[cyberspacegenie]

Hi,

I recently built a new system and have a problem that I think is software related. Sometimes when I open or close the file the screen freezes for about 10 seconds, most or all of the desktop icons disappear but the place holders remain. After this time the system refreshes quickly. The mouse works without problem throughout but the folders and icons are frozen. It can happen at any point while the computer is on.

The issue seems to be getting worse and the system seems to hang for slightly longer each time. This also happens on my laptop but on it tends to be for a brief moment on the laptop, with this new computer it lasts much longer and the new computer is much faster.

The computer is fast and has lots of memory so I cant understand why this is happening. Windows updates are all up-to-date. The hard drive is defragmented. I have tried the following in order to try and solve the problem but so far without success:

Updating all the drivers (inc. video and Bios)
Checking the windows error log – nothing listed for when the problem occurs
Ran chkdsk on my hard drive – Samsungs diagnostic software wont run
Changed the sata ports where the hard drive is plugged in
Disabled unnecessary startup programs
Disabled unnecessary drivers e.g. Jmicron IDE controller
Changing video card settings to performance
Reducing windows paging file
Changed the registry DisablePagingExecutive to 1

The spec is as follows:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 cpu (2.4GHz quad core)
Asus EN8600GT Silent video card (256mb passive cooling)
Asus P5K-E/Wi-fi motherboard
Samsung HD501LJ Hard Drive (SATA)
Asus 1814BLW DVD-ROM (SATA)
Transcend DDR2-800 RAM (1GB x 2 = 2GB total)

Relevant software being run at start-up:

Windows XP SP2 with all current updates
Zonealarm pro firewall (windows firewall disabled)
Webroot Spysweeper
BitDefender standard antivirus
Timeleft – desktop clock
Secondcopy – back-up software – set to run manually


Please help if you can, its very annoying! Thanks in advance.

[Hybr!d]

When the machine was built was the OS a fresh install?

[cyberspacegenie]

Yes it was a fresh install. I installed windows but then had to reinstall a few days later in order install the drivers to run the sata hard drive as ACHI. The second install was also a fresh install.

[Hybr!d]

Try running the registry fix part of CCleaner from our downloads section.

[cyberspacegenie]

Tried it before but unfortunately no joy. Also have Win ASO registry cleaner. no joy with that either.

[SocialWarfare]

Do you use the same software on both comps? It maybe a conflict between Zonealarm,Webroot Spysweeper or BitDefender, try disabling them in rotation see if that helps

[cyberspacegenie]

The software set-up is exactly the same, but the behaviour on the 2 computers is different. The laptop is much slower with with 1.2GHz pentium m cpu, 1GB of RAM and 4200rpm hard drive yet when it happens on the laptop it refreshes in about 1 or 2 seconds. On the desktop this is currently 10-15 sceonds. This would seem to suggest that something else is different. I have tried disabling bitdefender and spysweeper on separate occasions on the desktop and the problem did not seem to occur but it I didn't disable them for a long period. Because the behaviour on the laptop is different it seems to suggest to me that perhaps its not a conflict with the programs but something to do with a setting or the resource management on the system - it looks like something is bottlenecking or running at a slower speed to everything else and has to catch up, hence the long delay. When it happens the hard drive is intermittently active during the period and then extremely active during the eventual refresh.

[cyberspacegenie]

a quick update. I ran Win ASO and tune-up utilities 2007. The freezing happened again but this time the behaviour was different. The icons disappeared leaving only the place holders but this time I could still open and move folders. I counted the length of time it took for the icons to come back and it was about 27 seconds.

[Krlll]

Mate almost the same thing is happening on both PCs and the same software is installed on both PCs.
Then you say this.

I have tried disabling bitdefender and spysweeper on separate occasions on the desktop and the problem did not seem to occur but it I didn't disable them for a long period.

You dont think maybe SocialWarfare has given you the advice you need?

[cyberspacegenie]

sorry, perhaps I didnt make make myself clear enough. The problem on the desktop is much worse. I experience the problem on other computers but it is very brief (1-2 secs refresh) so not a big issue. On the desktop it is freezing now for up to 25 seconds at a time so the problem is not the same (i.e. 1-2 seconds v 25-30 seconds). There seems to be another factor involved.

I built this desktop about 3 weeks ago and it replaced a Shuttle desktop that I was using. The Shuttle ran the same software but refreshed in 1-2 seconds, so something else causing this computer to lock up for a far longer period of time.

In terms of the software - the problem happens intermittently so is not predictable. I can use the desktop for half a day without it happening and then I can close a folder as I'm about to shut down and it will freeze and I have to twiddle my thumbs for the next 30 seconds. My point was that just because the software was only disabled for a short time it was difficult to say whether it didnt happen because the software was at fault or simply because whatever the circumstances that cause it to happen were not in place during that period.

But unfortunately it is no longer an issue as I disabled both again (separately) today and it happened again while they were disabled so neither spysweeper nor bitdefender are the cause. I will disconnect from the internet for a while tomorrow and run without zonealarm to see if it happens.

Yesterday I ran memtest86 to see if it was memory related but 9 passes and 0 errors so the ram seems fine.

My only guess is that it is related either to the hardware drivers or settings conflicting with something or perhaps a fault with the hard drive, though chkdsk didnt reveal anything and the samsung diagnostic stuff wont run.