Fresh Windows 7 installation freezing randomly

Chiba · 29 Aug 2014

I used Speccy and uploaded the exported text file here. Can you see anything unusual in there?

The Windows 7 is from an official DVD in a clear DVD case with a guidebook and the key sticker on it. I bought it together with the previous PC. I think it was retail as it did not come with the PC itself but had to be bought separately.

I went through gregrocker's guide and that is pretty much how my Windows installation worked. There were no errors or anything abnormal and thanks to the SSD it was also pretty fast.

jumanji · 29 Aug 2014

Just a brief interruption: There is indeed another ZOTAC ZBOX CA320 nano Plus Windows 8.1 with Bing ZBOX C-series: ZOTAC - It's time to play! which I misread could be yours.

So yours came without the OS just as mine.

( I have two quite old ( may be four five years) Zotac Mini-PCs both running Windows 7 Home premium which I installed and working fine to this day)

Layback Bear · 29 Aug 2014

Chiba I could and did read your Speccy report. Most of it is a a language I can't read.
I did notice that the built in Defender is active. It's not very good for protection.

I recommend installing and updating then scanning with your chosen anti virus program. I recommend starting with Microsoft Secruity Essentials.
We know for sure it will not cause problems.

Two places you could take a look for what is causing your problem.
1. Event Viewer logs.
2. Reliability logs.

Take a good read of Greg's post # 10
There is a long list of things to check and it will take some time. Those methods have over time proven to work.

I would suggest keep a reminder log of what you try and the results so you can keep us informed when necessary. Pen and paper works for me.

**I will see if I can find somebody to read your Speccy log.**

Mayank Parmar · 29 Aug 2014

Did you check the performance in Safe Mode With Networking?
In normal mode use the setting for best performance and see if there is any change in the performance

Chiba · 29 Aug 2014

Thanks guys, I will try your suggestions over the weekend and report back.

It's a German Windows so sadly Speccy's output is mostly in German, even though I ran it in English. There doesn't seem to be any way to change that.

I didn't have much time now but I ran the Windows memory check and it didn't return any errors. I also checked the reliability log and over the past 3 weeks it's basically a straight line at 10. Before that there were some errors with the Firefox plugin container and Acrobat a few times but these seem to have stopped.

jumanji · 29 Aug 2014

OK, here is some thought.

When I purchased my Zotac Mini PCs, the first thing I did - even before installing the OS - was to look for any BIOS updates and update it.( Luckily there was no UEFI then).

The initial release Bios may not always be upto the mark and it is usually tweaked many times within a short period to remove any bugs and improve performance.

In your case there are again atleast two updates. (I think your model was released only in June 2014 considering the initial release Bios is dated 10 Jun 14 - 140610)

ZBOX CA320/ CA320-PLUS NANO BIOS and update utility
Description:
Version 2K140724 .Changed CMOS "Secure Boot" default disabled Version 2K140709 .Changed CMOS "Boot OS Selection" to default "Win8 uEFI" .Changed CMOS "Secure Boot" default enabled, and install default "Secure Key" Version 2K140610 .Initial mass production release

Someone conversant with UEFI has to come in and check your BIOS settings and advise whether the BIOS updates have to be taken - it is merely changing some defaults - and what settings is preferred for Windows 7.

gregrocker · 29 Aug 2014

After checking for and updating BIOS check the SATA controller setting.

I see no progress on the Troubleshooting steps I linked earlier except for memory test. Waiting for results of each step which resolve most problems.