Solved Reinstalled Vista Business 32-Bit SP2, now experience random freezing

ktsam · Aug 9, 2015

Hi everyone,

I've just found this forum and registered in the hopes that you might be able to help me with my laptop, which has just started freezing at seemingly random intervals.

I decided to do a clean install of Vista because although it was working, it was rather slow and Firefox kept stopping responding every couple of minutes whenever I was browsing the internet.

I've previously done a clean install of Vista on the same machine without problem so felt confident to do it again.

My laptop originally shipped with Windows XP and I got sent a Vista Upgrade disk as I'd bought it within a few months of Vista being rolled out.

Anyway, back to a few days ago - I did the clean install of Vista and downloaded/installed all the other programs I use.

But since then, my laptop has started completely freezing - seemingly randomly. Sometimes it runs fine for hours on end before freezing, but other times it doesn't last as long. When it freezes up, everything stops. The hard drive light goes out, the mouse pointer won't move using either the track pad or the USB mouse, the CAPS lock button on the keyboard doesn't turn the CAPS Lock light on, the Avast icon in the system tray stops mid-animation and basically I can't do anything apart from switch the machine off completely by holding in the power button until it powers down.

I've tried using CCleaner to get rid of junk and clean the registry, I've run Malwarebytes (which found nothing), I've used Defraggler and got it down to 1% defragmented, I've checked the hard drive using chkdisk and have tonight found instructions to use the System File Checker, which seemed to fix a bunch of things but then, after a while, the computer still froze up.

I was running Speccy tonight to check the temperature and the first time it froze, it was showing the motherboard to be 80 degrees, but the second time it froze, the computer hadn't been running as long and the temperature was lower, I think about 74 or 76 degrees.

Can anyone help me fix this annoying problem? I'm not sure what to try next and am getting really frustrated with it!

richc46 · Aug 10, 2015

Freezing after a clean install, can very well mean a defective or worn hard drive

ktsam · Aug 11, 2015

Thanks for your reply Richard, I downloaded HD Tune Pro and checked the hard drive and it says there are no damaged blocks.

A few blocks show as having a slow speed but the majority are fast.

The only thing shown as having a warning on the Health tab is "Reallocated event count", but I've no idea what that means.

I'm not sure where to go from here.

richc46 · Aug 12, 2015

OK, do not get discouraged. We did not find the solution, but we are eliminating possible areas that can cause the problem.
Run a clean boot. One, by one, remove applications. When you get to the one that is causing the problem, you will be able to use the computer normally.
Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup - Windows 7 Help Forums

ktsam · Aug 12, 2015

Thanks Richard, I've printed the instructions from the link you posted and will have a go to see if I can come up with any more clues.

It seems like it might take a while to do this though as my laptop can work fine for hours on end but then suddenly, with no warning, freeze up. So I guess I'll need to give each step a good trial before I can conclude whether it's running ok without certain things running.

I'll post back when I have some results!

richc46 · Aug 12, 2015

Take your time. Maybe we should take a short cut. Boot in safe mode. If the problem is not gone the clean boot will not work. If it works in safe mode the clean boot MAY work.

MyPCHatesMe · Sep 15, 2015

Apologies for bumping an old thread, but after reading your post it seems like we're experiencing the exact same problem, my issue is with Vista Home Premium randomly freezing up (hard drive light goes out/no activity/cannot do anything) resulting in a forced restart.

If you're still around ktsam, I'm wondering if you managed to resolve your problem.

Thanks

ktsam · Sep 16, 2015

Hi there MyPCHatesMe,

I'm sorry to report that I've got no further with my laptop.

I didn't have the time to spend all at once to try the clean startup that richc46 suggested but I have tried numerous other things and just when I start daring to think I've solved the problem, the laptop freezes again!

I just can't stop thinking that there must be something obvious I've overlooked because I only ever experience the freezing when I'm browsing the internet. I tried removing Firefox and using Chrome instead but that didn't help. I even went to the trouble of formatting the hard drive again and reinstalling Windows for a second time in case I'd make a mistake the first time but the problem remains.

However, I can spend hours moving files, copying and saving files to external drives etc and there is absolutely no freezing.

I was beginning to wonder if Vista just couldn't cope with the new browsers (my Firefox often seems to have an update!) but a family member's laptop uses Vista Home with no problems.

I had pretty much decided to save myself the frustration and get a new laptop but I'm loathe to consign this one to the dump as I'm convinced there must be answer out there - but I haven't found it yet.

Does your computer only feeze when you're on the internet or is it more random than mine?

MyPCHatesMe · Sep 17, 2015

Your problem is so similar to mine, are you me? I know the feeling of thinking the problem is gone, but then it comes back!

I haven't noticed freezing in any other programs. I'm a Firefox and Chrome user myself and yes this is where the problem seems to be (have uninstalled and reinstalled both programs), they seem to use high resources I guess that's what might be causing the crashes.

I ran a defrag and optimize in Auslogics (defrag program) but cancelled the optimization process 40 minutes in due to it taking too long (probably not a good idea), followed by a normal defrag and then a quick defrag.

I also disabled 1 program called UltraMon which puts a taskbar on each of my monitors so far everything is running fine and I think this is the longest my PC has gone without crashing in 3 - 4 months. In a few days I'll re-enable UltraMon to see if that has any effect on the issue.

I was wondering if you've tried running any defrag and optimize programs? I always use quick defrag in Auslogics as it takes around 15 minutes, but never used the optimization option and it took too long to complete anyway. It might be worth looking into.

I'll update in a few days if my problem is gone.

ktsam · Sep 17, 2015

It's very strange that your computer is freezing when you're using Firefox and Chrome same as mine. I haven't found any other posts from people describing the same problem so it's weird that you should have started having the same problem as around the same time as me!

My family member's Vista laptop (which I have started using for the time being as I can't seem to fix mine) also has both Firefox and Chrome on it and they run absolutely fine. The laptop is slightly newer then mine and so perhaps that could explain it - after all, my laptop was designed for XP but I got a free upgrade to Vista as I bought it just before Vista launched.

I successfully used Defraggler a number of times on my laptop - as I'd done a clean install, I wanted to get it all in order before I made a complete backup so that I could avoid a lot of the reinstalling hassle the next time I wanted to start afresh. I got it down to 0% defragged but it made no difference.

As I mentioned before, I actually decided to redo the clean install from scratch for a 2nd time in case I'd made a mistake the first time. So I did all of the following:

installed all the Windows updates
scanned using Avast
scanned using Malwarebytes
used Disk Cleaner
defragged the C drive using Defraggler
used CCleaner to get rid of the rubbish files and also clean the registry
downloaded Slim Drivers and updated the drivers it said were outdated (it found 23 but after installing some, it then said they were all ok - I didn't have to update 23)

Unfortunately, I then noticed that the Windows Experience Score said it needed updating as there was new hardware but it wouldn't complete properly. The error said something about it could be down to drivers so I thought it was maybe because I'd used Slim Drivers to update the drivers. So I restored the laptop to a point before I installed Slim Drivers and checked that the Windows Experience Score worked (which it did) and then:

repeated all of the above scanning with Avast, Malwarebytes, CCleaner, disk cleaner
defragged with Defraggler and got it to 0% fragmented
used sfc /verifyonly (which found some problems)
used sfc /scannow (which said it fixed the problems)
used chkdsk (which didn't seem to find anything wrong)

This time I didn't touch the drivers. After all that, I made another full backup on my external hard drive and tried the WES again just to make sure it was still working but it wasn't - I have no idea why.

And it turned out I still had the same freezing problem as I had originally.

I installed Process Piglet to give some warning if things are using lots of memory and Process Tamer to automatically reduce the priority of things when needs be. I've added the UnloadTab add-on to Firefox to help it use less memory but I'm still getting random freezing.

I just don't understand it because before I did anything to my laptop, I had more programs installed on it and could use Firefox for hours on end, running around 15 tabs at a time and other than some points when it stopped responded for a while and had some script errors, it worked ok. It certainly never caused the whole laptop to freeze up like it does now so that the only option is to do a hard reset with the power button.

I just don't know why doing a clean install has resulted in getting these problems (I've previously done a clean install on the same laptop a couple of years ago so felt confident to do it again!)

I googled for other people with similar problems and found suggestions to change the power settings - I now opted for best performance and set the hard drive to never turn off. I've disabled some things in Vista that apparently make it work harder but I don't need (tablet settings and some other stuff that I can't remember off the top of my head but could easily look up again).

But none of it has made a difference - Vista still freezes randomly when I'm browsing the internet and as I said before, it doesn't seem to happen any other time - it never froze at all through any of the clean install process (either times), I can copy massive files to and from my external hard drive etc - it only seems to be when I'm browsing the web that it freezes up. And there doesn't seem to be a particular page that causes the freeze either - it can be anything and it happens without warning.

I just don't know what's going on and I don't know what to try next because it didn't freeze up a few weeks ago!

It is so frustrating!

MyPCHatesMe · Sep 17, 2015

Haha now you're starting to scare me, I've just had 3 crashes within 30 minutes of each other trying to use Facebook (which I never use, first visit in months) so it looks like we're back to the problem again.

I also use Avast, Malwarebytes, CCleaner and until 2 weeks ago, Slimware. I removed Slimware after using it for about 8 months because I heard it could give you out of date drivers and that may be part of the problem I'm having now, but I'm not sure so I may reinstall it.

I too was able to have many tabs open in Firefox on this machine (and it's an old machine) with the odd not responding or script error, but nothing too major. I've disabled windows features like games and the indexing service to speed up the PC as best I can, my hard drive is set to turn off after 20 minutes of no activity but it never seems to do that.

I'm just glad I'm not alone, we definitely have a VERY similar issue here and I first thought it was a hard drive problem but I'm starting to doubt that now. Not sure what to try next.

ktsam · Sep 29, 2015

Hi again,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I've just returned from holiday.

Have you made any progress?

I haven't tried mine since I got back as I had some things I needed to do and couldn't face being set back with the freezing problem so I'm still borrowing my relative's Vista machine.

MyPCHatesMe · Oct 9, 2015

Hope you had a nice holiday!

Just wondering, do you use the Adblock plus addon at all?

After leaving Firefox for over a week and using Google Chrome with (mostly) no problems, I decided to go back to Firefox and haven't had a crash in about 3 days (it needed updating when I opened it).

Google Chrome didn't crash as often as Firefox, but it still crashed sometimes, Google Chrome was crashing on average every 4 - 5 days and Firefox was crashing every day and sometimes more than once a day.

Update:
Crashed twice within 20 mins, I was trying to look at various wikipedia articles and had about 5 tabs open.

I've had no problems with Firefox after 3 days using it until today. So annoying.

ktsam · Oct 20, 2015

Hi,

Sorry for the delay, I've not really had much time to mess about with the laptop and had got so frustrated with it not working that I'd packed it all up before we went away!

I don't use Adblock plus and never have done, so that's not something that could be affecting my laptop.

I had a response from someone that Avast versions 2015.10.3.2225 and above have a bug that can cause random freezing.

Yesterday, I tried updating my Avast but it still froze as soon as I restarted and opened Firefox so next thing I tried was uninstalling Avast. It took a while and said I needed to restart the computer so after I did that, I opened Firefox again to look for a new antivirus program but it just froze up again and that must have only been after about 10mins if that.

So although I was hopeful, it didn't work for me.

Having said that, my family member's laptop had a pop-up message a couple of days ago saying that Avast needed updating so I did it and after restarting it, I was using Firefox and it was ok for a long time but then just all froze up. I restarted it and it was ok for the rest of the evening. No-one used the laptop yesterday but I was using it today and it froze up again so I used system restore to take it back to the point when I updated Avast. It took a long time and when it restarted, I had a few problems getting Avast to run again but another restart seemed to fix it and so far (fingers crossed) it seems ok running version 2015.10.0.2208.

So now I'm not sure what to think. It seems Avast could have caused my family member's laptop to freeze up because it seems too much of a coincidence otherwise. But then removing Avast from my laptop didn't help.

Could there be some files or something left over after uninstalling Avast on my laptop that are still causing the freezing problem?

I don't know whether to try again from scratch with another reformat and reinstall Vista but this time avoid Avast altogether. Having said that, it takes ages to do and if I still get the freezing problem after all that, I'll be about ready to throw the laptop at the wall!!

psongman · Nov 11, 2015

Well, I am experiencing the same scenarios. I mean, sometimes the vista computer works well, then all of a sudden it locks up. I had someone I know, semitechie around when it happened, and he said, a lot of people are experiencing this stuff lately. He said the sites on the internet are too full of pics and stuff on their pages, even after they have loaded. He did tell me, though, he found out from one he was working on, that one bad driver can do all this damage if not replaced or updated,as the computer accesses all sorts of hardware and software while it is running,

Anyway, what is the really best way to analyze, what is causing these problems. I mean, a tried and true method, step by step,please, thanks, psongman

ktsam · Nov 12, 2015

Well, here's an update from my experience since my last post.

I found a program called avastclear, which Avast say can be used to uninstall Avast if the usual add/remove programs doesn't work. I had used add/remove programs to uninstall Avast on my Vista laptop but it hadn't solved the freezing problem.

As I had no idea what else to do, I downloaded avastclear and ran it in safe mode as instructed.

Since then, my Vista laptop has been fine! I've been able to use it for hours at a time browsing the internet and it works! I have had one or two brief freezes but on these occasions, I can clearly hear the hard drive whirring (which did not happen before) and after a couple of mins, everything is working again so I put these down to the laptop working hard rather then giving up on everything which is what it used to be like!

Instead of Avast, I now use AVG.

So problem solved in my case. If you use Avast, I'd suggest you try getting rid of it and see if you Vista machine starts behaving itself too.

MyPCHatesMe · Nov 15, 2015

Haha well done, I'm glad you solved the problem for now as I almost gave up trying to fix it.

I'm going to try the same thing as I previously used AVG but moved to Avast instead, by the looks of things I have to move back to AVG which isn't really a problem.

I will try removing it later today and then use avastclear and I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks!

ktsam · Nov 16, 2015

Good luck - hopefully you'll find this solves your problems too!

I can't beleive it was Avast causing all this trouble. I'm so glad we were going on holiday for a few days because if we weren't, I'd have spend £100's on a new laptop. I'm actually really cross with Avast about that.

But luckily, it's all fixed and I can carry on with my old trusty laptop for the time being

MyPCHatesMe · Nov 20, 2015

Thanks so much for the suggestion

Uninstalled Avast on the 15th of November and installed Avira, not had a single crash yet which is great!

I still can't believe it was Avast causing the problems, I really thought it was a hardware problem.

If anything happens in the next few weeks I'll let you know, but for now I'm glad to have my laptop working like normal again!

Thank you so much haha!

ktsam · Nov 20, 2015

Oh that's great news

I was sceptical at first that the answer was as simple as uninstalling Avast but here I am weeks later and still no freezing! So with any luck you'll have no more problems either

(it's a satisfying feeling to have fixed it at last after all that frustration!)

Hopefully if anyone else is having similar issues, they'll find this thread and be able to fix their computers too! :D

Solved Reinstalled Vista Business 32-Bit SP2, now experience random freezing

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