Running process temporarily freezes Windows Vista 64 bit

Re: Windows vista 64 bit freezes at desktop Hi All,

I have a serious problem - I have a certain software product (let's call it X) which works fine on all 32bit versions, but freezes up Multi-core 8 GB Vista Ultimate machine, when performing a certain actions (let's say, filling the spread sheet with data). After this program is done, Vista unfreezes and everything back to normal, but during the run, I cannot bring up any other window - not even a Task Manager (I can move the mouse, though) - clicking on the windows tabs does not do anything. I have 2 monitors and I can see Task Manager on a second one, if I bring it up before X starts to work and I see that CPU load never reaches 100%. But I cannot do anything with the PC until X is done working.

Would appreciate any help or assistance.
Thanks,
Serguerri

It may not reach 100%, but if there's a clear and sustained plateau in the Task Manager graph then it's likely that processor utilisation is at least part of the problem.

If you include more detail about the architecture or name of this app (so others can research its architecture), it may be possible to tell you whether it's got what it takes to directly cause freezes (a buggy driver), or whether the freezes are more likely to be caused by something like interference during disk data committment by your anti-virus drivers, just as an example.

H2SO4, thanks for your reply!

I cannot say there is a flat plateau, but one can see some processor's load.
I wish I can include more details about this process - but I am sure no one heard of it since it is a highly - specialized application for analytical solutions. Let's just say it is a 32-bit application, written in vb6. Application reads the file from the disk, parse it into a dictionary and then fill the spread (Farpoint Spread v8.0 .com version) - about 5,000 rows - with the values from this dictionary. This is the moment when Vista freezes completely. Once the last row is filled in - everything is back to normal.
Since this is a 32-bit application, I've made sure all installation files are located in the syswow64 folder instead of system32 and registered from there.

I've tried this on 2 Vistax64 machines, both have nVidia Quadro video card and they both multi-monitor machines.

I wish I have more info available so it won't look like a shooting from a hip.
Thanks a lot!

You might want to test what happens when you run the app in safe mode on the 64-bit box. There is presumably something - a driver most likely - which is interfering with what the app is doing. Otherwise, VB6 simply doesn't have what it takes, architecturally-speaking, to lock up an entire machine even to the point of preventing a high-priority process like the Task Manager from firing up. Having said that, you might want to check out whether there are any updates available for the VB6 runtime, compared to the version you're currently using.

Hi H2SO4,

thanks a lot for your reply. Just tried to run an application in a safe mode - basically, the same result. CPU usage was not flat at all - was spiky and not uniform. Hard drive was not accessed. Clicking with mouse on command window or windows explorer didn't do anything - Alt-Tab was a bit more successful, but not with Explorer - originated windows (Windows Help, Windows Explorer). So I am starting to have a sneaky suspicion that Windows Explorer is somehow involved in this issue.
I'll check with the latest VB6 run-time updates.
Thanks again!

Small update: Tried to install VB6 run-time updates - VBRun60.exe - does not seem like doing anything.

Any help? I am desperate.

This class of symptom is painful to troubleshoot over a web forum interface

I'd suggest you test what happens when you install and use the same app on a completely different Vista x64 machine. Either build one from scratch using the Vista disc and keep it cut off from the internet so you don't have to update it at all - just use the in-built drivers for everyting - or find another x64 box which is completely different to yours in terms of its hardware and its software configuration (anti-virus, NIC model/driver, sound card...).

The aim of the exercise is to test whether the symptom is specific to your machine (an "environmental" problem), or whether there is indeed something about the fact that the app is running under WoW64 that's causing problems. Either way, the outcome of that test would be significant.

Thanks, H2SO4! I'll certainly try that!