continued freeze-up problem

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

I figured I'd give myself one last shot at this.

About a month ago my computer started freezing up. It wouldn't reboot with
ctrl/alt/delete. I had to manually turn it off and then on.

I had recently installed Registry Mechanic and TurboTax. I have since
uninstalled those programs. I still had problems. I am fastidious about
running Scandefrag, Adaware, Spybot, and PCcillin (my antivirus/firewall
program). Up until today I had no problem running the above but this morning
both the virus scan and spybot locked the computer up. I couldn't even
finish the virus scan in safe mode. Adaware was able to complete it's run
and found no spyware.

I took the tower to a repair shop last week and they said it was SETI@home
program. They uninstalled it and the locking up happens less frequently but
still happens as evidenced by the above paragraph.

Possibly related...if I have my monitor set to power down after x number of
minutes...it does but it won't come back on unless I manually reboot. This
is only in the last week.

So what the f*$@^% is going on. Hardware, software? Power resources problem?
There is lots of memory available. Yes, I use windows ME. This computer is 4
years old and until now it's been fine. I am looking at Dell's catalog but
thought I'd let you guys have at it. What would you do? As a last resort,
would you wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall everything? Or just buy a
new computer?

Sorry for the long post.
Any input is much appreciated.

Bonnie in NJ

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Bonnie Jean, this could be a hardware issue, or could be "clogged arteries"
on your Windows installation. The possible causes are quite numerous. The
fact that removing SETI@home (and the extensive file caching it can do)
reduced the problem makes it much more likely that these problems can be
fixed.

Some years back I worked out a series of steps for overall "computer health"
that tend to havea very positive effect on clogged systems. I recommend you
work through all the steps that you haven't already done:
http://aumha.org/a/health.htm

If that doesn't solve it, then I suggest the following list of general
Windows troubleshooting steps: http://aumha.org/a/tshoot.htm - If you do
these, please give us feedback on what steps you do (since not all apply to
all computers), what results if any you get, and also the answers to the
questions asked in the list.

Thanks.


--
Jim Eshelman, MS-MVP Windows Shell/User, Windows Security
Windows Support Center: http://aumha.org/
AumHa Forums: http://aumha.net/
(Alex Nichol, 1935-2005. Friend, mentor, collaborator. Deeply missed
already. Rest in peace.)


Bonnie Jean wrote:
> I figured I'd give myself one last shot at this.
>
> About a month ago my computer started freezing up. It wouldn't reboot
> with ctrl/alt/delete. I had to manually turn it off and then on.
>
> I had recently installed Registry Mechanic and TurboTax. I have since
> uninstalled those programs. I still had problems. I am fastidious
> about running Scandefrag, Adaware, Spybot, and PCcillin (my
> antivirus/firewall program). Up until today I had no problem running
> the above but this morning both the virus scan and spybot locked the
> computer up. I couldn't even finish the virus scan in safe mode.
> Adaware was able to complete it's run and found no spyware.
>
> I took the tower to a repair shop last week and they said it was
> SETI@home program. They uninstalled it and the locking up happens
> less frequently but still happens as evidenced by the above paragraph.
>
> Possibly related...if I have my monitor set to power down after x
> number of minutes...it does but it won't come back on unless I
> manually reboot. This is only in the last week.
>
> So what the f*$@^% is going on. Hardware, software? Power resources
> problem? There is lots of memory available. Yes, I use windows ME.
> This computer is 4 years old and until now it's been fine. I am
> looking at Dell's catalog but thought I'd let you guys have at it.
> What would you do? As a last resort, would you wipe the hard drive
> clean and reinstall everything? Or just buy a new computer?
>
> Sorry for the long post.
> Any input is much appreciated.
>
> Bonnie in NJ

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Just out of curiosity, have you recently downloaded the KB891711 from the
Windows Update site? I have had numerous "freeze-ups" since I did. See the
thread on that update. It didn't do things to order - they seemed quite
random at times - but all since that download.
Hillneerg

"Jim Eshelman" wrote:

> Bonnie Jean, this could be a hardware issue, or could be "clogged arteries"
> on your Windows installation. The possible causes are quite numerous. The
> fact that removing SETI@home (and the extensive file caching it can do)
> reduced the problem makes it much more likely that these problems can be
> fixed.
>
> Some years back I worked out a series of steps for overall "computer health"
> that tend to havea very positive effect on clogged systems. I recommend you
> work through all the steps that you haven't already done:
> http://aumha.org/a/health.htm
>
> If that doesn't solve it, then I suggest the following list of general
> Windows troubleshooting steps: http://aumha.org/a/tshoot.htm - If you do
> these, please give us feedback on what steps you do (since not all apply to
> all computers), what results if any you get, and also the answers to the
> questions asked in the list.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> --
> Jim Eshelman, MS-MVP Windows Shell/User, Windows Security
> Windows Support Center: http://aumha.org/
> AumHa Forums: http://aumha.net/
> (Alex Nichol, 1935-2005. Friend, mentor, collaborator. Deeply missed
> already. Rest in peace.)
>
>
> Bonnie Jean wrote:
> > I figured I'd give myself one last shot at this.
> >
> > About a month ago my computer started freezing up. It wouldn't reboot
> > with ctrl/alt/delete. I had to manually turn it off and then on.
> >
> > I had recently installed Registry Mechanic and TurboTax. I have since
> > uninstalled those programs. I still had problems. I am fastidious
> > about running Scandefrag, Adaware, Spybot, and PCcillin (my
> > antivirus/firewall program). Up until today I had no problem running
> > the above but this morning both the virus scan and spybot locked the
> > computer up. I couldn't even finish the virus scan in safe mode.
> > Adaware was able to complete it's run and found no spyware.
> >
> > I took the tower to a repair shop last week and they said it was
> > SETI@home program. They uninstalled it and the locking up happens
> > less frequently but still happens as evidenced by the above paragraph.
> >
> > Possibly related...if I have my monitor set to power down after x
> > number of minutes...it does but it won't come back on unless I
> > manually reboot. This is only in the last week.
> >
> > So what the f*$@^% is going on. Hardware, software? Power resources
> > problem? There is lots of memory available. Yes, I use windows ME.
> > This computer is 4 years old and until now it's been fine. I am
> > looking at Dell's catalog but thought I'd let you guys have at it.
> > What would you do? As a last resort, would you wipe the hard drive
> > clean and reinstall everything? Or just buy a new computer?
> >
> > Sorry for the long post.
> > Any input is much appreciated.
> >
> > Bonnie in NJ
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

I had downloaded KB891711. So I uninstalled it. Problem still occurs.

I stopped running my active desktop wallpaper to see if that helps. Seems to
a bit but that may be my imagination.

I can always replicate this hanging by doing a virus scan with my PCcillin.
Although it happens at other times too. And it hangs in safe mode as well.
So according to Jim's troubleshooting article, this is most likely a
hardware issue. What could be similar about SETI and my virus scan????

Just for the heck of it I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic and it hung on
WMATS+ (tried to run it twice and hung on that both times).

Jim, I went through your PC Health article and troubleshooting one. Is there
any sort of diagnostic tool for me to try to figure out where the hardware
problem lies?

I think I am headed for a new computer, no?

Bonnie

"Hillneerg" <Hillneerg@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E859CAC4-3A6F-463B-B2DB-73CDB17B2974@microsoft.com...
Just out of curiosity, have you recently downloaded the KB891711 from the
Windows Update site? I have had numerous "freeze-ups" since I did. See the
thread on that update. It didn't do things to order - they seemed quite
random at times - but all since that download.
Hillneerg

"Jim Eshelman" wrote:

> Bonnie Jean, this could be a hardware issue, or could be "clogged
arteries"
> on your Windows installation. The possible causes are quite numerous. The
> fact that removing SETI@home (and the extensive file caching it can do)
> reduced the problem makes it much more likely that these problems can be
> fixed.

 

[vinCe]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

Bonnie Jean wrote:
> I had downloaded KB891711. So I uninstalled it. Problem still occurs.
>
It may still be in your startup programs. May be some repetition below...

KB891711 places a program KB891711.EXE in the Startup programs list,
unlike most Windows patches which become part of the system. It seems
that Add/Remove might not do the job correctly.

Then the remedy is to remove KB891711 from the startup list by using
Start, Run, type 'msconfig' (no quotes) then OK. In the Startup tab
untick KB891711 and resart the system.

Unfortunately a reminder pops up every time the PC starts if KB891711 is
not removed from the list. The easiest way to do this, without using
msconfig at all, is to install the free tool Winpatrol from
www.winpatrol.com

Vince

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsme.general (More info?)

No luck Vince. KB891711 is not in Startup. I don't get the reminder pop-up
because I disabled the automatic update....for now at least.

Bonnie

"Vince" <idont@accept.spam> wrote in message
news:42346c88$0$12815$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com...
Bonnie Jean wrote:
> I had downloaded KB891711. So I uninstalled it. Problem still occurs.
>
It may still be in your startup programs. May be some repetition below...

KB891711 places a program KB891711.EXE in the Startup programs list,
unlike most Windows patches which become part of the system. It seems
that Add/Remove might not do the job correctly.

Then the remedy is to remove KB891711 from the startup list by using
Start, Run, type 'msconfig' (no quotes) then OK. In the Startup tab
untick KB891711 and resart the system.

Unfortunately a reminder pops up every time the PC starts if KB891711 is
not removed from the list. The easiest way to do this, without using
msconfig at all, is to install the free tool Winpatrol from
www.winpatrol.com

Vince