Windows 7 randomly freezes for 30 seconds at a time

[emiels]

To be more specific, it seems to just stutter. When I watch a video it will play a very slow, stuttery version of the dialogue that just happened. Same with music playing. But the mouse and screen are frozen.
When I start up my computer it doesn't happen yet but after a while (especially, it seems, with higher RAM use) it starts to happen more frequently and with shorter intervals.

Additional info:
I reinstalled Win7HPx64 about a month ago
I ran a disk check (I wasn't there to see the outcome but it didn't fix it_
I ran a memtest for two passes on both sticks of RAM
Running Process Explorer to investigate the problem but it still won't tell me specifically what makes the PC freeze.
I'm about to Decrap my PC. That probably won't fix anything but it's still necessary with all this VAIO bloatware.

What's my next step?

 

[emiels]

I just had another freeze and checked Process Explorer again.
It seems that the biggest factor is a spike in CPU0, with about 25% "Interrupts"
I hope that helps narrow it down.

 

[andrew129260]

You need to fill in your system specs completely.

Video card specs is most important here.



http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html


OR

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/306654-speccy-advanced-system-information-tool.html

 

[emiels]

You need to fill in your system specs completely.

Video card specs is most important here.



http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html


OR

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/306654-speccy-advanced-system-information-tool.html

Thanks Andrew, I've added it to my profile. I hope that helps.

 

[andrew129260]

Get your latest drivers here:

AMD Driver Autodetect

Make sure all windows updates are applied, and you have all the latest drivers for your motherboard and chipset. I would also go further and make sure your bios is up to date.

Also go to sony's site to make sure drivers are up to date: (you will need your model number-if you could tell me what that is as well that would help)

http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/select-system.pl?NOPROD=YES&DIRECTOR=DRIVER&mdl=ENTERMODELNUMBER&1=3

 

[emiels]

Get your latest drivers here:

AMD Driver Autodetect

Make sure all windows updates are applied, and you have all the latest drivers for your motherboard and chipset. I would also go further and make sure your bios is up to date.

Also go to sony's site to make sure drivers are up to date: (you will need your model number-if you could tell me what that is as well that would help)

Sony eSupport - Drivers & Software Updates - Select a Model

Thanks for the help.

I've updated the AMD driver but couldn't find any updates for the motherboard, chipset or BIOS (that weren't already installed).
As you can see here, most of the drivers for my laptop are quite old anyway. Does that raise any suspicion? Intel does back that up, however, as there are only 2 downloadables for the i3 on W7x64 and neither of them are updates.

(For posterity, this site does a good job of finding all applicable updates on VAIO laptops.)

The model number is VPCEB2S1E/BQ in case you still wanted to check, but you can only do that via the European Sony website.

Any idea what I should do next?

 

[AddRAM]

Have you run any diagnostics on the hard drive ?

 

[emiels]

Have you run any diagnostics on the hard drive ?

I did run the W7 Disk Check but I wasn't there when it was supposed to show the results as it took a while and I came back when my laptop had already booted up. Is there a chance I missed anything?

 

[emiels]

Is there any value in running Memtest again, for more passes per RAM stick? I have this nagging suspicion that the problem is related to RAM.

 

[andrew129260]

No harm in doing so. Memtest properly should run for 2 hours imho or overnight to make sure nothing is wrong.

 

[emiels]

Any tips on how I can get a more detailed look at what might be causing these freezes with process explorer or something similar?

 

[andrew129260]

Something like process explorer might be a good start.


You can also try replacing the sata cable going to the hard drive, I cannot tell you how many times it was that simple when someone thought they had hardware failure.

 

[emiels]

Something like process explorer might be a good start.

I'm running this. After one of these freezes occurs I check process explorer but the graph doesn't get specific as to what process was the culprit. Is there any way for finding this out?

You can also try replacing the sata cable going to the hard drive, I cannot tell you how many times it was that simple when someone thought they had hardware failure.

Wouldn't a CheckDisk rule out a hardware error like this?

 

[andrew129260]

Something like process explorer might be a good start.

I'm running this. After one of these freezes occurs I check process explorer but the graph doesn't get specific as to what process was the culprit. Is there any way for finding this out?

You can also try replacing the sata cable going to the hard drive, I cannot tell you how many times it was that simple when someone thought they had hardware failure.

Wouldn't a CheckDisk rule out a hardware error like this?

Not to my knowledge. Just looking at what cpu usage is high on what process should indicate what it is.


No it would not. I have seen bad sata cables be the cause, and every hard disk test and check disk passed with flying colors.

 

[emiels]

Something like process explorer might be a good start.

I'm running this. After one of these freezes occurs I check process explorer but the graph doesn't get specific as to what process was the culprit. Is there any way for finding this out?

You can also try replacing the sata cable going to the hard drive, I cannot tell you how many times it was that simple when someone thought they had hardware failure.

Wouldn't a CheckDisk rule out a hardware error like this?

Not to my knowledge. Just looking at what cpu usage is high on what process should indicate what it is.


No it would not. I have seen bad sata cables be the cause, and every hard disk test and check disk passed with flying colors.

Usually the highest is some component of Chrome when I have it running and rarely something else like Dropbox or uTorrent. When it freezes I can see that 25.60% is "Interrupts" so that doesn't tell me anything.

I did open up my laptop a few times in the past month but this was before I did a clean install of Windows 7. Is there anything I could look for or would I just have to start replacing every cable?