Constant freezing with seemingly no reason

[ignatzatsonic]

Weird, never noticed Norton on there. I'm guessing it came with the computer as I never installed it myself. I prefer Eset as well so I will leave that and uninstall Norton. It's hard to tell if any of these steps are working as I can't reproduce the problem on demand. If these steps work:

WIN | type MSCONFIG | STARTUP tab | ENTER
uncheck ALL except for:
Code:
egui "C:\Program Files\ESET\ESET Smart Security\egui.exe" /hide /waitservice
SynTPEnh %ProgramFiles%\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
REBOOT!


Go back to the task scheduler and
DISABLE ALL

What does that mean then? Do I need to uninstall something in particular?

Disabling everything in msconfig startup except ESET should speed up booting a bit and keep unnecessary stuff from running at startup.

You have a few scheduled tasks in that scheduled task list you uploaded. I don't recognize some of them, but I wouldn't think they are critical. Disabling them may or may not help.

You could make a boot disc containing Memtest86 and run it for 6 or 8 passes to see if your RAM has issues.

You may have power supply issues, but that's difficult to troubleshoot without special tools and you can't easily swap another in as a test on a laptop.

 

[Dan33185]

which tasks would you recommend disabling that aren't neccesary?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Here is the list, edited for legibility:

Yes Task GlaryInitialize C:\Program Files (x86)\Glary Utilities\initialize.exe

Yes Task GoogleUpdateTaskUserS-1-5-21-1014189556-411110983-3069943792-1000Core

Yes Task GoogleUpdateTaskUserS-1-5-21-1014189556-411110983-3069943792-1000UA

Yes Task HPCeeScheduleForDan

Yes Task Norton PC Checkup Setup

Yes Task SmartDefrag

Yes Task {9ECBEA48-652E-4814-B2AB-4578388DB1DA} C:\Windows\system32\pcalua.exe -a "C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\WHAT\Uniblue Driver Scanner + Serial\Uniblue Driver Scanner + Serial\Uniblue.DriverScanner.2009.2.0.0.47\Uniblue DriverScanner 2009.exe" -d "C:\Users\Dan\Desktop\WHAT\Uniblue Driver Scanner + Serial\Uniblue Driver Scanner + Serial\Uniblue.DriverScanner.2009.2.0.0.47"

I have no idea what most of those are.

I can't imagine any are mandatory. Whether disabling will help is another question entirely. I have no particular reason to think disabling any of them will help.

I have NONE of those scheduled tasks.

 

[Dan33185]

I have no idea what the google update thing is either, I'm assuming it has to do with Chrome. Norton PC I uninstalled, Smart Defrag is a free defragment program I have, probably could just uninstall that as well. Driver scanner was a program I ran once because someone had mentioned my audio driver could be causing a problem and it must have just attached itself to my startup programs. I'll have to go through and check these off and see how it affects things.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The general feeling on this forum is that driver programs are at best unnecessary and at worst problematic.

Most here also just use the built-in defrag program on its default once a week schedule. I have not manually defragged in over a year and my fragmentation levels are currently at 0 percent.

I have no idea what the HPCee and Glary things are. Optional gizmos you installed at one time I assume.

 

[FliGi7]

How about we check the obvious of a hard disk failing. Failing hard drives can often cause the system to randomly freeze up. Open My Computer, right click on your C drive, then Tools, and Check Disk. You will probably need to reboot the system to check the disk for errors.

Also, when you have the freezing, is there a correlated CPU/process spike?

 

[Sir George]

My computer has been freezing pretty consistently lately and I have no idea why. At first it would just be on videos, so I figured it was flash. I uninstalled, re-installed, same problem happened. Then I thought maybe it was Chrome. Uninstalled, re-installed, same problem. Now it is happening at random times, video or no video. I've disabled and uninstalled anti virus because I've heard sometimes than can cause problems, and that doesn't help either. I'm at a loss right now as to what to do..is there a test I can run, diagnostics, anything?

Your system specs indicate you have 2 gigs of ram, which is sufficient if you are not running a large number of TSR (TerminateStayResident) programs; background tasks. What is showing up in the notification area?

A good free utility and easy to use program is WinPatrol for identifying what programs are loading when you start up your system. You can download it from;

http://www.winpatrol.com/

Check the "StartUp" tab for a list of programs. If you are uncertain about needing certain programs in the list, post back with a screenshot. When you are viewing the "StartUp" items, you can easily disable any of them to see the effect on system performance. Should you decide to purchase the program it will provide an additional feature "Plus Info..." which will show information about the application and a rating.

HTH

 

[gregrocker]

With the preinstalled programs corrupting Win7 I would strongly consider doing what any tech enthusiast does with a bloatware loaded PC: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Until then you can Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

If issues persists work through these Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7

 

[Dan33185]

How about we check the obvious of a hard disk failing. Failing hard drives can often cause the system to randomly freeze up. Open My Computer, right click on your C drive, then Tools, and Check Disk. You will probably need to reboot the system to check the disk for errors.

Also, when you have the freezing, is there a correlated CPU/process spike?

No problems were found with a disk check. Not sure about a CPU spike, is there a way to go back and check that once it unfreezes?

 

[Dan33185]

My computer has been freezing pretty consistently lately and I have no idea why. At first it would just be on videos, so I figured it was flash. I uninstalled, re-installed, same problem happened. Then I thought maybe it was Chrome. Uninstalled, re-installed, same problem. Now it is happening at random times, video or no video. I've disabled and uninstalled anti virus because I've heard sometimes than can cause problems, and that doesn't help either. I'm at a loss right now as to what to do..is there a test I can run, diagnostics, anything?

Your system specs indicate you have 2 gigs of ram, which is sufficient if you are not running a large number of TSR (TerminateStayResident) programs; background tasks. What is showing up in the notification area?

A good free utility and easy to use program is WinPatrol for identifying what programs are loading when you start up your system. You can download it from;

http://www.winpatrol.com/

Check the "StartUp" tab for a list of programs. If you are uncertain about needing certain programs in the list, post back with a screenshot. When you are viewing the "StartUp" items, you can easily disable any of them to see the effect on system performance. Should you decide to purchase the program it will provide an additional feature "Plus Info..." which will show information about the application and a rating.

HTH

Downloading now. I went through and deleted these from startup, that should help a bit I would guess.

 

[Dan33185]

Until then you can Clean Up Factory Bloatware.

Reading through this now, thanks.

 

[Dan33185]

Well, just got through watching about an hour of streaming video with no problems. Doesn't necessarily mean problem solved, but it's definitely a good sign. I'll give a few more tests over the next few days and hopefully report back with some good news.

 

[FliGi7]

How about we check the obvious of a hard disk failing. Failing hard drives can often cause the system to randomly freeze up. Open My Computer, right click on your C drive, then Tools, and Check Disk. You will probably need to reboot the system to check the disk for errors.

Also, when you have the freezing, is there a correlated CPU/process spike?

No problems were found with a disk check. Not sure about a CPU spike, is there a way to go back and check that once it unfreezes?

You'd have to be keeping an eye out on the task manager during the time it is freezing. It's just a realtime view, not historical.

 

[Dan33185]

Had my first freeze in a few days, it was only about 20 seconds, but still enough to cause a problem. Any more suggestions? I hate to say it, but it's probably going to end up with my bringing it into the shop, was hoping to avoid it as long as possible, but I have no idea what else to do.

 

[FliGi7]

Have you checked your memory?

http://www.memtest.org/download/4.20/memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip

Download and burn that to a CD. Boot from the CD and let it run through at least 3 iterations of testing.

 

[Dan33185]

Have you checked your memory?

http://www.memtest.org/download/4.20/memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip

Download and burn that to a CD. Boot from the CD and let it run through at least 3 iterations of testing.

Did that a few nights ago, no problems found. But that program isn't necessarily 100% correct though I suppose, it could still be a memory problem?

 

[FliGi7]

It's possible, but not particularly likely if that didn't find any errors after 3 rounds or so.

 

[gregrocker]

Keep working through the Troubleshooting steps I gave you to watch for repeat errors in logs, look for cued Solutions, maintain a Clean Boot, etc.

I'd also stress test your RAM overnight with memtest.

 

[event3horizon]

When you say "freezing" does everything freeze, even mouse for a small amount of time then unfreeze?

Run this for a while and note if you have any lag spikes. It can tell you if a driver is causing it:

DPC Latency Checker

 

[Dan33185]

When you say "freezing" does everything freeze, even mouse for a small amount of time then unfreeze?

Run this for a while and note if you have any lag spikes. It can tell you if a driver is causing it:

DPC Latency Checker

Everything freezes. Even the sound, if I'm watching a video, the sound will just turn into a buzzing noise until it unfreezes. I'll have to run these tests tonight as I'm off to work right now, but will report back later on.