[Radmetalmonk]

Hello,
My computer has had a problem I've never encountered before: it freezes whenever I close a maximized window (actually, I think it freezes when I close any window unless I minimize it to the task bar and right click it->close it). It doesn't always happen, but it happens probably 2/3 times I close a window (it seems to only happen with folder windows, my computer window, control panel window, ect...)

I've had the problem probably for a good month or so, and this computer isn't new. I'm running on XP Professional. I don't recall any major changes I made that would cause this odd behavior. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim.

[5tevef]

Does Windows recover after a while if left alone? Did it start happening over time (progressively worse) or all of a sudden? Do you reboot often? Does it occur with specific applications or with any application? Did this start happening after an installation of an application or event? Some fixes or general maintenence off the top of my head would include running scandisk, defraging the harddrive, sfc /scannow, installing the latest servicepack or reinstalling the latest servicepack (XP service pack 3 has compatibilty issues so be sure to check that your system won't have a problem first).

[Radmetalmonk]

I'll look into the updates and any changes I may have made (I plan on backing up anything I need and completely starting from scratch with this computer, it's got a ton of junk on it but it's pretty "clean").

It seems to happen (I need to test this theory) with the first maximized window I close, I'm not sure with any window, but I know it happens with folder windows (not firefox,word, or other program windows). It may have to do with some process running when I first turn the computer on, I need to look into that as well (been awhile since I've done maintenance, this is the only problem I've really been having).

I may not have SP3, so I really need to look into that. I'll edit when I find out more, thanks for your reply.

[oshwyn5]

Does it freeze completely? I mean when it freezes if you go ctrl+alt+del twice does it restart?
If you hit the windows key followed by U followed by R followed by enter does it restart?

If so , then the graphics card is what is locking up, it is displaying the last frame sent to it and either not getting any new input (motherboard issue) or is not processing any of what is sent to it.

If it does not, it means the CPU has locked up and is no longer accepting input and the graphics card is displaying the last frame it generated from the last data sent it by the CPU prior to the lockup.

Do you know what video card you have, and how much video aperture you have in the bios?
(I have seen this when the aperture was set to low in bios. Normally I recommend 128MB since it will not be used until the video card memory is full )