Intermittent freezing on start up windows 7?

carling220

Senior member
Dec 16, 2011
225
0
76
Hi, wondered if anyone could offer any advice? Roughly once every 2-3 weeks, i'll turn the PC on, get to the desktop, the desktop will load, but if I click anything a loading circle occurs and the desktop freezes. Reading internet, i disabled some, and now all, the start up programs, as I thought something was taking a while. That worked for a while, but it happens again.

System restore works seemingly every fourth time. When i've system restored a few times it operates normally again for a while. But the first few system restores give the same result, a frozen PC!

The only thing that seems to start that I can't stop is geforce experience, so maybe it's to do with this?

Or could it be explained by something else? I will try running AVG, but didn't help the last 4 times it's done this. Any help appreciated.
 

HOSED

Senior member
Dec 30, 2013
658
1
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Do you have anything out of the ordinary in task scheduler library (adobe updater for instance)?
 

Matt1970

Lifer
Mar 19, 2007
12,320
3
0
Could be malware, could be HDD, could be a corrupted driver. Tough to diagnose a problem that only appears once every 2-3 weeks.
 

carling220

Senior member
Dec 16, 2011
225
0
76
Hi. Sorry delay. I will run Malware bytes first and check that. AVG didn't find anything though. Thanks, it's annoying when it happens.
 

carling220

Senior member
Dec 16, 2011
225
0
76
I am heart broken. I've spent 50 hours on a game, and system restore has restored the save to the day I restored the PC............

Can't believe it, properly gutted. Didn't think it did this? Other games are fine.
 

carling220

Senior member
Dec 16, 2011
225
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Because it's very helpful. I.e. My PC works again temporarily. It's just it never usually touches save games, except this one instance :(.
 

Matt1970

Lifer
Mar 19, 2007
12,320
3
0
Why would you even have system restore enabled?
Reinstall Windows.

So you can restore your computer back to before any problems arise. I have seen it fix many computers. It can save you from having to back-up your data and then spend countless hours re-installing and updating everything.
 

Mushkins

Golden Member
Feb 11, 2013
1,631
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So you can restore your computer back to before any problems arise. I have seen it fix many computers. It can save you from having to back-up your data and then spend countless hours re-installing and updating everything.

In all my years of experience, I have rarely seen system restore genuinely turn an unstable environment back into a stable, trustworthy environment without complications. More often than not it's a band-aid fix that invalidates most of the previously taken troubleshooting steps. On the rare occasion I use it, it's as a last ditch effort to get a system stable enough to recover license keys/backup pst files/etc before nuking it and reloading it.

I would never, ever hit system restore and carte blanche give the system back to the user, you're asking for it to blow up again in the near future. Not to mention if the issue was virus/malware caused, odds are it infected the restore points as well and an infection is still present.

The only reason I even leave it on is for that one in a million shot to get a system back to the point where I can recover data without pulling the drive and slaving it to a good PC.
 

Fardringle

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2000
9,197
763
126
System Restore is the easiest (and often the only) way to regain control of a system that is infested with a ransomware virus, or a system that is stuck in an endless reboot cycle due to a bad driver/software update. It's not a fix for every problem, but it's definitely not useless.
 

denis280

Diamond Member
Jan 16, 2011
3,434
9
81
In all my years of experience, I have rarely seen system restore genuinely turn an unstable environment back into a stable
Wrong! it is better to have it on.and wen OP want to install new stuff.he or she just create a restore point.then if it go wrong.just go back to that restore.and once in awhile create one when the system runs fine.
 

Matt1970

Lifer
Mar 19, 2007
12,320
3
0
In all my years of experience, I have rarely seen system restore genuinely turn an unstable environment back into a stable, trustworthy environment without complications. More often than not it's a band-aid fix that invalidates most of the previously taken troubleshooting steps. On the rare occasion I use it, it's as a last ditch effort to get a system stable enough to recover license keys/backup pst files/etc before nuking it and reloading it.

I would never, ever hit system restore and carte blanche give the system back to the user, you're asking for it to blow up again in the near future. Not to mention if the issue was virus/malware caused, odds are it infected the restore points as well and an infection is still present.

The only reason I even leave it on is for that one in a million shot to get a system back to the point where I can recover data without pulling the drive and slaving it to a good PC.

Well you just said it's a rare occasion that you actually use it. I have seen it fix many a computer. It is the easiest way to get rid of the ransomware as Fardringle mentioned. Absolutely I would still follow it up with the usual malware scans.
 

Steltek

Diamond Member
Mar 29, 2001
3,222
991
136
It probably would be a good idea to run some system diagnostics like a MEMTEST86+ session (i.e. memory corruption can cause file system corruption which in turn can lead to these types of issues with Windows) as well as a manufacturer hard drive diagnostic to ensure you don't have a failing hard drive.

Out of curiosity, are you seeing any errors in the Windows System or Application logs?
 

carling220

Senior member
Dec 16, 2011
225
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76
Do you have anything out of the ordinary in task scheduler library (adobe updater for instance)?

I've just found this, never knew about this option. A bit difficult to understand this menu, as the drop down when expanded has many many options. If I simply click task scheduler library part however, I do have adobe flash player updater. Along with google update task machine core and UA, sidebar execute(?), and one is just a string of random numbers and letters starts with 912B, then carries on with dashes(-) , 5 sets of figures?
 

carling220

Senior member
Dec 16, 2011
225
0
76
It probably would be a good idea to run some system diagnostics like a MEMTEST86+ session (i.e. memory corruption can cause file system corruption which in turn can lead to these types of issues with Windows) as well as a manufacturer hard drive diagnostic to ensure you don't have a failing hard drive.

Out of curiosity, are you seeing any errors in the Windows System or Application logs?

Thanks. I will look in to the Memtest and hard drive diagnostic as my next step. I will now try and find these logs, shouldn't take too long. I will edit this post.

edit: OK, in the event viewer(local). A lot of information, warnings and even errors(203 last 7 days). I have 8 criticals in the last 7 days, which I think it says are just my reboots when it crashes, kernel-power it says. Is there anything in the error list I should look out for specifically? Some of the errors listed I am unsure about what they are. MY issue was within the last 24 hours, and there are some errors within this time frame.

- steam client, WMI, application error and hang, and 6 from service control manager.

It says in this instance, steam failed to poke through firewall.
 
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