Computer randomly freezes...

[thefatkid]

I hope someone can help me with this. I have a fairly old system P3 833Mhz. I just started doing this. I have run Antivirus, Spybot, Adaware, Defrag and Scandisk and haven't found anything. What happens is that the computer freezes for about 15-20 seconds than will run for about 15-20 seconds and continues to do this until I reboot where I get about 2 minutes of uninterrupted work before it starts this again. This is my wife's computer and if it isn't working she comes and uses mine which is not good. I have Comcast Internet. I have tried unpulling the internet for awhile and seeing if that makes a difference and that seems to work. I have started the modem a number of times and that doesn't make a difference. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I forgot to add something. REcently Windows stopped recognizing the CD-R and DVD drives. The device manager shows the correct hardward but My computer only shows both as a CD drive. EZ CD creator does not recognize the drive either. The DVD is a PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-115 and the CD-RW is Philips (I can't find teh part number) but it is original to the computer which is 4 years old. Thanks again.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: thefatkid
I hope someone can help me with this. I have a fairly old system P3 833Mhz. I just started doing this. I have run Antivirus, Spybot, Adaware, Defrag and Scandisk and haven't found anything. What happens is that the computer freezes for about 15-20 seconds than will run for about 15-20 seconds and continues to do this until I reboot where I get about 2 minutes of uninterrupted work before it starts this again. This is my wife's computer and if it isn't working she comes and uses mine which is not good. I have Comcast Internet. I have tried unpulling the internet for awhile and seeing if that makes a difference and that seems to work. I have started the modem a number of times and that doesn't make a difference. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I forgot to add something. REcently Windows stopped recognizing the CD-R and DVD drives. The device manager shows the correct hardward but My computer only shows both as a CD drive. EZ CD creator does not recognize the drive either. The DVD is a PIONEER DVD-ROM DVD-115 and the CD-RW is Philips (I can't find teh part number) but it is original to the computer which is 4 years old. Thanks again.

What do you mean 'I have started the modem a number of times and that doesn't make a difference'?

Do you have a hardware router between this PC and the internet?

Does this problem happen in safe mode?

Boot in safe mode, run MSINFO32, and do a FILE/SAVE and send me the NFO file.

Run MPS Reports (more details here: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=1359897&enterthread=y) and send me the .cab file that's made.

Thanks.

 

[eklass]

sounds like time for a format

 

[thefatkid]

What do you mean 'I have started the modem a number of times and that doesn't make a difference'?

I thought it might be the cable modem so I tried powering it down and restarting it to see if that fixed the problem but it didn't.

Do you have a hardware router between this PC and the internet?

No I don't have router just cable to modem to PC.

Does this problem happen in safe mode?

Haven't tried that yet will try tonight.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: thefatkid
Do you have a hardware router between this PC and the internet?
No I don't have router just cable to modem to PC.

Does this problem happen in safe mode?
Haven't tried that yet will try tonight.

Yikes! So it's possible that your PC is owned/exploited already. Get a router at a local computer / electronics store(or borrow one from a friend), and then set it up / attach to your cable modem, and then visit the Windows Update site, get all the updates, scan the machine for viruses (confirm you have the latest antivirus defs from your vendor) and then run Adaware 6 / Spybot 1.3 on the machine.

You do have strong passwords on all of the user accounts, including administrator, on the machine?

(And please grab that msinfo32 report in safe mode, plus the cab file from mps reports, and send my way.)

 

[thefatkid]

Are you really that worried? I have done the Norton, Adaware 6, and Spybot scans already. Should I run them again? I will get the msinfo32 report tonight when I get home and send it your way. Thanks for the help.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: thefatkid
Are you really that worried? I have done the Norton, Adaware 6, and Spybot scans already. Should I run them again? I will get the msinfo32 report tonight when I get home and send it your way. Thanks for the help.

Please do all the reports.

Well, if it happens when you're on the 'net, and not when you're not on the network, and your computer is sitting unprotected on the internet, then yes, there's possibly cause for concern.

Do you have all the latest Windows updates on the machine?

Another scan probably won't help much; if the machine is hacked, for example, it would be difficult to tell. Can you look and see if there are any user accounts on the box that you didn't put there? Do you have a strong password policy for all accounts, including administrator?

 

[thefatkid]

Right now I run ZoneAlarm Pro which seemed to help in the beginning I used that instead of a router/hardware firewall for ease of use. I have all the Windows updates on the computer. TAht is something I make sure I do, I know those are needed. I will definately run MSINFO32 and MPS reports tonight when I get home. I am running Windows ME at home I will check the user accounts as well. Thanks.

 

[dclive]

WinME. Oh; sorry - didn't catch that. OK; you can probably ignore most of that then, since it won't apply to ME. Someone else will be better able to assist with WinME; I haven't used the Win95 codebase in years.

Sorry....