Windows 7: Nothing responding unless in safe mode

Hello all,

I've ran into an issue that I've never had before and I was wondering if anyone has any advice or experience dealing with a similar issue. Here goes:

I was quietly reading an espn article while chatting on gmail when suddenly my computer froze. It wasn't one of those freezes where the screen kinda grays out and the "not responding screen" pops up. Nothing changed. I didn't even realize it until I tried to open up another program. When I tried that, nothing opened. I tried ctrl-shift-esc and that didn't work either. My start menu still worked but nothing would happen when I clicked on the programs. I force restarted my computer, as much as I hate doing it, by holding down my power button.

I restarted my computer and everything went fine. I typed in my password, I heard the windows sound and my background showed up. I went to open up google chrome and nothing happened. Same problem. Mouse works fine, start up menu opens fine but nothing responds when I click on it. I force restarted again a few more times but ran into the same problem each time.

I ran it in safe mode. Everything works perfectly fine. I ran a virus can using avast in safe mode and no viruses were found.

I'm extremely confused. Some background info: Computer was bought in the first week of January. It is a Dell Studio XPS 1645. Quad Core 740, 8 GB ram, Windows 7.

Thanks for your help! I can't do anything with my computer until this error is figured out so hopefully someone has a quick solution!

After the virus scan
Download and run malwarebytes, full scan and update first
If those are negative
Try in clean boot, we hope it work, as you can follow the directions and diagnose the problem.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

If it does not work, its a driver and I will try to help you, but it will be difficult.

If the problem you describe is where the app (or whole screen) turns a milky color and the spinning circle appears that is the "busy" Icon. If left for a bit it will disappear on its own. Your specs indicate that should probably not be happening so we need to investigate why it is.

I suspect since it doesnt happen in safe mode that it is either a driver or a configuration issue.

Have you installed an anti-virus or firewall lately?

There are a few diagnostics you can run and look at.

System file check. verifies and replaces corrupt system files
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Event viewer
There are several ways to find what the problem is. The best is to go into event viewer (type eventvwr in search). Go to the windows log>application tab.

You want to look for critical errors (they have red in the left column ).

When you find them you want to look for critical errors that say app hang, app crash, or anything that relates to the problem.

When you find them please note the event ID, and the source codes and tell us what they are.

Device manager
Please go to start>search>type device manager.
Are there any "unknown devices" with yellow triangles on them?
Is you driver there , listed, and working?

If your driver is missing, or there is a yellow triangle on it, you will need to update it.


Let us know if you need help with these


Ken J

I ran malawarebytes, it found nothing wrong.


I did the system file check, it found nothing wrong.

In the event viewer, I found a ton of errors involving Bonjour but those went farther back than my system's issues started happening so I'm assuming that's not important. I also found errors with a "CAPI2" which had an event ID of 513. I'm not sure what that one is form. That one started recently but more recently than when my issues started so I'm not sure if that's related.

Also, no yellow triangles in device manager.

As for your questions, no it's not a milky color not responding screen. Everything looks perfectly fine. Just nothing responds. As for the antivirus software, I have microsoft security essentials and avast installed but I've had them installed for a while. And I just installed malawarebytes per the advice of the above poster.

Thanks for the quick response! Much appreciated!

What happens in clean boot?