[craperjack]

Hello everyone!
I am new here so please bear with me!

I am having a rather strange problem with my (almost) 4 year old dell laptop.
Every time my computer connects to the internet it slows and freezes.

During Saturday morning the system was going into standby mode then froze. I had to manually turn the machine off (by holding down the power button).
Upon restarting the machine it was fine, until i connected to the internet that is.
The machine slowed down considerably and eventually froze, needing me to manually turn it off again. The cursor worked for a while but nothing else would respond (including task manager). It also made a quiet periodic noise, like the hard drive was being accessed.
After this happened a couple of times i realised it occured a few seconds after the system connected to the internet. The computer works as normal if i have no internet connection. I thought maybe my wireless was the cause so tried via ethernet but the same effect occured.
Then I wondered if virus/spyware was affecting the system so did checks with Avast!, Ad-Aware, Spybot and Malwarebytes. All of which came up negative apart from a few cookies, which i cleaned up.
I have tried system restore a few days before the problem occured, to no avail. Now for some reason ALL my restore points have disappeared.
Now I am at a total loss.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated

Adrian

P.S I have Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP3

Edited by craperjack, 20 July 2009 - 05:48 PM.

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Check if this problem replicates itself in safe mode... http://www.computerh...sues/chsafe.htm
Did you install any drivers before this problem began? Do you suspect malware?

[edge2022]

Check if this problem replicates itself in safe mode... http://www.computerh...sues/chsafe.htm
Did you install any drivers before this problem began? Do you suspect malware?

[craperjack]

Hi edge thanks for he reply.

The problem doesn't replicate in Safe Mode becase i cant connect to the internet within it. Even in Safe mode with networking the internet isn't accessible. Is this normal?
I chose to have wireless turned off when windows boots as default because straight after it loaded it would connect and freeze. Once Windows has loaded i can just turn it on using the Fn key.

I havent manually downloaded any drivers or made changes before the problem started. I did suspect malware. I tried malware scans, even in safe mode but alas nothing.
Its got me baffled. I wondered if my Network card is causing the problem, but the internet works for about 10 seconds before it evntually freezes so i guessed not.

[edge2022]

In Safe Mode with Networking, only connections through an Ethernet cable will connect. Hardwire your computer to your router and try replicating the problem in safe mode w/ net.

[craperjack]

Yeah, I just tried again and at first there was no connection. I went into network conections and had to enable the Local Area Connection for some reason. Even after it was enabled it still displayed disabled.
Anyway the internet worked fine and the computer did not freeze in Safe mode.

[edge2022]

Since it works in Safe Mode it would probably be a service or driver problem.

In Safe Mode, go to Start -> Run -> msconfig
Go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything.
Go to the Services tab and check the box at the bottom labeled "Hide all Microsoft Services"
Then uncheck all the non-MS services.
Click on Ok and reboot into normal mode... try connecting with an Ethernet cable and see if the problem replicates.

[craperjack]

Ok thanks, I will try that and post my results tommorrow morning as it is rather late (in the UK).
Cheers for the help so far.

[craperjack]

Since it works in Safe Mode it would probably be a service or driver problem.

In Safe Mode, go to Start -> Run -> msconfig
Go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything.
Go to the Services tab and check the box at the bottom labeled "Hide all Microsoft Services"
Then uncheck all the non-MS services.
Click on Ok and reboot into normal mode... try connecting with an Ethernet cable and see if the problem replicates.

Hi again!
I tried the steps you suggested and rebooted into normal windows.
As you probably thought, the system ran fine, with no freezing upon connecting via ethernet.
I went back into msconfig and turned everything back on but got a message saying part of Avast! Antivirus couldnt be turned back on (which looked like it was blocked from changing the startup by itself!)
I rebooted the machine anyway and voila! The problem was no longer present!!
I deduced it must have been the Antivirus all along as the cause, probably the update function was to blame, runnning faulty each time i connected.
Strange that a program designed to protect my PC seems to be the cause of my problems.
Since then Avast has been uninstalled and I have installed AVG instead.
Fingers crossed this was the problem and it has been fully resolved. It hasn't occured since.

Thankyou for your help Edge

Edited by craperjack, 21 July 2009 - 07:37 AM.

[edge2022]

You are welcome, and congrats on solving your problem!
Thank you for coming to Geeks To Go, and I hope to see you around again!

[RaveTuba]

Hey, I'm also new to this...
I think I have the exact same problem as "craperjack".

As I turn on the computer everything works perfectly well untill I turn on either wireless internet or through ethernet cable.
Well. as soon as I turn on the internet, my computer just seems to slow down, and freeze.

But in my case it's a bit wierder.

When I turn on the internet, my computer doesn't completly freeze. I can still open folders. and they respond preety much as they normally would, and with the same speed. but no kind of software responds. Opening images, opening the web browser, nothing responds. I double click the icon, the cursor indicates it's doing something but everything goes back as it was a nothing pops up.

One other thing I can add about the weird freezing is that. Ctr+Alt+Del also doesn't work.
It stalls a bit for a couple of seconds before it gives me a black screen and this error:

"The logon process was unable to display security and logon options when CTRL+ALT+DEL was pressed. If the operating system does not respond, press ESC or restart the computer by using the power switch."

.

So, uppon the similiarities with the error. I followed the steps you told previously. Expecting things to solve as they did for "craperJack".

I started it up in safe mode. went to msconfig and unchecked all the options on Startup, checked the "hide all Microsoft Services" and, this one I had some doubts, unchecked all the non-MS services. Since I didn't really know what were or weren't MS services, I unchecked them all.
Pressed OK and restarted my pc in normal mode.

Everything was ok before I turned the ethernet cable.
After that the same weird freezing happened.

Nothing diferent happened, just the same weird, opening files ok, and nothing else working.

Also, I tryed to boot up msconfig while the weird freeze was still going and I got this error:

"C:\Windows\system32\msconfig.exe
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion."

Not sure if that helps.

Thank you in advance for your time.

I'll check this post frequently to know if there are replies.

[Castallon]

I'm having the same problem as you,i followed the steps but the computer still froze up,programs became unresponsive and web browsing was impossible.i wonder do you by any chance use windows 7 and have Norton anti virus? cause that's my set up and im wondering if one or both are the cause for the fix to not be working.........I d however suspect that its the anitvirus that's causing the problem im not sure if anyone know more about this would send a replie or if they are having the same problem any info would help.

Edited by Castallon, 07 March 2013 - 04:52 AM.

[Sniklefritz]

I'm having the same problem as you RaveTuba and Castellon!! Everything is fine at my non wifi house but when I connect to my iPhone hotspot or other wifi the laptop is unresponsive. I do have windows 7 and norton antivirus as well. Please soneobody help I have online classes and can't work on them without my computer.

[OzzyThunder]

Yeah just happened to me as well, I have windows 7 and Malwarebites and have the same problem as the 3 above me do

[tryups]

same problem for me too
i tried isolating the service causing this issue and after searching every service including the microsoft ones i found that booting the system without wlan autoconfig seems to make my computer run smooth but i obviously cant use internet
also i dont think the lastest problem is an antivirus issue as right now i dont have any antivirus on the system
the driver is up to date

Edited by tryups, 20 March 2013 - 07:16 AM.

[Sniklefritz]

Ok so I just added a topic about this on the windows 7 forum since I felt like it would be more appropriate than it being here on this windows xp forum hahaha feel free to check for updates on there as well

http://www.geekstogo...o-the-internet/