Windows 7 Hang

I followed the method you posted above...hopefully this gives you a clear picture. What piece of hardware do you think is failing exactly? When I installed Windows 7, I formatted my C partition and installed it on there since my D partition had all my files on it. Could that have anything to do with it and should I fully format my hard drive and partition it again? Or is this clearly a hardware issue...the reason I ask is that its kinda weird how it just shows up after I clean installed Windows and never showed up before :S

Here's the log:
xperf Hanglog 6.zip
I made the max file size to 70MB just in case I don't have enough time to stop the log...the funny thing is that it froze TWICE as I was typing this post :'(

Another hang log using the 2nd method....just happened right now
xperf Hanglog 7.zip

AngryJedi said:

Another hang log using the 2nd method....just happened right now
xperf Hanglog 7.zip

I worked hard to try to find evidence to justify any diagnosis other than "I think your hardware is broken", but unfortunately it wasn't to be.

I think your hardware is broken

Probably the disk, although it's impossible to tell for sure - it could also be the controller. The entire OS pauses because it's waiting for the completion of an operation known as an NtfsWaitSync, and it's taking far longer than it should on your machine.

In order to ensure consistency, NTFS periodically synchronises certain metadata structures, and while that's happening the rest of the OS may sometimes be forced to take a little breather. It normally takes milliseconds though - at most - and you wouldn't notice anything untoward. However, your disk/controller combination periodically stop responding to the OS for a number of seconds, and when that happens to coincide with an NtfsWaitSync the result is the freeze that you feel.

The image I've attached represents movement of the disk head across the surface of the disk to service various read and write requests. It's plain that in the middle of the selected period there is a ~35sec window with no movement at all - or at least no movement being reported to the OS. Coupled with your observation that the HDD activity light seems constatly on during the freeze, it looks like the disk/controller combo just has a little holiday for hardware reasons.

Personally, at this stage I'd be reinstalling the OS from scratch. If the problem manifests itself again immediately, even before you install any updates or apps, you can be virtually certain that the laptop needs hardware servicing.

Sorry, I do wish I had some better news to tell you, but on the positive side at least it works most of the time and you can get your data backed up securely.

Good luck with it.

Hi H2SO4,
Thank you so much for all of your help! You are truly a genius with debugging computers!
I have already reinstalled Windows three times and have had the same problems! I even tried running the computer without many of the drivers installed (only mouse and the ASUS hotkey utilities) and it still hung on me. Its really wierd how a reinstall could trigger such a problem when before I was running Windows 7 RC there were no issues whatsoever. Should I try completely formatting my hard drive and remaking the partitions to see if that solves the problem?
I'm not sure how to explain this issue to ASUS if I do need to replace the unit either. The thing is, I have already had this unit repaired once before since my video card had fried. They gave me a brand new motherboard so I really hope that the controllers isn't the issue. What would you suggest I do next since I've already done the reinstall multiple times!

AngryJedi said:

...
I have already reinstalled Windows three times and have had the same problems! I even tried running the computer without many of the drivers installed (only mouse and the ASUS hotkey utilities) and it still hung on me.

Unfortunately, if the same symptom is evident after multiple clean installations, that seals the "hardware" verdict.

AngryJedi said:

Its really wierd how a reinstall could trigger such a problem when before I was running Windows 7 RC there were no issues whatsoever.

I doubt that the reinstall was the cause, even though it may have started happening subsequently. If there is a link, it's more likely that the installation workload was the straw that broke the disk's back. Work should never damage a healthy disk though.

AngryJedi said:

Should I try completely formatting my hard drive and remaking the partitions to see if that solves the problem?

Yes, absolutely. Try a full format and reinstall, and then don't install anything at all - don't even connect it to the internet. Presumably, given your earlier experiences, the symptom will simply come back again, and then you can use the fact that the laptop is in a clean state but experiencing issues to convince the shop to take a look at it.

AngryJedi said:

I'm not sure how to explain this issue to ASUS if I do need to replace the unit either. The thing is, I have already had this unit repaired once before since my video card had fried. They gave me a brand new motherboard so I really hope that the controllers isn't the issue. What would you suggest I do next since I've already done the reinstall multiple times!

I hope that they'll be able to run hardware diagnostics on the unit which will reveal the nature of the problem without you having to do very much convincing. Otherwise, if they say "we can't see a problem" and yet you can, a few minutes after they stop looking, then the hard part will be trying to convince them that there really is something wrong.

In situations like that it comes down to the company's sense of fair play - are they going to absolutely force you to prove to them that there's something wrong, even if it means hanging around the shop for 23 hours a day trying to repro the problem, or will they demonstrate good customer service standards by replacing the relevant hardware once they decide that you've done enough to convince them that there might be a problem? I don't know how they'll react in this instance. Let's hope their hardware diagnostics detect a problem.

If not, and you're forced to prove that "sometimes at night, when I'm all alone, it freezes for ~30sec", I'd suggest running that Perfmon log on the (cleanly reinstalled) machine for several days if necessary. They may not be familiar with Xperf but their senior techs have probably come across Perfmon and they should know how to view the logs. There's no diagnosis in there, but to have a clean machine behave that way is indicative of a hardware fault.

Thanks for all your help!
How can I remove all my partitions and do a full format? I can remove partitions with the Windows 7 disc but it only does a quick format (formats in like 2 seconds).

AngryJedi said:

Thanks for all your help!
How can I remove all my partitions and do a full format? I can remove partitions with the Windows 7 disc but it only does a quick format (formats in like 2 seconds).

What TeeRex said in your other thread - run CHKDSK /R and that'll have the same effect as a full format in terms of hunting down bad sectors on the drive.

Thanks!
Ya I had run that previously (I had mentioned it in one of my previous posts on this thread) and I completed without any errors. So I guess theres no need for a full format then.
I just updated my computer BIOS which I held off for a long time because the update makes my computer fans louder and more annoying. Now my fan just won't be quiet but lets see if it has an effect on the hang.

Have you tried fine-tuning the settings in BIOS? Usually there is a setting that enables/disables the CPU power management (in my BIOS, this setting is named Dynamically Switchable ), which then allows Windows to lower the voltage, the clock frequency and thus the temperature when the CPU usage is low..

I have a Core 2 Duo and it is really quiet. A long time ago I had an Athlon XP 2400 - well, that one was loud, oh boy..

On the other hand, if your newer BIOS makes the fans spin more, maybe there is a reason for it..

Hi Teerex,
I wish there was a setting like that, but this issue is on my laptop so the BIOS is VERY limited. I can't even check my S.M.A.R.T data on there!
Ya there is a reason for it actually...which is why my laptop died the first time in fact, I'm sure you guys are aware of how the 8400m and 8600m chipsets overheated. Well mine inevitably died so once I got it repaired it came with a newer motherboard and everything. The new BIOS was made to sort of offset the inevitable with the fan running constantly lol