[ray r]

Hi Hope someone may be able to give me some advice, I have a packard bell desktop running Xp home edition on service pack 3 (i think), for the past few days i have been encountering problems with it freezing when in use and then when i try and reboot it either the computer starts up but I get nothing on the monitor or it starts and then freezes straight away or it runs normally for a time and then freezes again. I have run virus scan on avast and malewarebytes antimaleware both show nothing.
Any advice on what may be causing this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks
Ray

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Try tapping F8 immediately after first post screen and select Safe Mode.
See if it will go there without freezing.

If it will your first action is to run chkdsk.
Use the method at 1. below

DISK CHECK
There are a number of ways of running chkdsk in Windows.
1 Open My Computer, right click the HDD carrying Windows, click Properties
Click the Tools tab
Click Error Checking
Click Check Now
Click to check both boxes - automatically fix file system errors and scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Click Start Agree to run on restart and do so.
DO NOT INTERRUPT the chkdsk, doing so may well corrupt the file system, or at worse render the HDD useless.
If you cannot read the results, or have left the computer unattended to complete the check, then go Control Panel, Administrative functions, Event Viewer, Application and scroll down to the Winlogon entry. Double click that entry and you will see the results.

2. Chkdsk can also be run from the Recovery Console, but there the basic chdsk commands are
Chkdsk /p which is basically the file check
Chkdsk /r which includes p and checks for bad sectors.
The command is typed at the c prompt or MUST include the c: to identify the disk that is to be checked. Therefore the cmd would be
Chkdsk c: /p
NOTE space between ckdsk and c and : and /
The chkdsk /p is ONLY used on the Recovery Console.

3. Chkdsk can also be run from the Start, Run and type cmd. And is then run from the cmd prompt using basically
Chkdsk c: /f
Chkdsk c: /r
Again if the disk being checked is in use you will receive a message to run on restart.
If Windows will not open normally then it can be opened in Safe Mode by pressing F8 key and then select Safe Mode with command prompt.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 29 November 2010 - 06:37 AM.

[Macboatmaster]

Try tapping F8 immediately after first post screen and select Safe Mode.
See if it will go there without freezing.

If it will your first action is to run chkdsk.
Use the method at 1. below

DISK CHECK
There are a number of ways of running chkdsk in Windows.
1 Open My Computer, right click the HDD carrying Windows, click Properties
Click the Tools tab
Click Error Checking
Click Check Now
Click to check both boxes - automatically fix file system errors and scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.
Click Start Agree to run on restart and do so.
DO NOT INTERRUPT the chkdsk, doing so may well corrupt the file system, or at worse render the HDD useless.
If you cannot read the results, or have left the computer unattended to complete the check, then go Control Panel, Administrative functions, Event Viewer, Application and scroll down to the Winlogon entry. Double click that entry and you will see the results.

2. Chkdsk can also be run from the Recovery Console, but there the basic chdsk commands are
Chkdsk /p which is basically the file check
Chkdsk /r which includes p and checks for bad sectors.
The command is typed at the c prompt or MUST include the c: to identify the disk that is to be checked. Therefore the cmd would be
Chkdsk c: /p
NOTE space between ckdsk and c and : and /
The chkdsk /p is ONLY used on the Recovery Console.

3. Chkdsk can also be run from the Start, Run and type cmd. And is then run from the cmd prompt using basically
Chkdsk c: /f
Chkdsk c: /r
Again if the disk being checked is in use you will receive a message to run on restart.
If Windows will not open normally then it can be opened in Safe Mode by pressing F8 key and then select Safe Mode with command prompt.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 29 November 2010 - 06:37 AM.

[ray r]

many thanks for that chkdsk is running at the moment I will see what results that gives and post again with my progress, Thank You again.

Ray

[ray r]

Running chkdsk as advised but has frozen at stage 2 of 5 with only 9% completed any further advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ray

[Macboatmaster]

Do you have personal data on this computer that is vital for you to recover,
I am not suggesting at this time that we will have to resort to a reinstall of Windows, but I would be happier if you got your data secured first.

[ray r]

Hi Again,
On second attempt managed to get chkdsk to run to completion, Can you tell me what I should be looking for in the event log.

Many Thanks
Ray

[Macboatmaster]

follow my previous instructions to event viewer, application on left hand pane, scroll down the main window to winlogon and one of the winlogons will be your chk dsk results double click it and it will then tell you if bad sectors were found and file errors.
If bad sectors were found it is time to start thinking of replacing the drive.

Please screnshot the results if you are not certain of what they mean.

Now go start, right click the My Computer, click properties, on the window that opens, click the hardware tab, then cick the device manager button and on the list are there any warnings - yellow or red by any entries.

[ray r]

Hi Thanks for replying , the results of the chkdsk are below, I have checked the device manager as you suggested and there are no warnings on the list.

many thanks for your time.










Event Type: Information
Event Source: Winlogon
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Date: 30/11/2010
Time: 13:06:51
User: N/A
Computer: Family
Description:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is HDD.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 74 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 74 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 74 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

71842679 KB total disk space.
24495268 KB in 102776 files.
40872 KB in 11902 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
375863 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
46930676 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
17960669 total allocation units on disk.
11732669 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
40 75 02 00 01 c0 01 00 12 8c 02 00 00 00 00 00 @u..............
b3 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 92 07 00 00 00 00 00 00 . ..............
32 05 3b 06 00 00 00 00 22 03 75 60 00 00 00 00 2.;.....".u`....
14 f6 84 16 00 00 00 00 c6 1b 2f a0 03 00 00 00 ........../.....
f4 40 4a 14 03 00 00 00 b0 8e fe 42 07 00 00 00 [email protected]....
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 98 38 07 00 78 91 01 00 ..6......8..x...
00 00 00 00 00 90 12 d7 05 00 00 00 7e 2e 00 00 ............~...

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....ink/events.asp.

[Macboatmaster]

There is nothing wrong with the drive or the file system/
Those minor inconsistencies are frequently found on a drive and of little if any consequence.

Please press Ctrl Alt Delete and on the performance tab, on the right lower will be seen actual memory and available memory
What are the amounts please.

Go back to Device Manager pls and this time on the view tab check the Show Hidden devices - check again please for any warnings there.

Do you have the XP CD. or is it pre installed with a recovery partition.
Go Start, run and type "sfc /scannow" without the quotes and run it. This is system file checker. It may well ask for the CD, if you have it insert it. If not make as much progress as you can. If it will not progress at all we will have to try another way.

Post back when you have done these please and we will then check the temps, voltages etc.

If you have the BSOD - blue screen of death or any error messages pls post these.
Also when you come back we will go to another part of event viewer and see if we can locate the error report

Edited by Macboatmaster, 01 December 2010 - 02:03 PM.

[ray r]

Ok Physical memory is
Total 457456
available 151176
system cache 192968

Tried to run sfc/scannow but it comes up that windows cannot find it.

looked in device manager hidden devices but nothing showing any warnings.

Thanks again.

[Macboatmaster]

Note space between sfc and /

Go start, right click My Computer, click properties and on the window that opens - on the general tab it will show the processor and the memory - as per the screenshot.
Post what yours is pls

Then do this please and se if it still freezes.
http://support.micro....com/kb/310353/

Edited by Macboatmaster, 01 December 2010 - 02:06 PM.

[ray r]

Ok ran the sfc /scannow and that ran through and completed
The information you asked for is

celeron® cpu 2.93Ghz
2.93 Ghz 448 Ram

Will try your next suggestion asap

Thanks again
Ray

[Macboatmaster]

When you ran that system file checker did it request the XP CD. SFC does not report a result, but when it asks for the CD you have the option Retry, Skip this file - if of course you were forced to select skip this file, then that is what it has done.
Pls say what occurred/

When it freezes ARE YOU always on the web, OR does it freeze without a browser open.

If it does NOT freeze whilst in use does it then always start OK or can it run OK, be shut down properly and then FREEZE or black screen on startup.

[ray r]

When I ran the sfc it just ran through saying verifying files were in their original state with a progress bar and when it got to the end just stopped never asked for XP CD at any point.

No It is not just web connected but can freeze for instance during startup, if it does freeze the only option is to tyrn off on the front of the machine and then it can just start up normally the next time, sometimes you can start it and run it and then shut it down without problem

[Macboatmaster]

Follow the second part of post 11 advice please and see if it still freezes on a clean boot.


If it does download this please
http://winaudit.zymi....com/index.html

run the program and save the results as a text file, zip it and attach it to your next post.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 02 December 2010 - 05:02 AM.