Windows 7 randomly freezes

[nostar]

I'm trying my hardest to give Windows another chance. I switched to a Mac around the time 98SE wasn't cool anymore. Now, I'm back in school trying my hand at other things and I thought, oh, what the heck, lets build a pc.

So I did. Everything went fine, until I installed Windows 7. It worked fine for a while, but all of a sudden it wanted to freeze (clock, mouse, cursor, everything). I had no BSOD or anything. I reformatted the HD a few times, partitioned, one part XP, the other 7. Still, it freezes. At first, it would only freeze when Windows wanted to run it's updates. So, I turned auto updates off. Then, it would just randomly freeze. I tried checking the Event Viewer but couldn't find anything that made sense to me.

XP runs fine. I do everything in XP: Visual Basic, my Real Estate software, Komodo, run multiple apps at one time, play games, whatever, it works. No freezing, nothing. I just don't get it. I don't have the PC IQ yet to figure it out. Heck, my girlfriend was playing Sims 3 on 7 for hours and it worked fine. Then I would run an app, browser, or anything and it would freeze 15 min. in, or 1 hour in.

Any ideas on how I can isolate the problem and fix this? I like 7. I really do want to give Windows another shot. Just tell me what I can do.

Right now, I have XP running on one partition and 7 on another.

All other specs should be included in my profile.

Thanks.

edit: i have updated the BIOS as of two weeks ago.

 

[nostar]

Will that work with having two partitions?

 

[nostar]

Did a clean boot per instructions. Tried to do Windows Update, same result: freeze.

Event viewer shows nothing happening at the time Win7 froze. There are also no conflicts or anything in the Device Manager.

Any other ideas?

 

[richc46]

Take the memory diagnostic test, type that term in search.
Using the task manager, make sure that all your memory is recognized.

From an adminstrator account type cmd in search. From cmd type sfc /scannow. This should find and correct small problems.

If that does not work try a repair install, boot from the Windows DVD and select repair.

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

Go to device manager make sure that all drivers are working properly.

Make sure that you have the most up to date drivers.

Test the OS with your Anti Virus and Firewall turned off.
A

 

[nostar]

I ran the Memory Diagnostic tool and it said that it did find errors. Is there any way to pull a log? How do I know what exactly is wrong?

 

[nostar]

As soon as I posted that a dialog box popped up saying "Your computer has a memory problem" How the heck do I figure out which RAM chip is bad?

 

[richc46]

I think that this is a good way to test. Im glad that we are beginning to get to the bottom of your problem.


How to diagnose bad RAM | Technibble

 

[nostar]

For kicks and giggles I ran the Resource and Performance Monitor and it didn't come back with any issues (except the fact that I have Windows Update disabled because that's what generally causes the freezes).

 

[richc46]

So, did the freezes begin when you turned off updates?

 

[nostar]

They originally started happening here and there when I would run the Windows update. I would need to do a hard reboot. After a while, I just reformatted the HD and started over. I would partition the drive and install XP first, then 7. I successfully ran Windows update for a while, the last time was back on 11/28, then it just started freezing again. I could run 7 fine, or so I thought, as long as I didn't do Windows update. Then, around Dec 1st or so, it decided to freeze after I closed Firefox, then another time when I was using IE, I think. It's running fine now, but if I decide to run an update, it will freeze.

 

[richc46]

They originally started happening here and there when I would run the Windows update. I would need to do a hard reboot. After a while, I just reformatted the HD and started over. I would partition the drive and install XP first, then 7. I successfully ran Windows update for a while, the last time was back on 11/28, then it just started freezing again. I could run 7 fine, or so I thought, as long as I didn't do Windows update. Then, around Dec 1st or so, it decided to freeze after I closed Firefox, then another time when I was using IE, I think. It's running fine now, but if I decide to run an update, it will freeze.

You indicate that the problem is usually present when you try to use windows update. Follow these instructions from MS. Hopefully things will begin to work better.
Before you make any of these changes make a system restore point, just in case.


"WindowsUpdate_8007273D" "WindowsUpdate_dt000 Windows 7 update error message.

These steps suggested by MS, are intended to correct corruption in the updating service. The steps apply equally to both your situation and to that mentioned in the bulletin.

You mentioned other freezes, once with IE and also on another ocassion. We have to work at one possible cause at a time, so we will start with Updates since the majority of freezes happend while it was in use.

In an earlier post you have been instructed to test most of the possible problems, which could be in the system.

I assume that you feel that the RAM is good based upon the second test. Use memory test diagnostic again. If you fail again, you may want to test the ram as I suggested.

 

[nostar]

Let Memtest run all night and this morning these are the errors:

-Tst: 7; Pass: 0; Failing Address: 0000c810e24/200.00MB; Good: 04b67135; Bad: 00b67135; Err-Bits: 04000000; Count: 1

-Tst: 4; Pass: 6; Failing Address: 0011f179dc8/4593.4MB; Good: ac272dc9; Bad: 8c272dc9; Err-Bits: 20000000; Count: 79

-Tst: 4; Pass: 7; Failing Address: 0000c810e24/200.00MB; Good: 7482d028; Bad: 7082d028; Err-Bits: 04000000; Count: 80


Obviously the second error is telling me that one of the sticks is bad. Now I just need to shut her down and take the one out that I think it is and boot her back up and see what happens. Am I right to think that it may even be the port itself on the mobo?

 

[richc46]

Let Memtest run all night and this morning these are the errors:

-Tst: 7; Pass: 0; Failing Address: 0000c810e24/200.00MB; Good: 04b67135; Bad: 00b67135; Err-Bits: 04000000; Count: 1

-Tst: 4; Pass: 6; Failing Address: 0011f179dc8/4593.4MB; Good: ac272dc9; Bad: 8c272dc9; Err-Bits: 20000000; Count: 79

-Tst: 4; Pass: 7; Failing Address: 0000c810e24/200.00MB; Good: 7482d028; Bad: 7082d028; Err-Bits: 04000000; Count: 80


Obviously the second error is telling me that one of the sticks is bad. Now I just need to shut her down and take the one out that I think it is and boot her back up and see what happens. Am I right to think that it may even be the port itself on the mobo?

The link that I sent shows how to test the ports, also.

 

[nostar]

Yeah, you're right. Since XP has been running fine, would the logical thing be that the second stick is bad? XP only uses up to 2GB RAM anyways.

Note: I didn't see your last post about the update. I'll try that now and see what happens.

 

[nostar]

Running as admin in the cmd window, I got all the way to initpki.dll and failed: "The module "initpki.dll" failed to load."

 

[richc46]

Yeah, you're right. Since XP has been running fine, would the logical thing be that the second stick is bad? XP only uses up to 2GB RAM anyways.

Note: I didn't see your last post about the update. I'll try that now and see what happens.

It would be a shame to get so close to a solution and we start to assume things. Lets go with the assumption either stick could be bad, but I do, unofficially, tend to agree with you.

 

[richc46]

I think it would be wise to stick with the memory problem for now. Check the sticks and the ports.

 

[nostar]

I'm reading online here that that file doesn't exist in Vista, which would lead me to assume that it wouldn't exist in 7 either.

 

[richc46]

I'm reading online here that that file doesn't exist in Vista, which would lead me to assume that it wouldn't exist in 7 either.

Windows 7 is Vista "Under the hood", so I would agree.

 

[nostar]

rebooting... Anything you suggest that I run first? Or should I just give the update a try right off the bat?