Windows Vista vista ultimate x64 freezing

mnkymatt

New Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2008
Hi i have been battling for a few days now... I installed vista ultimate x64 and its freezing quite often, randomly, even on the desktop with nothing open.
first all the programs and windows freeze, then the taskbar, and finally the mouse after a few seconds. other times i have been browsing the net for a few hours with no trouble... even played call of duty 4 online for 2 hours fine. cant figure it out.

when i installed vista i let it download drivers for all my hardware...

I have previously had vista ultimate 64bit installed with no problems, no freezing, but changed back to xp because of an old ms office. now i want vista back but having these irritating problems.

it seems to occasionally freeze in safe mode as well... so i thought maybe drivers..?
so i made sure to download and install all the latest drivers from the respective manufacturers. still no go:mad:

so please any advice???:confused:
 
Q6600 reset to stock speed
XFX n680i sli board
2GB Corsair XMS2 ddr2 800
8500GT 512mb
Vista Ultimate x64 SP1

Just last night i ran prime95, within 5 seconds it froze up.
Restarted, ran it again. Prime95 ran perfectly for over an hour
 
Hi mnkymatt

I notice from your specs. that you are running vista ultimate 64 bit OS. just installed.
I think that there could be two issues to look at here.
The first, as kemical has pointed out, may be linked to RAM. It may be related to a faulty stick and you should carry out the Memtest86 as he suggests. It could also be that 2GB of RAM is regarded as minimum by many Vista 64bit users and depending on what you are using your rig for i.e. gaming etc. 4GB might be recommended .
There is also your graphics card to consider, a 8500GT 512mb is pretty near the bottom of the 8 series cards. It is always going to struggle to cope with Vista ultimate and other programmes.
 
Thanks i will check the RAM when i get home tonight.

I really wish i could upgrade the RAM and card... but money is really tight at the moment and cant afford to do any upgrades for a while.

This exact pc ran vista ultimate 64bit fine the last time i had it installed.
 
Did you have another Windows OS version installed between this version of Ultimate and the last time.??
Why did you uninstall or change versions if it was working o.k.??
Any additional info. on what you have done since that previous time it worked o.k. could be important.!!
 
i started with vista ultimate. then installed xp 64bit in dual boot with vista. xp 64 did not support my printer but did support my old ms office. vista supported my printer but not my old ms office.after all that my hdd crashed replaced with a 500gb seagate barracuda for my OS's(3 partitions). i then installed xp pro 64bit. ran only xp for a few months. i now have office '07. so i would like to go fully into vista. although i am still dual booting xp and vista. xp does not freeze AT ALL!
 
Cool although you don't say how long you ran the test... If you ran longer than 20mins then usually you'll be fine..
Did you check the bios? Is there an update?
 
i will run it again for longer while im at work.

No i have not checked for a bios update. but im not too keen on flashing the bios. I have never attempted it and people i do know that have, have almost always screwed up.
 
Well as long as you follow the instructions to the letter you should be ok but I know and understand of your concerns..
 
OK I ran memtest for a few hours on each stick while at work. 1 in the morning and changed them on lunch break. Still passed...

Also im not sure if i mentioned earlier, but while playing games the pc runs fine, no freezing. But when im in windows... Opening folders, Mozilla, Copying files etc is when in freezes most of the time.
 
Try running a checkdisk and see if that turns up anything like bad sectors ect..
 
Got the same problem with my system. It keeps freezing up on me. Already updated my bios, did a memorytest (all passed). Did also a checkdisk, nothing there. Got the latest drivers and it's a clean install. No other programs are installed, just Vista Ultimate 64-bits.
 
I have a similar system running Vista x64 and with the 8500 GT with the same issues. Freezing when launching computer games, plugging usb external hdd.

I've read forums on the net, it could be due to the Nvidia drivers. A report was out months ago suggesting Nvidia was responsible for 70% of the Vista crashes. I have updated the nVidia drivers to the latest, atm 177.19 and also flash the bios to the latest.

When playing games or firing up some apps, it freezes and locks. Only way to let the rig come good, is to do a cold reboot.

Ongoing issue. Could be a dud 8500 Gt. Regret buying it. Should have got a 8600 GT for an extra $20 or wait long enuff for the ATI 3xxx series cards
 
as far as i know im still having problems just havnt been able to do more testing since im away from home for ten days. will update soon
 
Hi stellfox

If you have tried all the fixes that kemical suggested to mnkymatt, then I think you could be on the right track by concentrating on that 8500gt card. I think that this card is pretty near the low end of the Geforce 8 series cards.
Do you know anyone with a higher spec. graphics card that would be willing to let you try it on your rig to see what difference it makes???
 
Hi guys

I finally figured it out!!! It was my crappy 8500GT!!!!
I so regret buying it.... But hey i thought it would be better than the 7100GS i was running:eek:

Anyway i just disabled all the visual intensive features in vista and changed the themes to windows classic. It's been running solid, non-stop for 3 days now.

Thanks for your help anyway
 
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