory before continuing.

Safe Mode checks the msdos.sys file for information on where to find the rest of the Windows files. If it finds the files, it proceeds to load Windows in Safe Mode with the command win /d:m. If it does not find the Windows files, it will run command.com to bring up a C: prompt.

Windows boots using a batch file called system.cb instead of the standard system.ini file. This file loads the Virtual Device Drivers (VxDs) that Windows uses to communicate with the standard parts of the computer.

Windows now loads the regular system.ini file plus win.ini and Registry settings. It skips the [Boot] (except for the shell and device lines) and [386Enh] sections of system.ini and does not load or run any programs listed in win.ini.

The Windows desktop loads up in 16 colors and at a resolution of 640 x 480 with the words "Safe Mode" in each corner.

Hope this helps.

by ankurq7

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.

by ankurq7

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

by ankurq7

In short, if I have no problems operating in safe mode, there is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with my hardware. Now I can cut down to finding a software-related problem?

by older mycroft

Safe Mode boots a computer with MINIMUM drivers therefore it also boots it with minimum hardware.

Simply because you do not experience a problem while running in Safe Mode, doesn't mean that the hardware that was denied the chance to start, doesn't still contribute to the problem when you boot into normal mode.

However, what it DOES PROVE, is that the problem lies within the confines of the drivers (and the hardware associated with those drivers) that are invoked during a normal boot.

by ankurq7

I thought that if my system ran fine in safe mode, then reinstalling my OS was a 100% sure way to solve my problem.
Now,how exactly do I find out which of my hardware dont function in safe mode?

by older mycroft

Using MSCONFIG, you invoke one driver at a time, shutdown and reboot, until your system doesn't boot. The last driver you started before the problem reappeared will be the culprit.

If there are a LOT OF DRIVERS that don't start in Safe Mode, that would take a long time to invoke one at a time (together with all the shutdowns and reboots) there's a little trick programmers sometimes use.

Make a note of all the disabled drivers then divide the list into two halves.

Enable all the first half of drivers, shutdown and reboot. If the system fails you know the problem lies in that half. If the system boots alright, you know the problem lies in the other half.

So whichever 'half' the problem lies in, you divide that half in two again, then start one half and repeat the process.

[i]If the problem manifests itself in the very first half - you disable those again and divide them in half, enabling one half at a time.[/i]

If however you only have about half a dozen drivers you might as well just enable them one at a time, then reboot. :)

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