[mehmi]

Hi guys, I have a serious problem with my Windows XP Home. Whenever I boot my pc it boots fine, until I get to where the startup programs start loading. At this point, my pc freezes for several seconds, then it unfreezes for a few seconds, then freezes again! This process keeps repeating for 10-15 minutes. Then, my pc starts to run as smoot as usual. This happens every time I boot my PC. I did virus,spyware,registry scans, defragments, and many other pc tuneups but no luck! It can't be anything wrong with my startup programs because, this happened all of a sudden, without me installing anything. PLEASEE HELPP!

thanks everyone!!

[mphenterprises]

Hi Mehmi. Okay, this seems like a power issue. I remember you posted previously but I do not remember if it was in relation to power problems or not. Can you please tell us what are the exact specifications of your computer, including Power Supply rating? (You can find the Power Supply rating on the inside of the computer on a sticker on the side of the Power Supply.)

[mehmi]

actually, this freezing process doesn't necessarily happen at startup, I figured that this is happening long after i boot my pc. Here the specs of my pc:

Gateway 500GR:
support.gateway.com/s/PC/R/3724/3724sp25.shtml

I changed the mainboard of my pc to this model: ASUS P5GD1-VM

thanks again!

[mphenterprises]

Okay, those are the out-of-the-box specification. What I was referring to are your specifications now, primarily the current memory and the Power Supply wattage.

To get the memory:

- Right Click on My Computer and click Properties

- Post everything you see within the General Tab





To get the Power Supply wattage:

- Open the computer and read the sticker on the side of the Power Supply. You will see something like, "Maximum Power Wattage"

[mehmi]

Ok here are my specs from 'My Computer'

Windows XP Home
Version 2002
SP2

Gateway 500GR
Intel Pentium 3 CPU 3.00 GHz
2.99 GHz, 504MB of RAM

And my power supply wattage is 300W

thanks!

[mphenterprises]

Hi Mehmi. Okay, those that know me know what I am about to say.....your computer is freezing because both the memory and the Power Supply are extremely insufficient.

Yes, I know you may have been fine up till recently; however, that really doesn't make much difference. In this post, I will provide some options for you for both increasing the memory and getting a more powerful Power Supply. To learn more how important the Power Supply is to a fully functioning computer, please read this Document.

Memory:
According to Gateway, your computer can support up to 2GBs of memory. You do not necessarily need to max your memory; however, I would advise going up to at least 1GB if not 1.5GBs. Below is a link for 512MBs of memory to bring your computer to 1GB and a link for 1GB of memory.

512MBs of memory (Total of 1GB)

1GB of memory (Total of 1.5GBs)





Power Supply:

My opinion is that the minimum Power Supply wattage for any computer is 450-500Watts. Now, if your computer usage demands more, than use the Document suggested in this post to determine what Power Supply is best for you. Below is a list of Power Supplies that should be your bare minimum.

450-500Watt Power Supplies





Once you increase both the memory and the Power Supply, you will notice a more efficient computer, with no freezing.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Mehmi. I just noticed that you swapped out the existing motherboard for an ASUS motherboard. According to this site, this motherboard supports up to 4GBs of memory. In addition to the other memory configurations presented earlier, I would also consider bumping up to 2GBs of memory. Since your motherboard supports Dual Channel, I would advise taking the 512MB chip out and installing two (2) 1GB memory chips in for a total of 2GBs. Here is a suggestion of bundled memory that is compatible with your motherboard.




Two 1GB memory chips (Total 2GBs)




So now you have three options for memory upgrades. Please ask any questions you have.

[mehmi]

Yes, I can do that too. But I changed my motherboard long, long back. This problem started to occur just recently. I didn't even do anything that will effect my memory, so I think upgrading RAM isn't the best solution. There has to be some other kind of issue with my computer. mphenterprises, your a great pc pro, you must have some solution.

thanks again!

[mphenterprises]

:-) Thanks for that plug, mehmi. :-) Much appreciated.




The memory was only half the solution. I understand that this just happened recently and not in relation to the new motherboard but random freezing of a computer is primarily associated with memory conflict or lack of power. Now, there are some options we can try.

- You mention, "I did virus,spyware,registry scans, defragments, and many other pc tuneups but no luck!" Can you tell us what security applications you have and how often you run each of them?

- The 512MB memory chip you have in your computer now, is that the original memory chip that came with the Gateway or is it one that you installed with the new motherboard?

- How often do you defragment your hard drive(s) and when was the last time you preformed that function?

[mehmi]

Sure!

I use TuneUp Utilities 2007 and did the follwing: TuneUp Registry Degrag; TuneUp Registry Cleaner; TuneUp Disk Cleaner; TuneUp Disk Doctor and 1-Click Maintainence.

The memory chip is the orginal I got with my pc, I never replaced it. I rarely degragment my hard drive. I only did it recently, because I wanted to fix this freezing issue.

[mphenterprises]

Okay, if I am not mistaken, I do not see any security applications in that list. If all you did was run the various TuneUp utilities, you may be missing a viral infection. Do you have any other security applications at all? (AVG, Norton, Zone Alarm, etc.)

Now, the memory chip is fully compatible with the new motherboard so that, in itself, is not the issue but we have already discussed that.

If you rarely defragged your hard drives, I would advise running any defrag. At the very least, you should run an analysis to see if a defrag is warranted. I am not familiar with the Tune Up utilities but if you used the default Windows Defragmenter utility, you will have the choice to either analyze the drive or to immediate defrag the drive. Click on the Analyze button and see if any of your drives need another defragmentation.

[mehmi]

ok, thanks for all your time and advice!
I will try to solve this problem. I'll probably install Vista anyway, so hope that will refresh my system.
keep up the great work mphenterprises! we all appreciate it.

bye!

[mphenterprises]

My pleasure. If you run into any problems with any of the applications, please post. :D

[mehmi]

hi once again...but before going anywhere, I would like to show you the error report i got from event viewer just when my pc froze. please take a look:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: atapi
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Date: 11/20/2007
Time: 4:05:33 PM
User: N/A
Computer: YOUR-ERDMFHMLP8
Description:
The device, DeviceIdeIdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 0f 00 50 00 01 00 a4 00 ..P...¤.
0008: 00 00 00 00 09 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0030: 00 00 00 00 07 00 00 00 ........
0038: 40 00 00 0e 00 00 01 00 @.......
0040: ff 20 0a 12 48 01 00 10 ÿ ..H...
0048: 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 ........
0050: 98 00 ee 82 d8 81 b7 82 ˜.î‚Ø?·‚
0058: 00 00 00 00 70 de b3 82 ....pÞ³‚
0060: 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0068: 4a 01 00 00 40 00 00 00 J...@...
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

thats my report, maybe we can solve the problem if you understand this error report. :D

[mphenterprises]

mehmi said:

Event Source: atapi
Description:
The device, DeviceIdeIdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.

Hi Mehmi. Okay, I have no idea what this is; however, the quoted snippet of your post tells me that there is some sort of fault with your hard drive. Now, if you have one hard drive, you obviously can tell which drive is at fault. If you have more than one hard drive, the wording, "IDE Port 0" tells me that the hard drive connected to the motherboard as the primary master is faulty.

This could mean any number of things, the lesser issue could be that the IDE cable connecting the hard drive to the motherboard is crinkled or defective. Worst case scenario could be that the hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

If you have access to another IDE cable, that would be my first troubleshooting test. If that does not resolve the issue, you would have to swap out the hard drives. If this is your only hard drive, and if you have access to a working hard drive with a bootable Operating System, swap the two drives and see if there is a freezing issue.

If there is a freezing issue, you have effectively eliminated the hard drive, viral issue, and software conflict all in one pass. That would lead you back to the first suggestions of increasing the memory and installing a more powerful Power Supply.

Now, what exactly everything else means I have no idea. However, this may be an avenue to explore.

[mehmi]

ok, thanks for all the advice. I will surely do something about my hard drive. I think this could be hard drive problem as well.

thanks alot!

[mphenterprises]

My pleasure :-) Please follow-up with us and let us know how everything turns out.

[romeo1790305]

ok i had the same problem long ago if you installed your mother board right and installed the memory right then you its proabaly the user hive clean up it need to be empty so you dont have any viruses or spyware or malware then its that see tune up utilites i use to but they didnt get my pc back right so this is what you have to do so download system mecanic pro 30 trial and it will seek and find out what the problem is its not power supply or hard drive or windows you have a problem that you cannot fix let system mechanic fix it for you it not in the registry or bios or windows i have had my pc 6 years its a gateway 500gr series whith 512mb ram everything is original i didnt remove any thing you sayed it just started so do that and you be surprised how many problems you have trust me it saved me