PC Freezes - under 2 circumstances

[Tigger_Geek]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me with a really annoying problem. I've had my
main PC for about four years with no problems. I run XP Home Edition and it
has been very stable, but in the last couple of weeks it has started freezing
when I'm using it (which is normally using IE7) or when just left running on
its own. As a precaution I started copying "My Documents" to an external
drive but it was freezing up part way through the process. I noticed that it
seemed to be failing with the same file every time I tried, so I tried to
look at the file and, would you believe it, it froze again!

So, it freezes on a more or less random basis and it freezes consistently
when I try to access certain files (it happened with JPEG and WMA files).
This suggests to me that there are some corrupt files and that XP is having
trouble handling them. However, if this is true, I don't know if the
corruption was caused by the freezing in the first place (which I could only
resolve with a power off) or if the corruption is the route cause of the
freezes. Interestingly, I have another account set up for my wife and I
haven't had the freeze problem when using that, even for extended periods.

I've tried Norton Disk Doctor and Checkdisk and they don't identify any
issues. I've also tried both Norton One Button Check-Up and PC Optimize tests
and they haven't identified anything significant that they couldn't resolve -
but still to no avail.

Can anyone please suggest what I should do to get this problem fixed?

Thanks in advance,

Michael.

[Ghostrider]

Tigger_Geek wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm hoping someone can help me with a really annoying problem. I've had my
> main PC for about four years with no problems. I run XP Home Edition and it
> has been very stable, but in the last couple of weeks it has started freezing
> when I'm using it (which is normally using IE7) or when just left running on
> its own. As a precaution I started copying "My Documents" to an external
> drive but it was freezing up part way through the process. I noticed that it
> seemed to be failing with the same file every time I tried, so I tried to
> look at the file and, would you believe it, it froze again!
>
> So, it freezes on a more or less random basis and it freezes consistently
> when I try to access certain files (it happened with JPEG and WMA files).
> This suggests to me that there are some corrupt files and that XP is having
> trouble handling them. However, if this is true, I don't know if the
> corruption was caused by the freezing in the first place (which I could only
> resolve with a power off) or if the corruption is the route cause of the
> freezes. Interestingly, I have another account set up for my wife and I
> haven't had the freeze problem when using that, even for extended periods.
>
> I've tried Norton Disk Doctor and Checkdisk and they don't identify any
> issues. I've also tried both Norton One Button Check-Up and PC Optimize tests
> and they haven't identified anything significant that they couldn't resolve -
> but still to no avail.
>
> Can anyone please suggest what I should do to get this problem fixed?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Michael.

For starters, go into Control Panel and click on Administrative Tools.
In Tools, open Event Viewer. Are there any errors or warnings in either
the System Log or Application Log?

[Malke]

Tigger_Geek wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm hoping someone can help me with a really annoying problem. I've had my
> main PC for about four years with no problems. I run XP Home Edition and it
> has been very stable, but in the last couple of weeks it has started freezing
> when I'm using it (which is normally using IE7) or when just left running on
> its own. As a precaution I started copying "My Documents" to an external
> drive but it was freezing up part way through the process. I noticed that it
> seemed to be failing with the same file every time I tried, so I tried to
> look at the file and, would you believe it, it froze again!
>
> So, it freezes on a more or less random basis and it freezes consistently
> when I try to access certain files (it happened with JPEG and WMA files).
> This suggests to me that there are some corrupt files and that XP is having
> trouble handling them. However, if this is true, I don't know if the
> corruption was caused by the freezing in the first place (which I could only
> resolve with a power off) or if the corruption is the route cause of the
> freezes. Interestingly, I have another account set up for my wife and I
> haven't had the freeze problem when using that, even for extended periods.
>
> I've tried Norton Disk Doctor and Checkdisk and they don't identify any
> issues. I've also tried both Norton One Button Check-Up and PC Optimize tests
> and they haven't identified anything significant that they couldn't resolve -
> but still to no avail.
>
> Can anyone please suggest what I should do to get this problem fixed?

Since the problem doesn't occur in your wife's account, it is unlikely
to be a hardware problem. Back up your data from your wife's account and
create a new user account for yourself. If that works, then copy your
data to it and delete your old account.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

[Rock]

"Tigger_Geek" wrote
> Hi,
>
> I'm hoping someone can help me with a really annoying problem. I've had my
> main PC for about four years with no problems. I run XP Home Edition and
> it
> has been very stable, but in the last couple of weeks it has started
> freezing
> when I'm using it (which is normally using IE7) or when just left running
> on
> its own. As a precaution I started copying "My Documents" to an external
> drive but it was freezing up part way through the process. I noticed that
> it
> seemed to be failing with the same file every time I tried, so I tried to
> look at the file and, would you believe it, it froze again!
>
> So, it freezes on a more or less random basis and it freezes consistently
> when I try to access certain files (it happened with JPEG and WMA files).
> This suggests to me that there are some corrupt files and that XP is
> having
> trouble handling them. However, if this is true, I don't know if the
> corruption was caused by the freezing in the first place (which I could
> only
> resolve with a power off) or if the corruption is the route cause of the
> freezes. Interestingly, I have another account set up for my wife and I
> haven't had the freeze problem when using that, even for extended periods.
>
> I've tried Norton Disk Doctor and Checkdisk and they don't identify any
> issues. I've also tried both Norton One Button Check-Up and PC Optimize
> tests
> and they haven't identified anything significant that they couldn't
> resolve -
> but still to no avail.
>
> Can anyone please suggest what I should do to get this problem fixed?

Here are some links to help you with the creation of the new account and
copying data from your old account to the new. Make sure you login to the
new account at least once before trying to do the copy.

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=279783

How to Copy a User Profile
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_logon.htm

Last point, when a system starts to experience problems is not the time to
be thinking, oh I need to backup. There should always be a full and
complete backup of important data at all times. What if the next time you
turned on the computer the drive crashes with no warning? Are you prepared
for that? Data loss with computers is an issue of when, not if.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

[Tigger_Geek]

"Tigger_Geek" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm hoping someone can help me with a really annoying problem. I've had my
> main PC for about four years with no problems. I run XP Home Edition and it
> has been very stable, but in the last couple of weeks it has started freezing
> when I'm using it (which is normally using IE7) or when just left running on
> its own. As a precaution I started copying "My Documents" to an external
> drive but it was freezing up part way through the process. I noticed that it
> seemed to be failing with the same file every time I tried, so I tried to
> look at the file and, would you believe it, it froze again!
>
> So, it freezes on a more or less random basis and it freezes consistently
> when I try to access certain files (it happened with JPEG and WMA files).
> This suggests to me that there are some corrupt files and that XP is having
> trouble handling them. However, if this is true, I don't know if the
> corruption was caused by the freezing in the first place (which I could only
> resolve with a power off) or if the corruption is the route cause of the
> freezes. Interestingly, I have another account set up for my wife and I
> haven't had the freeze problem when using that, even for extended periods.
>
> I've tried Norton Disk Doctor and Checkdisk and they don't identify any
> issues. I've also tried both Norton One Button Check-Up and PC Optimize tests
> and they haven't identified anything significant that they couldn't resolve -
> but still to no avail.
>
> Can anyone please suggest what I should do to get this problem fixed?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Michael.

Guys,

I've had a look in the event viewer and I have a lot of Event 51 warnings -
which appears to suggest a potential harddisk problem. I also have a
relatively small number of Event 10005 Errors, which I'll have to look into
in more detail.

Rock, you are absolutely right to chastise me! I actually do have back-ups
but they are not 100% up to date and, worse still, I haven't tested my
ability to recover with them. I need to become more disciplined. Ironically,
I am an IT professional and would never allow one of my users to fall into
this trap!

I will try setting up the new account and deleting the old one - anything to
get back to normal!

Thanks,

Michael