I have an IBM with a Pentium 3. About once a week or so I’ll be on a web site and everything just freezes. I can’t do anything!:mad: The only cure is to turn my computer off and reboot it. The 5 computers were have where I work do this too, and the other computer I had at home alos suffered from this. Why does this happen?
You really didn’t give enough info for a difinitive answer.
I would guess it has something to do with shockwave or javascripts considering it only happens when visiting web sites.
ya can try deleting your temp files
go to dos (in win98 its start, shutdown, restart in msdos)
that should take you to a c:\windows>
type in “smartdrv” and hit enter (this command is not required, makes next command go faster)
then type in “deltree /l temp tempor~1 cookies recent history win386.swp”
that will get rid of all of your temp files
also, when did this start happening?
It probably hit a web page that links to aka ad link.
You must be patient! Give it a few minutes to resolve this link. It sucks, yes, but be patient.
Wrap a nice warm scarf around it and…
I’ll assume your PC isn’t just slow, but actually froze. Freezing up can be caused by many things, but the root cause is usually resource conflicts (if the hardware is in working order–fire bad!). Unfortunately, these things can often be difficult to pin down without excruciating details. The things that most often cause the lock-ups that I see are:
Running too many programs at once.
Running buggy software (which could be anything).
Conflicting hardware set-ups.
Full hard drive.
Someone who actually fixes PC’s on a daily basis will be able to help you better. If it always happens when browsing the internet, it suggests problems with your web browser (maybe you need to upgrade to the newest version or re-install) or your internet connection (Ethernet or dial-up? Possible problems with both). Beyond that, there’s also the remote possibility of virus infection.
A few things that will help the techs:
OS you are running (Win 3.1? 95? 98? ME? NT? etc.)
Browser you are running (IE 3? 5.5? Netscape 4? Lynx? Opera?)
How you are connected (Modem to Netzero? Cable Modem? Ethernet at work? Psychic Friends Network?)
Websites you are visiting that lock you up
Any error messages at all (Blue Screen? Program not responding? NSA security breach?)
PK
Mine does that too.
SDMB is the site I visit most
It does it mostly when I am trying to go off line.
Computer is 166 Pentium
Netscape 4
Win 95
No error messages
It did it the other day while I was reading a long thread.
Sometimes it will do it 2 or 3 times a day and other times it won’t do it at all.
I used to blame my 13 year old daughter because she likes to go exploring so to speak, but it does it a lot to me and I’m pretty tame with it.
Your computer room is too cold.
Try upping the thermostat to a toasty 80 degrees F at all times and…
Oh, baka! Mrblue92 already beat me to that gag. 
“Your computer room is too cold.”
That’s a silly idea. The main other thing that could make the computer do that is heat. It gets too hot. Very common. Get another fan or make sure your fans are spinning.
SD board uses Java & yes, that can happen sometimes when reading it.
Through intesive research I have narrowed down your problem to one thing. Microsoft,contrary to popular belief, does not make a superior product, its not your computers fault, it is Windows. Maybe a Mac would be the sensible alternative.
You might try upgrading your browser to Netscape 5 or 6. Since your PC is relatively old, you’ll also want to check to see if your hard drive is full or near full–lack of swap space can cause serious problems.
The other thing you’ll want to check is if you have programs running at startup. Try this:
- After a reboot, close all your windows.
- Look in the lower edge or right side of your taskbar (depending on where you put it). There will probably be a number of icons that you can right click on and exit.
- A ctrl-alt-delete will show you a list of the programs still running. In Win 95, you need “Explorer” and “Systray” – the rest are usually extra. Click on all the other and hit the “End Task” button. Sometimes it will take multiple tries and pop up another box. Be persistent.
- Once you’re down basic windows, start your ISP connection, let it come all the way up, and then open your browser and browse as you normally would within a maximum of two or three browser windows.
Under those conditions, you should only crash maybe one out of 15 or 20 times, and usually that’s if the system is heavily loaded at a given time. If that fixes the problem (you’ll have to do the steps above every time you boot) then you’re likely overloading your system’s resources by having too many programs running in the background–start by uninstalling or deactivating some of those unneeded programs that run at start up. If not, it seems likely there is something wrong with your browser or ISP software.
Again, someone who fixes PC’s on a more regular basis than I do will be able to help you out more.
Let me elaborate on this a little in case it was confusing… You’ll do a ctrl-alt-delete, click on one of the tasks that is NOT “Explorer” or “Systray” and hit the button “End Task”. Continue until those two are all that’s left.
Thanks Mrblue92
I’ll probably wait for my son to get home from school.He’s our computer guy.
Would Disk Frag and scan disc help. I haven’t done that recently.
can anybody enlighten a poor soul as to what exactly causes (in terms of theory) a computer to freeze up? how exactly does a software conflict or resources fight cause the computer to not respond at all?
I have a few guesses, but they’re just that. danke.
jb
Possibly; never hurts to do either if you have the time. But if you have programs running that are conflicting with each other, neither will likely help you.
The classic example is the philosophers/forks problem. You have five philosophers seated at a round table in front of five plates of spaghetti. There is a fork in between each plate (so five forks). These particular philosophers each need two forks to eat his spaghetti (weird, but that’s how the problem works).
If each philosopher picks up the fork to his right at the same time, none of them can eat until one of them puts down his fork. When they all hold their forks forever, you have a deadlock. However, if one puts his down, the philosopher to his right will be able to grab it and start eating. When he’s finished, he’ll drop his forks and the others will go.
Now, imagine that the philosophers are programs and the forks are system resources–memory, hard drive, screen output, keyboard input, etc. (Actually it’s more complicated than that, but this is the basic idea.)
Realize also that when you run a single program (like Word or Excel), that program can (and frequently does) run other programs behind the scenes that can conflict with each other or the operating system (which also has multiple programs running); this explains why you can lock up when seemingly only running one program.
Hope this helps.
FWIW, I used to have lots of probs with my computer freezing. I got some Norton software (actually got it for the utilities and antivirus) that includes an antifreeze program. Ocasionally when I’m in icuii while surfing, it’ll freeze up, but usually within a few seconds, it resumes as if nothing had happened. Anyway, I’ve not had to do a reboot in eons…
“can anybody enlighten a poor soul as to what exactly causes (in terms of theory) a computer to
freeze up? how exactly does a software conflict or resources fight cause the computer to not
respond at all?”
Mostly heat. The computer CPU gets too hot, expands & that’s it.
It depends, you see, if its software or Hardware. When it happens, push the CAPs LOCK button, does your keyboard light for it come on??? If it does, its a software thing.
IF you are on the net when it happens, chances are as I said above, you hit a site that has a link on it that links to an ad site that is hit so much that its really slow so the computer is waiting for a response from the site & that an take a few minutes. Look at the location window of the browser to see what its trying to load to know what site it is.
I’m afraid I’d have to disagree on both counts.
Heat can cause lockups, but that’s pretty rare in my experience. Of course, I live in Michigan. YMMV.
I also do not think a CAPS LOCK freeze always implies a hardware problem; I’ve had plenty that were caused by software, though I’ll admit it can be difficult to pin down the cause of a deadlock even if you’ve got the computer sitting in front of you.
Mr Blue you are probably right on the too much on the hard drive.
Scan disc told me I had a bunch of junk in memory.
I’ll start deleating junk stuff.
I also noticed my daughter has a bunch of Christmas pictures saved.I guess I’ll have to have a talk with her.
justwannano, after that you should run defrag. Get in DOS if you can & type ‘defrag’ no quotes. Try doing it once a month.