Windows Freezes

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  1. Posts : 2,009
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86
       #21

    Well yeah, since it seems to be hardware related. some hardware floods the CPU with IRQs (Interrupt requests) which limits the CPU capacity for other processes. In the worst case, since IRQs are prioritized, the computer becomes sluggish and there is no fun in that.

    Those "surplus" IRQs can be caused by a lot of items starting with defective cables (HDD, Network), defective controller (HDD, Network, Video), defective devices (HDD, Network, Video, USB), quite almost everything that is allowed to generate IRQs could be responsible. I'm not so deep into Perfmon that I could pinpoint the real reason, so my advice would be to unhook everything that's not absolutely necessary and see if the count goes down then reattach the devices one at a time and monitor the behaviour.
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  2. Posts : 1,808
    Windows 7 64b Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #22

    SledgeDG said:
    Well yeah, since it seems to be hardware related. some hardware floods the CPU with IRQs (Interrupt requests) which limits the CPU capacity for other processes. In the worst case, since IRQs are prioritized, the computer becomes sluggish and there is no fun in that.

    Those "surplus" IRQs can be caused by a lot of items starting with defective cables (HDD, Network), defective controller (HDD, Network, Video), defective devices (HDD, Network, Video, USB), quite almost everything that is allowed to generate IRQs could be responsible. I'm not so deep into Perfmon that I could pinpoint the real reason, so my advice would be to unhook everything that's not absolutely necessary and see if the count goes down then reattach the devices one at a time and monitor the behaviour.
    Had done that, see above posts, and the lan ( intel ethernet) driver came up. If I disable my intel 82579V gigabit network connection, everything is fine. However... I don't have a solution, obviously need the connection, and have the latest driver. How do I proceed...?

    BTW, I might be wrong in my analysis... perfmon still gives warnings on CPU interrupts when lan is disabled but the latency is fully ok. So it is probably two different things. I have identified the cause of the latency problems (gigabit driver , even though up-to-date), not of the cpu interrupts. And, most importantly, I don't know which of the two cause the freezing up, of which I had three more today whilst just browsing.
    Last edited by MvdB; 10 Jun 2011 at 15:20.
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  3. Posts : 2,009
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86
       #23

    That's just the difference between having a pc on my bench or trying to coach someone. If the interrupt warning still occurs while the network card is disabled, it's simply not the (only) reason. Thus my former answer is still valid:
    so my advice would be to unhook everything that's not absolutely necessary and see if the count goes down then reattach the devices one at a time and monitor the behaviour.
    Since you can't unhook the hard drive for obvious reasons, I would switch the HDD cable (and since it's a SATA drive I would plug the new cable in a different port !)
    If that helps, viewed in connection with the LAN issue we could deal with a defective motherboard (south bridge).
    But to have that to be more than a guess I would try to replace the on-board components by PCI-cards:
    A simple Ethernet card to replace the LAN port, a hard disk controller card, etc. and if that all fails, it's the mother board deducted simply by process of elimination.
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  4. Posts : 1,808
    Windows 7 64b Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #24

    Just checking, i'm now running safe mode for a longer period of time, fine until now.
    If I'm correct and this lasts... then I can conclude it's not hardware but probably drivers? Or at least software in general. It could even be things like directx11... which are not loaded in safe mode, are they?

    What is the smartest way to proceed if safe mode w/ network runs ok?...?
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  5. Posts : 2,009
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86
       #25

    How about the IRQ-flooding. does that still occur in safe mode? (thus it theoretically can be generated by a faulty driver, it's mostly caused by defective hard ware)
    The main difference between normal and safe mode: no 3rd party driver is loaded. (Even tho DirectX is a bundle of Microsoft drivers, they're also not loaded in safe mode but should have been replaced by working copies during a "SFC /scannow") I agree, since everything works in safe mode the problem should be on the software side.
    You already updated all possible driver, so the way to go would be to start over: Safe/Backup whatever data you need (can't be that much on a system as young as yours), make sure you have all necessary drivers handy. Do a complete clean install and start with the basics before installing anything "exotic" (Especially don't install any Non-Microsoft software yet (like Apple-Stuff, other mp3 player soft, programs that come with certain cameras etc. If that all runs fine start adding components one ad a time and check again. It sounds tedious and it is but so you can exactly pinpoint what you installed, that caused the problem. As much as a PITA that is, I don't know any different way to proceed because simply uninstalling stuff in device manager doesn't guaranty that everything is gone.
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  6. Posts : 1,808
    Windows 7 64b Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #26

    Thx... that is tedious but you're probably right... it sounds like the best way forward.

    BTW, no IRQ flooding in safe mode.

    The only two things I'll try first is force basic Micrsoft drivers for my SSD and Gigabit lan.

    thx,
    Mark
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,808
    Windows 7 64b Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #27

    update


    Clean install of W7 ultimate. seemed to work fine. after 24 hours with no problems (and no changes/update whatever) it did not have a working driver for the on board intel gigabit ethernet connection. I let it find the latest dirver (from 2010) as recent as I can get, and it froze multiple times since then.

    What I'll now try is to disable the driver and see what happens.
    The only non-microsoft windows thing downloaded just after install is Avast AV an Chrome.

    I have let it install all microsoft updates.

    So ... at least 2 freezes after installing ethernet intel gigabit driver... the one that was suspect in the first place.
    Weird. Hardware is proven to be ok. It must be software.... How can I best check / find the right ethernet gigabit driver....

    Even stranger: I've checked and in safe mode... the gigabit driver is the same. And in safe mode it's ok. Now I'm really lost. It seems as if I have to find some way to identify all, if any, differences between drivers loaded in Safe mode vs normal....
    Last edited by MvdB; 16 Jun 2011 at 04:05. Reason: extra info - safe mode
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  8. Posts : 1,808
    Windows 7 64b Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #28

    driver versions - ASUS mistake?


    I found something interesting... I stated before that I had the most recent/valid driver for my Gigabit Ethernet wired connection. As I have a Sabertooth motherboard, I had downloaded and installed the latest update (with a higher version nr and date 29-12-'10).
    To my surprise it turns out that version and date of the downloaded driver is not what Asus states on its site... in the pack I find the exact same old version I already had (sept 2010).... Tried the three download mirrors. All the same. The site state a higher release and date but the content is the old release that came with the Sabertooth install cd.

    So what I did next is use the Intel test/scan software. It scanned and found that it had a much newer driver (4-5-2011) for my specific Gigabit connection. Installed that (along with some other drivers that also came up on the scan) and am now keeping my fingers crossed (when not typing ).

    Cheers,
    Mark

    That wasn't it. Just had another freeze. Am at a loss again. I'll try to check if the Nvidia drivers could have caused this (they were updated automatically after install W7).
    Last edited by MvdB; 16 Jun 2011 at 12:36. Reason: another freeze
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  9. Posts : 2,009
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86
       #29

    Oh man that's frustrating...so you think the freeze after using the gigabyte drivers was just a coincidence?
    Just make sure you remove the "old" drivers with
    Guru3D - Driver Sweeper
    - or-
    with Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,808
    Windows 7 64b Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #30

    SledgeDG said:
    Oh man that's frustrating...so you think the freeze after using the gigabyte drivers was just a coincidence?
    Just make sure you remove the "old" drivers with
    Guru3D - Driver Sweeper
    - or-
    with Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper
    Are you sure these would help? Both don't seem to have or recognize the intel Gigabit drivers... so it doesn't look as if they'd remove older versions...
      My Computer


 
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