Windows 7 freezing

[Legoflamb]

Computer starts up as normal; speed seems to be fine.

Checked processes; hardly anything running.

0% cpu usage.

850mb (or there abouts) of physical memory used.

Win 7 64bit ultimate
4gb ram
intel i5 740

As soon as I do anything it either slows to a deathly crawl or freezes everything except the pointer, but eventually this will freeze as well.

For example:-- pick a song in winamp and it'll play but within a minute or almost straight away the sound stays fine but winamp appears to be unresposnsive as the eq thing is frozen along with the time and then every now and again it will update.

I've left the computer for a while after it did this and I closed winamp with it still being really slow then all of a sudden it was back to normal speed. Then it slowed down again when trying to do the same thing again.

If I start firefox it will start just fine but I can get about as far as getting my bookmark list up and then it'll freeze - sometimes able to move the pointer sometimes not but eventually this will stop as well.

Once it gets like this though it is completely frozen and even leaving it for a few hours didn't make it respond unlike when i just played a song in winamp and then managed to get it closed after it slowed down and then the computer responded ok afterwards.

What shall I do?

get into safe mode and try to reinstall graphics drivers?

Or get in, back up everything and then format and reinstall windows?

There's nothing showing up in task manager but do you think it might be a virus or malware doing this?

Thanks guys.

 

[bazz2004]

If you are running a decent security suite and keeping it up to date it's unlikely to be a virus. What are you using and when did you last run a full scan?

 

[Legoflamb]

If you are running a decent security suite and keeping it up to date it's unlikely to be a virus. What are you using and when did you last run a full scan?

Hi Baz - thanks for getting back to me.

I'm running Antivir from Avira, which updates pretty much every day.

The license just ran out on my copy of superantispyware.

 

[bazz2004]

I'd not be in a rush to do anything drastic like reinstalling Windows. There's a chance that Winamp may be the culprit so I'd uninstall it and see if things are improved.

http://blog.brothersoft.com/2009/07/19/windows-7-software-compatibility-testing-winamp/

 

[Legoflamb]

using on screen KB so I'll be brief!

uninstalled gfx drivers and problems completely stopped - reinstalled and no matter what vers. I use it does the same/similar thing

with the older ones though it doesnt totally freeze it will go black then i get 1 of those 'ati driver has malfunctioned but recovered' and after that it works at a crawl like i talked about in my OP

at a loss......

i'm guessing worst case scenario though that by having drivers installed you are making the card work hard and there's something wrong with it so it keeps crashing

 

[bazz2004]

Well it seems you've found the problem quickly which is good. If the native Windows 7 drivers will do the job perhaps you can manage until new drivers are released?

 

[kristain]

Try to boot in safe mode and verify if the computer works fine without freezing. To boot to the desktop in safe mode keep tapping F8 key during restart. Once you see the option to boot in safe mode select it and press enter.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Start-your-computer-in-safe-mode



If the computer works fine in safe mode, you try to put the computer in clean boot state to make sure that third party applications are not causing this issue with computer performance.


To perform a clean boot, follow the steps below:
1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
3. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.
4. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
5. Click OK.
6. When you are prompted, click Restart.
7. After the computer starts, check if it works normally.

 

[Legoflamb]

If all drivers are broken for me and the ones I used originally stopped working maybe it's time I took advantage of the card's warranty....

The computer works perfectly in normal mode with no drivers installed.

 

[bazz2004]

See how it goes before you make a decision. Sending things back can be a real hassle.

 

[Legoflamb]

Reinstalled windows - same problem.

Will be returning the card ASAP as I feel I have covered all bases...