Computer freezing- usually with IE

[billybee]

Hello. Lately I've had an intermittent problem with my PC freezing- locking up. Usually it happens when I'm browsing with IE (v6.0)- it seems usually right after clicking a link or otherwise loading a page. It did happen once when syncing some offline files. When it happens there's nothing to do but reboot. Ctrl/Alt/Del won't bring up Task Mgr- nothing but a reset will free it. I'm using W2K Pro- one program shouldn't cause the whole system to crash. I suspect a hardware problem? The drive is a Maxtor set up on the Promise ATA 100 controller which the system calls a SCSI device. There is another Maxtor on the primary IDE controller but W2k is on a partition on the other drive.
I have 512 MB SDram, AMD T-Bird 1 Ghz proc, ASUS A7-V mobo.
After this happens in Event Viewer I always get an error message saying "configuring page file for crash dump failed- make sure the pagefile is on the boot partition and is large enough for all memory- the page file is 1152MB and is on the boot part.
Any ideas appreciated.
Thanks. Bill B
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[drumdip]

Do you use IBM personal Communications (Mainframe emulator) ? at work?

 

[SoulAssassin]

Good question...try swapping out the RAM and/or check out your virtual memory settings. I have seen blue screens and freezing in win2k with bad ram.

 

[billybee]

Thanks for your reply.
As I mentioned, the virtual memory (pagefile) is set at 1152 MB (2 X 512 + 128). The RAM passes the memory test OK- I don't have an extra 512 MB laying around to swap it out with so I guess it will have to become more of a problem before I go buy some more and go that route. I'm not getting a blue screen- it just freezes.

I don't use IBM personal Communications (mainframe emulator) at work.

Bill B
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[Catadmin]

Have you checked to make sure you have the latest version of IE6.0? Microsoft has been finding a lot of problems with it lately that they've been patching.

Also, do a virus scan. Make sure you haven't accidently downloaded something nasty.

Finally, check your protocols. They may be interfering with TCP/IP if you have too many of them.

Catadmin - New to Server Admin, but willing to learn... All help is appreciated.

 

[billybee]

Hello. I believe the problem turned out to be an overheating processor. I had it happen with the screensaver on after I posted the original post so I ruled out IE. I checked the proc temp (Athlon T-Bird 1GHZ) with the mobo diag program and it was 147-149 degrees F. Uh oh! Ran down to the comp store and got a new fan/heatsink and exhaust fan for the case.. When I took the old heatsink/fan off and put on the new one- it wouldn't boot at all. Went and bought a new proc- and so far no problems.
Thanks for all the replies.
Bill B Bill B
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[ceh4702]

could be a memory leak. This often is the cause of a program crashing for no apparent reason.

This can be hard to diagnose. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.