What causes Vista PC to freeze?

A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor one
by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system, but at
his house - still freezes.
Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
computer works fine.

M Skabialka wrote:
> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor one
> by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system, but at
> his house - still freezes.
> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
> computer works fine.
>
>
Will it start in Safe Mode? (f8 during boot)

If yes it's a driver issue - has anything been added recently?

Could be hard drive corruption, registry errors and a few other
things... ;-(

Try Safe Mode first.

G

Yes. If the computer works at your house, but the same system does not work
at his house, then there are possibly two reasons.

1). Electrical. If the computer is not getting sufficient voltage/amperage,
once the video and other drivers get the hardware going, it could draw too
much from the power supply to keep it functioning.
a.) Is there another location in your friends house that you can try
booting the computer up. If so, try that. One way or the other, you will
know if it's isolated to that one location or the whole house. A certified
electrician can give you exact readings and suggestions.
2.) We know it's not drivers because the drivers don't change from one house
to the next. But it could be network connection. Check with another
computer (if possible) to boot up in that same location with network
connections.

Don_T
--
If everybody knew the truth about everybody else's thoughts, there would be
way more murders. (George Carlin)

"M Skabialka" <> wrote in message
news:#...
> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor
> one by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system,
> but at his house - still freezes.
> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
> computer works fine.
>

It's a computer, not a laptop.

"Van Chocstraw" <> wrote in message
news:6rGdnR8cs-...
>M Skabialka wrote:
>> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
>> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
>> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
>> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor
>> one by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system,
>> but at his house - still freezes.
>> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
>> computer works fine.
> The only difference between houses would be external devices such as USB
> storage etc. When you take it are us just using batteries or taking the PS
> with it?
>
>
>
> --
> <<//--------------------\\>>
> Van Chocstraw
> >>\\--------------------//<<

Yes it will start in safe mode - I changed to VGA 600x800 drivers in safe
mode at home and that's what it uses at their house.
Since it was freezing up I ran diagnostics and updated video, network and
audio drivers per the diagnosis.

"Bigguy" <> wrote in message
news:...
>M Skabialka wrote:
>> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
>> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
>> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
>> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor
>> one by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system,
>> but at his house - still freezes.
>> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
>> computer works fine.
> Will it start in Safe Mode? (f8 during boot)
>
> If yes it's a driver issue - has anything been added recently?
>
> Could be hard drive corruption, registry errors and a few other things...
> ;-(
>
> Try Safe Mode first.
>
> G

I tried it at four separate locations in their house, on different circuits.
I updated video, audio and network drivers at home because of the freeze-up
issues.
They have another computer with no problems.
Since I updated network drivers I haven't connected back to their wireless
network because it won't complete booting. I can connect wirelessly at
home.

So I guess they need to call an electrician.
Thanks for all suggestions,
Mich


"Don Tolbert" <> wrote in message
news:uD$...
> Yes. If the computer works at your house, but the same system does not
> work at his house, then there are possibly two reasons.
>
> 1). Electrical. If the computer is not getting sufficient
> voltage/amperage, once the video and other drivers get the hardware going,
> it could draw too much from the power supply to keep it functioning.
> a.) Is there another location in your friends house that you can try
> booting the computer up. If so, try that. One way or the other, you will
> know if it's isolated to that one location or the whole house. A
> certified electrician can give you exact readings and suggestions.
> 2.) We know it's not drivers because the drivers don't change from one
> house to the next. But it could be network connection. Check with
> another computer (if possible) to boot up in that same location with
> network connections.
>
> Don_T
> --
> If everybody knew the truth about everybody else's thoughts, there would
> be way more murders. (George Carlin)
>
> "M Skabialka" <> wrote in message
> news:#...
>> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
>> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
>> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
>> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor
>> one by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system,
>> but at his house - still freezes.
>> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
>> computer works fine.
>>

A desktop computer (i.e. a personal computer (PC) in a form intended for
regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable
computer) - and everyone else knows that is what I am talking about. So no
battery, or removable power supply.


"Borne Aching" <> wrote in message
news:49b16f20$...
> "M Skabialka" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> It's a computer, not a laptop.
>>
>
> LOL.
> My sides hurt.

M Skabialka,

Two thoughts. A bad power supply, is the PC a few years old? Combine that
with different voltage levels in the two houses. You should be able to check
the voltages from the PC's BIOS at each location. My Intel BIOS lists what
the voltages should be and the actual voltage at that time. They should be
very close to each other and the actual voltages will fluctuate minimally as
your reading them. Press the F2 key during startup to enter the BIOS and use
the arrow keys to scroll through the BIOS and the ESC key to exit that area.
They may be hidden in an 'advanced settings' area. Do not make any changes.

I'm leaning towards a bad power supply.

Drew

"M Skabialka" <> wrote in message
news:#...
> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round Vista
> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back. It
> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor
> one by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a system,
> but at his house - still freezes.
> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their other
> computer works fine.
>
>

On Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:45:49 -0000, M Skabialka <>
wrote:

> I tried it at four separate locations in their house, on different
> circuits.
> I updated video, audio and network drivers at home because of the
> freeze-up
> issues.
> They have another computer with no problems.
> Since I updated network drivers I haven't connected back to their
> wireless
> network because it won't complete booting. I can connect wirelessly at
> home.
>
> So I guess they need to call an electrician.
> Thanks for all suggestions,
> Mich
>

I am not entirely convinced by the bad mains supply theory. This is not
something I would to have a sudden, sharp, onset, nor a highly reliable
point of failure. I would also expect to see minor symptoms in other
devices - especially differences between high load times, such as Sunday
lunch, and low load times.

In your first post you said you took it home and used your keyboard,
mouse, and monitor. It would be a good idea to try the same peripherals in
the two locations.

I would also look at internal voltages. I use CPUID HW Monitor
(http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php)
Install this and run it and make a note of voltages. First at home in both
safe node, and normal mode, and ideally with both monitors. Also try
playing a game - the extra load on the system may have an effect. As an
alternative is stability testing software - I have a nVidia card, and I
have nTune (http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_5.05.54.00.html) - the
advantage of this is it is more likely to work in safe mode.

The try as much of this as you can at your friends.
If it is a mains voltage problem I would expect to see some values lower,
and more volatility in the values.

Another thing to try is to bypass the login screen. See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231, or
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...autologon.mspx
- while these are for XP I have seen statements that the second works in
Vista, and I suspect the first does too.

Another would be to disable the network connection.



>
> "Don Tolbert" <> wrote in message
> news:uD$...
>> Yes. If the computer works at your house, but the same system does not
>> work at his house, then there are possibly two reasons.
>>
>> 1). Electrical. If the computer is not getting sufficient
>> voltage/amperage, once the video and other drivers get the hardware
>> going,
>> it could draw too much from the power supply to keep it functioning.
>> a.) Is there another location in your friends house that you can try
>> booting the computer up. If so, try that. One way or the other, you
>> will
>> know if it's isolated to that one location or the whole house. A
>> certified electrician can give you exact readings and suggestions.
>> 2.) We know it's not drivers because the drivers don't change from one
>> house to the next. But it could be network connection. Check with
>> another computer (if possible) to boot up in that same location with
>> network connections.
>>
>> Don_T
>> --
>> If everybody knew the truth about everybody else's thoughts, there would
>> be way more murders. (George Carlin)
>>
>> "M Skabialka" <> wrote in message
>> news:#...
>>> A friend's Vista computer started booting only as far as the round
>>> Vista
>>> logo then froze. I took the PC home and using my keyboard, mouse and
>>> monitor did some maintenance, upped the memory etc and took it back.
>>> It
>>> still froze at the logo. I replaced the keyboard and mouse and monitor
>>> one by one to no avail. Took everything home and it worked as a
>>> system,
>>> but at his house - still freezes.
>>> Is this an electrical problem - if so how could I find out? Their
>>> other
>>> computer works fine.
>>>
>
>



--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Mar 6, 1:45*pm, "M Skabialka" <mskabia...@NOSPAMdrc.com> wrote:
> I tried it at four separate locations in their house, ...
> They have another computer with no problems. ...

Any computer must work fine even when AC mains voltage drops so low
that incandescent lamps are at less than 50% intensity. But a
defective computer may work in some places and not others. Do lights
glow normally in both? Then the electrician would not find any
problems.

Your problem is why responsible computer manufacturers provide
comprehensive hardware diagnostics for free. If AC power was a
problem, then hardware diagnostics would either report symptoms that
identified that problem, help build a list of what is known good, OR
trace failure to other suspects. If your computer manufacturer was
not responsible, then a critically important tool was withheld

Currently you are speculating based on a limited number of facts.
The computer could be completely defective. Therefore work in your
house and fail in theirs. A number of standard tests could have
better identified the problem. But nobody (apparently from your
responses) has identified those necessary and obviously powerful
suggestions.

First and foremost would be less than two minutes and a multimeter
to report the few critical voltages; especially when computer accesses
all peripherals simultaneously (maximum load). Voltages from any one
of purple, orange, red, and yellow wires from power supply to
motherboard.

In your case, those measurements performed both in your house and
theirs. And those numbers reported here because their values include
information you may not appreciate.

This much we do know. A defective computer can work fine from one
power source and not another. One would jump to conclusions if
fundamental electrical knowledge was not included in that conclusion.