Windows 7 starts completely freezing on me

Hello friends. This is my first post on OverClockers.com, I am ashamed that it is a request for help. But I am running out of ideas about why I'm having such a number of problems with my W7.

Basically, at random times, my W7 just freezes. Nothing works, I can't ctrl-alt-del, I can't click, the mouse freezes. And I have to force a shut down by holding down the power button.

I'm not sure what kind of information you need to help me diagnose and solve this issue, so I am providing screenshots of what I think will be helpful. I am using W7 Home Premium, 64 Bit. All updates for Windows installed.

My DxDiag Report: http://www.pastebin.ca/2440986

Hello STVoyager and welcome to the forums!

Judging from the CPU/socket, this would be a laptop correct?

The first thing I would try is removing that spinpoint HDD. Its an easy test and it will rule out a storage drive that might cause the issue.

You also have 16GB of RAM to check. I would yank all the sticks and just test with 1 at a time. It could be a bad stick or a bad slot!

About the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is make sure the fans are coming on and nothing is locking the heatsink. Normally if a CPU is overheating it will just shutdown the system and not lock it up.


EDIT: I see it is indeed a laptop (G74sx).

I would do some digging regarding that GPU (560gtx) and see if anyone else is having issues with them and locking up. I have the G73jh with an AMD GPU in it, and it would grey screen on some games. I ended replacing the thermal paste on the GPU and it lowered the temps a bit.

Tokae said:

Hello STVoyager and welcome to the forums!

Judging from the CPU/socket, this would be a laptop correct?

The first thing I would try is removing that spinpoint HDD. Its an easy test and it will rule out a storage drive that might cause the issue.

Click to expand...

What do you mean by remove the spinpoint HDD? My Solid State Hard Drive is my Operating System Hard Drive.

I would run chkdsk on both of the drives and make sure that it is no currently trying to re allocate a bad block, it will cause freezes if it is and the block can't re allocate. I would also worry about the SSD as it is 90% full and I would expect it to wear much more quickly than a less full drive, I have also seen some ratings that indicate that their longevity is not as long as some other models.

^^ +1

If you're thinking of an upgrade, get SATA III SSD instead of SATA II SSD that you have in there right now. That laptop should supports 6GB/s. Sweet spot for SSD size is 240~256GB

STVoyager said:

What do you mean by remove the spinpoint HDD? My Solid State Hard Drive is my Operating System Hard Drive.

Click to expand...

I have the same set up (SSD OS / HDD storage), and a bad spinpoint drive caused a temporary lock up.

It would take 5 minutes to remove it. I was mentioning it as a way to to rule out potential problems. If you pulled the drive out and used the laptop for a day or 2 and noticed no difference, move on to the next fix...

I would guess, memory first, so try one stick and see if it still happens.

MS says 90% of freezing is driver related, look in the events list and see if the same event is happening just before freezing.

SSDs are know to cause weird problem too. Run chkdsk /r on them from a command window.

run sfc /scannow to check that windows files are up to date and valid.

Have you ever left if for a few hours and see if it comes back without rebooting?

Gentlemen, I apologize for my absence. My internet has been cut off, my ISP was doing some kind of digging and cut the cables. I just got my connection back up today. I will try running check disk, and then seeing if the problem is memory. I will keep you up to date. Thank you all.

I'm no storage wizard, but I definitely remember reading more than once about CHKDSK not really doing much of anything on a SSD. I don't know if that's true, I just know I've read it before. Perhaps we can get an official answer in the thread at some point.

Gentlemen, the RAM doesn't seem to be the issue, I did what you told me, and the problem did not change. Does this mean I have to re-install Windows for the 8 hundredth and forty-fifth time in a two year period?

Mr. Orion told me to do a special scan, here is the result from that scan, I uploaded the file so that you can download it. http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=geb34f986a8ff97b2999367986c99ffd0c4c78947f

Here is a virus scan of the log file.

Did you try removing your storage drive for a day and using the laptop?

Oooh no, I didn't. Will do so today, thank you for the reminder, will tell you what happened when I check in tomorrow.

STVoyager said:

Does this mean I have to re-install Windows for the 8 hundredth and forty-fifth time in a two year period?

Click to expand...

Before installing it 146th time, consider partitioning the hard drive, installing the OS on a relatively small partition, then imaging the OS partition after setting everything up the way you want it to be.

To reduce the size of OS partition, maybe install large apps on another partition, this would make imaging/reimaging faster. Be sure NOT to keep personal data on the OS partition so it doesn't get wiped when reimaging. This way if, scratch that, WHEN this happens again, it would be faster to reimage then reinstall.

Hope you figure out the source of your problems, it sure sounds like hardware, but after you rule that out, see what software is running at Windows Startup, here's some useful freeware for quick access to that: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/what_run_in_startup.html

gentlemen, I have been cut off from the internet again for a few days, my ISP sucks. Also I had emergency job calls. But you guys hit the problem on the head, the problem is with my secondary hard drive. I ordered a new one. You guys rule!! Now who want's to help me pay for my HD?