Random freezes with windows 7 - 64 bit

Anonymous
2009-10-28T19:01:43+00:00

I use to run Vista home premium x86 on a acer computer. This summer I downloaded Windows 7 rc x86. A month ago I bought all new parts and since I could use 64-bit system now I installed a 64-bit Windows 7.  Then did the problem start. Every new and then the computer freezes, some days over 30 times. I thought it was hardware problem and tried a lot of hardware finders and nothing helped. I also installed windows 7 rc my mothers laptop (The same version I use to have that work fine) that used to run on Vista home basic.. But her computer didn’t freeze it just got a black screen now and then.

The I started to suspect that it was because it was a beta version so when windows 7 were released I bought two of them a 32-bit and a 64-bit. But the problem didn´t go away. It´s still there and It´s kind of frustrating and even more now when I’m trying to write a essay.

I used windows upgrade advisor and it didn´t see any problem with an upgrade to windows 7. What can I do?

original title: Random freezes with windows 7

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2009-11-14T19:44:19+00:00

Guys,

I might have the answer to your problems.  This might fix your sleep/suspend problems and your random freezing problems.  Bottom line is that the default and "auto" values in Win 7 and your BIOS might not produce a stable computer...even with a virgin install.

RANDOM FREEZES FIX:

My computer used to freeze randomly until I fixed the memory timings.  I suspected bad memory early on and tested it with MEMTEST, but it passed with flying colors.  I even tried swaping memory out, trying to eliminate bad memory and/or slots.  It turned out that it was a memory frequency/timings/voltage issue.  No more freezes!  If you have a similar setup, this will most likely fix it.  If not, then check your memory and/or power supply.

The "AUTO" settings in BIOS *may not* produce a stable setting.  You have to goto the ASUS support website and download the latest memory QVL and lookup the memory settings for your particular brand there.  For my memory (OCZX1333LV6GK(XMP)) I had to make the following adjustments in the BIOS:

DRAM Freq:1066  (even though my memory is rated at 1333 frequency, the QVL guide recommended a lower freq!)

7-7-7-16 for the rest of the timings.  The other settings I was able to leave in "AUTO"

DRAM BUS Voltage: 1.6

*warning: be sure to consult your memory/motherboard documentation...the wrong value could damage your components!

SUSPEND/SLEEP FIX:

My computer used to hang when coming out of sleep or wouldn't completely goto sleep.  This solution may be partially dependent on you fixing a random freezing issue if you have one. 

In your "advanced" power settings, disable "Hybrid Sleep".  That's it!  My motherboard doesn't like hybrid sleep.

*If you have a desktop with a UPS, Win 7 will treat it like a laptop and apply the battery settings....sooo make sure you adjust the "on battery" settings!

My setup:

Processor:Intel core i7 920

Motherboard:Asus P6T

Memory: OCZX1333LV6GK(XMP)    (ie. 6GB in 3 sticks)

Harddrive:  3 x WD Caviar Black drives in RAID 5

PSU: X3 1000W

Video card: 2 x NVIDIA 9800 GTX+ SLI

*I have all of the ASUS overclocking/energy savings programs uninstalled

*I have the latest BIOS 0801 and all the latest drivers installed

Nick

Was this answer helpful?

80+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

966 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2012-03-13T08:24:59+00:00

    I have a Dell XPS 420

    Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33Ghz

    Windows 7 Home Premium with Service Pack 1 installed

    8GB RAM

    ATI Radeon 3800 Series Video Card

    Onboard SigMatel HD Audio

    2-320GB SATA HDD Configured in RAID 0 with 2 partitions

    Partition 1. C:OS-120GB TOTAL 46.8GB FREE

    Partition 2. D:DATA-476.2GB TOTAL 168.3GB FREE

    1-1TB Western Digital My Book External Hard Drive 931.5GB TOTAL 380.2GB FREE

    1-1TB Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus External Hard Drive 931.5GB TOTAL  83.44GB FREE

    I was using Corel Video Studio Pro X4 to render a 20min Video when all of a sudden my curser went to an hourglass, all processing came to a screeching halt and the HDD activity light came on solid and stayed that way for 5 mins straight. I was able to move my mouse and click things but the only thing that responded to my clicks was the Windows Logo which brought up the start menu.  I typed Resource Monitor in the search box and hit enter and the box said searching but never brought up anything.  The only way to end this stall is to do a hard reset.  Then the RAID screen tells me that an error has occured on one of my drives the DATA drive and the system starts to boot up and gets to the windows logo screen but then freezes there for 5 mins.  Another HARD RESET and the windows repair console opens and says repairing hard drive errors for about 2mins and then the system rebooots smoothly into windows.  Just then my raid monitor software pops up a message that the drives OS and DATA have failed.  At this point I open the raid application and reset the disks to normal and all is fine as i'm typing this.

    I should point out that I have had this problem in the past and have installed the hotfix offered by Microsoft which fixed the problem or so I thought until tonight when the system froze in the same way again.

    I should also note that ITunes installed and updated version tonight before I started the rendering activity.

    Unlike some of the posts in this thread my problem does not relate to the sleep/suspend freezing issue......it occurs when I am taxing my system in some way or other times when I am just using the browser or doing anything really.

    I have gadgets installed that monitor my CPU usage, Network Activity and Hard Drive Activity.  All of these gadgets stop recording data at the time the HDD activity light comes on and the system freezes.

    I have checked the event viewer.  specifically the Application and System Logs for errors and warnings and the only error I see recorded is the unexpected shutdown error message and resulting hard drive failed errors once the system reboots successfully.

    This has been an issue for me since I originally installed windows 7 on this machine.

    Dell has not certified this system to be fully compatible with Windows 7 but the Windows 7 Upgrade advisor found only a few software incompatibilities which I have fixed.

    I am going to try a clean boot to see if it is related to some 3rd party driver or something.

    How long should I use the computer in clean boot mode to isolate the problem?  I can't do the activities which tax my processor while in clean boot mode as the software that taxes my processor depends on 3rd party drivers to run.  Also the freezes seem to come at random and as I have noted I have been using my system for 6 or 8 months with no freezes until tonight.

    Microsoft PLEASE help us with this issue!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-03-13T13:56:38+00:00

    I have a Dell XPS 420

    Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33Ghz

    Windows 7 Home Premium with Service Pack 1 installed

    8GB RAM

    ATI Radeon 3800 Series Video Card

    Onboard SigMatel HD Audio

    2-320GB SATA HDD Configured in RAID 0 with 2 partitions

    Partition 1. C:OS-120GB TOTAL 46.8GB FREE

    Partition 2. D:DATA-476.2GB TOTAL 168.3GB FREE

    1-1TB Western Digital My Book External Hard Drive 931.5GB TOTAL 380.2GB FREE

    1-1TB Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus External Hard Drive 931.5GB TOTAL  83.44GB FREE

     

    I was using Corel Video Studio Pro X4 to render a 20min Video when all of a sudden my curser went to an hourglass, all processing came to a screeching halt and the HDD activity light came on solid and stayed that way for 5 mins straight. I was able to move my mouse and click things but the only thing that responded to my clicks was the Windows Logo which brought up the start menu.  I typed Resource Monitor in the search box and hit enter and the box said searching but never brought up anything.  The only way to end this stall is to do a hard reset.  Then the RAID screen tells me that an error has occured on one of my drives the DATA drive and the system starts to boot up and gets to the windows logo screen but then freezes there for 5 mins.  Another HARD RESET and the windows repair console opens and says repairing hard drive errors for about 2mins and then the system rebooots smoothly into windows.  Just then my raid monitor software pops up a message that the drives OS and DATA have failed.  At this point I open the raid application and reset the disks to normal and all is fine as i'm typing this.

    I should point out that I have had this problem in the past and have installed the hotfix offered by Microsoft which fixed the problem or so I thought until tonight when the system froze in the same way again.

    I should also note that ITunes installed and updated version tonight before I started the rendering activity.

    Unlike some of the posts in this thread my problem does not relate to the sleep/suspend freezing issue......it occurs when I am taxing my system in some way or other times when I am just using the browser or doing anything really.

    I have gadgets installed that monitor my CPU usage, Network Activity and Hard Drive Activity.  All of these gadgets stop recording data at the time the HDD activity light comes on and the system freezes.

    I have checked the event viewer.  specifically the Application and System Logs for errors and warnings and the only error I see recorded is the unexpected shutdown error message and resulting hard drive failed errors once the system reboots successfully.

    This has been an issue for me since I originally installed windows 7 on this machine.

    Dell has not certified this system to be fully compatible with Windows 7 but the Windows 7 Upgrade advisor found only a few software incompatibilities which I have fixed.

    I am going to try a clean boot to see if it is related to some 3rd party driver or something.

    How long should I use the computer in clean boot mode to isolate the problem?  I can't do the activities which tax my processor while in clean boot mode as the software that taxes my processor depends on 3rd party drivers to run.  Also the freezes seem to come at random and as I have noted I have been using my system for 6 or 8 months with no freezes until tonight.

    Microsoft PLEASE help us with this issue!

     

    Hi Mark_Carroll,

    Do you have McAfee installed on your computer? Did you have McAfee installed on your computer? What version is or was installed?

    Have you ran a Full Check Disk at Boot? Full- Both Options checked?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-03-13T20:01:19+00:00

    I have Norton 360 installed.  I had Mcafee to begin with but not any more.

    The system just ran a check disk last night.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2012-03-27T08:44:52+00:00

    Hi guys I use Windows x64 home premium sp 1 and suffering freezes like you

    My system :

    • Asus M5A99X EVO Mobo
    • AMD FX X8 8120 3.1 Ghz Cpu
    • 4*2 8GB Corsair C9 1600 Mhz Ram
    • 1Tb Seagate Barracuda SATA III 7200 Rpm 64 mb Hdd
    • Sapphire HD4830 1Gb 256 bit Graphic Card
    • Thermaltake 600 W PSU

    I built this system 2 days ago (graphic card from old PC) it started freezing as soon as I installed windows heres what I tried

    • Installed Hotfix KB2575077
    • Changed Graphic Card to HD 3870
    • Installed Windows on different partitions
    • Put Ram in different DIMMS
    • lowered RAM frequency to1066 Mhz

    I noticed that it only freezes with asus and gigabyte motherboards anyone tried to change that?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments