Windows freezes

[moghm]

Hello all.

Your help is much appreciated and its my first time here.

I am currently running Windows ME, but I had the same problem on 98.

Basically, if my computer is left idle, for a few minutes it freezes. The screen stays as it is and I am unable to click on any icons. The mouse pointer will move with the mouse but it just seems to make a whirring sound. The only way I can restart the machine is to switch off and restart. i dont think the problem is with millenium, because I had exactly the same problem with windows 98. The system is a AMD athlon 1.2 Ghz, 128 DDR ram, FIC motherboard. A 2.5 gig and a second 600 meg hard drive, soundblaster 128, voodoo3 / 3000.

On some occasions I have had a blue screen pop up, during boot up saying that my C (my 2.5 gig) hard drive is not accessible. Recently, it also makes a whirring sound. However, I have defragmented it and also a through scan disk does not report anything wrong with the harddrive.

I also have a sound card on my motherboard, but that has been disabled.

All my power management, screen savers are switched off.

Please help. Thanks.

 

[SavvyLady]

Ok.. lets do a couple things.... but first off have you ran an updated virus scan in the last day or so? If not you need to do that.
It sounds like you have to many items in startup as well....So,
Go to start/run type in msinfo32 then the ok.....click the (+) plus sign in front of software programs and then highlight startup group ...... click "edit" & then click "select all" then "edit" again and & them click "copy". Come back here and paste the copy so we can advise on which should be removed.

After you've done that you need to go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com & download ad-aware & scan for spyware.

 

[Styxx]

Right-click an open space on yer desktop; Point to properties; Click the screen saver tab; Click the lower Settings button; Use the drop-down arrow to choose Never by Standby or Sleep-mode, 15 minutes below Monitor, 30 minutes by hard drive; Click Apply; Click Ok.

This one troubleshooting step. Savvy's suggestion is a good one. The below just expands on it:

First clean out your Startup folder - Start; Programs; Startup. Right click each item in turn there and choose delete. I have only 'swtray' there, the joystick driver, and it has to be there. On most machines you don't want anything in that folder.

Check your available resources by right-clicking My Computer; clicking Properties; Click the Performance tab. Resources available are displayed as percent there at top. Check it when you get done running the System Configuration Utility mentioned below.

Clicking Start; Run; typing 'msconfig', without the quoatation marks, in the Run box and clicking OK; Then clicking the Startup tab; Uncheck anything you don't need running in the background. For reference on what's not needed running in the background in the System Configuration Utility, view this website first and print out the list:

http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Running_items.htm

***


Get free Zone Alarm personal firewall anti-hacker countermeasure from http://www.zonelabs.com. (not the demo) Don't let anything out to the Internet you don't know what it is.

Update your antivirus, temporarily disable your screen saver and scan with your anti-virus set to scan All Files. Update and scan bi-monthly. Create your anti-virus' Rescue disk(s) and update them after each Windows anti-virus update.

You can scan on-line to double-check your Windows scanner at http://housecall.antivirus.com

 

[moghm]

hello again,

I have just run a virus scan, and not a single virus was found. I have disabled startup items. Running msinfo now and this is what has been revealed:-

EnsoniqMixer starter.exe All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
ScanRegistry c:\windows\scanregw.exe /autorun All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
SystemTray systray.exe All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Tweak UI rundll32.exe tweakui.cpl,tweakmeup All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Tweak UI rundll32.exe tweakui.cpl,tweaklogon All Users HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices


I am gonna try lavasoft.com now and see what happens. Once again, thanks for the help.

 

[SavvyLady]

lavasoft usa is not working... go to http://www.lavasoft.de

 

[moghm]

yep, lavasoft is not working. i'll try the 'de' one. thanks.

I have just run msconfig

I disabled 'scan registry' and also 'Ensoniq Mixer.' So basically I tried to start the machine using the following:-

sytem tray,
tweak ui,
tweak ui (for network logon I think) and my PC used to freeze before I installed tweakui.

Strange thing is that even though I disabled 'EnsoniqMixer' it becomes activated again at startup. I tried to disable it twice and it keeps coming back on.

I will go to lavasoft.de now.

 

[SavvyLady]

type msinfo32 in run & click ok... click the (+) plus at Software Envirements then click startup... let it load & go to edit & select all
then back to edit & copy... then paste that here

Sorry it doesn't look right what you already posted for that... I want to see it all

 

[moghm]

here are the results for msinfo32:-


EnsoniqMixer starter.exe All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
SystemTray systray.exe All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Tweak UI rundll32.exe tweakui.cpl,tweakmeup All Users HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Tweak UI rundll32.exe tweakui.cpl,tweaklogon All Users HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices




Here is the result of ad-aware5:-

excuse the references of the 'sextracker' stuff. I dont know where thy came from !!! Must be my dirty freind. What are they please:-

Shall i delete them ?




Scan initialized on 19/12/2001 20:20:34.
(AAW release 5.62, referencefile 087-22.09.2001)
=================================================


Started memory scan
====================
Running processes:

#:1 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
----------------------------
Threads:4
ProcID:4279174085
ParentProcID:2123309621
BasePriority:High

#:2 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:1
ProcID:4294919525
ParentProcID:4279174085
BasePriority:Normal

#:3 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
----------------------------
Threads:1
ProcID:4294960421
ParentProcID:4294919525
BasePriority:Normal

#:4 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:2
ProcID:4294962913
ParentProcID:4294919525
BasePriority:Normal

#:5 Name: C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:16
ProcID:4294850537
ParentProcID:4294919525
BasePriority:Normal

#:6 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:2
ProcID:4294877073
ParentProcID:4294850537
BasePriority:Normal

#:7 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:3
ProcID:4294773837
ParentProcID:4294877073
BasePriority:Normal

#:8 Name: C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:11
ProcID:4294954369
ParentProcID:4294850537
BasePriority:Normal

#:9 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RNAAPP.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:3
ProcID:4294832017
ParentProcID:4294954369
BasePriority:Normal

#:10 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:6
ProcID:4294822445
ParentProcID:4294832017
BasePriority:Normal

#:11 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:5
ProcID:4294770569
ParentProcID:4294954369
BasePriority:Realtime

#:12 Name: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:5
ProcID:4294765829
ParentProcID:4294954369
BasePriority:Normal

#:13 Name: C:\PROGRAM FILES\LAVASOFT AD-AWARE\AD-AWARE.EXE
----------------------------
Threads:1
ProcID:4294879821
ParentProcID:4294850537
BasePriority:Normal

Memory scan result:
Total modules found:13
Suspicious modules found:0


Started registry scan
======================


Started extended registry scan
===============================


Registry scan result:
Suspicious keys found :0


Started folder scan
====================
Now processing drive (C), 1 remaining.
Finished processing Drive(C), 476 folders total.

Now processing drive (D), 0 remaining.
Finished processing Drive(D), 516 folders total.

Folder scan result:
Folders processed:992
Suspicious folders found:0


Started file scan
==================
Doubleclick file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Doubleclick file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt
Other file:C:\WINDOWS\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt

File scan result:
Suspicious files found:16



Scanning finished
==================
Suspicious modules found:0
Suspicious keys found :0
Suspicious folders found:0
Suspicious files found:16
==========================
Spyware components ignored:0
Total spyware components found:16

 

[SavvyLady]

ok .. did you dump the spyware?

your startup looks fine to me. However, I see no signs of a virus scanner or a firewall so ...for a free virus scanner you can add to your system... go get AVG. Click here to download AVG its free

and to protect yourself from hackers etc... Get Zone Alarm
Click here the free version is fine


YES delete all you found with ad-aware

 

[moghm]

what does 'dump the spyware' mean please ????

but the lack of a antivirus or anti hacker should not cause freezing should it ?

Sometimes my computer freezes when I am playing MP3 ?

 

[SavvyLady]

there is also another program where you can test your system online & the results are detailed with tips of how to fix performance problems. I have used it several times.
http://www.pcpitstop.com make sure you check the details after you do the test

 

[SavvyLady]

oops... sorry I mean delete the spyware when Ad-Aware finds it.

No.... adding those will not stop it from freezing that was not in reference to the problem... it was advice to keep you from having even more problems

 

[beach51]

Hi Moghm,I see you removed Scan Registry from msconfig.You need that,so go back and put a check mark next to it.Click apply,then ok and reboot.You can remove tweaku if you want,you dont need it at startup.Try this,go to the desktop,right click on My Computer,click properties,at the bottom of the page,click Graphics,make sure the hardware acceleration slider is all the way over to the right(full).Should it be already over,try moving it back one notch.See if that helps.

 

[moghm]

Hello All,

After following these instructions, unfortunately my windows ME is still freezing:-

I have:-

Scanned my harddisks: no viruses found

Edited MSconfig: only systray and scan registry are activated at startup

Went to pitstop.com: nothing major was reported

All power managment options are disabled.

Ad-aware: to clear spyware

I have increased my ram from 128 to 256 now.

I did notice that usually my system will freeze just at start up. This happens if I switch my PC on and leave it for about five minutes, come back and it has frozen. If I dont leave it inactive, the PC seems to work OK.

The other day I was playing some MP3 files. My pc will sometimes freeze while MP3 files are being played. Strangely enough, this was when my phone rang. Could the phone ring be sending some type of impulse to the modem, causing the system to freeze.

All my saving mangament is disabled.

I went to PCpitstop.com and carried out a complete scan of my system. The main thing that was reported was the access speed to and from my c:\ drive. My system is fast, its a 1.2 ghz AMD athlon, FIC motherboard, 256 DDR ram. The hard drive is from my old PC and is a 2.5 gig Fujitsu. Could this access be a problem ? Is there anyway I can find this out.

Thanks for the help, please help...

 

[kramnnim]

It's somewhat normal for WinME to freeze several times a day, a feature some people learn to live with. 2k/XP is much more stable, but XP would almost not fit on your 2.5GB drive...