Laptop freezes a lot

[Jasperkm]

Hey, I have a question regarding my asus K52JE laptop. I bought this one about 2.5 years ago.

I've been having the following problem ever since the purchase;
The laptop freezes randomly when I am doing stuff (browsing the net, installing something, checking my e-mail (especially outlook 2013, gaming, whatever) and it didn't bother me that much but now i'm getting quite sick of it. This is because I recently wiped my hard drive and did a clean windows 7 install without bloatware etc and this didn't fix my problem.

So what happens when the laptop freezes; I can move my mouse, can't click on stuff most of the times (sometimes can and it will load up after the freeze) and the blinking processor/hard drive light thing (dont know what it indicates exactly) will stop blinking. A couple of seconds before the freeze stops, a rattling sound comes from the laptop and the light starts blinking again. Then it unfreezes. Usually this lasts a couple of minutes, sometimes longer.

When I go to my system event viewer, I see a lot of atapi errors with ID 11. The description: "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0." The laptop works fine in safe mode (no freezes) so I'm thinking the hard drive is good. Also did memtest for the ram, fount no errors, and I ran seagate dos mode long test for my hard drive. It found 1 error but that didn't fix the problem. Maybe I need some drivers for my sata port or something? I don't really now... I x
I'm thinking some drivers will fix this (maybe new bios settings/driver?)


I would really like some help with this.
Thanks a lot in advance.

Regards, Jasper

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hiyya Jasper mate here is the driver site ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download K52Je

Let us know how you go.

 

[Jasperkm]

I know, ive installed those drivers right after the windows 7 install. This doesnt fix the problem

 

[ICIT2LOL]

OK mate run these

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html
then

http://www.superantispyware.com/

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

download from bleeping computer

 

[Jasperkm]

Thanks for the reply. I think it cant be malware cause I did a clean install, right? I will run the test later today.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes you are right Jasper but I am perhaps bit on the paranoid side and think that as soon as you install and are going through those updates and the like it doesn't mean that something is not trying to creep in.

I don't know what you are using for security but I would be getting some on real quick.

Te scans mate are very quick to do and for the sake of a few minutes of your time if nothing else eliminates the possibility.

They are good to keep too as most of us in here us at least Malwarebytes in addition to the main security I use the free version some use the paid for as general rule I am sure you will know is never to use two AV at the same time real time. The SAS is really good at picking up tracking stuff and that is why I use it a lot. The ADW is for when things are not looking so good and I just load and run it from Downloads which I keep on my desktop. .

The sfc and chkdsk well it is up to you it could be down to a faulty install thats the only reason I suggested those.

Now there are other things that you can try but see how it goes

 

[Jasperkm]

Will do when I get home! Good explanation

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Will do when I get home! Good explanation

Hmm good stuff mate and when you get things sorted there is a goldmone of info in this site to get you up and running at an optimum level.

 

[Jasperkm]

Okay, I really hope you can help me fix this problem!

 

[Jasperkm]

Hey, Ive been downloading some more drivers on the asus website, I believe it was the Intel storage manager or something. I rebooted and I've been going without a single freeze for a couple of hours now, so I believe it's fixed! Thanks a lot for your help mate!

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hey, Ive been downloading some more drivers on the asus website, I believe it was the Intel storage manager or something. I rebooted and I've been going without a single freeze for a couple of hours now, so I believe it's fixed! Thanks a lot for your help mate!

Good stuff mate keep us posted just in case.

By the by if you want some more out of the machine try this it speeds things up a bit only you do lose some of the "bling" like transparency if you chose not to have it.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html

 

[Jasperkm]

Thanks for the link, i'll look into it!

 

[Jasperkm]

Okay, so when I checked "Turn off windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device" in the hard drive properties, it started freezing again. Now, I was using the laptop for about 6 hours without any freeze. Then I installed some directx drivers, checked "Turn off windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device" and set my power management to high performance instead of power saver which it was on. The freezes are way less frequent though and they only seem to occur when im playing some game.
The error in the system event log is now an "iaStor" error with ID 9. The description: "The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."
Hope you can help

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok Jasper that iaStor is an Intel item / driver and from this it seems like the problem.

But when you say you did a clean install what media did you use? I have seen other threads that quote changing the BIOS to ACHI for the SATA so do you know what yours is set for?

 

[Jasperkm]

My bios is set to AHCI. I haven't changed this. Should I switch to IDE?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

No keep it at that Jasper am going to have to look see again and post back if I cannot find anything I will get some help.

 

[essenbe]

I admit, I have not read the whole thread, but might I suggest to hold down the Windows key (the one with the flag) and press R. in the dialogue box type services.msc, and press OK. Scroll down to Intel Rapid Storage Technology, highlight it and right click and select properties. In the drop down box set it to Automatic (delayed) and press OK.

I also noticed you went without a freeze until you '"Turn off windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device"'. Why not turn it back on and see if that helps your freezing problem.

 

[Jasperkm]

I don't see Intel Rapid Storage Technology in services.msc. Only Intel(R) Management and Security Application User Notification Service. Also, of course I turned off the "Turn off windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device" immediately when I experienced freezes again.

The freezes are way less frequent now though (last one was like 2 hours ago) and it seems to only happen when I'm playing games.

 

[essenbe]

Intel Rapid storage is Intel's Raid application, but it is the only way I know of to get IaStor which is Intel's AHCI driver. Once installed, you don't really need it, only the AHCI driver, otherwise you will be using, MSAHCI, Microsoft's AHCI driver. MASHCI is not bad to use, but you usually get a little better performance using Intel's. Having IRST does not mean you have to use raid and does very little that I know of unless you do. I install it to get iastor. If you installed IRST, there are 2 ways to find it. The easiest is go to control panel (catagory view) uninstall a program and it should be listed there. The other way is Device manager, expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. At the bottom you will either see your chipset AHCI drivers listed or MSAHCI listed. There may be a lot of other stuff listed but that is what you are looking for. This is what mine looks like. The Intel 7 serise/C216 ahci controller is the ahci controller, otherwise it would be MSAHCI if you are in AHCI mode.


In control panel, uninstall programs this is what you would see if it is installed.



But, you should not be having freezes whether it is installed or not.

 

[Jasperkm]

Okay so IRST is not installed on my pc. My chipset drivers are AHCI in the device manager. Thank you for the explanation