Window freezes

Opening any window on my computer freezes the system. Not even Control Alt
Delete will stop it. I have to reset the computer. Double click the my
computer icon, freezes. Try to open the control panel, freezes. Any
explorer window causes it to lock up. Any idea whats going on? I'm not
getting any error messages, it just locks up. Mike

"
wrote in message ...
Opening any window on my computer freezes the system. Not even Control
Alt
Delete will stop it. I have to reset the computer. Double click the my
computer icon, freezes. Try to open the control panel, freezes. Any
explorer window causes it to lock up. Any idea whats going on? I'm not
getting any error messages, it just locks up. Mike


Restart in safe mode ( I think its F8 you press as the windows splash screen
comes on )
If all is ok then you have some kind of nasty doing something wrong,

In safe mode run WINIPCFG and see what is is set to load at start up

Jud

Can you boot to Safe Mode & run without the freezing? Hold F5 as you
boot, or hold CTRL for the Startup Menu, & select Safe Mode from that.
If you don't freeze there, then...

"START, Run, MSConfig" & turn off the Startup Group, Config.sys &
Autoexec.bat. (Note: when you later turn them back on, all items in them
will get checked. So, note what may be unchecked first.)

Can you boot to Normal Mode now & not get the freezing? If so, there is
some troubleshooting to do, using MSConfig...

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;281965
How to Troubleshoot Using the Msconfig Utility with Windows 98
(281965) - This article describes how to use the Microsoft System
Configuration (Msconfig) utility to troubleshoot configuration errors in
Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition.

BUT BE CAREFUL-- better not disable System.ini & Win.ini, because that
can be trouble. Well, if you are sure of your Registry backups, actually
those two can be recovered this way...

(a) Boot to DOS. (Hold Ctrl for the Startup Menu, & select "Command
Prompt Only".)
(b) Scanreg /Restore
(c) Ctrl-Alt Del to Windows.

It will offer five dates. Choose the one of the last successful boot, to
start. These backups are done at boot, not at shut down. This should be
safe to do, if you haven't done anything to files in the mean time. This
will not restore files other than those .ini's & the Registry. It only
restores settings.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"
wrote in message
...
| Opening any window on my computer freezes the system. Not even
Control Alt
| Delete will stop it. I have to reset the computer. Double click the
my
| computer icon, freezes. Try to open the control panel, freezes. Any
| explorer window causes it to lock up. Any idea whats going on? I'm
not
| getting any error messages, it just locks up. Mike

It could be a "nasty" as someone said. Adaware or Spybot scans may find it.
But I would lean to a Hardware conflict. I would first reload the video
drivers.
Also it could be caused by a hot or dusty MB,failing Ram stick, video card
or PS.
Could be just a loose connection somewhere on the MB. Time to clean the
dust bunnies out of the old PC and do a little PM.
OH...check the PCU fan speed. It should be around 5,000RPM. If it is below
4,000?
It will need to be replaced. They slow down with age. About two year life.
Just because they are still turning does not mean they are cooling
effectively.
If it is software? What was the last thing you downloaded before this
happened?
I've seen programs, like my old AV program that was upgraded to work best
with XP, that caused Win98SE to constantly freeze. Which sucked because I
really like the program. Now I am useing AVG Free which works well.
Hope this helps?

" wrote:

Opening any window on my computer freezes the system. Not even Control Alt
Delete will stop it. I have to reset the computer. Double click the my
computer icon, freezes. Try to open the control panel, freezes. Any
explorer window causes it to lock up. Any idea whats going on? I'm not
getting any error messages, it just locks up. Mike

Ok heres what I've found so far. If I boot in safe mode everything works
fine. If I uncheck just about everything in the start up(msconfig) it will
still lock up. I cleaned all the dust bunnies out, didn't help. I was at
28M ram so I added new cards now I'm at 256M. Still having the same problem.
I also installed Adaware. Found some things but didn't fix the problem.
I'll try reloading the Video drivers when I get a chance. I all also replace
the fans. If anyone else has some ideas feel free to jump in. Mike

Go into Safe, start msconfig, click the Startup tab and uncheck everything.
If the computer then starts normally, start or reenable items one at a time
until the problem application is found.

Ben

" wrote in message ...
Ok heres what I've found so far. If I boot in safe mode everything works
fine. If I uncheck just about everything in the start up(msconfig) it will
still lock up. I cleaned all the dust bunnies out, didn't help. I was at
28M ram so I added new cards now I'm at 256M. Still having the same problem.
I also installed Adaware. Found some things but didn't fix the problem.
I'll try reloading the Video drivers when I get a chance. I all also replace
the fans. If anyone else has some ideas feel free to jump in. Mike

If it doesn't freeze in Safe Mode, likely it is a Normal Mode 32-bit
software problem. If you've disabled the Startup Group, Config.sys &
Autoexec.bat, likely it isn't a startup program at fault, if the freezes
still occur in Normal Mode. It won't hurt to update defs & run a virus
scan, though. (AdAware is a spyware detector.)

It could be a 32-bit driver problem. Pursue the article I posted & those
to which it links. Also, in Normal Mode, what shows up in... R-Clk My
Computer, Properties, Device Manager tab... are there red/yellow ?'s/!'s
on any icons?

Here is what I have on the Display Adapter...

(a) Turn off hardware acceleration at... "Control Panel, Display,
Settings tab, Advanced button, Performance button". If things get
better, you could be right to suspect the Video Drivers.

(b) Switch to the Standard Display Adapter per the following. It won't
be pretty, & I hope you will be able to reach all buttons you want to
click, that they won't be off the screen. BUT, if things are quicker,
surely it is the Display Adapter at fault. In that case, first try
reinstalling the one you have now, & see whether it improves.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=127139
Troubleshooting Video Problems in Windows

"START, Run, MSConfig, Advanced button". If checked, then uncheck "VGA
640x480x16", & reboot.

"Control Panel, Display, Settings tab". Select as you wish from the
Colors dropdown menu & the Size slider. Really, you should need nothing
higher than "High Color (16 bit)", for speed/resource considerations.

If you move the Screen Area slider to 1024x768 there, be sure to click
the Advanced button, & select Large fonts.

Try to get your colors/size at least twice that way. If it continues to
fail, you may need to reinstall your Monitor or Display Adapter...

For the Monitor...
(1) Boot to Safe Mode
(Hold F5 as you boot or CTRL for the Startup Menu)
(2) "START, Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager tab"
(3) Open the Monitors branch, & Remove all entries.

Perhaps, FIRST, even in Normal Mode, note what is installed
similar to below for the Adapter. That is...
(a) D-Clk the monitor there for Properties, Driver tab.
(b) Click the Update Driver button, then "Next".
(c) Bolt "Display a list...", & click "Next".
(d) Bolt "Show all hardware".
Examine the two panes to see what is currently installed.
That is likely what you wish to end up with, after step (4).

(4) Boot to Normal Mode.

Hopefully, it will be rediscovered & installed. Then, if still
necessary, here is the rigmarole of the Display Adapter...

.......Quote..........
The first thing to do is to remove the video adapter you have
installed. Right-click on the desktop; choose "Properties" from the
drop-down menu; select "Settings;" click on the "Advanced" button; and
click on "Adapter". An adapter is a program that tells Windows how to
deal with a specific video card. Make note of the adapter that is
currently installed. Then, change the adapter to "Standard Display
Adapter (VGA)" and restart the system.

[That is: Click "Change, Next, bolt 'Display a List...', Next, bolt
'Show all hardware', scroll left pane to top, select '(Standard display
types)', select 'Standard Display Adapter (VGA)' in right pane, click
'Next'"... PCR]

This will remove the current adapter and replace it with a generic VGA
adapter that works with all video cards. You will not like VGA because
it supports only 16 colors, but the purpose of installing it is to get
rid of whatever was there before.

Next, return to the adapter screen and install an adapter that matches
your video card. This may or may not be the adapter that you are
using now. Examine the materials you received with your computer to
see if they include a CD-ROM or floppy disk that contains the correct
video adapter. Or go to the Gateway website and see if they have an
adapter for you to download. Or check the website of the company that
made your video card.

Bill Starbuck (MVP)
.......End....of quote....

Also...
..........Quote................
To identify your video adapter correctly, download and run either the
Everest or Aida32 utility, available he
http://aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#everest

Once you have identified the display adapter, go to the manufacturer's
web site and download the correct driver for you operating
system....(such as) Windows 98/98SE.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
.........EOQ....................


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"
wrote in message
...
| Ok heres what I've found so far. If I boot in safe mode everything
works
| fine. If I uncheck just about everything in the start up(msconfig) it
will
| still lock up. I cleaned all the dust bunnies out, didn't help. I
was at
| 28M ram so I added new cards now I'm at 256M. Still having the same
problem.
| I also installed Adaware. Found some things but didn't fix the
problem.
| I'll try reloading the Video drivers when I get a chance. I all also
replace
| the fans. If anyone else has some ideas feel free to jump in. Mike

If I boot in safe mode everything works
fine.

Safe mode will not load video drivers. That's why everything is big. I would
locate and install the Video drivers just to eliminate the possibility.
Is you video "on-board" or "card"? Video cards have about a 2 year life
also.
I put a Phoenix AGP card in this machine. It was a good card but it put out
so much heat it cause problems with other componants. So I put a PCI card in
by nVidia.
It worked OK for a few months then the PC seem to reject it. Don't know why?
Everything looked OK. But kept coming up with faults at boot that when
reserched pointed towards the video card. The card is working fine in another
PC.
Went and got an almost identical nVidia card that was AGP. Had it a year
now with no problems.
Note: This does not occur in all cases.
But when the PC is booting and is going from Win logo screen to black screen
to desktop. If there is a flash of one line of numbers or
slash. The line will be all the same charactor. Like all 4s or all slashes.
This indicates a conflict between video card and monitor. No biggy. It would
indicate you may get some slight freezing when you are useing alot of video
Ram. Like playing a game when alot of graphics.

" wrote:

Ok heres what I've found so far. If I boot in safe mode everything works
fine. If I uncheck just about everything in the start up(msconfig) it will
still lock up. I cleaned all the dust bunnies out, didn't help. I was at
28M ram so I added new cards now I'm at 256M. Still having the same problem.
I also installed Adaware. Found some things but didn't fix the problem.
I'll try reloading the Video drivers when I get a chance. I all also replace
the fans. If anyone else has some ideas feel free to jump in. Mike

Bad news. None of these helpful hints are working. Uninstalled video driver
and reinstalled. No good. Just the explorer window is the problem. I can
still play games, so I don't think its the video card. Any other ideas? Mike

Can you open Windows Explorer?
Most times when there is a trojan or worm on some cookie or IE temp file.
It can cause something like you are experiencing. And an AV program might not
catch it until you do a scndisk or defrag. One way I see if this is a
possibility is try and open Windows Explorer. When I do this and a window
never opens and the system freezes to where I have to push the reset button.
I am pretty sure there is something lurking in my IE temps. If you have
Spybot S&D it has a file shredder in the advance mode. You can select IE temp
folder and have the program shred it.
This does not hurt anything because Windows will rebuilt IE temp files next
time you open IE or at a reboot.
If your AV program is up to date and you can select specific areas to scan?
I would go to Start/Settings/Folder options select the view tab and select
"show all files" and untick "Hide File extensions..." . Then open AV program
select C: and run a full scan.
If this doesn't show or find anything.
Can you get into MB bios?
There would be a a line about PC health. Open that and see what your CPU
fan speed is. Also this will show the CPU temp. If it is above 125 degrees.
This may cause constant freezing. Like I said before the CPU fan should be
running around 5,000RPM. And down to 4,00RPM. If it is below 4K. then it will
need to be replaced.
Have you tried running the PC without the sides/covers on it?
You said you have cleaned the dust out of the PC. What about the fins under
the CPU fan? The fan will pack those things full.
If none of this works and no one has come up with the right answer?
I have another thing to try. But it involves changing something in MB bios.
It will be lengthy to explain. And I will need to check on the sequence to
make sure I tell you right.
Good Luck!

" wrote:

Bad news. None of these helpful hints are working. Uninstalled video driver
and reinstalled. No good. Just the explorer window is the problem. I can
still play games, so I don't think its the video card. Any other ideas? Mike