StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I know there is a command to type in the run prompt that will enable you to modify which programs Windows XP loads on Startup.

You would think something like that would be readily accessible, but apparently M$ doesn't think controlling what programs run on one's computer is important...

It's msconfig

search for a program called msconfig. that will let you set which programs start and which don't at bootup.

Ok, maybe shutting down that excess garbage will stop my PC from crashing.

It just freezes up, espescially when I use certain programs, or do simple thinks like printing

Yes my PC freezes if you print!!

Also some program, I don't know what is making a heartbeat like sound through the speakers. Soon after windows starts up, the heart starts beating. I know when the computer freezes because the I can heart the heartbeat stop. Has anyone else experienced this?

Lord MJ wrote:Ok, maybe shutting down that excess garbage will stop my PC from crashing.

It just freezes up, espescially when I use certain programs, or do simple thinks like printing

Yes my PC freezes if you print!!

Also some program, I don't know what is making a heartbeat like sound through the speakers. Soon after windows starts up, the heart starts beating. I know when the computer freezes because the I can heart the heartbeat stop. Has anyone else experienced this?

try running a hijackthis spyware log and anti spyware proggies. your best bet would to unclick everything on the msconfig for startup and then reboot the system. that will likely take care of the vast majority of your resource drainage.

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 629#846629

I highly recommend running atleast AdAware and Spybot S&D. One will catch what the other won't, and vice versa. Also, you might want to consider using Mozilla instead of IE for a while as there are numerous flaws that some sites will exploit to install things without your permission. If you decide to run Mozilla instead of IE, I highly recommend the Adblock extention. It will block damn near every banner ad, including the annoying flash banners and IFrame embedded ads.

Ok since my computer freezing has become so intolerable, I decided to back up my files to a external drive, and reinstall windows, formatting the harddrive.

That was a tedious process because the computer kept freezing while I was trying to transfer files. The act of transfering actually caused the computer to freeze even more.

I used a Linux Mandrake CD to format my harddrive.

But now I see the problem is worse than I thought, the Windows XP set up tool freezes when I try to install windows.

This is unbelievable, now I thinking we have a hardware problem. But it could be anything.

What is causing my computer to freeze like this?

Bad Hard Drive?
Bad CPU?
Bad Motherboard?

A what exactly was that heartbeat sound that was going on when I was using windows before?

have you tried checking your hardware connections? no idea what the heartbeat sound was, but windows freezing may be due to things like ram chips not being properly inserted, a loose heatsink/fan, etc. overheating could be a cause too. there's simply tons of things that can make it go wrong. plus if you changed any hardware, such as the mobo, win xp may not want to install again properly if it thinks you're trying to do an install onto more than one machine.

This is the text based install tool, it hasn't gotten to the setup tool yet.

Pretty much what happens is that.

1.) Turn computer on
2.) Boot from CD
3.) Windows XP Installation Loads

It freezes at any stage after this point, I got as far as it asking me to format my harddrive to NTFS, and it freezes in mid process.

Windows doesn't even check if you have installed this on multiple machines until after the system is installed, and it can make the network connections to microsoft.

You might be having overheating problems.

How do I verify if it is overheating problems.

Right now it's looking close to getting a new comp.

My current one was self built. AMD Duron Processor, 60gb harddrive, etc.

This one was originally an 1998 IBM Aptiva. Pretty much every component in it has been gutted, except for the case.

This sucks, was hoping reinstalling windows would fix things, but now it looks like I'll be caughing up some more cash.

(Already spent 50 on an external drive, but at least that could come useful in the future.)

Well, a quick way I suppose would be to pull the case off and see if the CPU fan and heatsink are choked with dust. That could definitely cause overheating.

You could also go into your BIOS and read the temperatures from there. If its in the 60's or above (re: in Celsius) then its definitely a heat issue.


Just a quick question...is your hard drive making any clicking noises?

No clicking noises.

But yeah there was a lot of dust in there.


Cleaned it out, will try to run things again and see how it goes.

I see this with registry problems from time to time. Boot from a boot disk and fdisk the drive partition into next week. Then boot from the Windows CD and let it handle the unpartitioned drive. If /that/ doesn't work, then you have a hardware issue of some sort. Might want to try the drive diagnostics for whoever makes your hard drive, as well as Memtest to check your RAM, if you don't have spares on hand to swap and test with.

Alright!!!

The computer is purring like a kitten. Dusting off the processor fixed everything.

So it seems my whole problem with window's freezing was the stupid processor being dusty.

Makes me feel stupid for formatting my harddrive

But at least my major files are backed up to the internal drive, and a good old purging of the hard drive can't be that bad.