Comp freezes for a few seconds every so often

[mwolf00]

Sometimes my comp pauses/locks for a few seconds while it tries to execute a command. This may happen during a game, but it even happens when I have no applications running and I double click on "My Computer" or something like that. I have even noticed it happening when I have taken no action whatsoever.

While this is happening, I see the Hard Disc Access light come on and stay on. As I have said, the pause is usually about 2 seconds. I have increased my page file size, but it hasn't helped at all.

It's kinda frustrating...

Here's my system info:
OS - WIN 2K Pro (but I had same prob in WIN 98)
AMD Athlon XP 1900+
Asus A7V333 Raid133 Motherboard
256MB DDR266Mhz RAM
Maxtor D740X 40GB ATA133 IDE HardDrive
ATI Radeon 7500 64MB AGP Video Card
Pioneer 16X DVD ROM IDE
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mikewolf@tst-us.com

 

[ryan99]

Have you viewed the processes that are running when this happens? Do you have a virus scanner doing background scans?

 

[mwolf00]

I have looked at the processes and cannot find anything that records any time passing while this happens. My CPU load and memory do not change at all. I am not running a virus scanner (the PC is not online).

BTW - normal disk access is fast Get the Best Answers! faq333-2924
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mikewolf@tst-us.com

 

[braddds]

I've seen this in several machines...it can be anything from networking to the way a harddrive recalibrates (though this is usually found in older drives but not always). However, since this proble occured in both 98 and 2K I'd suspect hardware but that is not written in stone. Look to make sure that your drivers are all updated and that your bios is current. You may have to disable/uninstall hardware/software to get to the cause. Check to see if anyone else has experienced this problem with the same hardware and/or software.

Sometimes playing with system settings (tweaking) can stop this problem. Google search for tips and tweaks for win2000.

Also, did you fresh install w2k or upgrade over 98? If you upgraded then I'd fresh install w2k as the problem may have migrated over from 98.

good luck

 

[mwolf00]

Thanks braddds - I'm actually not sure if I did a fresh install or not. I believe I did (I seem to remember having to reload all of my files, but I'm not positive). I'm also pretty sure that I've updated all of my drivers (though it won't hurt to do it again). I'm afraid that is has something to do with my mobo or hdd. There really isn't any way to unistall them. I was just hoping that someone else has experienced this (and solved it). Get the Best Answers! faq333-2924
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mikewolf@tst-us.com

 

[smah]

Are you using any wireless networking? It seems like I've heard of this being related to some wireless networking components/drivers/firmware.

 

[PaulAlexander]

Hi,

I'll try to help if I can.
It appears to me that the locking of your Screen has to do with your ATI display drivers.
Try to refresh your ATI drivers or even update them if possible if the software game you're running is new!
Refreshing is usually done by reaching the "system" of your PC via right clicking & selecting "properties" of your "My Computer" desktop icon.
You can also find your "System" via the control panel>System>Device manager> expand the + of "display adapter" and double click the ATI driver & click "refreshing" or "update"

A question I like to ask you is to check the ammount of "VIRTUAL MEMORY" allocated in your HD. Have you set it manually? If Yes which is the size in MBytes allocated.

A quick way is to to lower the hardware acceleration of your Video card and see how the game is performing.

I hope these will help you but could you please include more details about your settings regarding the ATI card.
Good luck.

The first step of Learning is comprehending Ignorance
(One of the 7 wise men of the world 6th century BC)

 

[mwolf00]

Thanks for all of the responses.

I am not using wireless networking and it's not just my screen locking (at least I don't think so, since my HDD access light is on). As I said, the problem occurs not only during gaming, but also during very simple actions (opening notepad). As for the virtual memory allocated to my HD, I'll have to check this evening. I do not believe that I've set it manually.

You know how, from time to time, your computer accesses the HDD for an instant just do dump RAM or load some small thing and you don't even know why it's doing it? Some of those instances freeze for a second or two.

While gaming, the game continues while I'm not able to do anything. For instance, if I was panning right when it froze, I'll be all the way at the right edge of the screen when it unfreezes.

Of course, this also causes problems burning CDs - I've made more than my share of frisbees. Get the Best Answers! faq333-2924
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mikewolf@tst-us.com

 

[Futzpuppy]

There was an interesting discussion of a process that WinME
and WinXP goes through called "System Restore" in the InfoWorld newsmag "Window Manager" column by Brian Livingston.
Basically the system takes periodic memory dumps of the current system and stores them on disk so the system can go back to a previous version of the system. It is supposed to
limit the number of copies of previous versions kept out on disk. But, in some system builds this went wrong and the system just kept making more "System Restores" and over the
time of a few weeks the system lost a lot of disk space.
You can turn this "feature" off in the Windows ME and possibly in Windows XP. Windows ME - Click on
START, Settings, Control Panel, System, Performance, File System, Troubleshooting, Disable System Restore, OK.
You might also check some of the internet connections.
I found my LogiTech mouse product had installed a "backweb" process that was sending info about my web usage back to Logitech!
I also had a product called AD-Aware that was reporting
all of the "cookies" that were being posted by "Clicknet"
and other silent adworms on my system. This was necessary to help the Ad-Aware product in detecting and deleting them
from my system. Both of those products were causing system
"freeze" for several seconds.

 

[mwolf00]

Thanks futzpuppy -

I'm not running XP or ME, I have 2KPro which does not seem to have "system restore". I Guess that the best thing for me to do is to uninstall all programs except the most basic and uninstall all unnecessary hardware (argh!!!!!).

Is there any other way? My HUGE fear is that I do all of that and then I still don't fix my problem. Perhaps a shotgun is the easier answer... Get the Best Answers! faq333-2924
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mikewolf@tst-us.com

 

[smah]

See if there are any indexing services running. I know XP has a built in indexing service, so I'm guessing 2K does also. Also, are you using MS Office? - If so, is Find Fast running?

BTW, a shotgun is much too quick. A sledgehammer provides much more satisfaction.

 

[mwolf00]

Ooohh! I Like the sledgehammer idea. I'll have to check on the Find Fast... Get the Best Answers! faq333-2924
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mikewolf@tst-us.com

 

[icrf]

FindFast would have been my guess, but I think the lag spurts it causes run a little longer than two seconds. It's not some kind of power management thing where the disk is spinning down, is it? I wouldn't think so if this happens during a game or other event where it's sure to access the disk occaisionally. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...but I'm just a C man trying to see the light