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For the longest, I have been researching a problem with my config that causes my apps to randomly freeze. Fortunately, games never freeze, but it's annoying nevertheless.
Before I begin this dissertation, here's my setup:
AMD 1.1Ghz CPU
Gigabyte 7IXE4 Mobo - BIOS dated 11/03/2001 (the latest)
Visiontek Geforce3 AGP
D-Link NIC (PCI)
Linksys NIC (PCI)
Soundblaster Live Value (PCI)
Iomega SCSI Adapter (PCI)
Iomega 1GB Jazz Drive (internal)
HP 9100 Series CD-R/RW (IDE)
Primary Master C: drive = Maxtor 12.6 GB
Slave D: drive = 40GB Western Digital
ISP = Charter Cable Modem (Surfboard external -- connects to D-Link)
Logitech IFeel Mouse (PS/2)
Microsoft Natural Keyboard
Windows ME OS
Direct-X 8.1a
NVidia Reference Drivers Version 21.83The app freezes occur randomly. The app in question freezes the system completely and usually I can still move the mouse arrow, but this is not always the case. Here is a list of things that I have tried to no avail:
1). HD Defrag
2). Internet Explorer History/Cache Cleanup
3). Reducing my Video Hardware Acceleration in Video Properties
4). Reducing the color palette from 32-bit to 16-bit.
5). Reducing the screen resolution from 1280x1024 to 1024x768.
6). Replacing an older 250-watt PSU with a 300-watt
7). Switching the NICs around a little to avoid IRQ sharing with the video card (D-Link currently shares with the AGP, which is IRQ 11)
8). Removing the SCSI adapter to free up an IRQ
9). Flashing the BIOS to the latest version (as of this morning -- still encountered freezing)
10). Clean format and Re-install of Windows ME
11). Installing latest AMD chipset drivers that are authenticated by Microsoft
12). Tried using generic Microsoft mouse driver in place of Logitech MouseWare.
13). Downloaded all critical ME patches from Microsoft
14). Modified ME config to exclude all non-essential TSR's at StartUpPlease, if anyone has any ideas, I would certainly appreciate hearing from you, as I have run out.
Thanks.
Wilo
To follow-up, here is my current "Motherboard Monitor 5" readings:
Sensor 1 between 42 and 43 degrees C
Sensor 2 @ 19 degrees CAll Voltages appear to be in-line (I'm not overclocking anything)
Fan 1 = 4963 RPM
CPU = 1111mhz
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and after all that, you neglected to name the app that is freezing..
that's a lot of work to try and fix something that in all likelihood is not broken.. it is probably a problem with the app itself.
in ME, Microsoft did finally get most of the freezeup problems ironed out, but occasionally, my Opera browser will still freeze on me.. i see this as a problem with Opera, not ME or the computer.
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Well, the reason why I didn't specify which apps that freeze is because it occurs randomly with *any* app. I can name a few however:
Internet Explorer Version 5.50
Netscape Navigator 6.2
mIRC (latest version)
Microsoft Word
Microsoft FrontPageAs you can see, it's completely random.
Again, games do not crash.
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Wilo i went through the same experience almost every program i ran generated some sort of error message.My nvidia reference driver 21.81 was at fault.Changing drivers cleared up the mess try a different driver from Nvidia or go back to the driver that shipped with your card.Try this worked for me.Good luck.
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One additional item worth noting on this ...
I am using ME's ICS. Whenever this computer (the server) crashes, the client continues to stay online.
Very strange...
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Sounds like you have the same problem I had - many freezes in MS applications, none in games. Examples:
Excel froze when switching between sheets;
Outlook froze when de-maximising screen or exiting;
Visual Studio froze when more than about a dozen text cells selected;etc, etc
Typical run time before a freeze < 10 mins, often 10 seconds.
When I asked around, several other ME users had similar problems (but most just played games, so didn't care).
I reinstalled everything, with no improvement, and eventually my h/w supplier changed my entire PC, from AMD to P4 1.3, but same s/w build, but I still had the same problem. Eventually I read around, found your report (and others), decided this was a s/w o/s fault, and junked ME.
I installed XP and re-built from scratch 6 weeks ago. My machine has not frozen or crashed since.
Hope this is of use. It seems to tell us something about ME.
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