Intermittent freezing while HD just spins

[LD]

Occasionally when I click on a Word doc, or directory in Outlook or even open IE (at least this is what I can recall at the moment) my drive just starts spinning for 15 seconds or so causing a temporary freeze on the desktop. During this freeze, none of the programs can be used and I just have to wait till the drive just stops spinning and then I can begin using the programs again. It’s intermittent and I haven’t figured out a pattern yet.

I’ve scanned for malware, viruses et all, and nothing is picked up. I’m running XP( SP3), 4GB ram, over 700GB free space on the 1TB HD, AMD dual processor, so I think there should be plenty of resources to offer freeze-free computing.

I can’t recall the exact time the issue started presenting itself but it may have coincided with a very sizable Windows update 3-4 weeks ago. It's really frustrating having to wait for this mini-fit to subside.

Any suggestions? Hardware beginning to fail, OS becoming unstable?

[wige]

I would probably start with your AV software. I have had a similar situation in the past where something in the virus definitions got corrupted and would cause freezes whenever the OS called the antivirus system to scan a file. This was resolved by reinstalling the antivirus software. The situations you describe suggest to me this is a strong possibility, since the computer will scan documents when they are loaded by MS Office, and your system may also be scanning the cache when you start your browser.

Also, make sure you only have one anti-virus application that performs real time scanning. If you have multiple applications that scan files, they can conflict and cause system freezes.

[infoman66]

Similar happened to me until I had turned on the regime for energy savings (HD excluded after 5 min of inactivity).
When I call for an application that needs to be read from disk while the disk spins pass some time and freez screen.
Since I was annoyed, since then my drives non-stop spinning (never turn off).

[edhan]

You may like to check when the freezing happens, is the anti-virus updating? It does happen to me when the anti-virus is downloading the latest updating, the system will freeze a while until it is completed.

[LD]

I've done a chkdsk and some cleanup was done by windows - nothing bad though. I've finally found Win Defender and disabled it. I've downloaded updates and versions of AV. So I'll see. I will try a manual update of AV def's and see if it freezes. I think it may be the drive or the OS or some Windows apps. Still looking...Sheesh!

[LD]

just downloaded new AV defs and opened a couple apps, did some keying while the defs were being installed - no problem there. It must be a hardware glitch. Dang it!

Acually, looking back at my first post, my reference to "hard drive starts spinning" should really be explained as the HD light comes on like it's reading/writing for 15-20 seconds during the freeze. When the reading/writing stops (light goes out) all returns to normal

[mikeewart]

I sometimes get a similar issue on my laptop. I found that it is caused when i have my office network printer set as default and am away from the office. If I change to a non-networked printer (even if I do not have it connected) or pdf writer, the issue goes away. it appears that teh computer is trying to access the networked device before continuing until it time-outs and gives up, thus the delay or freeze.

Hope it helps.

Mike

[LD]

I know your suggestion sounded familiar because a long while ago, I may have had something similar happen and to remedy the issue, I removed all non essential or extraneous printer drivers from my system and I think it may have fixed the issue. However, that was long ago and these days, yesterday seems foggy now and then. :)

I will try "unsharing" the network printer and if that doesn't work, I'll try using a non networked printer as the default printer and see what happens.

[Clint1]

When was the last time you defrag'd?

Most people have entirely too many and unnecessary Services running. Most can be Disabled or at the least set to Manual. That can speed things up some.

Look at your Task Manager to see what's running during this time, research the ones you don't know about and see if they need to be running. I would guess, they do not.

You mentioned a printer; the Spooler Service is another one that doesn't need to be running all the time, only when you need to print something.

[fiddler]

I had (it sounds like) the same problem a couple of years back with my XP machine. Scanned with Norton, CCleaner, etc. and never found anything (and Norton was always updated and running in the background). I finally had my computer tech look at it and he discovered there was a virus or trojan in the rootkit that was downloaded via one of the automatic Windows updates. He cleaned it and I've not had any problems since. Frustrates me that I have all the protection in place and STILL manage to get infections anyway that only my tech can erradicate. What AM I paying all those bucks for protection for if the programs don't protect me? Since then I've switched to AVG and I am amazed at how often AVG alerts me to threats that Norton never did. I have 6 machines I run, btw, and every one of them is protected by AVG now, except one still has Norton on it - and just last week THAT machine ended up with a virus that AVG finally took care of.

[LD]

When was the last time you defrag'd?

Very recently - very small amount of fragmented files found - and fixed.


Most people have entirely too many and unnecessary Services running. Most can be Disabled or at the least set to Manual. That can speed things up some.

I do have a lot of things running - have looked thru the System config utility and disabled all, at least to my knowledge, are extraneous.


You mentioned a printer; the Spooler Service is another one that doesn't need to be running all the time, only when you need to print something.
How would one set the Spooler service to run when necessary? I've only read where you would want to stop the spooler service when there are printing problems - to clear the print jobs pending.

[Clint1]

Frustrates me that I have all the protection in place and STILL manage to get infections anyway that only my tech can erradicate. What AM I paying all those bucks for protection for if the programs don't protect me? Since then I've switched to AVG and I am amazed at how often AVG alerts me to threats that Norton never did. I have 6 machines I run, btw, and every one of them is protected by AVG now, except one still has Norton on it - and just last week THAT machine ended up with a virus that AVG finally took care of.
Always remember these things:

There's no such thing as a "perfect" anti-malware program. None of them will find everything. Get the best AV/internet security software with the best detection ratings across the chart for any kind of threat.

Software is only good as its settings. You'd probably be surprised at how bad even the best are with default settings. They should be set to scan "all files" (regardless of extension), and scan archives (zip, rar) for any real-time scan protection as well as manual scan. You should have one with heuristic scanning that should be set to the max for all areas where it's listed as an option. You should also have one that scans for Rootkits. And it has to be updated daily.

Install every free anti-malware program out there. This is not AV software per say, but programs like SpyBot, AdAware, Spyware Blaster, Spyware Terminator, Windows Defender, MalwareBytes, HijackThis, the products from a-Squared, etc., etc. There's dozens of free ones out there. Run manual scans with them on a regular basis. Also be sure they are all set to scan everything on your main HD (and any appropriate folders on other HD's if need be).

Don't install Windows Updates. They will do far more damage than they could prevent. I have hosed countless installs thanks to them and I avoid them now. They are never tested, M$ uses us as their test subjects. 90+% of them have not only no proof of concept, but also they have not even been exploited in the wild. Most are negated by the use of a firewall. (And for FW settings see what I said above about AV software settings). Most that are for Services are not needed if the Service is disabled (and at least half of the Services can be disabled on most PC's). Research each one, and when you are positive you need it, install it, and only one at a time, and do a ERUNT (http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/) restore point before each.

[Clint1]

I do have a lot of things running - have looked thru the System config utility and disabled all, at least to my knowledge, are extraneous.
MSCONFIG has little if anything to do with Services. That will only show you a few items that generally don't use Services. While disabling things there will help, you have to look at the Services, then determine which can be set to Manual or Disabled. If you don't know about them, http://www.blackviper.com/ is the best site out there to find out what they do and a guide on how they can be set on most typical PC's. But yours may be different, and some may have to be on auto, and yet some could be set to disabled that may be required to be on with other PC's. So you should change one at a time.



How would one set the Spooler service to run when necessary? I've only read where you would want to stop the spooler service when there are printing problems - to clear the print jobs pending.

Like Windows Image Acquisition, the Spooler is another that never needs to be running all the time, only when you need to print does it need to be running (or scan something in the case with WIA Service). I have mine set to Manual, and when I need to print something I start the Spooler Service. I'll just paste this from my email list:

Since I don't do a lot of printing it's pointless having the
Spooler Service running all the time. I have two batch files
that I use for this.

To start the Service:


@title PrintSpooler Manager
@echo Running PrintSpooler... Wait until it's done.
net.exe start Spooler


To STOP the Service:


@echo Stopping unnecessary service...
@net stop Spooler


Paste each of those into a text file and make the extension
.bat, then drag a shortcut from where ever you keep them to
somewhere like your Quick Launch toolbar. Change the status
of the Spooler Service from automatic to "Manual". Then whenever
you need to print something click the shortcut to the file that starts
the Service, and when you're through click the other to stop it.

When I have had printing problems happen I could always click the
icon in the System Tray and either "Cancel" all docs or "Purge" the
que/queue, even with more problematic USB printers. But
stopping the Service via the batch file shortcut should also work.

[Clint1]

You can also create a custom icon for each shortcut. I used one of the printer icons from shell32.dll for the shortcut that starts it and stops it. I put a red X through it (in Paint, then saved as .ico in IrfanView) for the shortcut to stop it.

[LD]

I've disabled just about everything that appears to be extraneously taking resources in both the start up and Services within the Admin Tools. I do wonder if it might have been a TSR defrag program and Windows defender - and who know what else is vying for resources at the same time.

But - it seems to be a bit more stable - for the moment anyhow. Thank you to all for your suggestions.

[Clint1]

and who know what else is vying for resources at the same time.
The Task Manager will tell you that. ;)



But - it seems to be a bit more stable - for the moment anyhow. Thank you to all for your suggestions.
You're welcome. ;)

[NetProwler]

Good. In case it rears again, use this utility - Process Explorer from Sysinternals to keep a tab on the runaway application/process which consumes the resources. This utility tells you what process uses the CPU ( it shows all the cores in your CPU too) and other resources. It can replace the normal task manager if you want to invoke this in a hurry.