XP Pro keeps freezing!

[Starfury]

Ok, I'm out of ideas, and when I got XP, a friend referred me to this site for themes and stuff. Anyways, as the subject says, XP keeps freezing. It does it for no apparent reason.

Systems specs:

AMD Athlon 1.33 GHz
Abit KT7A-Raid
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum Internal
Hercules 3D Prophet II GTS 64 MB
Linksys NIC
Western Digital 7200 RPM 40 gig HD
NTFS format
DVD-ROM and CD-RW


I think that's about it. Please help!

 

[andy_rose]

hmm, not much to go on here..any particular time this happens?did u install something right before it started?

 

[Starfury]

No, it's been fairly steady... the reason there's not a whole lot to go on is I can't figure out what's triggering it (hence my frustration)

 

[andy_rose]

ok, so u didnt install anything around the time it first happend..
something familiar happend to me after a bad cd copy process. could not figure it out, so i just did a fresh xp install and it was all back to good. but then again, i reformat every other month or so anyway.

 

[Starfury]

lol ok. I'll try that tomorrow, since I'll have the whole weekend to tinker with it. Thanks! (and please don't stop posting suggestions!)

 

[jw50]

Have you tried checking the Event Viewer to see if it gives you any idea as to why it is freezing up on you?

 

[bheagle]

just a quick note... I had a similar problem.. it froze again and again and always doing diff things... I could not for the life of me figure it out... Then one day I got a Battery backed power source from a friend.. eve since I plugged it in ..I have been running Freezeless... I have a good idea I have dirty power here at my place, and the battery backup seems to stablize that.

Just a thought...

 

[Starfury]

Originally posted by bheagle
just a quick note... I had a similar problem.. it froze again and again and always doing diff things... I could not for the life of me figure it out... Then one day I got a Battery backed power source from a friend.. eve since I plugged it in ..I have been running Freezeless... I have a good idea I have dirty power here at my place, and the battery backup seems to stablize that.

Just a thought...

heh, I forgot about that whole "dirty power" thing.. Anybody know of a way to test this theory besides buying a UPS? Desktop space is sorely limited right now.

Originally posted by jw50
Have you tried checking the Event Viewer to see if it gives you any idea as to why it is freezing up on you?

Event viewer? Where? As mentioned, I'm new.

 

[bheagle]

several ways actually.. you can call the power company and have them check it for you..usually it's a free service depending on where you live, secondly if you have a multimeter you can check voltage, although this will not tell you the cycles, you can see if it drops below 115v most houses run 120 or so, but below 115 will cause problems.. have someone turn stuff on or off as you watch it... TV, LIGHTS etc...

By the way you dont need DESKTOP space for a battery backup.. it sits on the floor near the outlet just fine... Staples carries a low end unit for around $69.00

 

[Gib]

You may be experiencing driver issues with your Video Card and Sound Card.

When you freeze, are you playing a game? Have you loaded any theme programs - WindowBlind - WinStyle? Any of these may create graphic card problems.

Also, RAM could be a factor....

I would start with the Video Card and see if you have the newest driver for it. Also, if you have access to a different Video Card, I would swap it out. (Try a Different Brand - ATI , etc)

Next move on to the Sound Card. Pull it and see if you have any problems without the card.

Next, remove any theme programs, if you have them installed.

Finally, I would reduce your RAM down to one stick.

See if any of these makes a difference...if they do, we can go from there.

Gib

 

[evilhomer]

known issue

If I'm not mistaken the KT7-RAID has a Via chipset with 686B southbridge. Causes problems with SBlive. Pull the card and see what happens.

vid card is also a major possibility.

 

[Zerek]

Try deinstalling the HotFix with the number "Q317277" in the name. It worked for me after trying darn near everything.

 

[gonaads]

Re: known issue

Originally posted by evilhomer
If I'm not mistaken the KT7-RAID has a Via chipset with 686B southbridge. Causes problems with SBlive. Pull the card and see what happens.

vid card is also a major possibility.

The KT7-RAID has the 686A southbridge. The KT7A-RAID has the 686B southbridge . The 686a had problems but it's more likely to be vid drivers. But I would uninstall the HotFix with the number"Q317277" in the name first. I had same freezing screen prob after doing updates though it was the IE update. I rolled the system back then all was fine, reinstalled the "Q317277" serious error recovery update and it started freezing up again. Rolled back again and everything is great, even redid the IE update. Still tickin. I'm running KT7A-RAID (see below).

 

[Starfury]

Actually, I think I fixed it. The KT7A-Raid board has 4 IDE... 2 lower performance and two higher performance. I had the ATA 100 hard drive plugged into the lower performance, so I moved it, and the only time I have a problem now is when I run Norton Speed Disk 2002. Oh well, normal defrag will do

 

[bheagle]

someday someone fill actually inform people of using Nortons in an XP or 2000 System is DANGEROUS!!!

I have a computer Repair business, and of all my housecalls 85% have to do with fixing something that NORTONS messed up...

Oh well.. guess thats another thread....

 

[Lonman]

Originally posted by bheagle
someday someone fill actually inform people of using Nortons in an XP or 2000 System is DANGEROUS!!!

I have a computer Repair business, and of all my housecalls 85% have to do with fixing something that NORTONS messed up...

Oh well.. guess thats another thread....

Norton and Roxio... phhhhhtttt!!! Now we get to hear how 'good' they are. Save ur breath guys, my experience with both is BAD and I don't trust either one in XP. I used to really like Norton too, no more.

 

[Sazar]

lol weird how love changes.

I love norton, still do.

works great for me with win2k, but since I upped to winxp, I have been saving for the 2002 version coz norton 2001 SUCKS with winxp

I can't go spending money on these things.

btw, does anyone else out here think compaq computers are trash?

 

[bheagle]

Compaq is AWESOME if you need to hold your front door open... they weigh just enough to be used as anchors too...

 

[eGoalter]

hmm

personally i think norton has problems on xp mainly if your in the
ntfs file system......it seems to run just fine on a fat 32.........

 

[ModestCargo]

I'm running Norton AntiVirus 2002 and it works fine. And, yes, Compaq computers suck, because they are hard to upgrade.
Go and get yourself a Dell, dude.