Hi. I am running XP home edition on a Gateway system w/ 1.5 GHz P4, 128 RAM, less than a year old, came with XP installed. In the past month, sometimes when I leave my computer on for several hours without use, it is frozen when I return - not regularly, though. sometimes 3 times in a day, then good for a week or more. I have found that after a few minutes, the screensaver come back on, and sometimes the taskbar reallears as well, but nothing else. The only option for restarting is the reset button. I have tried to uninstall all software I have added in the past month with no luck and also tried reinstalling XP. I also have virus software (Norton Corporate Edition) which I update and run weekly, so the problem being virus related is slim. Also, I read about others thinking that they are overheating - I doubt that as well, since this seems to be a recent issue, and I had no problems in the hottest months of the summer. Any other ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm using XP, this is the first computer I've owned and have been using it for about 6 weeks, I thought the problem was me but what you have described is what is happening to me yet since I installed Nortons Virus protection 2003 last week my computer has only frozen once but I have been using it a lot more...only time will tell.


On Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 9:32 pm, Jodi wrote:
>Hi.
>
>I am running XP home edition on a Gateway system w/ 1.5 GHz P4, 128 RAM, less than
>a year old, came with XP installed. In the past month, sometimes when I leave my
>computer on for several hours without use, it is frozen when I return - not regularly,
>though. sometimes 3 times in a day, then good for a week or more. I have found that
>after a few minutes, the screensaver come back on, and sometimes the taskbar reallears
>as well, but nothing else. The only option for restarting is the reset button.
>I have tried to uninstall all software I have added in the past month with no luck
>and also tried reinstalling XP. I also have virus software (Norton Corporate Edition)
>which I update and run weekly, so the problem being virus related is slim. Also,
>I read about others thinking that they are overheating - I doubt that as well, since
>this seems to be a recent issue, and I had no problems in the hottest months of the
>summer.
>
>Any other ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

It might be your power options - if you have it set up to turn off the hard drive after a period of time, it is not unusual for the machine to freeze when you come back and try to get it to come out of screen saver mode. I tell it to never turn off anything and have not had a repeat of the problem in years...


On Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 9:32 pm, Jodi wrote:
>Hi.
>
>I am running XP home edition on a Gateway system w/ 1.5 GHz P4, 128 RAM, less than
>a year old, came with XP installed. In the past month, sometimes when I leave my
>computer on for several hours without use, it is frozen when I return - not regularly,
>though. sometimes 3 times in a day, then good for a week or more. I have found that
>after a few minutes, the screensaver come back on, and sometimes the taskbar reallears
>as well, but nothing else. The only option for restarting is the reset button.
>I have tried to uninstall all software I have added in the past month with no luck
>and also tried reinstalling XP. I also have virus software (Norton Corporate Edition)
>which I update and run weekly, so the problem being virus related is slim. Also,
>I read about others thinking that they are overheating - I doubt that as well, since
>this seems to be a recent issue, and I had no problems in the hottest months of the
>summer.
>
>Any other ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Since XP is a memory hog it could be that you are running out of memory. With many programs running sometimes memory can get overloaded. Right click your task bar and pull up the task manager just to see what is running and how much memory is being used by each. If possible see how many programs that begin on start-up. There's a free utility called Fresh Diagnose that will benchmark your memory as well as other components in your system. It's avaible at Fresh Devices. Good luck!


On Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 9:32 pm, Jodi wrote:
>Hi.
>
>I am running XP home edition on a Gateway system w/ 1.5 GHz P4, 128 RAM, less than
>a year old, came with XP installed. In the past month, sometimes when I leave my
>computer on for several hours without use, it is frozen when I return - not regularly,
>though. sometimes 3 times in a day, then good for a week or more. I have found that
>after a few minutes, the screensaver come back on, and sometimes the taskbar reallears
>as well, but nothing else. The only option for restarting is the reset button.
>I have tried to uninstall all software I have added in the past month with no luck
>and also tried reinstalling XP. I also have virus software (Norton Corporate Edition)
>which I update and run weekly, so the problem being virus related is slim. Also,
>I read about others thinking that they are overheating - I doubt that as well, since
>this seems to be a recent issue, and I had no problems in the hottest months of the
>summer.
>
>Any other ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have the power option set so that the hard drive never turns off. Also, I dont think that I have very many things running in the background - one of the first things I did when this started to occur was to turn off most programs in the background. I am curious about the Norton suggestion, though. I have only started to use Norton in the past couple months, and it is the ONLY program that I have recently installed that I did not try to uninstall - who would think that their virus software was causing crashes?!? Can anyone else enlighten me about possible problems cause by Norton? Thanks.


On Friday, October 4, 2002 at 4:18 am, Bob B wrote:
>It might be your power options - if you have it set up to turn off the hard drive
>after a period of time, it is not unusual for the machine to freeze when you come
>back and try to get it to come out of screen saver mode. I tell it to never turn
>off anything and have not had a repeat of the problem in years...
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

hi what exactly happens when you say your pc freezes up? does it go black screen? does the mouse pointer freeze up too? if so that is a very bad pc crash . only way around it is to try pressing ctrl shift alt del keys on your keyboard. or try turning the power off at the wall then back on. other than that if u have a start up disk it may help. they are bootable... be sure to backup all your files ! before restoring hope this helps email me back ok justp370@hotmail.com


On Thursday, October 3, 2002 at 9:32 pm, Jodi wrote:
>Hi.
>
>I am running XP home edition on a Gateway system w/ 1.5 GHz P4, 128 RAM, less than
>a year old, came with XP installed. In the past month, sometimes when I leave my
>computer on for several hours without use, it is frozen when I return - not regularly,
>though. sometimes 3 times in a day, then good for a week or more. I have found that
>after a few minutes, the screensaver come back on, and sometimes the taskbar reallears
>as well, but nothing else. The only option for restarting is the reset button.
>I have tried to uninstall all software I have added in the past month with no luck
>and also tried reinstalling XP. I also have virus software (Norton Corporate Edition)
>which I update and run weekly, so the problem being virus related is slim. Also,
>I read about others thinking that they are overheating - I doubt that as well, since
>this seems to be a recent issue, and I had no problems in the hottest months of the
>summer.
>
>Any other ideas?

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm having the exact problem. Windows XP...I've disabled all power-management functions, but after a while, the screen goes black. the mouse pointer is still visible and will move when you move the mouse. caps-lock and shift-lock buttons will still light up the light on the keyboard. if you insert a CD, the cursor will turn to the cd icon, but the screen remains black the entire time. The only remedy that I've found is to power down the computer and restart. I've gotten occasional messages about a possible incompatible device driver (due to illegal access of memory). I've run a couple of diagnostic programs on the physical memory and it checks out good. When I attempt to do a "repair" by booting from the XP Cd, it gets so far and then I get a message about IRQ_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL. I've unintalled all anti-virus software and made sure that all drivers are from Microsoft update site....help!


On Tuesday, December 31, 2002 at 12:17 pm, justin wrote:
>hi what exactly happens when you say your pc
>freezes up?
>does it go black screen? does the mouse pointer freeze up too?
>if so that is a very bad pc crash .
>only way around it is to try pressing ctrl shift alt del keys on your keyboard.
>or try turning the power off at the wall then back on.
>other than that if u have a start up disk it may help.
>they are bootable...
>be sure to backup all your files ! before restoring
>hope this helps
>email me back ok
>justp370@hotmail.com
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Norton System Works 2002 services cause crashes in Windows XP Home Edition, Build 2600.xpsp2.030422-1633 (Service Pack 1) running on a Dell Dimension 8200 with 512 MB RAM. All Windows Update Critcal Fixes have been installed, and Norton System Works is up to date with Live Update.--------- A couple of weeks ago, when I turned my computer on in the morning, it decided to crash and reboot every 5 to 10 minutes. Windows Online Crash Analysis reported that the crashes were due to an unidentified driver. The reported error code was 1143030. I had previously had crashes with this error code every couple of weeks, but something had changed so that they occured every few minutes. I discovered one application, SCYCD (Help and Support:Computer information:System Configuration of Your Dell Computer) that would cause the crash to occur 100% of the time.--------Since the crash was 100% reproducible, I was able to use msconfig.exe to selectively disable services and start-up programs until I found the offending services. By binary search, I determined that SCYCD would causes crashes 100% of the time if either Norton AntiVirus AutoProtect Service or Norton UnErase Service was enabled, even if all other services and start-up programs were disabled by msconfig.exe (except for Remote Procedure Call service, which is required to run WinXP). I also learned, over the next several days, that my system would still crash and reboot every few hours with error code 1143030 with both AutoProtect and UnErase services disabled.--------I finally achieved a configuration that has allowed me to run for several days without crashes. Using msconfig.exe, I have disabled Norton AntiVirus AutoProtect Service, Norton UnErase Service, Symantec ScriptBlocking Service, and Norton System Doctor. With these Symantec services and program disabled, I get no crashes. I am able to run Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Quicken, AutoSave, ZoneAlarm, Belkin Bulldog Uninterruptible Power Supply, AOL, and several other applications without incident. I can also run the following Norton applications without causing crashes: Live Update, Virus Scan, Disk Doctor, Speed Disk, WinDoctor.---------It appears that the crashes occur only when a troublesome Norton service or System Doctor is running in the background. I suspect that all these services may invoke some common Symantec driver that is the ultimate cause of the problem.---------Some months ago, Microsoft Online Crash Analysis identified some of my crashes as being caused by a Symantec driver, Symevnt.386, for which Symantec had a patch available for download. I installed the patch, sevinst.exe, which upgrades the Symantec Event Library S32evnt1.dll to file version 11.2.2.12. That upgrade seems to have eliminated the earlier problem, but it has not eliminated the problem described above with error code 1143030. I have reported this problem in detail both to Microsoft and to Symantec, but so far I have not received a response from either company.


On Friday, October 4, 2002 at 7:52 am, Jodi wrote:
>I have the power option set so that the hard drive never turns off. Also, I dont
>think that I have very many things running in the background - one of the first things
>I did when this started to occur was to turn off most programs in the background.
> I am curious about the Norton suggestion, though. I have only started to use Norton
>in the past couple months, and it is the ONLY program that I have recently installed
>that I did not try to uninstall - who would think that their virus software was causing
>crashes?!?
>
>Can anyone else enlighten me about possible problems cause by Norton? Thanks.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I'm having problems with my computer freezing and at times rebooting. I've gotten an Error Caused By A Device Driver message, but don't really know how to check for problems. My screen doesn't go black, but my mouse freezes and at times the screen will turn blue and it says that the computer has been shut down to prevent damage. Then it does a count and after that it reboots. Do you have any idea what may be causing this??


On Thursday, February 13, 2003 at 6:14 pm, Ken wrote:
>
>I'm having the exact problem. Windows XP...I've disabled all power-management functions,
>but after a while, the screen goes black. the mouse pointer is still visible and
>will move when you move the mouse. caps-lock and shift-lock buttons will still light
>up the light on the keyboard. if you insert a CD, the cursor will turn to the cd
>icon, but the screen remains black the entire time. The only remedy that I've found
>is to power down the computer and restart. I've gotten occasional messages about
>a possible incompatible device driver (due to illegal access of memory). I've run
>a couple of diagnostic programs on the physical memory and it checks out good. When
>I attempt to do a "repair" by booting from the XP Cd, it gets so far and then I get
>a message about IRQ_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL. I've unintalled all anti-virus software
>and made sure that all drivers are from Microsoft update site....help!
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I dont have any solutions for most of these problems here, the reason of course is that almost no one has given nearly enough info so even a qualifiied person could figure it out. I would like to give a little advice to some of the other people who have posted here though, Please if you dont really know what youre talking about ( and its very clear that 90% of you dont ) then dont post your unhelpful suggestions. I have a good working knowlege of computer and hardware, but even I know there isnt enough info here to really help these people. These people who I'm sure would like some help, but all your suggestions are doing is making them more confused or getting them into worst problems. Finally I do have some advice, If you have a problem that seems pretty severe like this one REFORMAT - unless you have done it within 2 months or so. Also you need to remeber that you need to reformat at least every six months or so.


On Friday, June 10, 2005 at 9:13 pm, Peggy wrote:
>I'm having problems with my computer freezing and at times rebooting. I've gotten
>an Error Caused By A Device Driver message, but don't really know how to check for
>problems. My screen doesn't go black, but my mouse freezes and at times the screen
>will turn blue and it says that the computer has been shut down to prevent damage.
>Then it does a count and after that it reboots. Do you have any idea what may be
>causing this??
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Please explain about reformat? Do you mean to reformat my entire hard drive? Is there a process to this (I know to back up my data and/or drive but is there something more?) Why do you need to reformat every 6 months?


On Monday, February 6, 2006 at 7:49 pm, Rocky wrote:
>I dont have any solutions for most of these problems here, the reason of course is
>that almost no one has given nearly enough info so even a qualifiied person could
>figure it out. I would like to give a little advice to some of the other people who
>have posted here though, Please if you dont really know what youre talking about
>( and its very clear that 90% of you dont ) then dont post your unhelpful suggestions.
>I have a good working knowlege of computer and hardware, but even I know there isnt
>enough info here to really help these people. These people who I'm sure would like
>some help, but all your suggestions are doing is making them more confused or getting
>them into worst problems.
>
>Finally I do have some advice, If you have a problem that seems pretty severe like
>this one REFORMAT - unless you have done it within 2 months or so. Also you need
>to remeber that you need to reformat at least every six months or so.
>
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I have found from personal experience and of what friends have told me, that symantec programs often cause more problems than they fix. In some occasions Norton Anti-virus had blocked internet access. When you tried to access a website, you were redirected to a small page which said something similar to: Your pc is infected with a virus, download PC doctor to fix the problem. I'm not sure what the name of the program was exactly, but i managed to find out that it was a symantec program and uninstalled Norton to see if that was the problem. It was a nightmare to uninstall but when i did it I could once again connect to the internet. Two of my friends also had this problem.


On Friday, October 4, 2002 at 7:52 am, Jodi wrote:
>I have the power option set so that the hard drive never turns off. Also, I dont
>think that I have very many things running in the background - one of the first things
>I did when this started to occur was to turn off most programs in the background.
> I am curious about the Norton suggestion, though. I have only started to use Norton
>in the past couple months, and it is the ONLY program that I have recently installed
>that I did not try to uninstall - who would think that their virus software was causing
>crashes?!?
>
>Can anyone else enlighten me about possible problems cause by Norton? Thanks.
>
>

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

I too have had this problem and for several months. New computer, HP media edition with WXP. The computer freezes or the dreaded blue screen appears. When prompted by Microsoft I send these crash reports to them and get various reports back with possible reasons for the crash. These have been: HP Driver error, Loss of memory in kernel mode, hard disk drive read error, Do not know the casue error etc. I fixed the HP driver error and am about to change the HDD. I did however notice that a crash often occured when Norton was doing a complete scan. I installed Avast virus checker and it found six viruses (that Norton didn't find) during a complete scan that actually completed. So for the moment Norton is coming off, the HDD will be changed and memory will be added. I will not yet reformat my HDD as it takes ages to reinstall all the programs etc. That is the last thing to do. I do not think that it is useful to reformat every six months as one of you said. Better to use disk defragmentor and run CHKDSK to check the hard disk. Also using an external Disk Drive to store Documents, photos and music etc. and doing regular backups ( try - Always Sync) will help. Computers are too complicated for anyone to be able to pinpoint the cause let alone give repair instructions. Even Microsoft cant do that! Go through all the likely causes and eliminate them as I am doing over a period of time. If and when you finally decide that reformating is the only answer do it. But as a last resort. Henry Barnett

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