Computer freezing - only reformatted recently!

C00kie_2

I know I know, "freezing" is a bit of a vague description, but it's about as clear as I can work it out. My machine was recently formatted after an error, worked okay for a cpl weeks, then my dad would find it froze when he used the internet (using firefox). Of course it never froze with me... well maybe once in the 2 weeks, when he'd have problems once or twice a day. So I reformatted again.

I updated the drivers, installed McAfee, installed SP2, updated IE. It still freezes for him, generally the first time it freezes is after abt 10mins, then each reboot it'll freeze within 1-2 minutes.

It's driving me potty as when I get in of an evening I spent about 5 hours last night running virus checkers, disc checkers, defragged (just in case) and using PCPitstop and amending a couple of settings as requested. It did freeze for me a couple of times last night, but by the end I'd been using it for 2 hours without a problem. This morning, my dad tries it, and it freezes within 10mins :mad:

I've tried searching, but it's a bit too vague, though I am willing to try if there's a suggestion. Some sites mention it could be a dodgy driver, but I went through each individually on Device manager to update them, and if i'm not meant to...well then how on earth to I work out which is at fault prior to the original format i'd not had SP2 on my machine, so think this may be linked, however if I uninstall this I can't use the latest IE or Office software.

I know the answer is probably to use Firefox, but thats what we had when the problem first started showing. Anyone got any obvious tips to try?

Am going to run HijackThis tonight, and check on memory, and check hardware acceleration levels.

Does anyone know of any good diagnostic software to try.

Everso grateful for any help. The only other answer is i remove my dad's arms so he can't use the pc... thus hopefully meaning it'll work permanently!

Nikolai

Is your dad still using Firefox and getting the freezing?
If so, you could try getting your dad to try starting Firefox in safe mode and see if it still happens. This could point to a problem with his profile in Firefox.
For safe mode, go to start > all programs > mozilla firefox safe mode.

If not, it could be to do with his user profile in XP

netdumdum

Sounds like it could be possibly a hardware fault, cpu, mother-board or ram??

C00kie_2

Haven't installed Firefox yet since the last re-format *sighs* it's annoying, since it generally works for me but i spend hours after work chking things and running scans incase something crops up, and the instant i leave him alone with the machine to go to work it goes bonkers.

Is there any obvious easy way to identify what specifically could be at fault out of the hardware? Other than replacing each thing one by one i'm at a loss... and knowing my luck it'd be the very last thing i change that fixes it, which means i'd be at a financial loss *doh*

all ideas are appreciated, i know it's horribly vague and such a general error.

Seagull

I don't suppose that this will end up being the cause of your problem, but I too am experiencing freezes when Firefox 2 opens a page that has Windows media player embedded in it. Is that the possible cause of your problem ? Also happens with IE7.

albertross_2

Freezes completely, or ctrl alt del, task manager works?

C00kie_2

Total freeze. Not just linked to Firefox as i'd not installed that yet after last format. I've since run mcafee virus checkers, hijackthis, registry editor. minor things found, just missing links or temp files which were deleted. Uninstalled SP2 as i was worried it was linked... it crashed within a minute after my rebooting from the uninstall. Restarted, got in, installed Firefox again (had downloaded and saved), machine froze as i loaded FF for the first time. Reboot.... it froze again.

It's gotta be hardware.. well... "gotta" is pushing it, but it's looking likely. I don't like how I can't find out what to replace until i replace it to test... this could be very expensive! Am trying to use Windows Memory Diagnostic to see if memory is okay, but it freezes on my pc... so tried downloading to the laptop i'm on now to burn to CD... except it won't let me. Says something about it can't write to file. Tried downloading the resources kit mentioned in the microsoft page in order to burn to cd, and i cant work out how to use it with the Memory Diagnostic.

Argghhh

Jamangie

Download speed fan or PCWizard and see if it's getting too hot.
If it is, try checking your fans