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Programs randomly freezing

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johndrew
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Posted September 18, 2011 at 12:21PM

Something I have not seen in these Forums or experienced.

In the past three days I have had various programs freeze (Not Responding) for no apparent reason. They include Firefox, Outlook Express and Malwarebytes; this latter during an update, the others during normal use.

The only updates I have done recently are those to update my AV and anti-malware, Microsoft monthly updates and Firefox to 3.6.22.

I have carried out full scans for infections with nothing being found by AVG, Sptbot S&D, Spyware Terminator and Malwarebytes. Additionally the usual MS Removal Tool scan which was carried out during the recent update process showed nothing.

I have seen no similar reports but have no idea of the cause unless it is CMOS battery - but my clock is fine.

Can anyone offer any suggestion as to the cause or has anyone else experience this problem.

Many thanks in anticipation.

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Woolwell

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Posted September 28, 2011 at 4:16PM

Probably best to start a new thread in consumer watch regarding new system.

Wish I had an excuse for a new pc!

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johndrew

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Posted September 29, 2011 at 2:29PM

Woolwell

Good idea. I think the potential for any cost effective solution has been well milked! Even so, it's a bit sad to leave XP!

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onthelimit1

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Posted September 29, 2011 at 2:53PM

JD - I felt like you, but having had a W7 machine for 3 mths, no way I'd go back!

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Terry Brown

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Posted September 29, 2011 at 2:57PM

When the PC is running their is always a small CPU usage, even when idle, if it is showing zero, then it could be the processor itself is at fault. Try the following:

Press CTRL- ALT- DELETE together to bring up the Task Manager.

Check the Performance to check the Performance settings (PF)(on idle should run about 3%) and the Networking. You should be the only user, also check applications to see if any other programs are running in the background.

I realise you are are competent with your computer knowledge, however sometimes it is the simple things that we forget, that trip us up.

Terry

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johndrew

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Posted September 29, 2011 at 5:14PM

Terry

All is fine in that department. Performance (online with browser, OE, Task Manager and the usual background running) is generally no higher than 4% with the odd blip above.

The problem is that I can be using, say, Firefox for an hour or more and for no apparent reason it will stop responding permanently, ca't be shut down using Task Manager or any other means. This has happened with Word, OE, Malwarebytes and a couple of others as well. In all cases I can minimise to the Task Bar but not expand again. It is not possible to run an extra 'copy' of Firefox either as I get a message that it is running and to close it. The only way of closing any frozen program of this nature is to Restart the PC. Often, in the case of Firefox' it will open to the pages it froze at.

At other times the PC runs as it should.

I find it all very strange and can see no commonality to help diagnose the cause of the problem.

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johndrew

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Posted October 3, 2011 at 6:50PM

I may be getting somewhere.

Although the initial MemTest check showed nothing that I hadn't seen in the PC from new, I decided to test each module separately. Whether it was me disturbing one of them or not I'm unsure, but one failed the test with some 109 faults indicated; the other 3 passed with no problems indicated.

As a result I booted up with only half the usual memory to find the freezing (of Firefox in particular) to still occur. As I keep backups of my Registry (made with ERUNT) I went back 12 months and loaded a saved copy - the freezing was still apparent.

I then reverted to my current Registry (saved today) and went back to Firefox V3.6.20. So far (everything crossed) it runs properly. I shall need to run for a few days before I shall be confident enough to believe the problem is resolved.

Does anyone know of any software conflicts with Firefox and anything else, or if damaged RAM can result in Registry damage? Perhaps one of the 'techies' can help or even suggest other items which may either improve stability or check for it.

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johndrew

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 9:28AM

No. Firefox froze with only the good RAM as well.

Could this be caused by too little RAM in the system?

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Woolwell

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 9:40AM

Sorry if this has been covered before. You have 2gb of RAM installed but only 1gb in use - why?

How much memory is being used by your anti-virus?

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lotvic

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 11:37AM

I wondered about that (on page 2) and I thought it was measured in kilobytes, see info chart on Taskmanager http://pcwizkid.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/windows-task-manage/

johndrew says: "I have 2GB RAM installed, but at any time Task Manager shows well less than 1GB in use; like now I have 845MB in use."

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Snrub

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Posted October 4, 2011 at 12:40PM

  1. unplug every external connector and re-plug firmly paying particular attention to mouse and main power into rear of computer connections, try computer.

  2. run a malware check in safe mode, reboot, try computer.

  3. run Event Viewer if fault persists to see if there are any clues to fault.

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