Win7 freezing but winXP doesn't?!

Edi-no-son · 06-21-11, 10:44 PM

Hi guys... need a bit of help here.
I've been using winXP for a few years now, and thought I'll upgrade to win7.
Tried installing, and it either keeps freezing and/or screen loses connection (ie, flickers between analog/digital) and can't do anything but restart it.

I thought it was my HDD problem as it was playing up before, so I went to buy another one and same problem

I plugged back in my old HDD which I reinstalled winXP, and it's working fine without a problem.
Then I thought it was a temperature problem, but checked it and it's fine too.

Tried searching everywhere can't find an actual 'fix' for it

Any advice on what I should do next??
I read that it could be the a part on the motherboard not liking win7??

My computer:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
Intel Q6600
Corsair CM2X1024-6400
Nvidia 8600gt
Antec trupower 750W

Thanks for any help in advance!!

Weeman · 06-21-11, 11:50 PM

which version of Windows 7 are you using and where did you get it? was it downloaded? purchased?
Where exactly does it freeze during the installation process?
I'm guessing if windows xp works... it's not likely it a hardware failure. If anything it could be bad memory sector.
Worst case scenario Best Buy can install it for cheap.

hafa · 06-22-11, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weeman

...Worst case scenario Best Buy can install it for cheap.

That's the worst case scenario, alright. I'd call it a nightmare scenario as well as a waste of money.

OP: Your hardware should run Win7 without a hitch; download, burn and run memtest86 and see if you get any errors, then post back.

Adak · 06-22-11, 12:24 AM

If you have any old drivers or programs that start up along with Windows as it boots up, your problem may be that one of them is incompatible with Win 7.

Update your video card driver and any other program that start up as you boot up, and see if that doesn't take care of the problem.

Edi-no-son · 06-22-11, 01:29 AM

I'll give the memtest86 a try.

The win7 was installed on a brand new HD so there wouldn't be any old programs or drivers.
I've updated the vidz card driver too and still happens

As for when it freezes, whenever
It froze multiple times during install.
If i try it now, it can freeze when the Win7 logo shows up it's loading, it can do it after 1min seeing the desktop, and/or 1hr later... random :S

The version I've got is a win7 64bit. Bought locally in stores (Syd stores) so it's a real copy.

Weeman · 06-22-11, 10:08 AM

how many sticks of CM2X1024-6400
do you have?

Edi-no-son · 06-22-11, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weeman

how many sticks of CM2X1024-6400
do you have?

4 sticks in total... all 1gb sticks

What diff would it make?

jmdixon85 · 06-22-11, 02:22 PM

Do you get any BSOD (blue screens of death)? If so what do they say?

Without a error message the only thing I can suggest in loading Default settings in the BIOS and reinstalling. If you do that remember to change the hard disk setting to back to AHCI before you install.

Edi-no-son · 06-22-11, 06:17 PM

Just did a memtest on it for 4.5hrs and no errors at all.
Did 4 passes in total and I think was nearing the end of the 5th.

Jmdixon85 - so you suggesting to load default setting in bios, change HDD setting to AHCI, and reinstall Win7? (noob question... how to do that? via bios yeh?)
What does AHCI setting do??

And also, no BSOD at all....just a freeze and/or blank screen.... nothing to even diagnose a problem >< ><

jmdixon85 · 06-22-11, 06:25 PM

Without going into technical info, AHCI makes your hard disk more efficient and slighter faster.

And yes you restore the default settings in the BIOS. Doing this will make sure everything is "at stock" ie: not overclocked. Before you leave the BIOS make sure your RAM voltage is at 1.9v

Edi-no-son · 06-22-11, 10:00 PM

Probably a silly request....
Can I install 2 copies of windows on 1 HDD?

Reason is... I don't wanna 'erase' my win7 on it already as i've updated alot of things n installed heaps on it...
Can I like partition 50gb of the HD, and install a new windows on it whilst 'blocking' the first win7 on the same HDD??????
This way, if the install does freeze again half way, at least I can delete this partition and I know that that attempt at the fix didn't work, and I still have a copy of win7 on it! :S

Hope what I'm saying is understandable haha

Edi-no-son · 06-23-11, 02:56 AM

ok guys I gave memtest a try.

Tbh, I dunno what I'm doing, but all I did was chuck it in, let it run for 7hrs, and stopped it.

Here's what it showed up with:

So...what can we deduct?
There's no memory problem?

So where to next??
Also one thing I noticed.. I have a q6600 quad core.
Why is it only showing core 2 2400Mhz?!?!

CPU-z is showing this:

helpppp... I want win7 and my full 4gb memory >< >< (ok... maybe win7 is slightly more important than the 4gb of ram haha)

hafa · 06-23-11, 12:24 PM

Since your memory passed, we can rule it out as the issue. The fact that the screen flickers makes me suspect your video card.

You mentioned that you have one instance of Windows 7 already fully installed, correct? If so, have you tried starting in safe mode? (press F8 repeatedly after the bios posts) If the machine behaves itself while in safe mode, then try disabling the display adapter in Device Manager. If you can then successfully boot into Windows and move around in Windows Explorer, you can likely safely say that the video card is the issue.

c627627 · 06-23-11, 03:18 PM

This sounds like an OS problem, IF you had a drive image of your Windows XP operating system partition when everything was working, you could now re-image it and see if the problem is still there.

Consider doing this in the future, partition the hard drive, making images of your OS partition for when (not if

) something like this happens in the future.

Install this on your Windows 7 and see which programs are starting up with Windows 7.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Something damaged your OS install it sounds like. Maybe a program that is running when Windows starts is causing it. Maybe a driver update. Remember it's not always good to update video card drivers for example. There comes a point when you should stop upgrading drivers for older video cards.

Definitely do not upgrade drivers w/o imaging your OS partition and try not to update any drivers from Windows update. Only update Windows itself using Windows update. Driver updates using Windows update have messed up many installations, including several of my own. Luckily I could imaged back and resolve the problem.

RJARRRPCGP · 06-23-11, 05:57 PM

It's possible for the system to be "half-broken" where only a 32-bit OS is usable and a 64-bit OS crashes, when there's an OC issue.

Edi-no-son · 06-23-11, 06:19 PM

hafa - I entered Safe mode and it works perfectly fine.... no problem at all.
Regarding disabling the display adaptor, how would that work as my Mobo doesn't have any display plugs.... so I can only plug it in via the gpu :S

c627627 - I'll have a look into that.
The only thing is that it can't even be the driver/program starting as it was already freezing upon the installation of win7 prior to updating things.
So therefore that suggest that there was a clash with a hardware/setting with win7 install doesn't it?

rjarrrr - Tried a 32bit version too... same issue.

c627627 · 06-23-11, 06:55 PM

It was freezing before you installed any drivers or programs under Windows 7, that's right sorry, which hard drive are you using?

So you have a blank drive that you formatted under Windows 7 then tried installing Windows 7 on it? Remember, Windows 7 should be used to format the drives, not Windows XP for optimal Windows 7 allignments.

Use the old approach of using only one stick of ram and cpu and motherboard and disconnecting everything from the system, all other cards and devices - then install Windows 7 from scratch.

At which point in the installation does it start freezing? Remember not to install Windows on an overclocked system.

Edi-no-son · 06-23-11, 08:12 PM

Yeaa black HDD.
It's a Seagate Barra. 2tb 5900rpm?

It's a pretty simple system.
4gb ram
gpu - can't dc this or else I can't plug my monitor in at all

p35ds3r mobo
2 dvd roms

As for freezing, it can happen whenever.... 1min in, 5min in, after the whole process....
Bios settings are all set on fail safe mode.

c627627 · 06-23-11, 08:20 PM

1. You have a clean drive which you formatted under Win7, correct? No other hard drives are connected?
2. Connect only one DVD drive, do not connect any printers, scanners, etc.

3. So you can install Windows 7 without any problems and it is after the 'whole process' (of installation?) that you begin seeing problems?

Have you ran Windows update or installed any drivers before you see problems?

Edi-no-son · 06-23-11, 08:54 PM

1. yup clean drive... no other HDD connected
2. Nothing else connected apart from 2x dvd drive... I've tried it with 1 before and same problem during installation
3. It would try install, and freeze at random times (did it maybe 4-5 times) so I had to start from scratch again.
Then eventually it worked...
But since then, every once in a while it would freeze again

So bottom line is that it happened even during the install, but I kept going and there was one lucky time it didn't freeze on me for the whole install process :S

And to answer the last question, since it had already froze during installation, and also after the one time it worked, I hadn't even had a chance to run any updates.

06-21-11, 10:44 PM	Thread Starter #1
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	Win7 freezing but winXP doesn't?! Hi guys... need a bit of help here. I've been using winXP for a few years now, and thought I'll upgrade to win7. Tried installing, and it either keeps freezing and/or screen loses connection (ie, flickers between analog/digital) and can't do anything but restart it. I thought it was my HDD problem as it was playing up before, so I went to buy another one and same problem I plugged back in my old HDD which I reinstalled winXP, and it's working fine without a problem. Then I thought it was a temperature problem, but checked it and it's fine too. Tried searching everywhere can't find an actual 'fix' for it Any advice on what I should do next?? I read that it could be the a part on the motherboard not liking win7?? My computer: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R Intel Q6600 Corsair CM2X1024-6400 Nvidia 8600gt Antec trupower 750W Thanks for any help in advance!!
	QUOTE Thanks

06-21-11, 11:50 PM	#2
Weeman Join Date: Nov 2009	which version of Windows 7 are you using and where did you get it? was it downloaded? purchased? Where exactly does it freeze during the installation process? I'm guessing if windows xp works... it's not likely it a hardware failure. If anything it could be bad memory sector. Worst case scenario Best Buy can install it for cheap. __________________ CPU: Intel I7 960 Ultra120 cooler Mobo: ASUS P6X58-E-WS HD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB RAM: Corsair DDR3 8-8-8-20 12GB GPU: 2x ATI HD5970 CrossfireX PSU: Corsair AX1200 Case: Silverstone TJ07
	QUOTE Thanks

06-22-11, 12:24 AM	#4
Adak Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006	If you have any old drivers or programs that start up along with Windows as it boots up, your problem may be that one of them is incompatible with Win 7. Update your video card driver and any other program that start up as you boot up, and see if that doesn't take care of the problem.
	QUOTE Thanks

06-22-11, 01:29 AM	Thread Starter #5
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	I'll give the memtest86 a try. The win7 was installed on a brand new HD so there wouldn't be any old programs or drivers. I've updated the vidz card driver too and still happens As for when it freezes, whenever It froze multiple times during install. If i try it now, it can freeze when the Win7 logo shows up it's loading, it can do it after 1min seeing the desktop, and/or 1hr later... random :S The version I've got is a win7 64bit. Bought locally in stores (Syd stores) so it's a real copy.
	QUOTE Thanks

06-22-11, 10:08 AM	#6
Weeman Join Date: Nov 2009	how many sticks of CM2X1024-6400 do you have? __________________ CPU: Intel I7 960 Ultra120 cooler Mobo: ASUS P6X58-E-WS HD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB RAM: Corsair DDR3 8-8-8-20 12GB GPU: 2x ATI HD5970 CrossfireX PSU: Corsair AX1200 Case: Silverstone TJ07
	QUOTE Thanks

Win7 freezing but winXP doesn't?!

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06-22-11, 02:22 PM	#8
jmdixon85 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Cumbria (UK)	Do you get any BSOD (blue screens of death)? If so what do they say? Without a error message the only thing I can suggest in loading Default settings in the BIOS and reinstalling. If you do that remember to change the hard disk setting to back to AHCI before you install. __________________ Main System/File Server/Secondary System/IP-Fire Router CPU: I2500K @ 4.8Ghz (H2o cooled)//E6320/Q6600 @ 3.5Ghz/AMD Athlon 215 Mainboard: AsRock Z77 Extreme 4/Asus P5Q Deluxe/Gigabyte P35-DS3P/Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz/6GB DDR2 800Mhz/4GB DDR2 1066Mhz/2GB DDR2 Video: nVidia GTX 460/nVidia 210/NVidia GTX295/Radeon 3000 HDD: 128GB SSD (System)/WD VR 300GB(Games)/ 80GB HDD (TV Recordings)/Samsung 160GB (Sytem), 4x 1TB (RAID5 Data)/3TB (Backup) HighpointRR 3520 RAID Card/VR 160GB (system) 1TB (Data)/80GB PSU: FSP 800W/Enermax 495W/Ximatek 500W/FSP 300W Case: Coolermaster HAF932/CM Cosmos S/Cosmos 1000 Audio: Toslink -> Pioneer VSX-820-K (Dolby TrueHD/DTS Master Audio)/Logitech X-530 i7/i5/i3 Overclocking Guide /Intel Core2 overclocking guide/AMD AM2 overclocking Guide
	QUOTE Thanks

06-22-11, 06:17 PM	Thread Starter #9
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	Just did a memtest on it for 4.5hrs and no errors at all. Did 4 passes in total and I think was nearing the end of the 5th. Jmdixon85 - so you suggesting to load default setting in bios, change HDD setting to AHCI, and reinstall Win7? (noob question... how to do that? via bios yeh?) What does AHCI setting do?? And also, no BSOD at all....just a freeze and/or blank screen.... nothing to even diagnose a problem >< ><
	QUOTE Thanks

06-22-11, 06:25 PM	#10
jmdixon85 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Cumbria (UK)	Without going into technical info, AHCI makes your hard disk more efficient and slighter faster. And yes you restore the default settings in the BIOS. Doing this will make sure everything is "at stock" ie: not overclocked. Before you leave the BIOS make sure your RAM voltage is at 1.9v __________________ Main System/File Server/Secondary System/IP-Fire Router CPU: I2500K @ 4.8Ghz (H2o cooled)//E6320/Q6600 @ 3.5Ghz/AMD Athlon 215 Mainboard: AsRock Z77 Extreme 4/Asus P5Q Deluxe/Gigabyte P35-DS3P/Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz/6GB DDR2 800Mhz/4GB DDR2 1066Mhz/2GB DDR2 Video: nVidia GTX 460/nVidia 210/NVidia GTX295/Radeon 3000 HDD: 128GB SSD (System)/WD VR 300GB(Games)/ 80GB HDD (TV Recordings)/Samsung 160GB (Sytem), 4x 1TB (RAID5 Data)/3TB (Backup) HighpointRR 3520 RAID Card/VR 160GB (system) 1TB (Data)/80GB PSU: FSP 800W/Enermax 495W/Ximatek 500W/FSP 300W Case: Coolermaster HAF932/CM Cosmos S/Cosmos 1000 Audio: Toslink -> Pioneer VSX-820-K (Dolby TrueHD/DTS Master Audio)/Logitech X-530 i7/i5/i3 Overclocking Guide /Intel Core2 overclocking guide/AMD AM2 overclocking Guide
	QUOTE Thanks

06-22-11, 10:00 PM	Thread Starter #11
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	Probably a silly request.... Can I install 2 copies of windows on 1 HDD? Reason is... I don't wanna 'erase' my win7 on it already as i've updated alot of things n installed heaps on it... Can I like partition 50gb of the HD, and install a new windows on it whilst 'blocking' the first win7 on the same HDD?????? This way, if the install does freeze again half way, at least I can delete this partition and I know that that attempt at the fix didn't work, and I still have a copy of win7 on it! :S Hope what I'm saying is understandable haha
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 02:56 AM	Thread Starter #12
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	ok guys I gave memtest a try. Tbh, I dunno what I'm doing, but all I did was chuck it in, let it run for 7hrs, and stopped it. Here's what it showed up with: So...what can we deduct? There's no memory problem? So where to next?? Also one thing I noticed.. I have a q6600 quad core. Why is it only showing core 2 2400Mhz?!?! CPU-z is showing this: helpppp... I want win7 and my full 4gb memory >< >< (ok... maybe win7 is slightly more important than the 4gb of ram haha)
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 12:24 PM	#13
hafa Premium Member #24 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: A tiny dot in the middle of the Pacific	Since your memory passed, we can rule it out as the issue. The fact that the screen flickers makes me suspect your video card. You mentioned that you have one instance of Windows 7 already fully installed, correct? If so, have you tried starting in safe mode? (press F8 repeatedly after the bios posts) If the machine behaves itself while in safe mode, then try disabling the display adapter in Device Manager. If you can then successfully boot into Windows and move around in Windows Explorer, you can likely safely say that the video card is the issue. __________________ . HTPC: Core i3 540/8GB/300GB Raptor/GTS450-1GB/W7P-64 ~\|~ File Server: (Green) AMD 4850E/4GB/6TB RAID/Windows Server 2008 ~\|~ Notebook/Workstation: M780 Toshiba Convertible Tablet/i7 M620/8GB/128GB Crucial M4 SSD /7200RPM 750GB/W8 Pro Putting the YO back in YOU(')R(E)... \| Who is this "u" person, anyway?
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 03:18 PM	#14
c627627 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas	This sounds like an OS problem, IF you had a drive image of your Windows XP operating system partition when everything was working, you could now re-image it and see if the problem is still there. Consider doing this in the future, partition the hard drive, making images of your OS partition for when (not if ) something like this happens in the future. Install this on your Windows 7 and see which programs are starting up with Windows 7. http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml Something damaged your OS install it sounds like. Maybe a program that is running when Windows starts is causing it. Maybe a driver update. Remember it's not always good to update video card drivers for example. There comes a point when you should stop upgrading drivers for older video cards. Definitely do not upgrade drivers w/o imaging your OS partition and try not to update any drivers from Windows update. Only update Windows itself using Windows update. Driver updates using Windows update have messed up many installations, including several of my own. Luckily I could imaged back and resolve the problem. Last edited by c627627; 06-23-11 at 06:52 PM.
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 05:57 PM	#15
RJARRRPCGP Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA (Springfield, Vermont)	It's possible for the system to be "half-broken" where only a 32-bit OS is usable and a 64-bit OS crashes, when there's an OC issue. __________________ Asus Maximus II Gene- Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.6 Ghz (450x8.0) -ICH10R - eVGA GeForce 9500 GT-Fortron FSP500-60GLN(80) 500W PSU " holy cow!! you find a rat in there too!?!?!? " -turbohans "Reinstall winders." -jivetrky "I think I am going to need another coke before I start this up." -cadman420 "Soon Windows will be 50 gb! lololol" -Tokae "NOT FOR SALE IN CALIFORNIA."
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06-23-11, 06:19 PM	Thread Starter #16
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	hafa - I entered Safe mode and it works perfectly fine.... no problem at all. Regarding disabling the display adaptor, how would that work as my Mobo doesn't have any display plugs.... so I can only plug it in via the gpu :S c627627 - I'll have a look into that. The only thing is that it can't even be the driver/program starting as it was already freezing upon the installation of win7 prior to updating things. So therefore that suggest that there was a clash with a hardware/setting with win7 install doesn't it? rjarrrr - Tried a 32bit version too... same issue.
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 06:55 PM	#17
c627627 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas	It was freezing before you installed any drivers or programs under Windows 7, that's right sorry, which hard drive are you using? So you have a blank drive that you formatted under Windows 7 then tried installing Windows 7 on it? Remember, Windows 7 should be used to format the drives, not Windows XP for optimal Windows 7 allignments. Use the old approach of using only one stick of ram and cpu and motherboard and disconnecting everything from the system, all other cards and devices - then install Windows 7 from scratch. At which point in the installation does it start freezing? Remember not to install Windows on an overclocked system.
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 08:12 PM	Thread Starter #18
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	Yeaa black HDD. It's a Seagate Barra. 2tb 5900rpm? It's a pretty simple system. 4gb ram gpu - can't dc this or else I can't plug my monitor in at all p35ds3r mobo 2 dvd roms As for freezing, it can happen whenever.... 1min in, 5min in, after the whole process.... Bios settings are all set on fail safe mode.
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 08:20 PM	#19
c627627 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas	1. You have a clean drive which you formatted under Win7, correct? No other hard drives are connected? 2. Connect only one DVD drive, do not connect any printers, scanners, etc. 3. So you can install Windows 7 without any problems and it is after the 'whole process' (of installation?) that you begin seeing problems? Have you ran Windows update or installed any drivers before you see problems?
	QUOTE Thanks

06-23-11, 08:54 PM	Thread Starter #20
Edi-no-son Registered Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia	1. yup clean drive... no other HDD connected 2. Nothing else connected apart from 2x dvd drive... I've tried it with 1 before and same problem during installation 3. It would try install, and freeze at random times (did it maybe 4-5 times) so I had to start from scratch again. Then eventually it worked... But since then, every once in a while it would freeze again So bottom line is that it happened even during the install, but I kept going and there was one lucky time it didn't freeze on me for the whole install process :S And to answer the last question, since it had already froze during installation, and also after the one time it worked, I hadn't even had a chance to run any updates.
	QUOTE Thanks

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