Random Freezes

My problem:
Recently my computer has been freezing up. It is worse when I am playing an online computer game, working in iTunes (freezing up before my playlist is synced on the shuffle), or reading scans online. When the lock-up occurs my cursor moves with my mouse, but I cannot click anything nor does my keyboard have any effect (no ctrl-alt-del). All I can do turn the comp off with the power button (and I hate to do that) and start her back up again.

What I've done so far:

• scanned for malware (see this thread for my most recent altercation with cyber germs)
• shut down all but 3 start-up programs in msconfig
• removed and reset my video card and watched to be sure the fan is cooling
• updated video drivers (see below)
• ran the diagnostic on boot up – no hardware problems found
• tried to re-install Service Pack 3 but got an error when trying to do so
• tried to install IE8 (because some windows updates didn’t like my firefox) but it too failed.

I think that is everything. Hope you see something I’ve missed, and I can return to using my computer for more than just a word processor (saving every few minutes, of course!).

My machine:
Dell XPS DXPO51
Intel Pentium D
CPU 2.8 GHz
2.79 GHz, 3.25 GHz of RAM
OS:
Windows XP
ver 2002
Service Pack 3
Video Card:
NVIDIA Geforce 6800
Driver Version: 196.21


Thank you,

 

Apparently everyone is as stumped as I am!
I do have a couple of questions before I resort to calling Dell Support (I've not had good experiences there, so was really hoping someone here could help)
Is there any way to find out what was going on when the computer freezes? It's not a BSOD so there isn't a memory dump file, and the machine has to be restarted so I'm guessing there is no history filed anywhere?

 

Have you tried a repair, either from the recovery console or a disk? I think you should see an option for recovery console at startup, or maybe an F key for options.
Malware removal often affects system files and settings. Check your pagefile size?

I've had luck with dialafix after malware removal;

http://majorgeeks.com/Dial-a-fix_d4899.html

But set a restore point first, sometimes it causes problems. :wave:wave

 

Thanks so much for your reply! I cannot access my Recovery Console, unfortunately, but I did run the dial-a-fix. We'll see now if it fixed my problem.
*crosses fingers*
Interestingly, it also found a plethora of errors in my IE files. I've not been able to use IE for about 6 months now, but didn't really mind since I prefer Firefox. I sent the error logs in as requested so we'll see if I get a bonus fix out of my problem.
Again, thank you so much for pointing me toward a possible fix. I'll let you know how things turn out.

 

Still having issues. Today I went into the config utility and shut down all my services (excepting the microsoft ones) and start-ups. Upon restart there was one program that was checked - NvCpl. I know I had disabled everything. Once again my computer froze. Is there any way to remove this from my computer? (or would doing so cause more problems than it solves?)
Thanks again for all the help!

 

And how much RAM do you have? In your specs, you said 3.25 GHz RAM? That doesn't make sense, RAM doesn't come in Hz units.
Any errors in your device manager?
The NvCpl is associated with the NVdia card, normally not an issue.
Also, did you check your page file settings, should be set to 1.5 times your RAM? :wave:wave

 

/doh! That should read 3.25 GB RAM. :-o

I'm not sure if there is an easier way to check for errors in my device manager, but I opened it, right clicked on the device in the list, and then clicked properties. All the ones I checked stated they were working properly or "No drivers are installed for this device."

I checked my page file settings and set the min to 4.9 and the max to 9 (1.5x and 3x my RAM respectively)

I'll start using my computer as normal and let you know the results.