computer freezes for 5-10 mins then resumes
- Thread starter pokergod
- Start date
first i would use taskmgr to see what is running while the computer is "frozen". if that doesn't help, then a process viewer:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
if that shows nothing, then i'd boot in safe mode and see if it happens there too. if not, disable all services and startup stuff (maybe not all) and enable them in groups to see when the problem returns. i would also do a hijack this dump and analyze that in my spare time.
or maybe somebody smarter than me will know the answer right off.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
if that shows nothing, then i'd boot in safe mode and see if it happens there too. if not, disable all services and startup stuff (maybe not all) and enable them in groups to see when the problem returns. i would also do a hijack this dump and analyze that in my spare time.
or maybe somebody smarter than me will know the answer right off.
can't do that, since nothing responds when its frozen but the mouse pointer still moves. thx
You can shut it down , reboot and go to safe mode. If you have no problem in safe mode (like poker said) then it might be software. If not could be the hard drive. Or Overheating.
Odd that the mouse pointer still moves. Suggests that in-memory code can still run, but the system either can't fetch or for some reason is 'blocked' from executing other tasks.
Sounds like it could be stuck on some disk i/o operations: most other activity won't 'block' for an extended time; since i/o is supposed to happen reliably and quickly, there isn't usually a lot of timeout handling done. This could be symptomatic of some hard drive sectors starting to fail.
Overheating could exacerbate other issues, including possibly i/o errors.
Sounds like it could be stuck on some disk i/o operations: most other activity won't 'block' for an extended time; since i/o is supposed to happen reliably and quickly, there isn't usually a lot of timeout handling done. This could be symptomatic of some hard drive sectors starting to fail.
Overheating could exacerbate other issues, including possibly i/o errors.
A legacy of using a mouse on a single process (save TSR programs) MS-DOS 286-- Skipping a lot mumbo jumbo, a perverse amount of effort has gone into keeping the mouse moving smoothly (on all platforms). The mouse and the keyboard tend to be on a fairly asynchronous fast path.
There's some decent advice here. The possibility of a thermal issue is less likely as that will usually cause a system to straight up shutdown (to save itself), though, as was said, it may be exacerbating some other issue. Assuming your computer has more than 1 core (built in the last 7 years), no one non-malicious thing should be hammering all of the cores like that. As was also mentioned, it could very well be the system blocking while trying to write bad blocks on your hard disk. Run a disk scan, and look at the SMART tools for your OS. Back your shit up now, not later. It could also be some failing component / bad driver sending your OS for a loop. It could still also be some malware or truly retarded program...
-Check your disk.
-Backup your disk.
-Update your BIOS, Firmware, Drivers.
-Login to the actual Windows update, and do all of those you can. (Sometimes MS autoupdate won't install some things, or will block, or fail.)
-Update your virus / malware scanners.
-Scan the system.
-Disable stupid stuff at startup.
-Check for dust, get a hand vac or a can of compressed air.
Really, you could pretty much repeat that list for anything. In fact you should probably be doing that monthly (at a minimum) on Windows.
While I would normally recommend keeping your BIOS, firmware, and drivers up to date, I'm less certain that I would recommend taking on such a task when you don't know what is causing the system to freeze: the possibility of a half-completed BIOS update is not a complication I would want to add to the current scenario.
Another thing to try, though, might be to download a "live" OS (e.g. Ubuntu Linux can run from the installation CD which you can make) and run it from the CD. This will give you a very different OS environment, and would not involve your hard disk, so you can see if you still get the system freezing (which would point to a system hardware issue of unknown cause - maybe investigate your system memory next in that case?).
Tend to agree it may be a failing HDD which is considered the weakest link.
Check and test your HDD with whatever SMART tools you have available.
Was given a laptop awhile back with similar issues. It would start to boot then freeze up and would not fully boot.
Popped in a Linux Live CD and it ran Linux beautifully because the HDD was totally bypassed. Ran the Linux SMART options which reported the HDD was shot. Got a new HDD, installed it, then installed Linux and that laptop runs great now.
Well, assuming the BIOS is updated via removable media (USB Key probably) it shouldn't touch the hard disk. There's no report of the system losing power (the big danger for making a brick), and the only most basic device initialization would be done at the point you're installing a new BIOS. Personally, I don't bother checking much else until I'm sure a system has the latest stable BIOS installed.
The 'try a live distro (and run the SMART tools)' advice is a good idea. Though that still doesn't necessarily mean that the hard disk is failing (unless the drive's SMART data says so), and it could still very well be some malware / stupid software intermittently hammering all of the cores, or god only knows what other maybe software / maybe hardware issue. Different OSes will expose different hardware faults differently. Generally speaking, this often means that something running Linux will often handle hardware that's near death better than Windows.
Another idea would be to unplug all USB and other 'quick attach' peripherals. At least then you could rule out a bad device / bad driver for those devices.
LOL, though without some idea of what's happening on the system when it freezes we're all shooting in the dark.
Once you know for certain that it is a Hard Disk problem, then you can update the BIOS without touching the Hard Disk and not have to worry overly much.
But until you know for certain where the problem is, the risk of bricking the device is greater than the reward.
Unless the problem is the BIOS, and some transparently updated 'thing' newly exploits a broken feature. (I've had that happen.) As long as there's no reports of power failure or flakiness... But yeah, I'll amend my suggestion to use SMART tools / other disk checks, and do the rest of the stuff I / we mentioned, then save the BIOS for last.
LOL. From the sound of it you've bricked a thing or two.
Err, I've never been that 'blessed'...Nope. I know what I'm doing. But I do have friends who don't.LOL. From the sound of it you've bricked a thing or two.
I've had friends who were keen on flashing everything they've owned with 'hacker dude's experimental firmware #1313'. They produced a fair number of bricks. (I'm all for re-flashing things even with non-vendor firmware, just pick a stable version, make sure you have stable power, and let somebody else go first.)
Had this happen to me on a 'tweaked' laptop. Found out it was an out of date Intel RST driver messing with energy management on my SSD. IF - you have an SSD, update Intel drivers and/or turn off LPM and look for a firmware update to SSD. IF it is not SSD, I've had my screen freeze on desktop, not 5-10 minutes, but I it was (1) out of date graphics driver (do a complete wipe of old drivers) and check power supply. Listing system specs may help generate some more ideas too.
