System Hang

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Nethercott
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark Nethercott

I'm looking for some advice on how I should troubleshoot
a system that is hanging but without producing any events
or error messages.

I've not been able to create a set of actions that
recreate the error. In other words, I can't find the
pattern that causes the hang, but I have been able to get
a general feeling for what's causing the issue.

The difficulty comes from trying to pinpoint exactly what
is causing the error.

The machine boots ok up to the first login screen and
will either hang during the login process or when I try
to make an ISDN connection to the Internet.

It seems to me that the issue is either being caused by
the mouse drivers (the hangs seem to occur more
frequently if you move the mouse during logon) or the
ISDN drivers - as it seems to occur when I use the dial
up facility.

The difficulty/confusion/issue in trying to diagnose the
fault is caused because the hang is not repeatable. For
example, once the system has hung, the only way to reset
it is by a 4 second hold on the power switch to reset the
motherboard. Then when the machine boots for the second
time, the system will work fine, login and connect using
the ISDN line ok. It may then work for several hours,
but may when I connect to the Internet for the 4th or 5th
time later in the day.

I've used SysInternals AUtoRuns facility to minimise the
number of utilities that are running and i can reduce
them further, but I feel that I'm approaching the problem
from the wrong angle.

Are there any tools or techniques that I can use that
will show me what the machine is doing? I wondered if I
could set something up that would scroll through a window
that (I imagine) will freeze at the same time as the
machine and maybe give me some more clues.


Regards


Mark
My thoughts The 'hang'
 
Hi,

This kind of problem can be very tricky as it could be
hardware or software.
I would try using your machine in Safe Mode with
Networking support to see if the error comes back.

If Safe Mode does not reproduces the error then it is most
likely to be software/driver related. If you do see the
error in Safe Mode then I would suspect hardware.

ITry running your PC with all unnecessary hardware removed
(e.g CD, sound card ....) and see if the error goes away.

Create a batch file called stamp.bat and paste the
following contents into it. When you run this batch file
you will get a scrolling display of the time.

@echo off
cls
:loop
time /t
goto loop




Regards,

Tim
 
Hi Tim,

Thanks for the reponse. The system ran beautifully in
safe mode so it seems to be software/driver related.

Do you have nay thoughts on how to identify the culprit,
or should I start looking in to setting up a second
machine and running a debugging session?

Cheers


Mark
 
Hi Tim,

Thanks for the reponse. The system ran beautifully in
safe mode so it seems to be software/driver related.

Do you have nay thoughts on how to identify the culprit,
or should I start looking in to setting up a second
machine and running a debugging session?
Click to expand...

A few things to check:
1. Are all the drivers signed? Video, sounds, ISDN, mouse etc
Check Device manager, properties of device, Driver tab and
it should display a 'Digital Signer'.

2. Have you tried moving any of the PCI cards around? This may reduce
interference and heat build up.

3. Try using a different mouse. Those mouse cables can become damaged
over time and cause non-existant or intermittant signals.

4. Also, disable any non-essential network protocols and clients in
the Network Connections. If you have a Network card installed, try
either disabling it (if not using it) or set some static IP addresses.

5. Load up Task Manager and check the Process/Performance tabs and see
if any processes use up cpu time.

Peter Hutchison
Windows FAQ
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/
 
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