XP Pro hangs after first or second process begun

[mwidner]

Sorry about the subject. This is one that I cannot quite figure. I've search the FAQ's and could not find anything that matched.

I am helping to "fix" a Dell running XP Pro. The PC is attached to a secure network, although it can access any internet sites. It has multi users and out of the blue it is doing some of the following things.

The machine boots up just fine. Once it is booted, you may go to an internet site, and then when connecting to another link, the machine will not respond anymore Ctrl-Alt-Delete comes up, but it will not stop the process.

Or... boot up, go into the disk cleanup utility and after it starts, in a few moments, it stops responding. Again, Ctrl-Alt-Delete sometimes come sup, but the process cannot be stopped, or it does not come up at all.

I don't have a great deal of experience with XP, but this is one I've never seen. You get the feeling that something is dreagging it down. If I go right into the task manager and lok at the proceses, there is nothing out of the ordinary. there does not seem to be any large CPU hogging.

I have not tried anything in safe mode yet, but I am logging on as administrator.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Michael

 

[shatch]

Quite possibly a hardware conflict, has this problem started since adding some new hardware or changing the config of some existing hardware?

 

[mwidner]

No new hardware. The multi users are classified as power users. I doubt if they know how to get to anything, however. Thanks...

 

[gpalmer711]

Download the "Hijack This" software from

http://www.tomcoyote.com/hjt

This will allow you to see exactly what is starting both when you start windows and IE.

If you need help with the log it creates either post the log here or look at faq779-5240

If you are happy that everything is clean then try the following.

Start > Run > Type "sfc /scannow" (without quotes) and click ok.

This will check your system for any missing or corrupt system files.

Greg Palmer
Free Software for Adminstrators

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk