Spinning Circle, Explorer hangs a few minutes after bootup.

[pparks1]

Wondering if anybody has encountered any issues in the past 2 weeks with Windows 7 machines just randomly freezing, 5-10 minutes after bootup, things seem fine and then all of a sudden explorer.exe seems to just die. You get a spinning blue circle, cannot bring up task manager or anything else once it happens...you can only hit the power button on the machine and reboot.

I had this problem last week on a laptop on our network. After a short bit of troubleshooting, it was decided it was easiest and fastest to format and reinstall as the employee had very little data or applications installed on their machine.

Today, got a call from another person having the exact same issue.

I've verified the problem on multiple profiles
In both cases, it was Windows 7 Enterprise 64bit
Both machines running TrendMicro officescan 10.x (which is used corporate wide)

I've attempted to run malwarebytes, but the machine hangs before the scan finishes

I ran an sfc /scannow and it does not find any "integrity violations"

I ran a chkdsk on C: and it scheduled it on reboot, performed the check and it appears to have found nothing wrong.

 

[Golden]

Nope.....Ive not seen this recently (My work PC is W7 Professional x64 also with Trend Micro). HDD Indexing possibly?

 

[pparks1]

I thought that I had figured out the issue. It appeared that malwarebytes would always hang within the users Temporary Internet files. Also, from within IE, I locked up the box a couple of times when attemping to clear the browser history.

I logged into safe mode, with my domain admin account and manually deleted the temporary internet files. This looked promising as the box ran for nearly 2 hours without a problem. But then the problem came back and was hung for the user.

I'm now attempting a Windows update and hoping that the box gets through the update process rather than crashing out. Hopefully this is just a bug being caused by something that hasn't been updated on this laptop.

I did find this user didn't have SP1 installed, so he hasn't been regularly getting my WSUS updates. So, he is quite a bit behind. The box is currently Installing update 26 of 69.

 

[gregrocker]

Can you run without Trend Micro as a test, using MSE or Avast? Could be an update or other anomaly with it. Blocked MBAM scan is a clue since that never happens without infection or possible AV interference.

Any related or repeat entries in Admin or Performance Logs?

 

[pparks1]

I thought that I had figured out the issue. It appeared that malwarebytes would always hang within the users Temporary Internet files. Also, from within IE, I locked up the box a couple of times when attemping to clear the browser history.

I logged into safe mode, with my domain admin account and manually deleted the temporary internet files. This looked promising as the box ran for nearly 2 hours without a problem. But then the problem came back and was hung for the user.

I'm now attempting a Windows update and hoping that the box gets through the update process rather than crashing out. Hopefully this is just a bug being caused by something that hasn't been updated on this laptop.

I did find this user didn't have SP1 installed, so he hasn't been regularly getting my WSUS updates. So, he is quite a bit behind. The box is currently Installing update 26 of 69.

Mbam is not blocked, it simply locked up during the scan. Ran without trend and still had problem, so don't think that is it.

 

[rdubois]

Dear,

Did you find a solution ?
I have exactly the same problem.
Most of freeze appears in Excel when working on files on a mapped shared.

Pc's are also running Trend micro worry free and windows 64 bits.

Random freeze with the cursor turning infinitely.
We cannot ctrl alt del
The screen becomes more white or a bit transparent, translucid.

User is force to reset manually the pc.

Hard disk is OK
Memory is OK
Drivers are up to date
Pc has last windows patches
No log in the event viewer when it happens..

Very annoying

 

[gregrocker]

Observe the processes that are spiking during freeze in Task Manager, which I would keep open to the Processes tab during operations. Then follow step 12 in tutorial below to drill down into the Process to see what's behind it to disable it or uninstall it to compare.

Another more detailed view is from the tabs in Resource Monitor.

Doing this and all other Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 should reveal the problem.

 

[rdubois]

Dear,
It's not possible to use ctrl alt del during a freeze, only the mouse is moving..
A click on any window doesn't do anything
The windows have a state of "not responding".

Regards

 

[gregrocker]

Then continue with the other Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

Often times replacing the AV with the recommended free lightweight MSE will stop such a problem.

If hardware checks out and none of the System Resources can reveal the culprit, then I'd strongly consider doing a Clean Reinstall Windows 7 since over 1.4 million consumers have done one and not a single one has returned with problems who sticks closely with those steps, tools and methods.

 

[rdubois]

I will do a check disabling the antivirus (Trend Micro worry free).
Reinstalling is not so simple cause i have multiple pc (same hardware) having the issue on a computer parc (some freshly installed too).

Thanks for your advise

 

[gregrocker]

What is a "Computer parc?"

If the problem is on a network then try disconnecting from the network to test each.

If not then it most likely will be in a program you've installed or a setting. Establish a Clean Boot, run all infection checks, SFC, and then the other steps in Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 tutorial.

 

[rdubois]

It's a set of computers (around 20 pc's).

On the network, we have a simple setup with a switch.
No crc error and each port has a normal statut (no flap).
RTT is good and constant.

I will keep you inform about further actions.