[Tommyboy21]

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is quite the right area for this question, but I'm typing on borrowed time!

My PC keeps freezing up, usually just after start-up and I really can't figure out why!

I have McAfee and AdAware and neither are picking up anything major that could be causing the problem.
I'm just scared that it might be a hardware issue!

My CPU does seem to be working pretty hard at times (100%) which isn't good considering that I have dual 2.4ghz Xeon processors and 2GB RAM.

Can anyone help?

[benn11]

Is your Mcafee up-to-date? Because your PC is fast enough to handle most programs and it sounds like this can be a virus causing your 2.4 Ghz and 2Gb Ram to work at 100%

[Tommyboy21]

Is your Mcafee up-to-date? because your PC is fast enough to handle most programs and it sounds like this can be a virus causing your 2.4 Ghz and 2Gb Ram to work at 100%

Thanks for the replying.
Yep, I have been keeping McAfee up to date, but it doesn't seem to be picking anything up which is surprising as I would have thought that it would have to be a pretty major virus to make my PC melt down completely. :confused:

[Curlyben]

Maybe worth trying a repair install.

Here's the official Micro$oft way of doing it,
And Here's one with screen shots.

Basically this installs windows over the top of your current setup.
So you don't loose any information you already have.

You'll need to fully patch your system after doing this as it reverts to the level of your repair.

Maybe something as simple as a M$ patch conflict, these happen from time to time.

[jstrike]

First thing to do is find out what's causing your CPU to ping.
Right click on the Task Bar and load the Task Manager or put c:\windows\system23\taskmgr.exe in your startup group.
Click on the Processes tab.
Check the Show processes from all users box.
Click the CPU column header twice.
The list should now be sorted by processes that are using the most CPU time.
When the CPU gets real busy what process(es) other than System Idle Process are showing a high percentage and what's the User Name that is associated with it.

[jstrike]

The following is listed in the hijackthis log as running:
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download\6bb372cec f80d03ab26b01c29db4654f\update\update.exe
It's related to this msdn article: You receive an access violation error and the system may appear to become unresponsive when you try to install an update from Windows Update or from Microsoft Update
Not sure if everything applies but it says that:
When you install the MSI fix and the new client, process-monitoring tools may still show CPU usage at near 100 percent. However, the system should still be responsive and should not lock up. If another task requires CPU cycles, they will be shared.

There's more on there and it's probably worth the read, especially the part under resolution that says:
To resolve this problem, you must install this update together with the Windows Update Agent 3.0. The Windows Update Agent Client 3.0 will automatically be released through Automatic Updates by June 30, 2007.

All files are currently available though, you just have to download them if you think this is relevant.

[Tommyboy21]

Wow! Thanks for all of the info guys. I will give it all a try tonight, then let you know how I got on.

Thanks for takign the time to help a man out.

:)

[Tommyboy21]

Hi! I just wanted to let you know how it all went.
I think that I finally have my PC back.
After numerous virus scans and failed attempts to even go into safe mode, I managed to 'system restore' to before the last few Windows Updates and that sorted the problem.
It would appear that the Windows update was the source of my woes all along! And because I couldn't get online to download the fix (my PC was too quick at freezing up) I had no choice but to remove that last few.

Pretty rubbish really, considering that it was an official update and it was so hard to diagnose. I thought I had something terminal!

Anyway, thanks so much for your help guys. You saved my life!