windows 98 freezes

[francophile]

My computer freezes at least 2 or 3 times/session. I have AMD K-6 450mhz, 128k RAM, 2 Hard drives 1gig and SCSI 3 gig. Windows 98 1st ed. What can I do to dignose the cause of the freezing up? I have to reboot and often the only way is to turn the power off and on. The scandisk blue screen is a familiar sight. Thanks for the help!

 

[Guest_imported]

Have you tried DrWatson ?

 

[Zelandakh]

First Aid is also a good way of diagnosing what is going wrong.

 

[SimonDavis]

There is a diagnostic tool on the Tweakui applet.

I'm not sure if it's avalable on 95, but for 98 do the following:

Go to the tools\reskit\powertoy folder on the 98 cd, right click 'tweakui.inf' and choose install.

The applet will appear in control panel. You can set it to write an application error log on the 'paranoia' tab.

It has lots of other interesting toys too . . .

 

[mradmin]

That problem, as you have guessed, could be caused by many hardware and/or software problems. The real troubleshooting starts when(and if) you can establish any patterns: do specific tasks seem more prone to this, are there any other indications of trouble. If this PC has been in use for a while, with no changes or upgrades, then hardware is more likely. From my experience, in order of likelyhood (is that a word?): 1) check the fan in the powersupply or on the cpu. If they stop or are running very slowly (due to dust, age, etc.) your system will overheat and can act very wierd or lock-up. 2) video card failure. 3) RAM failure or incompatible multiple modules. 4) bad AC - I've seen wiring problems that left fluctuating line voltages or no ground connection cause this problem. 5) bad power supply OR too many devices added to an inadequate one. 6) an improperly seated card or connector inside the case. This can happen following upgrades/changes, especially if the system was moved. There are more, of course. Let us know what is found. Other important data is: what video card, size of case, if "overclocked" cpu, recent mods, etc. good luck

 

[rtshort]

Lockups are the hardest thing to fix on a computer. They can be caused from software conflicts, or hardware.
On the hardware end first check your power supply fan. If its ok check the CPU fan. If all of those are ok the next step I'd take would be video. Upgrade to the latest driver and if that don't work try another video card.
On the software end, sometimes people don't notice but lockups related to software usually start after new software has been installed. If you just installed some software, try uninstalling it and running it like that a while. I have seen some software put icons in the systray and run unknowingly to you, and cause problems Try rebooting your computer and hitting "ctrl, alt, del" and ending task on everything but systray and explorer. If it is still locking up you probably have a hardware problem.

 

[linyo]

I've been trying to troubleshoot the same problem in my WIN98 1st-ed system for some time, and tried most of what's been suggested above. I tried replacing the video card, but that did not fix it. I noticed a pattern where it was locking up every time I received an e-card with music--the card would play most of the way through, then the sound would stick and Windows would lock. It would not soft boot, so I would have to use he power button. Last week I removed my sound card (I also removed Norton utilities/antivirus because several searches suggested it may cause similar problems). My system has not locked up since. I'm not sure which may have fixed the problem, so I may reinstall the sound card. For now, the problem seems to be fixed.

Linda

 

[rtshort]

If you reinstall the sound card and it locks up again, you'll know that's what it was. If it happens check the device manager, you may have a resource conflict. I personally don't like Norton Utilities. The Virus software is fine but I've seen the utilities cause a LOT of problems.
Good Luck ;-)
Every day above ground is a GOOD DAY!!!