Windows 7 Randomly Locks Up / HDD Activity Light Solid
Feb 27, 2012
I've been using computers since Win 3.0, but have recently built my own computer for the first time. Generally, everything works great right up until the point it doesn't.Sometimes my PC will randomly just "lock up". The screen freezes, the keyboard is completely unresponsive (including ctrl-alt-del), the mouse cursor is the spinning circle. The only way out is to hit the RESET button.It seems fairly random, and has happened while I was using iTunes, Outlook, or other programs.The one constant is that every time it happens, I can see that the HDD activity light is *solid*. It's not flickering / blinking like with normal HDD access, just solid. I don't know whether there is something truly being accessed, or whether the solid light is just a red herring.
Also, I don't know if the system is actually frozen, or whether there's something hogging the system to the extent it's so slow that it appears frozen. It's a pretty beefy system, so whatever it is would have to be really doing a number. I've only ever waited like 2 minutes before giving up.Given that every time it happens the HDD light goes solid, I have to suspect it's something with the hard drive subsystem, but I don't know how to begin troubleshooting whether it's a mobo SATA port issue, an Intel RST driver issue, a hard drive issue, a cable issue, or maybe it's not the hard drive at all!Here's some details (see more in my Systems Spec)Recently purchased DZ68BC mobo Prior to Windows 7 installed, verified mobo BIOS default was AHCI Installed Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium Win 7 appears to use AHCI After installing Windows, ran Intel utility to update/install all drivers, including Rapid Storage Technology drivers (did *not* update mobo BIOS) I am NOT running any RAID.Again, everything seems to work really nicely, right up until the point it decides to instantly freeze It's hard to troubleshoot because it's so random, I don't know when to expect it, and after it happens I can't bring up any tools (i.e. Resource Manager) to see what's going on.
I'm still fairly new to windows 7 and i have found a bug or something with mine. I normally have my windows start bar (the bar with all my open windows) set to be transparent. When I close my laptop screen it sets it to hibernation and a good portion of the time when I start it up again my start bar will be a solid light blue color.
It changes the way the windows work and frankly it's annoying! When I restart the computer it goes back to normal but there are times that I can't restart it due to a buggy Art program that won't allow me to save for a while and I'll loose everything. When I go into personalization I try and fix it and even if I change it back to transparent it stays solid until I restart my computer.
I upgraded my HP Pavilion a1540n Desktop to Windows 7 a week ago. Ever since, my hard drive light constantly blinks. After looking at the disk activity in the Windows Resource Monitor and doing some research I am leaning towards the page file as the problem. I am not sure if that is in fact the problem as there seems to be quite a few processes creating high disk activity, including Firefox profile cache, $Logfile, and MpWppTracing.bin. I only have 1GB of RAM. Would I be better served to add RAM before doing anything else like using Cacheman?
When using Windows 7, it randomly goes to the lock screen during an active session. This has been the case on multiple computers running Windows 7. Immediateness proceeding the lockout the screen flashes black and than shows the login screen. All of the external hardware is the same, one computer was a desktop, one is a laptop.
I am little bit worried about my harddrive. Previously I had 80 gb harddrive and then I upgraded it to 320 gb. I have dell latitude d630 laptop with two operating system. Windows 7 and XP. When I use Windows 7 then my computer specially hard drive light stays on and mouse is busy and I have to restart my laptop however in my XP this problem is never seen. I also installed vista and deep formatted the hard drive but the problem still persists in windows 7. The system is normal but when I surf internet via mozilla or chrome. This problem arises. I have done everytrouble shooting I can chkdsk and everything but when I use chkdsk in my western digital harddrive, it says error. I am thinking its harddrive issue what do u say?
I am little bit worried about my harddrive. Previously I had 80 gb harddrive and then I upgraded it to 320 gb. I have dell latitude d630 laptop with two operating system. Windows 7 and XP. When I use Windows 7 then my computer specially hard drive light stays on and mouse is busy and I have to restart my laptop however in my XP this problem is never seen. I also installed vista and deep formatted the hard drive but the problem still persists in windows 7. The system is normal but when I surf internet via mozilla or chrome. This problem arises. I have done everytrouble shooting I can chkdsk and everything but when I use chkdsk in my western digital harddrive, it says error.
I've been getting random lockups for quite some time however here is the kicker,it ONLY happens with more than 4GB of RAM installed...anything less than 4GB I am perfectly fine but anything more my computer locks up totally randomly.Random bits of information: Tested all of my RAM sticks individually and in any combination I can think of,as long as the total is nothing more than 4GB I'm fine and dandy but soon as I hit 6,8,10(Due to what sticks I have I can only go up in multiples of 2GB) I get random lockups.Lockups can happen on desktop when I'm afk and the computer is completely idle,after 2 hours of intensive gaming killing splicers in Bioshock 2 or just while I'm transcoding a movie on the fly(This actually seems to be relatively safe,does not happen often)On the lockup whatever sound that was playing repeats(The last 0.2 seconds of it or something) so it sounds like BZZZZTTTTTT no matter whatNew motherboard,new PSU and hard drives passed a chkdisk recently(Albeit with some grumbling from them about bad sectors)SFC scan completed,no problems to report with my file integrity.PSU has plenty of power for the systemJust recently installed SP1(After the problem started) in an attempt to fix it,to no avail by the looks of the recent lockup and now I have no updates pending so windows is fully updated.
Obviously checkSUR ran with no problems before installing SP1Booting into an Ubuntu liveCD and running random stressy things for the computer does not produce the same effects,it runs perfectly fine.Computer temp is high but within an acceptable range most of the timeOnce it crashes/locks up once it sometimes does the same on boot again and again till I just leave the thing alone for an hour or two and try booting it up againEvent Viewer just shows this for each event when it locks up and I'm forced to reboot it manually:[CODE]
Used from old system Sapphire Radeon HD 7990 SeaSonic 850w PSU Kingston 120g SSD
Prior to building the New PC I had no issues at all. I got the New Motherboard, CPU and RAM. Built the computer and started having the issue that my Computer would Lock Up randomly, it seemed to be when I was playing a game and having other stuff going on my 2nd monitor. Just Lock up, no BSOD and nothing in the event logs. Have to push and hold power to turn off and then reboot.
I thought it was the Motherboard as I don't tend to use anything but Asus, so I sent back the ASRock motherboard and purchased the Asus Rampage IV Extreme. Reinstalled Windows with the Asus Motherboard still had the lock up issue. Next I got new RAM - I purchased the G.Skill Sniper series 1866 Ram, thought that was going to fix the issue BUT Still got a hard lock up. It seems to happen when I am playing a game and have other things going - It seemed to happen when I played WoW and Diablo 3 which were actually installed on my 2nd harddrive ( Velociraptor).
I moved my WoW folder to my Kingston and removed the Velociraptor -- Still Locked up. Only thing at this point I have not tried swapping are the PSU, the Video Card and the Harddrives. Because those all seemed to work fine in my old system I didn't think those would be the culprit. I have no tried changing out the CPU but not sure if that would be the cause as the computer seems to run fine with out locking up if I'm not playing a game and other stuff. Also - Temperatures are not the issue as I've been monitoring them all and the CPU is usually at 30c-34c and the GPU runs around 60c-65c.
I recently bought a SSD (Solid State Drive) it is a Samsung 64GB. My computer is an Asus with an i5 Processor.
Anyway I know the SSD works fine because currently I have Ubuntu downloaded on it, running just fine. For some reason however, Windows 7 is not detecting my drive. Under my computer, or upon booting from a disk, it will not detect it. The reason I am wanting to detect it, is because I would like to backup windows 7 onto my SSD and boot from there.
Yesterday I did a load of windows updates.. Service pack was apart of it. After all was done I rebooted and found my pc was freezing solid. I then did a system restore and still had freezing. I removed my AVG for now. So far no freeze but I have not been running long enough to really know... but what is happening is when it's in sleep mode the hard drive revs up about every 4 minutes. the computer remains sleeping but does this 3 second rev? My next thought was to do the windows updates again?
I was using Eraser and it seemed to work just fine on my laptop but there seem to be issues using it on my gaming PC. I built the PC from scratch (honestly, I'm still amazed every single time it boots up successfully) and went for Solid State Memory, as it's a gaming PC. I don't know if it's that, or some other issue, but the erase all unused disk space option in Eraser won't function. I can target and erase individual files, but I want to use the function that shreds the whole of the unused disk (although it's obviously not a disk). Titanomachy ps. the paperclip icon for attaching files is disabled, for some reason, which is why no dxdiag.
I recently have a problem with my system. when I try to write a dvd it randomly freezes. sometimes it writes completely without error, and then the next time at the start of the sequence it locks up. the hdd activity led lihgts up, and the mouse is still responsive, but nothing seems to react anything. after some minutes the BSOD appears stating that a system crucial process had been unexpectedly quit or has been closed, and so on.. the same happens now if I try to update the dvd's firmware. it's an LG GH22NS40 writer with a grren power 550w psu and windows 7. previously i have nero 10 installed, but it's been deleted for now.
Whenever I start my windows hard drive led is constantly on and my laptop is slow as hell. If I continue using it sometimes I get blue screen but always I have to restart at last. Second time I boot it's ok. I disabled all unnecessary services. I had got the same problem with Vista. Now I upgraded to this. 7 was working fine but now the same problem is back. I use acer aspire 6920 with 4g ram and 250gb western digital. 2.00 Ghz core due.
My Windows is doing something when I do not use it. The disk makes a lot of noise (r/w) but as soon as I touch the mouse or keyboard it stops.What can be the reason ?
For personal security reasons (two words: online poker,) I have embarked on a mission to make sure that there is 100% (or close to it..) certainty that no one can check or find out what applications were used and accessed on my computerother places / files might be checked in Windows 7 to check user / software activity, so I can deal with it accordingly! Encrypted operating system (True Crypt)Paging file removed and not beingsavedHibernation file removed and hibernation disabledDeleting MUI cacheDeleting prefetch filesUsing a .bat file that completely deletes ALL Windows 7 event logsTurning off memory dump fileDisabled and deleted windows restore pointsUsing CCleaner at the end of every sessionUsing Temporary File Cleaner after every sessionWiping free space (Gutman 35 passes) on my hard drive every few daysStuff like firewall/antivirus/anti-spyware/anti-malware/sandboxie I don't even mention because these are obvious.Now I need to make this clear: privacy is the most important thing for me in this case, so I am willing to sacrifice a lot of performance for it.
I installed Windows 7 on my computer that was originally XP. Ever since then, I have 2 problems. First, my curser does whatever it wants, it jumps all over occasionally and highlights stuff so quickly while I am typing that when I press another key it is all lost. The second issue is that my mouse pad can no longer scroll.
OK so on to my problem and question. I set my taskbar to be along the top of my monitor screen. It seems like ever since WinXP and probably before that, some windows that open creep under the taskbar. So when this happens, I have to move my taskbar in order to close the window. Yeah I know there's other ways to close this window without moving the taskbar, but another more elegant way to avoid this problem is make the taskbar solid so the window can't creep under the it
I have Windows 7 N Ultimate. I just bought Paragon Migrate. I tried to move os only to SSD. Although it has option of selecting other stuff to move, when i choose something, it doesn't get chosen and program just not choosing anything but OS. But this is not an issue. The issue is, when it gets to DOS after restart to finish moving os, at some point while it is moving, I get error message "Some Error occurred: Bad parameter of function". At the same time, at the top right corner it says Succeeded. When I try to boot from SSD I get strange error window saying "Windows failed to start 0xC0000034 Unexpected error.
This isn't recommended, I know. But would it serve any purpose at all? As far as I understand the matter, aside from the wear and tear issue, whether an SDD is 0% fragmented or 100% fragmented makes no difference to the performance, due to the way the information is read from the disc. Is that so?I run MS Flight Simulator from an SDD (my O/S is on another SDD too) and I am starting to get some performance issues. Some have recommended I defrag the disc - when I analyse it, it shows 100% fragmentation, but if what I wrote above is true, it wouldn't make any difference. Right??
I'm looking to install a SSD drive for my windows 7 64bit custom rig I have. Currently I have everything on a 2tb internal HDD. I'm looking to keep everything the way it is and just place my windows on the new SSD.My first thought was unplug my HDD, install SSD install fresh Windows 7 on it, change boot up in bios to SSD first, plug HDD back in and delet windows off of it. Another thought was is it possible to install new SSD and move windows folders to it from HDD?My ultimate goal is to not have to reinstall all of my programs and to keep all my current settings.... I'm looking for the most painless and easiest set up of my new SSD drive and to just have windows on it.
I recently was doing 'maintenance' on my network and during the process, decided to upgrade the firmware on my routers/APs. All went well except that my trusty old BEFSR41 didn't survive. I tried the known fixes, but no response.So, I'm asking for recommendations. I do have wireless covered with a WAP54G, but it may be time to update that as well.Features I want are good security (inbound and outbound MAC filtering, IP Range limiting, port limiting, etc.), speed and reliability. I'm not opposed to a wireless router with ethernet ports (at least 4), but I would like the ability to turn the wireless aspect off, since I don't use it that much (at the moment).I have several machines on site, connected to an 8 port gigabit switch, which was connected to the BEFSR41, which was connected to a cable modem. Netgear is not a preferred solution. At some point, I plan to connect my TV, if that is a consideration in choice. OK, I'm rambling now.
I'm thinking of using a ssd for my windows 7 build early next year. I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on them. Ocz do some good value drives but I've heard their write speeds are painfully slow
After clearing my computer of spyware yesterday, all of my file folders are a pale yellow color? Why is this? Is there any way to change them back to their normal yellow shade? Also, I can only set my backgroung as solid colors, but not images.
I've been using Windows 7 since it was released and never had to reinstall so far.Unfortunately my System seems to have developed some issues which make work with the computer rather tedious. I have the impression that the issues are all related to a massive boot delay. Windows takes some 4-7 Minutes to boot. The masive delay starts after the logon screen. I have not been able to find out what is going on here and where the timeloss occurs. Once the machine has become usable - i observe some serious disc activity (led blinking constantly. This can go on for minutes.
I already tried to deactivate unnecessary startup programs, scan for malware. I frequently let ccleaner sweep the system.'d be very happy to see some opinions about this behaviour and perhaps find a way to resolve the issue, so I do not have to reinstall from scratch. I am aware that there is an inplace repair function in Windows 7 - this however only works with a system CD that contains Windows 7+sp1+all important updates. As I only have the original system CD I would like to avoid setting up a working boot cd.ps:[CODE]
When I try and change the background to an image it just stays as the solid color, I use to be able to change the background but I accidently set it as a solid color and I can't change it.I've tried Ease of access method.
My desktop background became solid black colors and can only select from solid colors.Even if I select image it still shows solid color and thumbnail of image inWindows 7/personalization does not work. (look at image 1 below)another problem all folder, video and image thumbnails dont work (look at image 2 belowand some of folder sometimes shows black square on it (look at image 3 below)All these happened after taking word document from usb my flash drie.Because those word documents are distorted in another computerand theirextension was .scr and i assume this may cause all these.but I use Eset Smart Security 5 and no warning and after I scanned pc insafe mode with Kaspersky 2012 and they found nothing.I tried Malwarebytes and Spybot - Search & Destroy.I also tried Combofix 4-5 times and it deleted some file but
I'm looking to buy a AMD Radeon 6950, 6970 that's 10.4 inches in length or lower.I recently purchased a Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Dirt3 addition to replace my Crossfire setup of HIS Radeon HD 5770 cards.The card ran great for a day, and then I noticed artifact tearing and constant crashing to blue screen was an immediate sign the card was bad. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt, went to safe mode, disabled the card, uninstalled the old AMd drivers, swiped the registry for AMD video clean and reinstalled drivers. Still same artifacts and crashing. So I turned off PC, reseated the card, and still same issues.I had to RMA the card, and unfortunately Newegg doesn't have it in stock anymore (I figured these cards were good because they're out of STOCK everywhere.) so it's likely by the time it;'s finished processing I'll get my refund. Because if the item is out of stocked I have two options, replaced with a product of "equal" value, or refund. I'll obviously opt for a refund though.
Windows 7 pro 64 bit AMD Phenom II X4 925 @ 2.8ghz 4GB DDR3 Dual-Channel 1600mhz Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H Mobo AM3 soc HIS Radeon 5770 Crossfire setup Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200w 80+ gold certified
I'm looking for software that can do one of two things. It can either take a directory full of photos and videos and play them in a slideshow type loop, or can combine photos and video in a single file, movie, .exe, etc for playback on a computer connected to a TV for a trade show. I'd also prefer free, if possible.
We have a week long trade show coming up, and would like to put new photos and videos in a directory each night, and have the software start to play all of the content, like a slideshow, in a continuous loop. Then, each night, we could stop the software, update the content, then restart it...or replace the single movie file or exe with an updated one.
I am going to build a system (actually many of them) I would like to have two drives in this system. one a very fast reasonably large (100 gig) plus VERY fast solid state hard drive and the other a very fast and very large (10 or 2 Teri) mechanical drive. My question is how do I setup the prefetch or cache or whatever to run the operating system and my recent history of programs off of the solid state and have the mechanical drive there with everything on it in case I choose to something new into the recent history list by running some program once. also have oldest bumped off solid state, when space becomes an issue, but still keep it on mechanical hard drive. I think that this system will appear to run faster except the first time you run a program. I think this would be useful for instance on a system that plays the same online game everyday. Or works with the same complicated drawing in auto-cad for weeks. I have my own ideas about how to do this, but I thought I might throw this out there to what it sounds like when it hits the wall.
