Windows 7 random freezes?

starterz said:

I have an Acer Aspire 5737Z laptop, with Windows 7 RTM installed. The system is working good and fast (DVD, video, media center, web etc.) apart from random freezes occuring once almost every day. Most of the time I am not even at the computer, it just freezes while I am at work, with uTorrent the only extra process running.

Since I got the computer (15 days ago), the hdd (500GB) has been making some strange noises even when the machine is idle...it just seems to read/write something (the led lights too) every 4-5 seconds. I checked the Event Viewer and I got this message 5 times in a row from 3 days ago - The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR1. My only hdd is WDC WD5000BEVT-22ZAT0 ATA Device (from Device Manager).

I have installed chipset and graphics drivers from Nvidia, latest versions for Windows 7.

Could someone help in a matter to determine if the random freezes are connected to this error, and if the hdd/controller/cable is somehow failing? I have A LOT of very important stuff on the drive, please share your advice. I will be doing backups the whole day tomorrow nevertheless.

Have you ran a CHKDSK and see if it finds any errors?

starterz said:

I have an Acer Aspire 5737Z laptop, with Windows 7 RTM installed. The system is working good and fast (DVD, video, media center, web etc.) apart from random freezes occuring once almost every day. Most of the time I am not even at the computer, it just freezes while I am at work, with uTorrent the only extra process running.

Since I got the computer (15 days ago), the hdd (500GB) has been making some strange noises even when the machine is idle...it just seems to read/write something (the led lights too) every 4-5 seconds. I checked the Event Viewer and I got this message 5 times in a row from 3 days ago - The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR1. My only hdd is WDC WD5000BEVT-22ZAT0 ATA Device (from Device Manager).

I have installed chipset and graphics drivers from Nvidia, latest versions for Windows 7.

Could someone help in a matter to determine if the random freezes are connected to this error, and if the hdd/controller/cable is somehow failing? I have A LOT of very important stuff on the drive, please share your advice. I will be doing backups the whole day tomorrow nevertheless.

Starterz it seems like your hard drive is going bad. A Hard drive can fail at any time because you never know how it was handled during shipping and they are the most sensitive components. The best advice I can give you is download this CD via HTTP Server (it's free software in a all-in-one tech cd) burn the ISO and boot from cd. Goto hard disk tools and select HDD re generator, run a scan and repair on the 500GB. This is a much more thorough surface scan. It will let you know if there are physical or logical bad sectors along with delays or hiccups to the controller. If you need an easier explanation just ask.

As of for the rest of you guys having the freezing issue. It could just be bugs with your specific hardware in combination with 7. Make sure you have the latest updates and drivers. If you execute task manager and are running more then 40 Processes one of them could be causing the system hang as well. Im currently running 28 processes with security center, firewall, action center, system restore, superfetch, help and support, and page file all disable and have not had one issue with Windows 7 yet.

EDIT* I HAVE TO UPLOAD THE ISO BEFORE IT WILL BE AVAILBE FOR DOWNLOAD
EDIT* LINK:

** LINK REMOVED**

I had the same problem.
Solved this by deactivating my Atheros AR5B91 and installing a USB dongle instead.

Also this problem seems to accure more often when wifi traffic is under 'heavy' load (torrents, youtube or spotify simultanously).

Hope this helps anyone.. is long time since this post has been updated tho.

I'm trying to find another solution to my Atheros wifi adapter. Maybe older drivers or installing different adapter would help.

Any comments appreciated