XP Freezing for a few minutes then works fine

[GuyEllis1988]

We have a number of machines on different sites which are all acting in odd ways.

They appear to be freezing for a few minutes and then acting as normal again.

I cannot open any new programs but can continue to work in the opened ones as if there are no problems.

I cannot open task manager either by start --> run --> taskmgr or ctrl + alt + delete --> task manager

When the machine un-freezes itself any instances of programs (including task manager) that I have tried to open in its locked stat all open at once.

We have had this issue occour at several different sites over the past 2 days. Both on AD domains and smaller offices with just workgroups.

All machines run Sophos Anti Virus and have no obvious abnormal processes running.

Help!

Thanks in advance.

 

[captaincrunch00]

The event logs dont have anything useful I am guessing?

Look for services that are in the Stopping or Starting phase and are just hanging...

Post any unusual events in the event logs. System and Application are all we care about.

 

[warnerpc]

I'm just going to throw this out there, but I had similar problem. It was actually with Adobe acrobat reader. When ever an employee opened a pdf it would launch their updater. It would cause the computer to lock up for a bit. The reason was because we block the port that the updater is trying to get out on and it just stops responding. The fix is just rename the updater. It is under program file/common files/adobe/updater/ - this is just from memory.

 

[GuyEllis1988]

captaincrunch00 - There is nothing in the event viewer of the machine I have just checked.

I will check on another machine this afternoon but i'm not hopefull.

WarnerPC - I dont think its anything to do with Acrobat - I am not touching and PDF files at all, they are also running version 8 with all the updates + I cant see the updater running in the background.

Thanks for your ideas so far.

 

[BadBigBen]

Also possible, DEP, the INDEXING Service and/or PREFETCH...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[wainwrightwt]

Has there been a solution to this issue?

I have experiencing the exact same thing on my work PC (home PC works fine). I got a new work PC about 1 month ago. It did go through a standard company install (so I'm not 100% sure what that entails), but I've been told it's just standard drivers, Symantec and Novell. Then I downloaded all Windows Updates and installed a few programs (Office 2007, VS.Net, etc.). Office '07 is the only thing I've never used before (hmmm...).

I've turned off all auto-update services, and stopped almost all programs from running at startup. The startup process actually seems fine.

The thing I've noticed most is that as soon as I start up a web browser (IE 6 or Firefox), applications will start to freeze. Also, in VS.Net, if I attempt to use intellisense. Otherwise, most applications will work fine. I'm even able to open up new applications while others are frozen. Only occasionally does the whole PC free (start menu, ctrl+alt+del, etc.). Then about 3-5 minutes later, everything un-freezes.

I'm about to attempt a re-install, but really don't want to. Please let me know if anybody has found a root cause. Thanks!

 

[khalidaaa]

What i'm gonna say might not solve the problem! but It seems that at this moment one of the resources is short! eight CPU or Memory or Disk or even paging space! I would suggest you guys first monitor the resources then identify which of the processes that hang the system when you run it! then think of either stop to use this program on that PC or upgrade the resource that had a hiccup by that time!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[BadBigBen]

@wainwrightwt - sounds like INDEXING and/or Prefetching...

to turn off Indexing see:

http://www.tweakxp.com/article37006.aspx

http://www.tweakxp.com/article36980.aspx

Disabling Prefetch:
1. run "regedit";
2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher];
3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("2" is recommended).
4. reboot.

a Boot Prefetch will speed up the BOOT process some... you can also test the other settings...









Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[tlcscousin]

Are the machines having the issues set for automatic windows updates? If so shut off automatic updates and restart and see if the issue reoccurs.

 

[linney]

Can you launch Task Manager at a time prior to freezing and have it show the processes running and watch which process is grabbing all the CPU cycles?

If it turns out to be Svchost have a look at this thread.

Automatic Updates using 100% CPU
thread779-1366048


xp freeze troubleshooting
thread779-935320

 

[khalidaaa]

Opps In my post i meant to say "either CPU or Memory or Disk or even paging space"!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[GuyEllis1988]

Hi, thanks for the updates on this all.

There were actually a combination of issues on these machines.

Firstly the SVCHOST / Updates client was causing issues. Upgrading to version 3 solved this (although it did take a long time to find that out!)

Secondly some of the machines were on an old samba domain (version 2 - emulates NT4) the machines were experiencing auto-enrollment errors which was causing the lockup. this wasnt noticed at first as all machines started cropping up with the same effects at a similar time.

- Thanks Again.

The fix for this is KB: 310461

 

[wainwrightwt]

Thank you for the replies.

I have tried the Indexing/Prefetch, but indexing was already turned off. I don't think prefetch will change much either, because it's not actually the boot process, it's an issue after the PC has loaded. I can wait 10 to 20 to 60 minutes after the PC has loaded, and I can still encounter this problem.

I previously stopped automatic windows updates thinking this could be a cause, but that didn't help.

As for CPU, memory, disk, or pagging, I'd have to check pagging but everything else is fine. This is a brand new, Duel Core Pentium with 2GB RAM and an 80 GB hard drive (and because the pc is new, the hard drive is not even close to full).

I have been able to launch Task Manager prior to applications freezing, and even durring some application freezing. It shows the frozen applications as "Not Responding" (all other applications are normal), but nothing else. PC usage is down to 1%, and RAM usage is very low. SVCHOST is not hogging resources. I'm not sure if there is anything else to check for.

As for upgrading SVCHOST, is this something I can do on my local PC, eventhough it's connected to a network? And if SVCHOST is not hogging resources, is this even an issue for me? If so, I will attempt that today.

I will also attempt to narrow down the issue, but that could take a couple of days, since this issue pretty much only happens the first time I open certain applications (IE, Firefox, intellisense for VS.NET, Not as often: Outlook).

Thanks for all the help, and hopefully something will work shortly.

 

[linney]

wainwrightwt,

It doesn't sound like Svchost, or Windows Updates, is a problem here, if it was the usual symptoms occur early on shortly after rebooting.

Have a look at this.

Computers that are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 and that are equipped with multiple processors that support processor power management features may experience decreased performance

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256

Check your Event Viewer for any other clues too.

 

[BadBigBen]

Just a notion, but worth a look, could it be that DEP is causing this?

More info:
A detailed description of the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) feature in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, and Windows Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875352

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[allywilson]

If you can, unplug from the network - see if the problem reoccurs. make sure you're not getting a network storm or that (don't use hubs - it's the 21st century!), might be worth getting ethereal / wireshark installed and monitoring the network that way. I've found that most hangs are generally network related.

Might also be worth checking to make sure your users aren't all using shared spreadsheets with loads of defunct threads.

Hope you can find the solution soon!

 

[wainwrightwt]

Well, I tried the "multi-processor" hotfix, and that didn't do anything.

I also looked into DEP, but I don't quite understand the different settings. The current setting is 'optin', and the only "lower" setting seems to be 'AlwaysOff'. Is that what I should try? Windows doesn't recomend it (not like that really bothers me).

I could try unplugging from the network, but the majority of my problems come from IE/Firefox crapping out. But VS.Net does seem to always freeze when I attempt to use intellisence, so I guess I can give it a shot.

Here is a detailed description of what I did this morning (and most mornings for that matter) in case anybody is interested:

--Yesterday before I left, I restarted the PC (I always do that instead of just logging off)

--This morning:
1. Logged on to PC
2. MS Communicator auto launched
3. Opened Outlook
4. Opened VS.Net
4.1 Opened project in VS.Net
5. Opened IE (opens to about:blank)
6. typed URL in address bar and hit enter key
6.1 IE froze (page did not load or even attempt to load yet)
7. Played around in VS.Net (no intellisence yet)
8. After about 30-60 seconds IE unfroze, and page loaded (this was pretty quick, I was excited)
9. Did some stuff in IE.
10. Opened Firefox (opens to google)
10.1 Firefox had some auto-updates, and then restarted
11. Attempted to open google mail in firefox
11.1 Firefox froze (google mail almost finished loaded)
12. Attempted intellisence in VS.Net
12.1 VS.Net froze
13. Went to IE (already opened from earlier)
13.1 Went to Tek-tips, and typed this message.
14. Firefox and VS.Net unfroze in about 5 minutes (maybe less, but I was busy typing this message, and wasn't looking at the time).

I appreciate all the help that has been given so far. If I don't find a fix by the end of the week, I'm going to do a re-install. But I'm happy to attempt anything up-till then. Thanks again.

 

[BadBigBen]

on one of my systems, I had run into similar probs when DEP was on the default level... even setting 'AllwaysOFF' did nothing, so I dug a bit deeper and found another switch that turns DEP off and used it

/EXECUTE
• This option disables no-execute protection. See the /NOEXECUTE switch for more information.

source:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/information/bootini.mspx

PS: This was recommended for certain P4 systems that experienced problems... as Software DEP is at times flaky... Hardware DEP only came into play with the Prescotts and later P4's... more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NX_bit

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[linney]

Have you tried using "Safe Mode with Networking" to see if it still freezes?

What about a different user from Normal Mode?

Is there anything in your Event Viewer?

 

[wainwrightwt]

Well, nothing yet, I tried setting Boot.ini to "/EXECUTE" (no change)

I can't disconnect from the network, because everything that is freezing depends on the network. Even VS.Net (which I initially thought didn't), I have to connect to TFS, because my project is on another server, so it does need the network.

Now for the event viewer...I only noticed one error message (multiple times though). Under "System", there was an error for starting "Remote Access Connection Manager Service" because the "Telephony" service was disabled. I set the Telephony service to manual, but so far, I don't think this did anything either.

Next up will be safe mode and a different user. I'll keep you all up to date.