[potejam]

I'm not too anxious to update to Windows 7 for two reasons. First is that I am still not certain what is causing the problem, and second, I am cautious about being an earlier updater and updating myself out of program compatibility (which happened to myself and many others with Vista).

At any rate, the problem I have been having is still persisting, and I am not closer to identifying it. It has basically made my computer unusable, since hardly 5 minutes goes before the entire computer freezes up and needs a hard reboot. The symptoms are still the same and don't seem to really matter what - if any - program I am running at the time.

The computer goes completely silent when the problem starts, though there is often no visible sign of any issue (the display may still be updating as normal for a little while). The mouse always keeps responding after the computer becomes silent, and usually the interface responds as well. However, I have come to realize that I can usually only get 2 or maybe 3 actions out of it (like opening a menu or clicking the start menu) before the entire system stops. The "busy" icon will usually now be displayed, and nothing by mouse or keyboard will respond, other than the mouse cursor itself. The mouse will be responsive for quite a while, and it's usually just in the morning (after my computer has been on or presumably frozen for most of the night) that the mouse will not respond at all.

I have been having more success with operating in safe mode, though this whole thing did happen once or twice while trying to back up to an external (that was only plugged in for the occasion).

Since first getting some responses here I have run some exhaustive virus/malware scans and nothing comes up at all (using AVG 9 free, Windows Defender, Malwarebytes anti-malware, Windows Malicious Software Removal) though there is the strange fact that Windows Defender is never actually running anymore on my system before I deliberately launch it. This might suggest a driver problem or something, but I really have no idea how I would go about isolating the problem. A system restore won't take me back far enough and I really don't know how to "test" drivers or other possible problems while in safe mode.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Josh
(Vista 32 SP2)

[amon91]

Your system seems really unusable, honestly I'd try to get your data off (by maybe booting off a Linux live CD and backing up your important files) and try a full Windows reinstall. If that fails your system could be overheating, or your HDD broken. Just some thoughts.

Topic split.

[Jayne]

If you have a Recovery Drive on your PC or the Recovery Discs you could try putting your computer back to Factory Level. If your problem is software related that should correct the issue... but if you can back up all your stuff as you will lose it all. If it is hardware, obviously it will not correct it.

Jayne

[JC.in.van]

potejam, on 20 November 2009 - 06:33 PM, said:

I'm not too anxious to update to Windows 7 for two reasons. First is that I am still not certain what is causing the problem, and second, I am cautious about being an earlier updater and updating myself out of program compatibility (which happened to myself and many others with Vista).


Any suggestions? Thanks!

Josh
(Vista 32 SP2)

In my opinion its probably best to stay with the system that came build into one's box; as it would be the best match. upgrading to 7 would most likely put more stress on the resources and be slow... I suppose one could install it as an alternate system to play with as an (expensive) hobby, but it's probably best to wait and get a box that is designed for win 7.

JC

[potejam]

This post started in a different thread, but somehow started a new thread when I replied...? Strange; I must have done something...

Anyway, yes the system has become extremely unstable, but I WAS able to back up my data, at last. So now I am going about doing a clean reinstall of Vista to try to isolate whether or not I have a hardware problem. The reinstall just finished, but to my surprise, my personal data was NOT deleted from the HD. Everything in the root/C is unchanged, and everything else has been put into the Windows.old folder. I knew of that from reading in other forums and instructions, but I had no idea how huge it was going to be. It really did save ALL of my personal programs and settings, to the amount of over 300 GB!!!! I'm assuming I can just delete it and be done with it, but I really would like to start everything as fresh as possible.

My main question refers to whether I can re-format my hard drive before reinstalling Windows. I do have a Dell-created recovery partition on my HD (which I am leaving alone), as well as a Dell-supplied reinstallation DVD (all of this works, as I have just found out).

Can I format my main hard drive partition C (excluding the recovery partition) and still successfully reinstall Vista with the DVD and intact recovery partition? It seems like that is the best way to start fresh, and it sounds like it would work fine. My assumption is that everything needed for Vista installation is on the DVD and recovery partition. Can I format my C drive?

Thanks!

[amon91]

potejam, on 22 November 2009 - 05:22 PM, said:

This post started in a different thread, but somehow started a new thread when I replied...? Strange; I must have done something...

Yeah, I split the thread as I figured it didn't have much to do with the thread you replied to.

potejam, on 22 November 2009 - 05:22 PM, said:

My main question refers to whether I can re-format my hard drive before reinstalling Windows. I do have a Dell-created recovery partition on my HD (which I am leaving alone), as well as a Dell-supplied reinstallation DVD (all of this works, as I have just found out).

Can I format my main hard drive partition C (excluding the recovery partition) and still successfully reinstall Vista with the DVD and intact recovery partition? It seems like that is the best way to start fresh, and it sounds like it would work fine. My assumption is that everything needed for Vista installation is on the DVD and recovery partition. Can I format my C drive?

Thanks!

Yes you can. When you're installing Windows, there's an option to format the partition you're installing the system on, and only that partition. The installer probably created that \Windows.old folder because you just installed Windows over it, without formatting. If you have all the data you need that folder should be safe to remove.

[JC.in.van]

amon91, on 22 November 2009 - 06:54 PM, said:

potejam, on 22 November 2009 - 05:22 PM, said:

This post started in a different thread, but somehow started a new thread when I replied...? Strange; I must have done something...

Yeah, I split the thread as I figured it didn't have much to do with the thread you replied to.

potejam, on 22 November 2009 - 05:22 PM, said:

My main question refers to whether I can re-format my hard drive before reinstalling Windows. I do have a Dell-created recovery partition on my HD (which I am leaving alone), as well as a Dell-supplied reinstallation DVD (all of this works, as I have just found out).

Can I format my main hard drive partition C (excluding the recovery partition) and still successfully reinstall Vista with the DVD and intact recovery partition? It seems like that is the best way to start fresh, and it sounds like it would work fine. My assumption is that everything needed for Vista installation is on the DVD and recovery partition. Can I format my C drive?

Thanks!

Yes you can. When you're installing Windows, there's an option to format the partition you're installing the system on, and only that partition. The installer probably created that \Windows.old folder because you just installed Windows over it, without formatting. If you have all the data you need that folder should be safe to remove.

when you boot does the boot screen offer you the option of OS to load from?

if so before removing win.old you may want to experiment with it! you may find what went wrong and make sure it don't happen again... just a suggestion...

JC.in.van, on 21 November 2009 - 10:38 PM, said:

potejam, on 20 November 2009 - 06:33 PM, said:

I'm not too anxious to update to Windows 7 for two reasons. First is that I am still not certain what is causing the problem, and second, I am cautious about being an earlier updater and updating myself out of program compatibility (which happened to myself and many others with Vista).


Any suggestions? Thanks!

Josh
(Vista 32 SP2)

In my opinion its probably best to stay with the system that came build into one's box; as it would be the best match. upgrading to 7 would most likely put more stress on the resources and be slow... I suppose one could install it as an alternate system to play with as an (expensive) hobby, but it's probably best to wait and get a box that is designed for win 7.

JC

I must amend myself as I find out more about win 7 it seems that they took their fingers out of their nose and made some real improvement. It's still a bunch of money to spend... any free trial available?

[potejam]

Update: I was able to backup all my data, formatted my C drive and did a clean reinstall of Windows from the HD recovery partition and the recovery DVD provided by Dell. All day yesterday I was putting my personal data back on and reinstalling many of my key programs. So far no problem at all, and I my computer actually stayed on overnight without freezing.

So it appears that it was not a hardware issue after all, and that it wasn't something native to the copy of Windows that I have. Whatever it was, the effects were gradually being compounded over time. I'll have to keep better track of what I install, so hopefully if this happens again I can identify the actual cause.

Thanks for all the help!

[osuwildlifer]

This topic is now resolved. Moved to Resolved Topics.