10 second freezes

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

I've been having this problem where my computer will be fine all day, then it will start freezing up. I have timed this and the freezes last exactly 10 seconds (maybe 9), then everything pretty much goes back to normal. Things are normal for just under 1 minute (I timed that too), then it freezes again. Well, normal aside from the fact that it won't shut down normally, it freezes up during the "shutting down" screen and I have to push the button on the case. Also sometimes Explorer gets messed up if I try to save a file but that is rare. After rebooting things really go back to normal.

This has been happening once a day for the past couple of weeks but it seems to be getting worse as the past couple of days it has happened maybe 3 times.

I have tried everything I can think of, full virus and spyware scans, defragging, disk checking, uninstalling unneeded programs, removing everything from Startup and everything not needed by Windows from Services in MSConfig. It even does it in Safe Mode.

This is my specs, I built it myself about 2 years ago:
Vista Ultimate x64, Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz, GeForce 8800 GTS, 6GB RAM

usasma · Dec 3, 2009

Try this:
Task Manger
Also, you can monitor the system for excessive resource consumption. To do this, open up Task Manager by right clicking on the Task Bar.
Then select the Processes tab.
Then select the "Show processes from all users" button (in the lower left)
Then select the View menu item, then select "Select columns"
In the Select columns window, place checkmarks next to I/O Reads and I/O Other.
Click OK to accept the changes.
Resize the Task Manager window so you can see the most of the columns.
Wait for the system to freeze.
Look at the columns to see if there's anything that looks excessively high - if so, let us know the Image name of the process. FWIW - System Idle Process is supposed to have high CPU readings - anything else with high CPU readings is an issue.

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

Thank you I set that up, but I'll have to wait until later to test it as I'm doing a pretty intensive 3D render right now and even my typing is slow. However it is doing the freezing thing right now too and I noted that nothing really jumps anywhere in the those new columns during the freeze, it just freezes.

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

OK I just rebooted and not even half an hour later it started freezing up again. The I/O Reads column is like so:

And the I/O Other column is like so:

VProSVC.exe seems to be related to Nortoon Ghost which I thought I had uninstalled. AAWService is just Ad-Aware, which I installed hoping to fix this problem.

usasma · Dec 3, 2009

I/O Reads is programs reading your hard drive (the slowest part of most systems). I/O Other is the background stuff that Windows does with the hard drives.

Use the free Norton Removal Tool to remove all traces of Ghost: Download and run the Norton Removal Tool

Uninstall AdAware.
Uninstall AVG
Install and update another free antivirus IMMEDIATELY! I'd suggest the free Microsoft Security Essentials: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Test to see if the system still freezes. Often removing the programs identified above will reveal another issue - so don't be surprised if it shows up.

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

Well I uninstalled Ghost via the Control Panel and it seems to be gone. So far an hour has gone by with no freezing. I had tried removing AVG and that didn't fix it, so I put AVG back after a few days. I've always liked AVG, but then they recomended it on a tech show I watch so that made me like it even more.Ad Aware was installed after this started so I know that's not related.

usasma · Dec 3, 2009

Glad to hear it! Thanks for letting us know!

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

Well I'm not calling it solved yet, since it was going for hours at a time without freezing, but it look promising.

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

Nope, it just started up again.

philnolan3d · Dec 3, 2009

Yeah it's still doing it. I even tried updating my graphics card driver because the last one I used was from nVidia , not from the card maker (XFX).

Flavius · Dec 4, 2009

Your issue discussed here surly is corelated with your Windows Update Error E_FAIL(0x80004005) http://www.vistax64.com/windows-updates/261807-vista-sp2-wont-install.html

You can try update NVIDIA drivers but because you have also problems in safe mode too I doubt it will solve your problem.Possibly issue with NVIDIA drivers in your setupapi.dev.log are only consequences of more deep issue.I rather suspect any component in your computer is corrupted...hard to diagnose :sleepy:

.

Diagnose everything in your computer usasmaâ€™s blog - Vox

(main page you have to study)

philnolan3d · Dec 4, 2009

These are two different computers. The other was my laptop, this is my desktop.

Flavius · Dec 4, 2009

philnolan3d said:
These are two different computers. The other was my laptop, this is my desktop.

Oops...I didn't notice before.Neverless seems to be any strictly hardware issue here.You must everything to diagnose.My condolence for you

.Two computers...

EDIT

Check first such simple things:

-change mouse
-if you have connected mouse to USB port than unplug it and switch to PS /2 port.

usasma · Dec 5, 2009

Does the Task Manager thing show anything different?
Check for excessively high numbers in any of the columns (CPU, Memory, I/O Reads, and I/O Other).

philnolan3d · Dec 5, 2009

Flavius said:
philnolan3d said:

Check first such simple things:

-change mouse
-if you have connected mouse to USB port than unplug it and switch to PS /2 port.

Click to expand...

Really? Mouse? I have a Logitech MX Revolution, so it's a wireless USB mouse. I will try it but it's not just the mouse freezing, it's everything.

usasma said:

Does the Task Manager thing show anything different?
Check for excessively high numbers in any of the columns (CPU, Memory, I/O Reads, and I/O Other).

Click to expand...

Nothing unusual in the Task Manager.

I am also going to download Memtest86+ and try it. Over night tonight.

sportsguy · Dec 5, 2009

Nvidia just came out with a new video driver update for your video cart (similar to mine)
start with the download and update the driver, if you haven't already.

sportsguy

philnolan3d · Dec 5, 2009

Well I just updated it yesterday, as I said a few posts ago.

I had heard that you should always use the video card drivers from the manufacturer, not from nVidia, because the manufacturer gets them from nVidia and might add some of their own specific features. Would you agree with this?

sportsguy · Dec 5, 2009

yes, except that my evga web site had the link to down load from the NVIDIA web site. . .

I had the issue, and found a different solution.

though when you search the internet for Vista x64 freeze, there are all sorts of solutions, mine was services conflicting somewhere somehow when connected to the internet. . .

sportsguy

philnolan3d · Dec 5, 2009

Well I unplugged my mouse for a while and I don't think I have a PS/2 mouse laying around so I just used my Wacom tablet instead of a mouse (which is also USB). Sure enough it started up again after a while.

However I've been using a fairly memory intensive program called 3D-Coat. I shut that down and the problem stopped. Now don't think it's that program, it happens all the time, whether I'm using that or not, even in Safe Mode. Also while that's memory intensive it wasn't even approaching my 6GB, I was using was more like 4GB or a little higher. Also shutting programs down doesn't usually fix it, I just thought it was interesting to note.

Edit: BTW I updated my system specs under my signature.

Edit again: Checked my video card drivers, the version number is the same as what nVidia lists on their site.

bruce2 · Dec 5, 2009

Philnolan3d, have you consider this may be a hardware issue? I am sure it is dust free inside, right?

I might check if the gpu fan turns on timely, because one of mine starts up with a delay causing over heat to freezings the screen before it when dead.

Another thing, assuming you HDDs and rams are healthy, if you also have unusully long boot up at times, I would check on the SATA cables and its connections by shake and tug, disconnect and reconnecting it. I had this problem for months, don't know how many time I had clean install vista, until I replace the SATA cables with after market ones.

Hope it is that simple and good luck! :D

Bruce

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