45 replies to this topic

[drmsucks]

Friend's HP desktop, Athlon quad core with 5 GB RAM and Vista. Probably about 2 - 3 years old.

Periodically the system quits responding (stalls, freezes) and displays the little Vista "wait" circle. After a few seconds to a few minutes, everything back to normal - no need to re-boot. He thinks that the hard drive activity light is on solid during each stall. (Indexing is turned off and Carbonite is set to minimum priority.)

Temps are okay and SMART data on hard drive are okay.

This started a few weeks ago and seems to be getting worse (more frequent). No hardware changes and no software changes that they are aware of. (Probably several Win updates in the last few weeks.)

Any thoughts?

EDIT: And MBAM found nothing and an Avast bootscan found nothing...

[Broni]

Quote

5 GB RAM

64-bit system, I assume?

Ask him to do this....

Go Start>Run (Start Search in Vista), type in:
msconfig
Click OK (hit Enter in Vista).

Click on Startup tab.
Click Disable all
IMPORTANT! In case of laptop, make sure, you do NOT disable any keyboard, or touchpad entries.

Click Services tab.
Put checkmark in Hide all Microsoft services
Click Disable all.

Click OK.
Restart computer in Normal Mode.

NOTE. If you use different firewall, than Windows firewall, turn Windows firewall on, just for this test, since your regular firewall won't be running.
If you use Windows firewall, you're fine.

Same problem?

[drmsucks]

I'll do that. May be awhile before I get back to you...

[Broni]

No problem :)

[drmsucks]

First, some spec corrections: HP Pavilion Media Center M8530f, AMD Phenom 9550 Quad, 5 GB RAM, 500 GB Western Digital HDD, 297 GB Free, Vista SP2 64 bit.

Okay, disabled all non-MS services and all startup items, except Avast, in both cases. Still took about three minutes to get to a usable desktop - no improvement in startup speed. Internet was disconnected. Opened every program that I could find and got an occasional stall but nothing bad. Added back services then startup items and really no change - ran okay with occasional stalls <-3 sec to 30 sec. The only item that seemed to make a difference is: hpsysdrv.exe. So, I have left that de-selected in MSCONFIG.

Then, connected to the internet - ethernet cable to DSL via router. Called up FF (v 3.16.13) and system stalled. Turned off Carbonite, system worked okay then stalled again in FF. When I came to this site, stalled when I clicked on Make a Reply (or, whatever it is!). Then, while typing MSCONFIG, above, stalled again (cursor hung while I typed then after a couple of seconds, the letters apppeared). The only programs that are running are: Avast, Windows Task Mgr, Resource Monitor, Carbonite and FF. The system also stalled for a minute or so while I was downloading Speedfan with FF.

CPU Temp is 47 - 50 C, I cleaned inside of case, all fans are working, ran Memtest 86 for 10 hours, chkdsk is okay, Western Digital Lifeguard Short test okay, Crystal Disk Info reports all SMART data okay and HDD temp of 96 F.

Any ideas will be appreciated!

[Broni]

Quote

CPU Temp is 47 - 50 C

Too hot!

Quote

Maximum operating temperature (°C) 55 - 64

http://www.cpu-world...FAGHBOX%29.html

[drmsucks]

Broni, on 02 February 2011 - 08:31 PM, said:

Too hot!



http://www.cpu-world...FAGHBOX%29.html

CPU is 9550 not 9950. But, nonetheless, same site shows a range of 55 - 70 C and this site show "critical temp" of 70 C. (Check Here)

[Broni]

What do you use to read CPU temp?

[drmsucks]

Speedfan...

[Broni]

Let's double check...

Download System Information for Windows (SIW free version)
No installation required.

After it scans your computer, navigate to Hardware>Sensors and post all info from there.

[drmsucks]

Will do...I'm not a Speedfan...errr...fan!

[Broni]

Sometimes the results are hard to read, but if you read them correctly, it's pretty accurate.

[drmsucks]

Computer stalled several times while I was copying the image to Paint and while saving it...

[drmsucks]

Broni, on 02 February 2011 - 09:01 PM, said:

Sometimes the results are hard to read, but if you read them correctly, it's pretty accurate.

Looks like it had this one right...

[Broni]

About the same.
I still don't like those temperatures too much.

Are you still running in "Safe Boot" mode?

I'd like you to go back to msconfig and disable Avast as well, so just Windows firewall is up.
See how it goes.

[drmsucks]

Broni, on 02 February 2011 - 08:59 PM, said:

What the he** kind of cooling do you have on that machine? Those are unreal temps...mine are higher than that when it's turned OFF!!

[Broni]

Maybe a windows was open in winter time....LOL

[drmsucks]

Broni, on 02 February 2011 - 09:14 PM, said:

Are you still running in "Safe Boot" mode?

I'd like you to go back to msconfig and disable Avast as well, so just Windows firewall is up.
See how it goes.

No - I've got everything re-enabled except hpdrvsys hpsysdrv.

Want me to go back to "zero?"

[drmsucks]

Okay - nothing running at all. All non-MS services shut down and no startup items are loaded.

[Broni]

OK, run it for a while a see how it goes.