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Computer freezes for seconds at a time

  • Thread starter Thread starter ET
  • Start date Start date
E

ET

Senior member
Over the past couple of days, my computer started freezing occasionally. It doesn't freeze completely, more like nothing can work. Programs don't upate, or new ones (like task manager won't come up). Sometimes it's possible to switch programs and perhaps set the cursor, but not type. It gets bad to the point that it's almost impossible to do anything. It's also not possible to restart Windows, because apparent shutdown has such huge pauses, too. Forching a computer reset and starting Windows from scratch does help.

Any idea what this may be or how I can diagnose it?
 
Open up task manager as soon as you boot windows. Monitor to see if anything starts hogging the cpu. Use Autoruns to see what is being loaded at starup. You could also run memtest to check your memory and take an actual look at your cpu heatsink and fan (dust).
You could also try booting to safe mode to see if the same thing happens.

unmerited
 
Thanks!

I suspect it's something that doesn't run on startup, because the computer can often work well for hours, only to then start freezing. Could be a hardware problem, of course.
 
Definately sounds like there is a background program causing the pauses. It could be anything from a printer device service to a tv tuner program. What programs do you typically run in the background?

Also, goto msconfig and under the services tab check the "hide all MS services" box. Any of the services left can be causing the problem. You can disable them one by one in services.msc (don't use msconfig to disable), and see if that helps,
 
BTW, should System Restore allow me to go back months? It shows October 2006, but the arrow back doesn't work. I wanted to see what programs I might have installed.
 
And thanks a lot guys for all the mentions of stuff. There are things like msconfig that I use rarely and forget about. (Probably will again...)
 
Okay, I have a good suspect now, my secondary hard disk. I noticed its partitions disappearing, and now even at boot it didn't show. Opened up and rewired things, and hopefully it'd stop doing that. (I really hope it's not anything more serious with it.)

This could certainly explain Windows freezing. It can do it even when there's an unrecognisable CD in the drive, so a disk disappearing will certainly give it pause, so to speak.

Let's hope things will quiet down now.
 
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