O/T: Need PC help... please. PC locks constantly.

[OvS 8]

Gents,

 

Lately my PC has been just locking up for no reason. I noticed it has a higher tendency to occur when I am downloading files, but still, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I have scanned with Spybot, Malware, and AVG and nothing helps.

 

I don't know if it's memory related, video card related or software related. Is there anything I can do? There are NO symptoms, other than just the lock, and I hear my HD still running.

 

So with that... I was considering upgrading to Win7, adding a new Graphics card and new memory bank. I love to fly FSX, as well as our own OFF, so I want the most I can get out of my PC.

 

I have a I7 Quad Core, on an Intell mobo... the rest is the usual. So far it looks like my CPU is still in fashion, so I was simply going to overclock it then add the memory to take advantage of Win7's 64-bit tech.

 

Any ideas? Ask the questions rather than me just putting out useless info.

 

All the best,

 

OvS

Edited September 19, 2010 by OvS

[xrearl 27]

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit. might work ?

[OvS 8]

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit. might work ?

 

 

Thanks for this... but it's really no help.

[Olham 164]

A PM to Parky might be a good idea? He seems to know a lot about computers.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

OvS, there has been a return lately of a nasty malware/Google search redirect that will not show up with any of the scan programs you listed. It can be very hard to detect and even harder to get rid of. Sometimes it will launch a second window when you are online and send you to a "wordslife" website, but only sometimes, and sometimes not at all. It runs in the background and haunts your computer as it watches where you go and what you do. I just had to reinstall the OS on my wife's computer because of it. It is a memory hog and will definitely slow up your computer to the point of locking it up when you are working online. If it got past your firewall and current malware blocker, you may have to turn it over to the Geek Squad to get rid of it. I tried numerous programs to try and eliminate it with no real success. I hope this is not what is causing your issues.

 

.

[OvS 8]

.

 

OvS, there has been a return lately of a nasty malware/Google search redirect that will not show up with any of the scan programs you listed. It can be very hard to detect and even harder to get rid of. Sometimes it will launch a second window when you are online and send you to a "wordslife" website, but only sometimes, and sometimes not at all. It runs in the background and haunts your computer as it watches where you go and what you do. I just had to reinstall the OS on my wife's computer because of it. It is a memory hog and will definitely slow up your computer to the point of locking it up when you are working online. If it got past your firewall and current malware blocker, you may have to turn it over to the Geek Squad to get rid of it. I tried numerous programs to try and eliminate it with no real success. I hope this is not what is causing your issues.

 

.

 

That's what it sounds like Lou. I can hear the drive running seems like endlessly now... but everything is smooth. No issues, then bam... she locks up without warning. Sometimes 5 minuets after loading up, sometimes hours. There is no pattern. But like I said, the chances are much higher when I am surfing, or ever downloading with "Grabit".

 

I am considering (heavily) a reload of the OS, which is why I meantioned Win7. I was wondering if folks are seeing better performance, and better over-all compatibilty than Vista did. I'd like to seriuosly consider using it. Win7 does not have the 'ding of death' with FSX, which is caused by XP's inability to flush it's memory like Win7 can, and also being it's 32bit slows it down anyway. BUT... as with any OS upgrade... what will I loose and what is to gain.

 

Thanks for the help and good info... yes, Olham... maybe the PM to Parky will be required. He's the one that designed my set, and I have been nothing shy of loving it ever since it came in the boxes. :good:

 

All the best,

 

OvS

[Rugbyfan1972 1]

.

 

OvS, there has been a return lately of a nasty malware/Google search redirect that will not show up with any of the scan programs you listed. It can be very hard to detect and even harder to get rid of. Sometimes it will launch a second window when you are online and send you to a "wordslife" website, but only sometimes, and sometimes not at all. It runs in the background and haunts your computer as it watches where you go and what you do. I just had to reinstall the OS on my wife's computer because of it. It is a memory hog and will definitely slow up your computer to the point of locking it up when you are working online. If it got past your firewall and current malware blocker, you may have to turn it over to the Geek Squad to get rid of it. I tried numerous programs to try and eliminate it with no real success. I hope this is not what is causing your issues.

 

.

 

RAFL.

 

I have recently had a similar problem, also resulting in a reinstall of the OS (windows 7), the reason I reinstalled was I did not know how to get any of the earlier restore points up and running (I have since found out how to).

 

Anyway my question is could the problem on your wife's machine have been fixed by restoring to an earlier date, say a month earlier, I am just being curious really?

 

Also the problem I had was redirecting me to a page that was similar to the google home page but with just the search bar in the middle and nothing else, but I noticed looking at the address bar at the top of the screen that it said something like www.savetube/[something else].com apologies for not remembering the exact address but it was 3 weeks ago.

 

OVS, I hope you do not have to go down the reinstallation route, but if you do and you also decide to use window 7, I can recomment it - it will take a bit of getting used to after XP, but it is well worth it. Also if you install windows 7 save yourself potential frustration and disable the User Account Settings (set them to never notify).

 

Thanks

Rugbyfan1972

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Rugbyfan, I tried rolling back to several different restore points but it did not fix the issue. Once that malware is in your computer it is a bear to remove it. Sorry to learn other folks here are suffering with this.

 

.

[Burning Beard 14]

On a side note, I changed over to Windows 7 64 Pro a few weeks back and really like it. OFF, MAW, and CFS3 run very smoothly on it and I have had an increase in performance on IL2, though I rarely play that. It does nicely utilize that extra RAM that XP wouldn't that seems to help in loading programs faster. You will have to get used to a few differences but that should be an easy adapt. Also, one thing to notice with the 64 bit is you will have two program files folders. One is Program Files for 64 bit system and the other is Program Files (x86) for the 32 bit stuff.

 

Beard

[+Polovski 460]

Sounds bad OvS -one of the most annoying PC issues is random hangs.

The only way to diagnose is to specifically rule things out.

 

There's a troubleshooting Question 25 n OFF FAQ too that applies to general hangs

http://overflandersfields.com/FAQ#A25 look through that.

 

Also try some free AV like Unhackme (root kit killer) .

http://www.greatis.com/unhackme/download.htm

 

Maybe you have some drive errors try scanning it for errors?

[OvS 8]

Sounds bad OvS -one of the most annoying PC issues is random hangs.

The only way to diagnose is to specifically rule things out.

 

There's a troubleshooting Question 25 n OFF FAQ too that applies to general hangs

http://overflandersfields.com/FAQ#A25 look through that.

 

Also try some free AV like Unhackme (root kit killer) .

http://www.greatis.c...me/download.htm

 

Maybe you have some drive errors try scanning it for errors?

 

 

That's my next phase of TSing it, to run some scans. It's a real annoying problem. What I do notice, is that the drive sounds as if it's still running after the PC locks. It looks to me like some kind of memory over-run that locks the set. How are things going with Win7? Do you like it? I'm really leaning towards buying it and upgrading as I'm sure it would really unlock the potential of my PC with what I have in it... besides... XP is what... 10 years old now... WOW!

 

OvS

[Von Paulus 8]

Lately my PC has been just locking up for no reason. I noticed it has a higher tendency to occur when I am downloading files, but still, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I have scanned with Spybot, Malware, and AVG and nothing helps.

 

If you've scanned with all of those and the results were negative, than I seriously doubt that your problem is malware, trojan or virus related.

 

I don't know if it's memory related, video card related or software related. Is there anything I can do? There are NO symptoms, other than just the lock, and I hear my HD still running.

I doubt is memory related, otherwise you'd have a lot of BSOD (blue screens of death) and reboots but not freeze. Freeze is related usually to a problem with a graphic card, with a corrupted OS or a problem with Hardisk controllers, hardisk cables or even the hardisk itself. So... Tell me does this happening only when you're downloading? Are you downloading through a browser, using any download manager or throught other clients?

I can give you the right utils if you want to test the hardisk, but need to know the brand. For the graphic card there is not much you can do, I usually use the Futuremark 3DMark Vantage to test it, because it will stress a little your graphic card.

One of the things you can do, and think it was already referred by RugbyFan, it to roll back a few restore points (might begin with the later). Usually if it is a corrupted OS it will deals with the problem. You can also open a Command prompt screen and write this: SFC /SCANNOW

This is a system file checker. http://www.updatexp....cannow-sfc.html

[OvS 8]

If you've scanned with all of those and the results were negative, than I seriously doubt that your problem is malware, trojan or virus related.

 

 

I doubt is memory related, otherwise you'd have a lot of BSOD (blue screens of death) and reboots but not freeze. Freeze is related usually to a problem with a graphic card, with a corrupted OS or a problem with Hardisk controllers, hardisk cables or even the hardisk itself. So... Tell me does this happening only when you're downloading? Are you downloading through a browser, using any download manager or throught other clients?

I can give you the right utils if you want to test the hardisk, but need to know the brand. For the graphic card there is not much you can do, I usually use the Futuremark 3DMark Vantage to test it, because it will stress a little your graphic card.

One of the things you can do, and think it was already referred by RugbyFan, it to roll back a few restore points (might begin with the later). Usually if it is a corrupted OS it will deals with the problem. You can also open a Command prompt screen and write this: SFC /SCANNOW

This is a system file checker. http://www.updatexp....cannow-sfc.html

 

Graphics card seems to be OK. Under the stresses of OFF, FSX, BIA.. etc.. no issues at all. Seems when I use Grabit to pull down stuff, or even when I download through either FireFox, or IE it will randomly lock. Drives are Western Digital ATA;s. I can open the PC and reseat all the cables, but I do keep it clean. She gets a 'blow job' every 6 months just to keep things honest.

 

I'd like to run those HD scans, just to verify good or bad. Rolling back the OS is not an option... I never saved any snapshots, so I have no idea what the date of the last save was. Again... I am running (in fact I am on it right now), it just seems to lock for whatever reason.

 

Thanks for all the help... you guys rock.

 

OvS

[Von Paulus 8]

I'd like to run those HD scans, just to verify good or bad. Rolling back the OS is not an option... I never saved any snapshots, so I have no idea what the date of the last save was. Again... I am running (in fact I am on it right now), it just seems to lock for whatever reason.

You can download MHDD : http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

That's a great scan tool. Choose the iso image and burn a cd with it. Boot the computer from CD. Choose the number with the hardisk you want to test. Than press F4 for scanning.

 

But you can also try, and it's easier, the tools from Western Digital. Data Lifeguard diagnostics. Choose the Dos (CD), it's an image. Burn a CD with that image and boot your computer from it. http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=6&lang=en

 

Grabbit, sometimes has some strange behavior. I had once one or two freezes. But it's not usual. Anyway you shouldn't have any freezes with firefox or with ie.

Don't your windows do updates? Because in most of the times whenever windows do an update, it will create a restore point. Unless you've deactivated System restore.

But if you've several restore points just roll back to your previous.

[OvS 8]

You can download MHDD : http://hddguru.com/s...005.10.02-MHDD/

That's a great scan tool. Choose the iso image and burn a cd with it. Boot the computer from CD. Choose the number with the hardisk you want to test. Than press F4 for scanning.

 

But you can also try, and it's easier, the tools from Western Digital. Data Lifeguard diagnostics. Choose the Dos (CD), it's an image. Burn a CD with that image and boot your computer from it. http://support.wdc.c...evel1=6&lang=en

 

Grabbit, sometimes has some strange behavior. I had once one or two freezes. But it's not usual. Anyway you shouldn't have any freezes with firefox or with ie.

Don't your windows do updates? Because in most of the times whenever windows do an update, it will create a restore point. Unless you've deactivated System restore.

But if you've several restore points just roll back to your previous.

 

 

Yes, all updates done... I'll check the restore and see if that helps. I never used the restore option on my PC before (I've done it on others), so we'll see how that goes...yikes.

[Slartibartfast 153]

Okay as has been said there has been a case of new Malware coming out... Correction its old malware but with a shiny new box... it will crash your IE or Firefox or any other browser for that matter as its a nasty little piece of work... Until the lovely people at whichever virus checker etc you use catch up there's not a lot that can be done. Unless you want to unpick it yourself which is a nightmare to do... Lets put it this way at the company where I work the idea is to just format the HD and then re-install clean, which takes us about 6 hours. Problem is the malware downloads your lists from Outlook etc and forwards the emails on... We had 2 cases in my office and once we did the format re-install all was fine... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Yes, all updates done... I'll check the restore and see if that helps. I never used the restore option on my PC before (I've done it on others), so we'll see how that goes...yikes.

 

Don't worry about System Restore..Ive used it a squillion times...and although it doesn't always fix the problem..it's never done any harm

[Winston DoRight 3]

Sounds like it could be a system memory defect. You can:

 

1. Run a memory test program. (free ones are avalible)

2. If you have multiple sticks of RAM, take out all but the minimum necessary to run your computer. If it still locks up, swap out the memory with the other stick(s) you just took out.

3. Borrow memory of the same type from a friend and try it.

 

That's exactly what a repair shop would do with those symptoms and charge you for it.

[CaptSopwith 26]

Hey Otto,

 

Sounds like most everyone here has given some sound advise. My 2 cents relates to Windows 7. I'm running Win 7 Professional edition and can't recommend it highly enough. I installed it on my circa 2008 Vista rig and the machine runs much smoother even with the same hardware. OFF runs better. In fact, I recently updated my nVidia drivers for my 8800GT card and it erased all of the little tweaks I had copied from Home Boy a few years back and OFF wound up running a few notches higher on detail and ran at a higher FPS as a result.

 

As far as the random lock ups, the only experience I had was when my processor's heat sink had actually become dislodged and the computer started to randomly lock up. No rhyme or reason, I even tried a reinstall of my OS before it occurred to me to look inside the box. When I did, I found bits of shrapnel inside the case from where the heat sink which was mounted vertically over the chip, had fallen out of its mounting, broken its fan, and hung by a strip of glue off of the MOBO. Check inside and make sure everything is okay. If it is, I'd say you've got either a memory problem, or a serious case of malware. If it's the later, I would highly recommend nuking the hard drive and starting from scratch.

 

Just thought of a good experiment - try running the machine without internet access and see if it still happens. If it still locks up, it might be something else. If not, I would definitely pin it on malware.

 

Hope you get back up and running soon mate!

[Typhoon 5]

OvS:

In my experience there 2 things that cause random lockups. One is an overheating problem and the other is a bad memory stick. At our shop we use "Memtest86" to test the memory. It is a free download. Also check to make sure all the fans in your case are running. We had one last week that had the same symptons as you and when you touched the chipset on the mobo it was really hot, to the point of burning your finger. A rare example but a new mobo had to be installed. Lots of good advice here. Good luck

 

Tony

[OvS 8]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I have tried everything except taking it apart. I had family over last night. My 11 year old nephew begged me to toss the 'bomb' so many times last night that my arm nearly came off! LOL! There's only so many 50+ yarders this 40 year old arm has, and he got me to toss them all!!

 

At any rate, I ran the checkers again, dropped back to 1 month ago on the restore (that worked easy as pie) and left the PC running for all of the Jets game, and some of the Giants game. No issues... which was nice... however, before I went to bed I gave it another shot... I sat down and pulled some music from YouTube... bam... lock-up. So its only happeneing when I download something.

 

I am convinced it's OS related... but I'll try some more of those memory and HD checkers tonight.

 

All the best,

 

OvS

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Yeah..it's a real pain in the a$$ isnt it m8?

I hate when a call comes in, and it's the dreaded 'Lockup'...as it means a lot of time messing on!...nightmare!...good luck

[Von Paulus 8]

There's always the possibility of your network controller being damaged. It wouldn't be the first time I saw something similar happening.

Usually it's permanent, not random. But it can be heat related.

So I would also try with other network controller.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

There's always the possibility of your network controller being damaged. It wouldn't be the first time I saw something similar happening.

Usually it's permanent, not random. But it can be heat related.

So I would also try with other network controller.

 

Very good point!.... Have had a similar problem in the past!...well worth checking OvS

[carrick58 23]

I had the Google Virus on the old computer . It got in thru the browser. I was using MSN or Yahoo.and Like others have said a real Bear. I have heard that reformatting the Hard Drive works of course, You lose all information. The real pain is reloading all the games, ad ons, downloads and patches, Plus searching out the sites where they came from. Not to mention the Drivers. One curious thing I found was that Theres is a fast reformat and a slow reformat. You can recover information at a later date with the Fast re format. The slow reformat everything is Gone forever period. I did not have to re install the Operating system, XP Pro, on the fast re format. Found a helpful site for small computer problems ( auto run , settings, ect) Its an XP, Win 7, Vista, 98 ect, Disscussion forum good reading but dont down load because of the Browser Bug,

its Called: Annoyances.org You could search there for Registry re construction Tips or settings or applications. Good Luck.

Edited September 20, 2010 by carrick58