[rafadex]

Hi,
If someone can help I would really appreciate it. I have tried every possible thing I know. Basically, the problem is that my laptop computer since like two weeks ago, has started to freeze and won't return to normal until I manually restart it. I can be using for 6 hours and nothing will happen or just 5 minutes and then it freezes completely, no error message or anything. After about some minutes it might unfreeze for 30 seconds or so, and then freezes again.

I have tried everything...running antivirus, adaware, spybot, spywareblaster and ewido, normally and on safe mode. I have defragmented and done checkdisk or something. I have uninstalled many many programs and still the problem continues. I have also ran diagnostics and the last thing I did was repairing windows, but nothing... If anyone can please help it would be great, I really dont want to reformat the computer again and lose everything.

--rafadex

ps: I have updated everything i have and have all windows update.

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Hello and welcome to Geeks To Go

This does sound like hardware to me, I am going to ask someone to have a look to check in a monemt. When you say you have repaired XP do you mean that you have done this This repair install.

[Michael]

Hello and welcome to Geeks To Go

This does sound like hardware to me, I am going to ask someone to have a look to check in a monemt. When you say you have repaired XP do you mean that you have done this This repair install.

[rafadex]

Thanks.

Yeah that's the repair I did. That's what the Dell people told me to do.

[Samm]

Hi there

Michael Buckley has asked me to have a look at your problem for you to see if we can determine whether this is hardware or software related.
First, I need to ask you some more questions though :

1. Have you noticed any pattern at all to this? i.e. when it locks up, are you often using any particular piece of software or performing a particular task at the time? (eg surfing the net, playing games, printing etc etc).

2. Are you able to tell me exactly what programs/tasks you have loading at boot up? If you're not sure, go to the Run.. command, type msconfig, then look under the startup tab. If you could list everything that appears in the left hand column, it would be very useful.

3. Did you install or uninstall any hardware or software just before this problem started to occur?

4. Can you tell me the make & model of laptop you have, and how you connect to the internet? e.g internal dialup modem, broadband connection using Network card or USB, wireless etc

5. As part of the diagnostics you ran, did you check the system and cpu temperatures at all?

6. Have you noticed whether this problem is any more or less likely to happen when running from battery only, instead of mains power?

7. Are you using any additional hardware that wasn't part of the manufacturers spec when the laptop was built? By this I mean externally connected hardware as well as internal.

8. Have you tried running any memory diagnostics at all, such as memtest86?

9. Have you tried running the laptop in safe mode for any length of time? If so, did the problem still occur while in safe mode?

10. Have you noticed any other strange behaviour or windows errors apart from the freezing problems?

[rafadex]

Hi Samm,
Thank You so much for helping me. I'll answer some of the questions now, but the rest I'll answer when i get back to my own computer; I'm on campus now.

1. Well, I'll tell you the whole story. About a month ago my screen went almost totally dark, I could see things in it but it was all very dark and the brightness controls were not working. After consulting with Dell, they told me that my LCD screen was not working, the backlight was dead. During this time, as I tried to do some things in the computer and damaging my eyesight in the meantime, I noticed the computer was freezing some times, but I thought it was all part of the LCD problem. Then, Dell came and put a new LCD screen on the computer . However, the computer kept freezing for no apparent reason. Like I said before, it can be six hours before it freezes, or just 5 minutes. And once it freezes once, it will be like two minutes before it goes back to normal; normal meaning 30 seconds or so. It will be like this until I manually restart it. When it freezes nothing works, not the mouse. not alt-control-delete, and no error message.

2. I'll answer later.

3. Nope just the new LCD, but again, the problem was happening before. Maybe I downloaded some songs too...

4. It is a Dell Inspiron 8200 and I connect using a dorm network, I guess thats like T2 or T3.

5. I think the diagnostics checked that. But it found one error in the motherboard fan...it could not reach maximum speed. However I didn't think this was causing the freezing.

6. I run on main power like 95% of the time.

7. Nope, I'm not even using a mouse, just the pointer pad in the laptop. I don't have a printer or speakers. Sometimes I do use some American Airlines headphones. Internally, all I have, came with the computer.

8. Haven't run any memory diagnostics.

9. The other day, after deleting a lot of programs, I logged in through safe mode to run all antivirus and antispyware stuff, but the computer did freeze.

10. Well, just after they changed the LCD, I couldn't access my audio. The volume icon was unaccesible. I couldn't access any audio controls but t was working. Frankly, i dont remember how i fixed this.

So, I'll answer question 2 later. Another thing...I thought it was a software problem or a conflict between two softwares. I thought it was between Itunes and mozilla Firefox, as outrageous as that sounds. But, ironically. I didn't use Itunes for like a whole day and the computer worked perfectly, but the next day it froze, and Itunes was not active.

Thanks again.

rafadex

[rafadex]

Question #2: Programs running are ccApp, VPTray, explorer, qttask, and ItunesHelper.

[Samm]

Hi, thanks for the info.

To be honest with you, I'm not certain what's causing the problem here.
I do have a few suggestions though you could try :

1. The fact that the problem still occurs in safe mode suggests that this isn't a driver issue. It is starting to sound more and more like a hardware issue though. Its possible that the cpu or even some other component is overheating due to the fan not functioning properly and/or the cpu is on its way out.

2. Just to eliminate the possibility that this may be a software issue, you could try going back to msconfig & disabling everything in the startup list. If the problem stops after this, then obviously one of the startup programs (e.g Nortons) is causing the problem

3. You could also try running the laptop for while whilst physically disconnected from the internet & network to see if this makes a difference.

4. I doubt this is a ram issue but again, it may be worth eliminating this possibility as well by running memtest86 or Microsofts memory diagnostic, just to make sure.

5. The only other likely hardware suspect, is the motherboard.

Let me know what you think.

Samm

[rafadex]

Hi,
So how can I now if it is the cpu or the motherboard? Should I run other programs like HijackThis?

[Samm]

If you want to run Hijack this & attach the log file to your next post, then I will happily look over it for you.

Does the laptop have any monitoring utilities on it for checking the fan speeds, temps etc? If theres nothing in windows, try looking in the bios for this information.

[rafadex]

Here's the HijackThis logfile...I can't attach it so Ill just paste it.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 3:04:03 PM, on 10/23/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cisvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\VPTray.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cidaemon.exe
C:\DOCUME~1\RAFAEL~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Temporary Directory 2 for hijackthis.zip\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.cnn.com/
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\VPTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Update Manager] explorer.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /installquiet
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [Windows Update Manager] explorer.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft....k/?linkid=39204
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://update.micros...b?1129849627886
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = ads.iu.edu
O17 - HKLM\Software\..\Telephony: DomainName = ads.iu.edu
O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = ads.iu.edu
O17 - HKLM\System\CS2\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = ads.iu.edu
O18 - Protocol: msnim - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - "C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\msgrapp.dll" (file missing)
O20 - Winlogon Notify: NavLogon - C:\WINDOWS\system32\NavLogon.dll
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Password Validation (ccPwdSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccPwdSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher (DefWatch) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite control - ewido networks - C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite guard - ewido networks - C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPodService - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Driver Helper Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: SAVRoam (SavRoam) - symantec - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\SavRoam.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe

[rafadex]

Here's the HijackThis logfile...I can't attach it so Ill just paste it.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 3:04:03 PM, on 10/23/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cisvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\VPTray.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cidaemon.exe
C:\DOCUME~1\RAFAEL~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Temporary Directory 2 for hijackthis.zip\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.cnn.com/
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\VPTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Update Manager] explorer.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /installquiet
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [Windows Update Manager] explorer.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft....k/?linkid=39204
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://update.micros...b?1129849627886
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = ads.iu.edu
O17 - HKLM\Software\..\Telephony: DomainName = ads.iu.edu
O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = ads.iu.edu
O17 - HKLM\System\CS2\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: Domain = ads.iu.edu
O18 - Protocol: msnim - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - "C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\msgrapp.dll" (file missing)
O20 - Winlogon Notify: NavLogon - C:\WINDOWS\system32\NavLogon.dll
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Password Validation (ccPwdSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccPwdSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher (DefWatch) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite control - ewido networks - C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite guard - ewido networks - C:\Program Files\ewido\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPodService - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Driver Helper Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: SAVRoam (SavRoam) - symantec - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\SavRoam.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe