Freezing... so...... much...

[PhoenixRedeemer]

I give up. I'm asking for help.

I want to love Vista. I really do. So much that I've been using Vista x64 Home Premium for several months now, putting up with constant freezing in the vain hope that the problem would be solved in The Solution Center or a windows update one day.

But it's finally bugged me to the point I can't keep this up.

Pretty much from the word go Vista was locking up hard. Its response to pretty much any problem it encounters is immediately freeze and be unrecoverable. It's not all random and without pattern, however.

Initially it was clear that Windows Update was causing an issue. Shutting off Windows Update didn't stop the freezing, but it prevented the system from freezing 100% of the time minutes after the OS loaded up. Trying to update manually did the same thing. I eventually discovered that there is a temp folder I can delete related to updates that will stop this problem, but it only works for a day or two before it goes back to freezing.

Oh, but that's not all... I've been able to figure out a number of specific things that can cause freezes over repeatedly doing them... Sort of. For example:

* If I start up Google Chrome or Firefox within 5 minutes of getting to the desktop, there's a good chance I'll freeze on some random web page.
* A video player made my system freeze. A flash one. One I'd run perfectly fine before. I went to the page, freeze. Restarted. Went back to the page, immediate freeze. Stopped going to that page... Next day that page and that player worked fine.
*iTunes hates me. It loves to freeze during downloads, which is the worst time it can. Click 'Get' button for a podcast? Freeze. Dare to sneeze at a download while it's downloading? Freeze. And that's literally it. It's like if I just leave it alone and let it work, it'll work. But as soon as I click anything or dare look at it the wrong way while something is download I better pray because there's a 50/50 chance the whole system is going down.
*Same thing happened with a download off of the Steam service. I download off Steam all the time, but oh yes, it still happened.

Perhaps you noticed the same pattern I have. Network activity. What to do about it? Hell if I know. I'm hoping someone here can offer guidance, because I have no idea what to do about it. It just doesn't go away.

To top it all off, it's literally a freeze. There's no last minute dump of error information into the log. No, as far as the log is concerned, that freeze is the end of the world. The best I get is the next log item saying that the previous shut down was unexpected.

I'm at the end of my rope here, and about to launch Vista into the sun with a mighty rage-fueled catapult of hate. Any help would be appreciated, and I'd probably give you my body if you asked.

 

[stew2]

What security software are you using eg firewall, antivirus etc.

 

[PhoenixRedeemer]

ESET NOD32 Anti-Virus, Windows Firewall, Windows Defender. Didn't install ESET NOD32 until a couple weeks after I got Vista and the problems existed then.

 

[stew2]

OK all that looks fine. Heres what id do.

1. Roll back drivers for your internet connection to the ones included with vista
2. Reduce windows startup apps to the bare minimum you need, eg just security software
3. Restart vista and see if the problem still exists

 

[rive0108]

I give up. I'm asking for help.

I want to love Vista. I really do. So much that I've been using Vista x64 Home Premium for several months now, putting up with constant freezing in the vain hope that the problem would be solved in The Solution Center or a windows update one day.

But it's finally bugged me to the point I can't keep this up.

Pretty much from the word go Vista was locking up hard. Its response to pretty much any problem it encounters is immediately freeze and be unrecoverable. It's not all random and without pattern, however.

Initially it was clear that Windows Update was causing an issue. Shutting off Windows Update didn't stop the freezing, but it prevented the system from freezing 100% of the time minutes after the OS loaded up. Trying to update manually did the same thing. I eventually discovered that there is a temp folder I can delete related to updates that will stop this problem, but it only works for a day or two before it goes back to freezing.

Oh, but that's not all... I've been able to figure out a number of specific things that can cause freezes over repeatedly doing them... Sort of. For example:

* If I start up Google Chrome or Firefox within 5 minutes of getting to the desktop, there's a good chance I'll freeze on some random web page.
* A video player made my system freeze. A flash one. One I'd run perfectly fine before. I went to the page, freeze. Restarted. Went back to the page, immediate freeze. Stopped going to that page... Next day that page and that player worked fine.
*iTunes hates me. It loves to freeze during downloads, which is the worst time it can. Click 'Get' button for a podcast? Freeze. Dare to sneeze at a download while it's downloading? Freeze. And that's literally it. It's like if I just leave it alone and let it work, it'll work. But as soon as I click anything or dare look at it the wrong way while something is download I better pray because there's a 50/50 chance the whole system is going down.
*Same thing happened with a download off of the Steam service. I download off Steam all the time, but oh yes, it still happened.

Perhaps you noticed the same pattern I have. Network activity. What to do about it? Hell if I know. I'm hoping someone here can offer guidance, because I have no idea what to do about it. It just doesn't go away.

To top it all off, it's literally a freeze. There's no last minute dump of error information into the log. No, as far as the log is concerned, that freeze is the end of the world. The best I get is the next log item saying that the previous shut down was unexpected.

I'm at the end of my rope here, and about to launch Vista into the sun with a mighty rage-fueled catapult of hate. Any help would be appreciated, and I'd probably give you my body if you asked.

I run NOD32 4 , Windows defender , and Vista Firewall and I can tell you with certainty that my system runs smooth, and without issue.

Sounds like you have Windows Instability possibly caused by corruption, Do you use reg cleaners?

Do a system file scan, and a disk check to verifiy if there are integrity violations, file errors, Windows corruption. If this come back ok, then try a memory diagnostic.

If these scans come back showing corruption your best bet is to re-install. If it is a recent thing you may be able to perform a system restore to undo the damage/corruption. Corruption could also have been caused by previous malware damage.

Start>All Programs>Acessories>Right Click Command Prompt>"Run as Administrator">at command prompt, copy and paste the following>hit "Enter": (or just type cmd in search at start, right click program "run as administrator")

copy/paste, then hit Enter:

sfc /scannow

Check disk for errors

Start>Computer>Right Click "C" drive>Click Properties>Tools>Error Checking-Click "Check Now">Under Check Disk Options click "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors"> Restart Computer

​

 

[PhoenixRedeemer]

I haven't gotten around to trying everyone's suggestions yet, but I did try /scannow and it turned up no problems.

 

[rive0108]

I haven't gotten around to trying everyone's suggestions yet, but I did try /scannow and it turned up no problems.

thats good. Now do a disk ckeck.

 

[PhoenixRedeemer]

I believe I fixed it. I'll post here again if I didn't.

The problem was the Ralink Wireless LAN card. A quick google search on "ralink vista freeze" turned up other people having similar issues. I bought a wireless adapter from a different vendor and the problem stopped immediately.