Windows 7 locks up shortly after login

[OutOnthepOrch]

Hi all, another forum I posted in required I use a template, so I'll just do that here as well to make it easier for you all. Thanks in advance!

Problem description: After I logged in, I opened firefox and surfed the NET for a few minutes before everything locked up. I couldn't right click anything, couldn't ctrl + alt + del. After rebooting, it is now at the point where it locks up immediately after logging in.

Attempted fixes: Before this happened, I had checked the event log because it was hanging when trying to log in the time before. I saw a couple ATAPI errors in there. I haven't tried going into safe mode yet; I was planning on doing that when I got home, but I figured I'd try and do some research while at work.


Recent changes: My hard drive is the most recent change (week ago). My motherboard and video card were replaced as well about a month ago. This issue was not occuring when I was running vista with the new mobo and video card, and old HD. So I'm not sure if this is related to the Hard drive or Windows 7, or something else.

--

Operating system: Dual boot: Windows 7 Ultimate RC x64 7100 (experiencing the error here), and Windows XP Pro sp2 (no issues here)

System specs:
processor: Intel Core2 quad 2.66Ghtz,
motherboard: gigabyte EP45-UD3P
graphics card: evga geforce 9800 gtx
memory: Patriot DDR2 800mhtz
power supply: Antec Sonata II Earthwatts 500
hard drive: Maxtor 1TB 32cache 7200
other: SIIG firewire 2 port
Buffalo external 1TB FW400/800 usb2 drive
Seagate 320GB internal SATA HD

I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes

 

[OutOnthepOrch]

Hello,

I just wanted to post an update for my situation. Last night I booted into safe mode, and managed to view the event log for a little bit before it froze up again. The event ID 11 ATAPI error showed up numerous times. I did teh google and found this:

support.microsoft.com/kb/154690

"the source can be any controller name (for example, Atdisk, <b>Atapi</b>, or Sparrow)."

"In almost all cases, these messages are being posted due to hardware problems with either the controller or, more likely, a device that is attached to the controller in question. The hardware problems can be associated with poor cabling, incorrect termination or transfer rate settings, lazy or slow device responses to relinquish the SCSI bus, a faulty device, or, in very rare cases, a poorly written device driver. "

Those are the parts that caught my attention. Do you think it's more likely my issues could be attributed to a connection issue, or maybe a driver?

Another probably important thing I noticed was that once when I rebooted into the BIOS, the drive with Windows 7 on it was not recognized. Yikes! I had to reboot twice before it showed up again.

Right now I'm using all the default drivers that came with Windows 7, except for the LAN driver which I used the gigabyte driver cd. Do you think using the drivers that came with Gigabyte might resolve the issue?

Thanks again for helping!

 

[OutOnthepOrch]

Hello,

In case anyone stumbles onto this thread, I just wanted to post what progress I've made so far (issue hasn't been resolved yet):

5/27/09:

Last night I booted into safe mode, and managed to view the event log for a little bit before it froze up again. The event ID 11 ATAPI error showed up numerous times. I did teh google and found this:

support.microsoft.com/kb/154690

"the source can be any controller name (for example, Atdisk, <b>Atapi</b>, or Sparrow)."

"In almost all cases, these messages are being posted due to hardware problems with either the controller or, more likely, a device that is attached to the controller in question. The hardware problems can be associated with poor cabling, incorrect termination or transfer rate settings, lazy or slow device responses to relinquish the SCSI bus, a faulty device, or, in very rare cases, a poorly written device driver. "

Those are the parts that caught my attention. Do you think it's more likely my issues could be attributed to a connection issue, or maybe a driver?

Another probably important thing I noticed was that once when I rebooted into the BIOS, the drive with Windows 7 on it was not recognized. Yikes! I had to reboot twice before it showed up again.

Right now I'm using all the default drivers that came with Windows 7, except for the LAN driver which I used the gigabyte driver cd. Do you think using the drivers that came with Gigabyte might resolve the issue?





6/3/09:

I downloaded Seatools and it did not come up with any errors for my drives in the long test, for both my Seagate 320GB and the Maxtor 1TB. I haven't done the memory diagnostic yet since experiencing this issue, but I did run Windows memory diagnostic as well as memtest on my current RAM which is new (forgot to update my specs, I'm now running Corsair 2 x 2GB DDR2 1066 sticks. They passed both tests and then I formatted the Maxtor drive and installed windows 7 on it.

So yea, I haven't run the test since experiencing this error so I'll try that, but I'm wondering if you have any ideas on what to do next if nothing comes up?

Thanks for the help!

 

[ldsfunaz]

Just curious how you are making out with this problem..
I am running into the same exact problem..

I originally thought it was my hard drive(with vista).. so I replaced it with a new 1TB hard drive and loaded w7rc. and a new sata cable..

it worked flawlessly for 2 days and i thought i was in the clear.. but then it started again out of no where.. on this new drive.. so my next lead is the motherboard or powersupply.. im assuming this is more of a hardware issue over a power issue? right?

well good luck.. i hope you solved your issues.. but I would love to know what it was..

Theres not many similarities in our setups besides we both use a gigabit MB but mines
GA-965P-S3

 

[OutOnthepOrch]

Just curious how you are making out with this problem..
I am running into the same exact problem..

I originally thought it was my hard drive(with vista).. so I replaced it with a new 1TB hard drive and loaded w7rc. and a new sata cable..

it worked flawlessly for 2 days and i thought i was in the clear.. but then it started again out of no where.. on this new drive.. so my next lead is the motherboard or powersupply.. im assuming this is more of a hardware issue over a power issue? right?

well good luck.. i hope you solved your issues.. but I would love to know what it was..

Theres not many similarities in our setups besides we both use a gigabit MB but mines
GA-965P-S3

hey yea actually, I solved my issue. I thought I had posted it on here, I guess I did for other forums (I had posted this issue on about 3 message boards)

So you know that bumndle of cables that has the little pins for power/reset switches, front panel USB, etc? Well there was a SATA cable on there as well that I had plugged into the SATA port on the mobo. I think i just put it in there because I thought "Hey, it fits, I guess it must go there." To this day I'm not really sure what it was for, but I removed it and the problems went away. I've been running windows7 x64 flawlessly this month.

I discovered this was the problem by looking more closely at the error in the event log. It said there was an ATAPI error on port 3. Port 3 was the one this was plugged into.

I would check what else is plugged into your mobo, also check your event log and see what is coming up in there. If it's something else I'm not sure. Good luck, let me know what you find

 

[wyttyger567]

i think i can help

hi I'm new to this forum. anyways, i ran into the same problem with windows 7. everything was working fine after i installed it a couple of days ago. after installing windows i started downloading everything that i needed to make it "my" computer again. but i didn't run my virus, ad-ware, and spy-ware removing software. unfortunately i should have known better but i didn't. anyways i think i either caught something called relevant knowledge or i downloaded a bad driver for something on my computer. relevant knowledge watches what websites you go to and also can lock up your computer. if you google relevant knowledge you can find steps to get rid of it. hopes this helps and if anyone else has an answer 'because im currently doing these steps to clean up my computer' all help is welcomed.

 

[OutOnthepOrch]

best of luck cleaning your computer. My virus hunting days are behind me...got burned out on that when I worked for the residential network team for my university. If you're looking for a good/free anti virus software, check out AVG. Other than that just make sure to update often and try to just stick to the websites you know. If you torrent, always read the comments section, as many files will be viruses.