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Windows XP completely freezes just minutes after turning on

This is something that I've never experienced before on any of my XP machines. It just so happens that this issue is on my oldest machine (approaching 10 years).

Basically the entire operating system comes to a halt and the screen remains frozen. I can't CTRL+ALT+DEL for the Task Manager, and the mouse remains frozen in the last position it was in. I just want to stress that this happens after a few minutes... what could that mean?

I want to go into Safe Mode but I don't know what I can do to in there to help me (I'm not that advanced).

Some additional information:

-Running with latest updates and have an updated anti-virus suite (though might be an update or two behind).
-The last System Restore point only goes back about a week and using it didn't help.
-There is no error message at all.

Thanks for any help!

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Replies (5)

Jon Breen

It could be many things but I would suggest trying different RAM first if you've already tried system restore. Also make sure your system isn't clogged up with dust.

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Jon

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viper tk

Thanks for the answer. Do you mean completely replace the RAM with a new set?

And I did the dusting thing prior to posting but it didn't seem to help.

Do you think that it could be a hardware issue?

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Jon Breen

It could be software but because it freezes within minutes of loading into Windows I think it's more likely to be hardware. However if you load into Safe Mode first and then see whether it still freezes up - that way we can determine if perhaps there is a driver or piece of software that is causing Windows to freeze in normal mode... and then that's where it gets a little trickier!

Let me know if it freezes in Safe Mode or not and then we can go from there...

--> Hope this helps! Please vote or mark as correct answer if it does :) <--

http://www.xinx.co.uk - my website || http://www.systems-and-solutions.co.uk - where I work

Microsoft info about phishing || Microsoft info about rogue security software

Best regards
Jon

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viper tk

Hey sorry for not replying earlier. So I booted up in Safe Mode (although the boot-up screen gave me about a dozen other options, half of which I didn't understand) and it was the same deal: completely locks up/freezes after a few minutes.

I should also add that I have two hard-drives installed: one 15GB partitioned with Windows, another 80GB partition for files, and a second 80GB hard-drive for more files. Basically Windows and most Program Files are on the 15GB partition.

So what options do I have?

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Jon Breen

That's ok viper :)

If it still freezes up in Safe Mode then I suspect either hardware or virus issues... this makes the problem a bit more difficult to resolve over a forum.

However, what I would suggest is make sure you have the power unplugged (the kettle lead in the back of the computer).

Now if you feel comfortable with this I suggest taking out any PCI cards you have (such as sound, modem, etc). If you have a PCI Express graphics card or AGP graphics card you will need to leave them in.

Also unplug the power (molex) from your second hard disk.

Through a process of elimination we should be able to determine if any hardware is causing these problems. If your system still freezes when it loads into Safe Mode with almost everything unplugged/taken out then this leaves me thinking it's RAM or viruses.

Let me know how the above goes first.

--> Hope this helps! Please vote or mark as correct answer if it does :) <--

http://www.xinx.co.uk - my website ||http://www.systems-and-solutions.co.uk - where I work

Microsoft info about phishing ||Microsoft info about rogue security software

Best regards
Jon