Frequent lockups -- what to check?

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guYom · #1 Post by **guYom** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:09 am

I am experiencing frequent lockups, i.e. my TP freezes completely, and I have to turn it off and reboot.

How to proceed to find out what is causing these lockups?

A couple weeks ago I started experiencing these lockups, it started when I tried burning a DVD. Now I realize it might not be related at all to DVD burning... last instance is a few minutes ago running PC Doctor 5 for Windows and doing a system health check, it started hanging in the middle of this after I tried to move my cursor with my BT mouse. I had nothing else running.

I am under BIOS 1.09a and I have added 1G of RAM (Transcend from Newegg) so I have now 1.5G. I added the RAM back in June and I have not had any lockups in June, July, August, September.
Should I run a mem test on my RAM? How do I do that?
Should I revert back to an older BIOS? I was under 1.05 until very recently, never bothered installing 1.06 and 1.07 after reading negative press here.

Thanks for your input.

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:34 am

Virus' and Spyware can cause these kinds of issues. Be sure and run full scans if you can.

You may have a hardware component on it's way out. If you can run a loop test on the; memory, cpu, gpu, and hard drive, you may be able to ferret it out. Check Event Viewer for any clues. Go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer.

coolsilicon · #3 Post by **coolsilicon** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:25 pm

Additionally to what is already suggested, you could go here:

http://www.memtest86.com/

and download the iso file. Burn it to a CD and boot from it. I'd suggest letting the test(s) run overnight.

guYom · #4 Post by **guYom** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 9:39 pm

I looked at the event log but could not see anything there.
I ran some test on the memory but from PC DOC 2 via the Thinkvantage, I ran the quick test as well as the full test, and got PASSED for both.

Next step I'll do the mem86 test...

I got more lockup today, so strange that this is happening so sudenly with no major changes made to my environment.

guYom · #5 Post by **guYom** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:17 am

Ok I ran MemTest version 3.2.

11 passes with 0 errors (wall time was about 5 hours)
standard test
cache on
ecc off
mem map e820-std
rsvdMem 66 M
cached 1535 M

Does that mean that my original 512 and added 1G of Transcend memory sticks are good to go and that the lockups are not RAM related?

By the way when I escaped MemTest, I removed the CD and the TP rebooted, it went into a lockup and froze, with some strident noise coming from the speakers as in a broken record.

What is next if my memory is good? What else can I check?

Thanks in advance.

coolsilicon · #6 Post by **coolsilicon** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:35 am

Though it appears your mem is fine, I'd suggest removing one of the two sticks and just use your machine the way you usually do, to see if the lockups will still happen. If they do, try the other stick.

If you know someone who could lend you a stick that is definitely working fine, you could also put in that one instead.

Another approach would be to make an image of your current installation and then do a clean install of XP.

nxman · #7 Post by **nxman** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 7:21 am

I had the same problem before and i formated my machine
And now its ok however each time i install client security and rescue and recovery software my system becomes dead slow and often freezes.

#8 Post by **jdhurst** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 7:27 am

If you recover your machine to factory specs, do nothing additional, and it hangs, then it is most likely a hardware problem. In addition to the information already provided in prior posts, a bad motherboard (broken trace, cracked trace, cold solder joint) can cause this difficulty. I experienced such difficulty earlier this year on my T41 and it was the motherboard. ... JD Hurst

hoya · #9 Post by **hoya** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:47 am

I had frequent lockups which I traced back to Firefox. I switched to IE7 and haven't had any since. your issue sounds different but I wouldn't rule anything out.

Jedacite · #10 Post by **Jedacite** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:08 am

I'm not sure if you've fixed this problem yet or not, but I recently (about 3 days ago) had my T60 hard locking 100% of the time when it could not find an Access Point, and about 90% of the time when it could.

I had just installed a bunch of updates via ThinkVantage Update along with IE7.

I've restored back to factory, then only applied the Windows Updates available (not including IE 7) and all is fine.

I have yet to re-install the ThinkVantage Updates or IE 7. The weird thing for me was the problems did not start directly after the updates, but as soon as I went to use ThinkVantage Access Connections to change a wireless setting. Additionally, no amount of un-installing / re-installing could help when I was able to get it to boot.

I also get a system Beep when it hard locks, and it normally hard locks just after login.

I know this doesn't help you solve your problem but it may be useful if you did some of the same things that led up to this problem.

JohnDrake · #11 Post by **JohnDrake** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:03 am

I hate 3rd party memory. They lower costs by letting the users be the testers....and avoiding manufacturing testing steps.

Its probably your memory. Some can cause errors even with basic memory tests. Very painful.

However...if this is a generic XP copy, be sure to have loaded the Xp update modules from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... -62928#INF

at the bottom of the page.

o1001010 · #12 Post by **o1001010** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:38 am

hi. the qfe from item is not a modification from ibm or what so ever. it is merelly a collection of patches that is not installed or detected by windows updaate but you will need for your laptop

just ready the readme on what is included. they are all from microsoft.
the key patch within was the 888111 which is needed before you can install sound.

megalosaurus · #13 Post by **megalosaurus** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:33 pm

JohnDrake wrote: Its probably your memory. Some can cause errors even with basic memory tests. Very painful.

A lot of T60Ps went out with some bad Micron memory in them. I have one of them. It just froze up at semi-random times, leading me to suspect some programs, until I finally found out it was the memory. Memtest86 and PC Doctor were able to run all day without problems. If you find you have Micron memory modules (no identification except a big M with one leg longer than the other) then I would consider that highly suspect. Not all of the Micron memory was bad, but this should still be enough to cause suspicion.

Frequent lockups -- what to check?

Frequent lockups -- what to check?

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