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Windows 7 freezing

DayspringDayspring the PhoenicianRegistered User regular
edited April 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
Hey guys
I recently got myself a fancy new laptop (Medion Erazer), which came with Windows 7 (I use XP on my desktop, this is my first go at 7).

Anyway, I'm having a problem where the system will freeze up. Basically, everything will start up and boot ok, and then after a few minutes of use everything will freeze up and go into "not responding" mode. I can still use the cursor fine and minimise/click other windows, but no commands or anything will go through. This will carry on for a few minutes (5-10 maybe?) before everything will revert to normal, all programs i'd clicked on while the freeze was going on will open, etc. No error messages or anything come up, it just freezes and then goes back to working again eventually.
Things seem fine after that, but I can't say I've used it for extended periods of time yet.
I've made sure all drivers are up to date and everything.

So far I'm thinking it's some kind of compatibility error or library malfunction or registry fuckup or something along those lines.

1) It was a pre built system so came with some crap (not much, mind). Either something is interfering with something else, or something i removed didn't remove properly?
2) The first thing I did when starting up for the first time was run windows update. However it was pretty late when I did this, so I did cancel the update the first run through to go to bed. Maybe something didn't cancel properly and there's a half file somewhere fucking things up?

Anyway, I'm not really settled in to the laptop yet, so do you guys think simply reformatting it and starting over would be a sensible course of action?
If not, any other ideas?

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Posts

  • FantasmaFantasma Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    The best course of action is to format the hard disk a proceed with a clean installation of Windows XP. Now, if you can't live without the eye candy, a fresh install of Windows 7.

    Make sure you have everything at hand before you proceed, OS disk, drivers, applications, etc.

    Fantasma on
    Hear my warnings, unbelievers. We have raised altars in this land so that we may sacrifice you to our gods. There is no hope in opposing the inevitable. Put down your arms, unbelievers, and bow before the forces of Chaos!
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Do you have Microsoft Security Essentials installed? I've noticed that it likes to randomly decide to chew up the processor after my PC has booted (I have Windows 7 also), for a good while, making anything I try to do wait for it to finish whatever it's doing.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
  • RaernRaern Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    Trashing Windows 7 isn't really the best course of action. Windows 7 is not known for freezing everyone's PCs!

    There are a number of reasons to keep Windows 7, it's designed to work better with modern hardware especially SSDs, and assuming you're running a 64bit version to support 4gb+ RAM then downgrading to Windows XP, even the 64bit version, is a bad plan. Also you'd lose Direct-X 11 while running a DX11 graphics chipset on a gaming laptop...


    As for diagnostics, I'd suggest hitting ctrl-shift-esc, going to the processes tab and sorting by cpu usage. Then wait for the laptop to seize up and see what, if anything, is chewing up CPU time. That's usually a good indication in these situations. If nothing is chewing up CPU time then it may be a hardware issue.

    Another thing to try is restarting the laptop in Windows safe mode and seeing if it's okay without all the programs and drivers loaded.

    Raern on
  • DayspringDayspring the Phoenician Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    I do have Microsoft Security Essentials installed yeah. But when it freezes up it's basically only that, Avast and firefox running. Would it eat that much power by itself?

    Anyway, I'll try the ctr-shift-esc thing and see if that gives me any clues. Otherwise I think i'll just nuke it from orbit and start over.

    Thanks for the replies btw!

    Dayspring on
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  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited April 2011
    I've had MSE take all available CPU before, watched it in taskmanager hold between 75-90% until it was done doing whatever it is it was doing. I've found if I try to do anything, like open Firefox, before it's done, it takes even longer.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
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