[Noxno2]

I've had this problem for a while now, but lately it's gotten a bit worse. At any random time my computer can just freeze, and stop working altogether. It can be if I have next to nothing open, but it's generally when I'm in a game, which is extremely annoying. Out of the tens of time this has happened (in the last week), twice I've had a bluescreen, saying that "ati2dvag has started an infinite loop, and the computer had to be shut down", or something like that (and I've seen the other, similar topic on this, but I believe it is a different circumstance).

I've done a few things to try and combat this, all with varying degrees of success, but none have totally fixed the problem. They are as follows:

-De-dusted the inside of the computer;
-Uninstalled a whole bunch of programs (After uninstalling a couple of games the rate of crashes slowed, but it's still incredibly annoying)
-Turned off a few of the programs that boot with Windows (Nothing important, of course)
-Re-installed my drivers for my Video Card
-Re-installed Catalyst Control Center (the other thread suggested it, so I gave it a shot, but it hasn't fixed anything).

Hopefully you guys can help me! This is an extremely annoying problem, and I'd like to see if I can fix it

EDIT: I should probably include my specs, that'd be helpful

CPU: Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz
Mobo: Intel Springdale i865PE
RAM: 2GB DDR
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3650 AGP (512 MB)
HDD: C Drive(80GB), D Drive(160 GB)

Edited by Noxno2, 16 June 2010 - 01:18 AM.

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Right click-mouse over My Computer
Properties
Hardware(Tab)
Device Manager(button)
Click [+] next to System devices
right-mouse on CPU to AGP Controller (or whatever your controller is called, mine was SiS AGP)
Update Driver(button)

Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
Next(button)
Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.
Next(button)
Select PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Next(button)
Finish(button)
Reboot


Hope this will fix your problem

[Alzeimer]

Right click-mouse over My Computer
Properties
Hardware(Tab)
Device Manager(button)
Click [+] next to System devices
right-mouse on CPU to AGP Controller (or whatever your controller is called, mine was SiS AGP)
Update Driver(button)

Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
Next(button)
Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.
Next(button)
Select PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Next(button)
Finish(button)
Reboot


Hope this will fix your problem

[Noxno2]

I did what you said, but it's still freezing....

When it freezes, all sound cuts out, and everything stops. I've left it for ages to see if it resumes, but it never does. Often it freezes again while it's at the Windows screen, and I have to re-start it again.

Any further ideas?

[rshaffer61]

Have you tried to boot to Safe Mode and does the issue still happen?
Try running HD diagnostics:
Lets take a look at the hard drive and see what you have.

Go to
1: Start
2: My Computer
3: Right Click on "C" drive
4: Click on Properties
5: In this field it will tell you total drive space and also free space

Please include results in your next reply

If still no resolution then run memory test

If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[Noxno2]

Thanks for your quick reply

Here are my HDD specs:

Used Space: 61.4GB
Free Space: 13.0GB

I'm going to move some stuff across to my other drive, as there is lots of space left on that one.

I haven't tried Safe Mode, is there anything I should do while using it? My computer generally doesn't freeze if absolutely nothing is running, and even if I do have multiple things going it can be at any random time.

I'll try Safe Mode this afternoon, when I get back from school.

Also, I have 3 RAM sticks, two 500MB's and a 1 GB stick, all standard DDR.

[rshaffer61]

OK your drive is close to the point of the MFT getting doinked. XP likes about 15% of free space on the drive left but if my calculations are right you are about 12% right now. Once you get everything moved over let us know how it runs then. We can then then work on some basic cleaning up to help clear some loose ends up.

[Noxno2]

Ok, I've had my computer on all afternoon, and it hasn't frozen yet, so it could be fixed. I'm getting a DirectX error in my game now, but that's really not a problem, at least the computer responds.

I'll post again when I'm certain that it's fixed or not.

[Noxno2]

Ok, it's stopped freezing in the usual way, but it's started doing it differently now. Now, instead of without any warning, I get a large, blocky "3" looking shape around my cursor for about 10 seconds. In that 10 seconds I can move my mouse, but can't click anything, and if there is sound I can still hear it. But when that 10 seconds ends, everything stops, and I have to reboot. I get a red bar at the top of the screen when it freezes, and the "3" shape rotates to look like a "w".

Any ideas on what could be the problem?

[rshaffer61]

Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:
It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged

[Noxno2]

Ok, I did both of those things, and shortly after I had another freeze. I'm going to try the RAM check, as I have a sneaking suspicion it is a hardware issue, not software.

[rshaffer61]

Ok I will await your results.

[Noxno2]

Ok, I left the scan to go through twice, and neither time returned any errors. It only took an hour or so to get through each scan, so I'm not exactly sure I left it long enough, although it did say it was done, but it started again anyway.

As I said originally, I had this problem a while ago, but after a Windows restore it still froze, but eventually stopped altogether after a while, which makes me think it's hardware.

I'm going to get rid of this computer eventually, but I would really like to fix it in the meantime. Any more ideas?

[rshaffer61]

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions



Go to
Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y
If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

[Noxno2]

Alright, both tests came back completely clean, and with no errors, yet it's still freezing.

[rshaffer61]

Download Speedfan (The download link is to the right), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.
The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
To make sure we are getting all the correct information it would help us if you were to attach a screenshot like the one below of your Speedfan results.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard.

• It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
• Now go to Start and then to All Programs
• Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
• In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
• Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
• Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop
• Attach it to your next reply