Windows 7 seemingly random freezes

[the.schoenborn]

I'm enjoying the beta a lot but I continously get completely random freezes. It doesn't matter what I'm doing when it freezes because its frozen while surfing the net, sending feedback, and even on the login screen. Now I also got these same random freezes during the 'expanding files' portion of installation but managed to get lucky one time and fully install it.

Is it hardware? A botched install? Or is this common in the beat (I know its just a beat so problems are to be expected, but nobody else seems to mention these random freezes. Heres my specs BTW:

CPU: AMD sempron 3300+ 2.0ghz (64-bit but I'm running the 32-bit version of W7, maybe the problem)

RAM: 1.5GB

Video card: GeForce 7300GT


Another possible cause is that I installed drivers for my chinese third party USB wireless reciever. I don't remember if it froze before then or not as it was one of the first things I did. I was only able to succesfully do this by running the installer in XP SP2 compatability mode.



Any sugestions?

 

[montyuk]

could you try running in safe mode for a bit just to see if it freezes in there?

if it doesnt we then know its a driver issue, if it does its a hardware issue.

also add that no its not a common problem, and it doesnt matter about you running a 32bit system with your 64bit cpu.
it could be caused by the usb wifi, could be a faulty stick of ram, could be a dying psu, we just need to figure which it is.

anything listed in event viewer? (right click my computer - manage - event viewer) look for red circles or yellow triangles..

 

[the.schoenborn]

Ok, I will try that and post back here (I have to eat dinner now so expect a reply in about 30-40 mins)

well Its in safe mode right now and no crash yet. Looks like a driver issue to me. I checked the event list (i assume I should look at the system list and aside from the flood of errors that appear to be from when I started up in safe mode there are a few scattered about. Do you know what I should be looking for?

If it IS my wifi device do you think there will be a workaround or not?

 

[montyuk]

have you tried running windows update and seeing if theres any hardware driver updates available for your system?

you really after the repeat offenders, things that keep coming up, programs you recognise that you installed, driver issues...

 

[the.schoenborn]

No hardware updates. nothing consistent at all. I uninstalled the WIFI drivers/program and restarted. I fear the drivers were outdated or corrupted (the disk was really scratched up and I got the thing at least a couple of years ago).

If anybody can give me a place to download the latest USB WLAN drivers (athrubusb was the name for XP and maybe vista)


UPDATE: I tried t restart but it just wouldn't do anything. I logged off and tried to restart from there but it hung on the shutting down screen... I did a power-down and came back on to find to my surprise that it was installing the drivers for my WLAN. It never diod this before (it said it couldn't find the drivers). Hopefully this is the perfect resolution to my problem .

I will give it a 30-40 minutes before I call it fixed (It usually crashed between 20-30). i will post another update if I deem it fixed or if the issue continues. Thanks for all the help

 

[montyuk]

Atheros Communications Drivers - Atheros Communications Windows Drivers

i think thats a atheros communications driver, but it might be best you actually have a look physically at the card and see what it says on the label.

guessing it doesnt come back with anything when you auto install and let it search the web for drivers???

 

[the.schoenborn]

well it froze again so I disconnected the device and went to uninstal it from the device manager but it was already gone

I'll give it another 40 mins before I decide. I fear the USB stick just isn't compatible with W7. Can anybody recommend a 802.11g usb receiver?

UPDATE: well it froze again so I guess that eliminates the WLAN. I'm putting it back into safe mode just to make sure it won't freeze in SM.

I guess I should look into

-sound card driver (SC is way old and generic)

-video card driver (check for updates)


I screencapped the event log and will post it if it will help.

Well, I narowed it down to the driver for my video card. I took the driver from the sticky for nvidia cards (I have a geforce 7300GT) and installed it but it froze again

Do I need to run it in a specific compatability mode? DO I need to run as an administrator? any other special options to check before reinstalling?

 

[montyuk]

i just wonder i know you said you had issues even getting this thing installed in the first place whether somethings wrong with the install dvd, have you tried downloading a new copy and slowly burning it to a dvd? (to avoid any corruption caused by burning too fast) and just seeing if a fresh copy with a new dvd helps at all?

and maybe take out any unnecessary hardware until its installed ok, (like your soundcard / wifi)

 

[Moosetek13]

the.schoenborn, just a hunch - try disconnecting your dvd drive.

My nephew had a similar problem, and it turned out to be a dvd drive starting to go bad.

 

[the.schoenborn]

i just wonder i know you said you had issues even getting this thing installed in the first place whether somethings wrong with the install dvd, have you tried downloading a new copy and slowly burning it to a dvd? (to avoid any corruption caused by burning too fast) and just seeing if a fresh copy with a new dvd helps at all?

and maybe take out any unnecessary hardware until its installed ok, (like your soundcard / wifi)

1. I installed it off of my flash drive and the only problem during installation was that it froze during the "expanding files" stage

2. It must be a driver issue because it never freezes in safe mode

3. I'm 99.9999% sure its my video card driver because I uninstalled it and waited a good 2 hours and It didn't freeze, although another driver COULD be the issue.

4. As for the DVD drive being the issue, My DVD drive does seem kinda unreliable. It refuses to let me burn CDs in XP but never really had a problem reading CDs/DVDs

5. I think the issue may be how I'm installing my video drivers. Do I need to run the installer in compatibility mode /as an administrator / etc?




I really appreciate the help guys . Once I get this fixed I can just relax for the weekend and enjoy W7...



forget my previous updates... I just disabled my DVD drive to see if its the cause (should I uninstall it? If so how do I prevent windows from auto-re-installation of it?)

well, the disabled DVD drive appears to have fixed the problem. But now I don't have a DVD/CD drive...

do you think an uninstall/reinstall could fix it or no?

 

[dougbsfei]

well, my windows 7 is also the same as i have uninstalled the drivers...
but before that it is even worse (hanging after 3 mins. up-time)

safe mode for me is ok, no hang, but for normal windows, my system hang when i scan the windows experience index (when scanning windows media encoding)...

well, actually what's the problem here... is it the hardware, software or the drivers?

my system specification: 2 256mb RAM
Genuine Intel Pentium4 HT processors 3Ghz
Intel D865GBF Motherboard
Maxtor 40Gb IDE hard drive
and... LAN card, Sound card(Aureal Vortex 2001-Working in Vista and XP)


So please help me ASAP... I dont want to use vista as it is extreme slow...
Thanks

 

[Moosetek13]

forget my previous updates... I just disabled my DVD drive to see if its the cause (should I uninstall it? If so how do I prevent windows from auto-re-installation of it?)

well, the disabled DVD drive appears to have fixed the problem. But now I don't have a DVD/CD drive...

do you think an uninstall/reinstall could fix it or no?

You could try uninstalling the DVD in Device Manager, then reboot. The OS will detect it and reinstall the driver.

If your problem goes away it was just a flakey driver install. If the problem comes back, it is probably a bad drive.

 

[the.schoenborn]

well Its morning and last night while the drive was disabled I got about an hour and a half before it froze. Now its morning and I reinstalled the drive. I'll get back to you if this fixed it. If not my next priority will be to check the sound driver.

And it froze again. I unplugged the power for the dvd drive. If it freezes again I can eliminate that. Will update soon.

So far so good. I found a great deal on a replacement drive on newegg. I have a decent amount of knowledge with installing computer parts but I got 2 simple wuestions.

1. It says the form factor is 5.25". Is this the standard?

2. Will it have its own panel or will it hide behind my comps faceplate?

ARGH! It went a good 2 hours+ and then froze!!!! I guess this would mean it is not the DVD drive unless I would need to disconnect the drive from the comp, not just the power supply... any other Ideas????

 

[Moosetek13]

1. Yes. All CD/DVD drives are 5.25".

2. It should fit exactly like your current drive, either flush with the case or behind the cover.
The drives are all pretty standard, except for color. And that does not matter if it is behind a cover.

 

[the.schoenborn]

It froze with the DVD drive completely disconnected. Although it took 2+ hours this time... It happened while watching a video on WMP12. Is it buggy? Maybe it caused an unrelated freeze...


possible causes


-DVD drive (?X)

just gonna double check this

-WLAN driver(X)

-vid card driver (?):

For a while I had the WDDM 1.0 version installed somehow (not the prerelease WDDM) and It would go 1-2+ hours before a crash. I now have 805.20 installed and so far its crashed twice in about a half hour. This inconsistancy makes me want to think the VC driver is the problem. I have a GF 7300GT and everybody says 805.20 works for W7. when installing the driver I ran it in vista compatibility mode and as an administrator. any ideas?

-sound card driver (X)

-WLAN program (resurfaced after a system restore)? (X)

-botched install? *most likely but will test last b/c I don't want to reinstall for nothing* (?)


please check back here for updates