Computer freezes randomly

[nmcmahon]

I have just installed Windows 7 Professional on my PC. Although my computer is fairly old and doesn't have a great deal of RAM/CPU power, I ran the utility that came on the DVD to check if my PC could run Windows 7 and it passed everything.

The computer previously had Windows XP and ran fine (if a little slow) and I reformatted it as it was becoming ridiciously slow are startup and had some problems updating.

After installing, when I start up the machine, the "Starting Windows" screen with the Windows logo flickers strangely - the Windows logo and the text appears on the left and right as well as in the middle, definately not right. After that Windows starts up as normal.

As well as that (which isn't too much of an issue) I get random crashes after anywhere between 30 seconds and an hour, where Windows just freezes. I can't move the mouse or do anything but turn my PC off by holding down the power button.

I initially thought it was something to do with my graphics card drivers due to the flickering screen but I have updated all my drivers in between crashes and there has been no difference.

Can anyone help with this?

 

[richc46]

Fill in your computer specs, so that we will have some information in order to help you. A guess with no information would be that it is a RAM problem or graphics drivers. How much ram do you have, did you do the memory diagnostic test? Is your ram being utitilized, totally. These are some of the questions, that we require answers. Post your specs, get the information that we need and we will help you.

 

[Javierwar]

Could be your graphics drivers. Check in the device manager if you have the latest ATI drivers for your card. If they are outdated you can get the latest ones here:
Drivers & Support | GAME.AMD.COM

 

[nmcmahon]

Could be your graphics drivers. Check in the device manager if you have the latest ATI drivers for your card. If they are outdated you can get the latest ones here:
Drivers & Support | GAME.AMD.COM

I have updated ALL of the hardware drivers, and I still get the same problems.

I am currently running memtest86 to see if there are any errors with the memory.

 

[Javierwar]

Sorry I overlooked that you already checked that.

What I find a bit worrisome is that you say that you PC ran XP a bit slow. With 2GB Memory and a dual core it shouldn't have.
Additionally to the memory I would check also the HD, just to make sure it doesn't have any bad sectors.

 

[nmcmahon]

I just ran memtest86 and that showed no errors with the memory.

I also just ran Seagate Seatools to check the hard drive and it showed no errors with the hard drive, either.

Surely if there was something seriously wrong with either of them, XP would have had similar problems?

 

[richc46]

In an administrators account type cmd in search. In cmd type sfc /scannow. This will report on, and fix minor problems.

In search type event viewer. Take a look for any errors.

 

[nmcmahon]

All the critical errors say "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly." but no information on what is causing it.

I am scanning like you said above, hopefully the PC will not crash before the scan finishes.

 

[richc46]

All the critical errors say "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly." but no information on what is causing it.

I am scanning like you said above, hopefully the PC will not crash before the scan finishes.

If it does freeze, try to do the tests in safe mode.

 

[richc46]

Try this, it might just work. Its called a clean boot. You can discover what is causing your problem

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

 

[CrazeeAFGuy]

Just a thought.. are you having any heat issues? Have you cleaned out the inside of your case recently?

 

[nmcmahon]

The scan said "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations". I will try the clean boot now.

 

[nmcmahon]

The scan didn't find any problems. I am in the process of the clean boot, but disabling all the services still hasn't stopped the freezes.

I do reguarly clean out my PC, but I will do another good clean out and make sure all the wires are not loose, etc.

I will try in safe mode as well.

 

[richc46]

If disabling all the startup services did not stop the freezing, no need to continue the clean boot. Try a repair install

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

 

[CrazeeAFGuy]

The scan didn't find any problems. I am in the process of the clean boot, but disabling all the services still hasn't stopped the freezes.

I do reguarly clean out my PC, but I will do another good clean out and make sure all the wires are not loose, etc.

I will try in safe mode as well.

The reason I ask is that is normally the first problem I observe when helping people with freezes. I had a similar problem with the rebooting after doing a clean install from XP Pro 32. When I had it logged on, I ended up deleting the previous display and sound drivers, flash, and java. Restarted and reinstalled win7 pro 32 again and updated the drivers, flash, and java and haven't had the problem since.

This may or may not help your situation.

 

[nmcmahon]

I just started the machine in safe mode and there was no freezes for over an hour. I am trying removing the display and sound drivers (there is no Java or Flash installed), restarting and reinstalling them.

 

[nmcmahon]

I uninstalled the drivers and then reinstalled them on restart, and thought that had done the trick. I left the computer for a couple of hours last night and it didn't crash, however it wasn't doing anything. Turning on the PC this morning still has the flickering startup screen and frequent crashes. Safe mode was fine, so it would seem some sort of driver is causing the problem but definately not the display driver as that is up to date (unless it is just not compatible with Windows 7).

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

 

[nmcmahon]

Sorry to double post, but I think I may have found what is causing the problem. The screen flickering seemed to suggest straight away that it was something to do with the graphics drivers. Windows 7 still said that the driver was completely up to date and I was still getting the screen flickering and frequent freezes.

I have an ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series. This is a pretty old, built into the mobo graphics chip, but it was still enough to run 1600x1050 on my 21" monitor. After looking on ATI's driver list (where they don't even seem to list my graphic card!) I eventually found some Windows 7 drivers for Radeons. I installed these (it comes with their Catalyst Control Center) and then restarted. On the restart, I didn't get the screen flickering at the "starting windows" screen, and so far no crashes. When Windows started up and I logged in, the "found new hardware" messages pops up and Windows Update installs some drivers it finds online and my display adapter comes up as "ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series". When that is installed, I restart and the flickering and crashes are back. When I unplug my LAN cable (preventing Windows Update installing the drivers) and keep my display adapter as "Standard VGA Adapter", I don't get the flickering or the freezes. However, I am stuck with 800x600 resolution on my monitor.

I think the bottom line is my graphics adapter just isnt completely compatible with Windows 7. Unless anyone has any better ideas, I'm just going to have to go back to XP, as that worked fine. Maybe one day I will upgrade or just replace this PC and get Windows 7 on it then!

 

[Javierwar]

Did you try these drivers: Drivers & Support | GAME.AMD.COM

(Those are 64bit btw)

 

[nmcmahon]

I only have a copy of 32-bit Windows 7. I have just given up for the moment and gone back to XP as I need the computer up and running as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone for the help though.