Windows Freezing on Start Up

[mah4]

Hi to my wonderful co-workers:) I have got a question. My Gateway PC notebook has been freezing sometimes when booting it up. It will freeze when Windows XP is at the welcome screen. One of the rare times I booted up and it didn’t freeze, the first thing I did was run Sophos, AD-Adwere SE, and Spybot. I thought that the reason why I have troubles is because of spywere on my computer but it still keeps on freezing:confused: Anyone have some ideas about what is happening here?

[jmcgon]

Can you define freezing a little bit more in detail? ie The screen is there but I cannot do anything. Even the mouse doesnt move etc...

[mah4]

Yes, The welcome screen is there and my cursor is on the screen but I can not move it around or press any keys. Therefore, in order for me to reboot, I have to hold the power button down.

[dparm]

You can get into Safe Mode I take it?

[mah4]

This is really weird. It will boot up just fine sometimes but other times it does not. I am trying to see if I am doing anything different each time (ie: what is or is not plugged into USB ports, Ethernet plugged in, period of time it has been off) and I am not finding a pattern besides that I think it boots up fine more often when it has been off for a while. hmmmm... I booted up in safe mode but I could not figure out what the problem was. I think I might have installed a driver twice or something of the sort but I could not find it.

I restarted it from safe mode and then it booted like normal but this time it froze right after the normal screen appeared (the one with the desktop, icons, start menu and whatnot). I think it is some device/driver that is causing it. Do you think that could be it?

[mah4]

Actually I just uninstalled and reinstalled some of the potential problem drivers and nothing changed. It is still freezing on me! So I take it back, thinking it was a driver problem.
Anywho, right now I am clueless as to what is going on. Anyone have any ideas? If the symptoms are still kinda sketchy to you guys, maybe I should just bring it in to the underground when I get back in town.

[.GaArA.]

i am having the exact same problem. my computer suddenly freezes in the welcome screen. and once in a while, it doesnt. i also dont see a pattern, and i need a solution for this. i have reasons to believe that program conflict has something to do with this; but i'm not sure. this problem for me started shortly after installing a telus "quick connect" internet cd. it included an antivirus which MIGHT have conflicted with my norton 2006. i might try to uninstall norton just to see if it'll work again. but right now, i'm trying to find other reasons for this problem

[dparm]

Having two anti-virus programs always causes problems. The two end up fighting, which you see when everything runs REALLY REALLY slow. In fact, two anti-virus programs can actually be LESS secure than having just one.

I suggest making an appointment to come see us at the Underground and we'll do what we can. Call 626-8324 from 7:30am to 6:00pm Monday through Friday to schedule an appointment.

[sfontes]

Oo. I concur with Mike. Except mine does it when I close the top of the laptoo and reopen it. It wants my password but wont let me type or anything and I have to press the power button to reboot.

Silly Windows.

[mah4]

I should have posted this before but I ended up formatting my hard drive and reinstalling windows on mine. But you don't want to do that until you are sure that nothing else will fix it. I initially thought that it was spywere but I was able to log into safe mode and I ran spybot, AD-adwere se, virus scan and anything else I could think of. Then it kept on doing the same thing so I assumed that it was some flaw in the OS and I backed up what I could on an external hard drive in safe mode, formatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows... I really hope you don't have to do the same thing but like Dan said, it would be good to make an appointment at the Underground...

[.gaAra.]

i fixed my problem by uninstalling norton antivirus. now it works normally, only now i dont have a secure anti-virus program anymore

[mah4]

You can download the UA supported sophos anti-virus software at https://sitelicense.arizona.edu/sophos/ and sophos remote update at https://sitelicense.arizona.edu/sophos/rupdate/ Sophos is free to all UA students and staff. There is more information about how to install and configure sophos in the two pdf files that are attached. Hope this helps:)

[dparm]

I should have posted this before but I ended up formatting my hard drive and reinstalling windows on mine. But you don't want to do that until you are sure that nothing else will fix it. I initially thought that it was spywere but I was able to log into safe mode and I ran spybot, AD-adwere se, virus scan and anything else I could think of. Then it kept on doing the same thing so I assumed that it was some flaw in the OS and I backed up what I could on an external hard drive in safe mode, formatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows... I really hope you don't have to do the same thing but like Dan said, it would be good to make an appointment at the Underground...


That tends to be more of an ACPI problem, which is often fixed with patches from the manufacturer. Dell used to have that problem on my 600m, but a BIOS update took care of it.

[dparm]

I highly recommend unplugging yourself from the network if you aren't running anti-virus software.

[Unregistered]

Hi!

I have experienced this problem on 3 computers. All of them Acer laptops. Maybe Acer have some serious problems with their OEM XP. It really sux cuz the only thing I can do for my clients is to format.. =S

[abudhu]

It may be very late, but I have noticed this problem on a few XP x64 machines and a process called RunDLL*32.exe causes the entire system to hang. Rather annoying. Ending the process will cause windows to continue on. If the process is not killed your system will wonderfully hang. Odd I know.