Strange system freezes

[idlestone]

My computer is locking up just about all the time.&nbsp;&nbsp;I don't even have to launch a program.&nbsp;&nbsp;If I reboot and just let it sit long enough, usually within an hour it will lock up.&nbsp;&nbsp;I can go hours without a lockup then out of the blue...<br><br>The lock ups cannot be CTRL-ALT-DEL'ed, keyboard and mouse freezes up&nbsp;&nbsp;If it freezes when I am running the TV tuner the picture continues to play just no mouse, keyboard, etc...<br><br>Nortons Utilities did not find or fix the problem, and now that I have uninstalled NU, Windows no longer runs scan disk on startup if the system crashes.<br><br>I have such programs as FrontPage2000, Access2000, Word97, Personal Web Server,Windows98, IE5.1, MTS, Visual C++, DX7.1(i think)etc...<br><br>Any help or direction would be appreciated.<br><br>TKS<br><br>Mark Spencer

 

[fenris]

So basicaly the computer freezes at random, at any application or just on it's own. This sounds to me like a heat problem. Open the computer case and turn the computer on, is the fan on the cpu running? if it is not the you need to replace it. If it is you could try leaving the case off the unit and maybe have a small fan blowing into the unit and see if this helps. If it does then you may need to install another fan in the case to help circulate the air.<br><br>Thats just my 2 cents....<br><br> <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[Karl Blessing]

perhaps power management problems? like shutting off the monitor, or going into suspend? <p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.8m.com>kb244@kb244.8m.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.8m.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

 

[paulovey]

Do you ever get the infamous Fatal Execption OE screen, if you do take a note of the memory address it will something like 0034:937803957&nbsp;&nbsp;or the like.<br><br>If the numbers before the &quot;:&quot; are the same you want to look at reseating or swappinh out the memory.<br><br>It may be an idea just to swap the memory around anyway <p>Paul Ovey<br><a href=mailtoaul.ovey@avenue-legal.co.uk>paul.ovey@avenue-legal.co.uk</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[idlestone]

Hey, Thanks for the posts.&nbsp;&nbsp;I will try opening up the case but I question that the problem is heat based on the fact that I have a TNT2 card,two voodoo2 cards and a tv tuner card that put out quite a bit of heat and I can generally game or capture video for hours.&nbsp;&nbsp;No &quot;Blue screens of death&quot; I have turned power management to never, even turned it off within CMOS setup.<br><br>It's like as long as I'm launching programs, working, closing programs, it usually stays working (not always though)<br><br>This is not for certain, but it seems that the computer access the hard drive right before crash, like something running in the background is hanging.&nbsp;&nbsp;The only direction I know to go is to look into Microsoft Transaction Server.&nbsp;&nbsp;Maybe it is seeing programs running on my machine as transactions, and is timing out...Hell, I'm reaching here <br><br>If I didn't have over 12gig of programs and data, I would just reinstall.<br><br>Idlestone (name changed to 'reboot' till further notice)

 

[fenris]

Transaction server? what O/S are you running? <p> fenris<br><a href=mailto:fenris@hotmail.com>fenris@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>

 

[Ed5785]

Try using ALT + CTRL + DEL and stop the&nbsp;&nbsp;POWER SAVING process.&nbsp;&nbsp;I have the same problem on my IBM APTIVA running Win98SE.&nbsp;&nbsp;This works for me, but it is a bother to have to do it each time the pc is started.&nbsp;&nbsp;I too set my power management to never and disabled in the cmos, but have this process run at powerup anyway.<br><br>Ed&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

 

[idlestone]

I am running Windows98, but Microsoft Personal Web Server, which I use in web programming, installs Microsoft Transaction Server.<br><br>The only things showing on CTRL-ALT-DEL are:<br><br>Explorer<br>V38Shell (videocard program)<br>Rexproxy<br>Point32 (mouse)<br>Systray<br>PWSTray (Personal Web Server)<br><br>Reboot

 

[nspeer]

Idlestone (if you are still out there),
Did you ever get your freezing problems fixed? I have the exact same problem and it is driving me mad!
any help would be appreciated.
Neil

 

[jomarikida]

Maybe its a RAM (hardware) problem. They say that when a PC freezes intermittently (anyhow, anytime) then something might be wrong with the memory modules.

 

[scranman]

By the sounds of it it could be heat. What processor are you runnning. Ifit is a pentium they dont blow but they can lock the machine up! Could be judging by what it seems you do on the machine.

 

[mgkmark]

Go to Ontrack.com and get the trial Data Advisor software... then run a full scan on your harddrive.
You may have a damaged partition as this is one of the symptoms

 

[nspeer]

Well, upon the advice of mgkmark, I downloaded Data Advisor software and tested my 512 of RAM. It passed. Interestingly, I then tested each 256 chip individually with Norton Systemworks and it Failed! I then took those out and tested a spare 128 chip I had. It passed Norton (as it did Data Advisor)!
Weird...
Anyway, I don't think it's a memory problem.
Any other suggestions?
Neil