Programs not running/freezing up for no apparent reason.

Okay, I'm well aware that the thread title probably instantly suggests malware or something along those lines, but I don't believe that's my problem. I use Spybot regularly to clean up spyware, I run a virus check with Vet at least once a week [and update it on a regular basis], and Zonealarm is pretty much always running. I have a feeling that hardware might be the problem, but since the most obvious symptoms are software problems this seems a good place to start.

Basically for the last couple of months, any full screen game [such as the Sims 2] I attempt to run will not load, no matter whether it's automatically started from the CD or whether I've left the CD in and tried to open the program from the start menu. Each time it's happened, I've uninstalled and reinstalled the program, and nothing changes. It's progressed to other basic programs having errors, to the point where I can't copy text from IE into Microsoft Word without the program freezing and video files won't open in Media Player even if I've already started Media Player.

Seeing as my dad has been able to solve all my computer programs in the past, I followed his advice; he thought it might have simply been extreme file fragmentation through Windows, and suggested downloading O&O DefragLite from here [since the built-in defragger is pretty much useless] and use that. I keep Windows [and antivirus/antispyware/firewall] on a separate partition to all my other programs, so at the moment my harddrive is in a 20G partition for Windows and a ~60G partition for everything else. I defragged C:/ and it came up clean, only 22 fragmented files. I figured I'd defrag D:/ while I was at it, and there came the problem; it had a huge amount of fragmentation. So, once more I found myself backing up files, burning them to CD and sending them through the network to my housemate's spare HD as an extra precaution, and I then formatted the 60G partition. I've reinstalled the basic programs again and limited what I put back in D:/, and thought I'd attempt to reload a couple of games and have a go [if you need the info, Sonic Heroes and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines]. After defragging both partitions again, I attempted to run those programs, and still nothing. Either the screen will go black with a tiny blue dot in the upper left corner and I'll simply have the normal cursor floating around screen, or I'll have the normal desktop [generally resized] with the game's music playing, and that's it. And I'm still having the same problems with basic programs like Word and Media Player.

It is an 'old' computer [considering how technology comes in leaps and bounds now] I got in Oct '03, but I've been spoiled, as previously I managed around 9 years with a home-built computer. I did have to sort things out at the start this year when the original hard drive failed, but up until recently it'd been working fine. I'm at my wits end, and dad has no idea, and I really can't afford to shell out money for a completely new system, so if anyone has any clues I'd love you forever ^^'

System Specs:
OS: Windows XP Home Edition
Version: SP2
Processor: x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~2000 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date: Award Software, Inc. ASUS A7V8X-X ACPI BIOS Revision 1005, 8/05/2003
Total Physical Memory: 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory: 688.48 MB
Total Virtual Memory: 2.00 GB

 

In your situation, I would make updating drivers my first course of action. Particulary video drivers (as it doesn't seem to like full screen).

If this doesn't help your situation, then I would recommend following the instructions in the My Computer Is Slow thread. Most of these you have already covered, but I would recommend paying attention to the anti-malware part. No security app is 100%. This will also help you diagnose your RAM (it recommends Memtest) and hard drive, which might also be causing your problem.

 

Urgh, forgot to mention that any webpage with a music player/video built in or embedded also freezes up *pulls face*

Thanks Mada_Milty, I've gotten the latest driver for my video card and one game works now, but the graphics are broken and crappeh. What other drivers should I be looking at updating?

And thanks TimW, that saves me opening the box and taking out each stick of RAM one by one to test them XD; I'll see what that does ...

 

Mada_Milty: I've gone through everything in that thread you suggested I read [including all the malware cleaning etc, which came up clean], and updated the following drivers [video, motherboard, LAN, sound], and I'm thinking that possibly updating the BIOS might be in order too, but not sure.

And thanks for pointing me to Memtest, TimW, it came up completely fine after an overnight scan, so I can at least rule out RAM as the problem.

However things still aren't working, the game that I have managed to get working still has screwed graphics, although sound seems to be fine [bearing in mind I haven't played it before, heh].

How do I go about testing the hard drive? I'd hate to think that's the problem, since it's only about 9 months old, but I suppose I should cover all bases ... Or does people have any other ideas about what I might try?

 

Gah, I can't see an edit button for posts ... sorry for spamming, but it's 12:14AM, I'm dead tired and I can't see an edit button, so yeah.

Just to clarify on the "screwed" graphics I mentioned: I can see some images, but they're in neon colours, and there's usually bright stripes running down the screen as well. Outside of these full-screen programs the display is fine.

<edit> Oh fine, now I see an edit button. Someone shoot me now >>; </edit>

 

Whoa!
Before we go replacing system files, maybe we should take a look at the video card itself. I've had a personal video card give these exact symptoms (neon colours, stripes - still playable, but looked like garbage) and a freakin' format didn't fix it...it was a hardware problem.

Is it at all possible to test with another video card before we go around overhauling windows?

 

While I can see what you are suggesting, that wouldn't cause the programs to freeze when those certain actions are performed. SFC shouldn't cause problems (At least I've never had it cause problems). Another thing to try perhaps, is chkdsk. I've seen chkdsk fix some random problems like this. Give it a shot.

 

can you tell us what kind of video card you have, since its not listed in your specs?

 

Heh, you're right... a damaged video card doesn't usually cause freezes in itself, although it is possible. However, my personal problem stemmed from overclocking damage, and I'm certain that the video card wasn't the only component that got hurt. (The problem manifested in the motherboard first!)

Also, SFC isn't 100%. Think about what it is doing. It is taking and replacing core system files with versions on his disk. What if those files have been updated since the files were originally installed from disk? You end up with inconsistencies between your core dlls and anything else that hasn't been refreshed by SFC. You're relying on Windows File Protection to save your butt, in this case. You better hope that updating Windows has updated your dllcache (WFP's source directory), and that the cache hasn't been poisoned.

I'm just trying to save the OP the same frustrations I encountered. Spending days tracking a s/w bug, finally giving up and formatting, only to discover that the problem remains. It really sucks.

 

Ah whoops, forgot to put that in. The video card is the nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X. I'll ask my housemate if I can test with his video card, since his computer's around the same age as mine. What you're saying makes sense, since full-screen programs are "working" now I've updated the driver. It also seems that I'm no longer having the other problems either (Media Player works, IE doesn't freeze with videos/music players any more, and I can once more copy text from IE into Word without it freezing).

I've run CCleaner earlier, it was listed in the malware thread so I've covered that. And I used chkdisk before I formatted the 60G partition, about a week ago I guess, with no problems on the hard drive, and it didn't sort out the problems, hence the formatting step.

So the video card and old drivers might have been the culprits?

 

Overclocking and bad fans or heatsinks causing heat, can cause artifacts and freezeups.

To the original OP, you are not overlocking anything are ye?

What about cpu temps?

 

Not, I'm not overclocking anything, and heat doesn't seem to be an issue since I got rid of the old hard drive, which was overheating things as it failed. The cpu isn't overheating either.

 

Old drivers can be an issue.

I remember awhile back. A client was complaining about playing a modern game. It was to slow and glitchy. Even with updated drivers, it was glitchy. So, we installed a newer video card (6600 gt). It played the game flawlessly. But, their older games (5 year old games) played horribly. Using older drivers worked for the older games, but the newer games had glitches. Updating the drivers fixed the new games, but broke the older games.

I hope I didn't confuse ye. Cause I was getting quite PO'd trying to find the right driver for both those games.

So, to answer your question, more than likely, yes, the video card and/or the drivers is indeed the issue.

 

You didn't confuse me, makes perfect sense *nods* The programs are now running since I updated the drivers, and things are no longer freezing, so there's part of the problem solved. Now I just need to find a video card to test, or just go get a new one and palm the old one off to dad to play with, haha =D