R
RWhite
Well-known member
Hey King! Sorry I did not see your thread earlier, I don't wander in here very much anymore. I've been a PC tech for a couple of decades now, and I've seen some weird crashes & bugs, so maybe I can help a bit.
First, let me say that every idea I've seen put forward here is a good one and even if they ultimately didn't fix anything, I hope you have followed through in checking them all out.
And yes you should really have some anti-virus software in place. I second Malwarebyte as a great malware checker - you can find it at CNET's download.com, its always in the 10 ten downloads list - but its not really a full virus checker. I use Symantec (Norton) but anything is better than nothing.
From what you have written I doubt that either of the hard drives are themselves going bad. If they were you would have more problems. RAM problems can cause "freezing" but typically the machine stays locked up, it does not eventually "unfreeze". The same is true of a power supply that's going bad, or a CPU that is overheating.
From the possibilities remaining, I would suspect its a software problem. Probably a device driver relating to your motherboard and / or hard drive controller. I don't know how technically savy you are with PCs but since you were able to reload Windows XP, I suspect you must be OK. Here is where I think you should look next:
First, is the computer an "off-the-shelf" name brand model that you bought, or something that was custom built? Did it come with any CDs or drivers disks? What you are looking for are drivers & software for the motherboard itself. These are sometimes called "chipset" drivers. if you have a name brand PC like a Dell, these can be found on the manufacturers web site.
If its a custom PC, you need to figure out what brand & model the motherboard is. Then either track down the website for the board maker or look for a CD that may have come with the motherboard. It is always preferable to check the web first for drivers because you will find newer updated drivers there.
The reason to do this is that Operating systems like Windows XP come with generic drivers that work with a lot of systems, but may not be a perfect fit for every system. I have seen scenarios similar to what you have described that were fixed by replacing generic windows drivers with drivers specifically written for a piece of hardware.
The other change you should make is to go into Settings / Control Panel and adjust the power options. Make sure the "Turn Off Hard drives" and "System Standby" options are set to NEVER. Some of the newer "Green" hard drives take quite awhile to spin up and will cause the system to "freeze" while they do so. You also want to make sure that "Enable Hibernation" is set to OFF.
Let me know what you come up with, I will try to check this thread daily until you get it sorted out.
First, let me say that every idea I've seen put forward here is a good one and even if they ultimately didn't fix anything, I hope you have followed through in checking them all out.
And yes you should really have some anti-virus software in place. I second Malwarebyte as a great malware checker - you can find it at CNET's download.com, its always in the 10 ten downloads list - but its not really a full virus checker. I use Symantec (Norton) but anything is better than nothing.
From what you have written I doubt that either of the hard drives are themselves going bad. If they were you would have more problems. RAM problems can cause "freezing" but typically the machine stays locked up, it does not eventually "unfreeze". The same is true of a power supply that's going bad, or a CPU that is overheating.
From the possibilities remaining, I would suspect its a software problem. Probably a device driver relating to your motherboard and / or hard drive controller. I don't know how technically savy you are with PCs but since you were able to reload Windows XP, I suspect you must be OK. Here is where I think you should look next:
First, is the computer an "off-the-shelf" name brand model that you bought, or something that was custom built? Did it come with any CDs or drivers disks? What you are looking for are drivers & software for the motherboard itself. These are sometimes called "chipset" drivers. if you have a name brand PC like a Dell, these can be found on the manufacturers web site.
If its a custom PC, you need to figure out what brand & model the motherboard is. Then either track down the website for the board maker or look for a CD that may have come with the motherboard. It is always preferable to check the web first for drivers because you will find newer updated drivers there.
The reason to do this is that Operating systems like Windows XP come with generic drivers that work with a lot of systems, but may not be a perfect fit for every system. I have seen scenarios similar to what you have described that were fixed by replacing generic windows drivers with drivers specifically written for a piece of hardware.
The other change you should make is to go into Settings / Control Panel and adjust the power options. Make sure the "Turn Off Hard drives" and "System Standby" options are set to NEVER. Some of the newer "Green" hard drives take quite awhile to spin up and will cause the system to "freeze" while they do so. You also want to make sure that "Enable Hibernation" is set to OFF.
Let me know what you come up with, I will try to check this thread daily until you get it sorted out.
. We got rid of Norton, cleaned up his system, and he's been good ever since... 
