System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home I posted this in the Windowsupdate group, but no useful replies yet:

I am having a problem with my daughter's computer:

AMD Duron 750 MHz
Gigabyte TNT2 M64 32 mb VideoCard
128 mb RAM

I did a clean install of XP Home in January of this year. The system has
run essentially flawlessly since then, with rare to non-existent crashes or
freezes.

She recently developed a problem where her MSN Profile wouldn't keep the
changes she applied. Probably a cookies issue. While I was at her
computer, I went ahead and applied all Critical Updates that had accumulated
over the last few months. They downloaded and installed uneventfully, with
normal boot-up afterwards.

From that point on, this system would totally freeze multiple times every
day. This would occur during normal usage, browsing the web, etc. Really
nothing exotic. The system would be totally responsive, with Ctrl+Alt+Del
not producing any effect. Have to power down to reboot. I was at the
system for about a half-hour, not doing anything even remotely demanding,
and encountered first-hand multiple lockups.

I found an updated video driver through Windows Update, and installed this
without any problem, hoping to resolve this problem, but no joy.

Fortunately, I had used DriveImage 2002 earlier this year, capturing the OS
partition from when the XP Install was completed, and all her usual
programs, NAV, Zone Alarm, etc. installed, and everything was running fine.
I restored this image uneventfully, and the system again ran beautifully.

I again let XP install all Critical Updates, and the previous freeze-ups
immediately recurred. I do not know which one(s) are causing this problem.
I re-ran DriveImage, and got her up and running again. But unless I can
identify where the problem is, I won't be able to apply Critical Updates and
keep her system up to date.

It seems clear to me that one or more of the Critical Updates is triggering
this problem. Any ideas or suggestions on which one(s) or whether or not
this problem has been identified, with a fix available, would be greatly
appreciated.

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]

Windows XP349

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home Don Cohen" <doncohen@"lens cap wrote:
> I posted this in the Windowsupdate group, but no useful replies yet:
>
> I am having a problem with my daughter's computer:
>
> AMD Duron 750 MHz
> Gigabyte TNT2 M64 32 mb VideoCard
> 128 mb RAM
>
> I did a clean install of XP Home in January of this year. The system
> has run essentially flawlessly since then, with rare to non-existent
> crashes or freezes.
>
> She recently developed a problem where her MSN Profile wouldn't keep
> the changes she applied. Probably a cookies issue. While I was at
> her computer, I went ahead and applied all Critical Updates that had
> accumulated over the last few months. They downloaded and installed
> uneventfully, with normal boot-up afterwards.
>
> From that point on, this system would totally freeze multiple times
> every day. This would occur during normal usage, browsing the web,
> etc. Really nothing exotic. The system would be totally responsive,
> with Ctrl+Alt+Del not producing any effect. Have to power down to
> reboot. I was at the system for about a half-hour, not doing
> anything even remotely demanding, and encountered first-hand multiple
> lockups.
>
> I found an updated video driver through Windows Update, and installed
> this without any problem, hoping to resolve this problem, but no joy.
>
> Fortunately, I had used DriveImage 2002 earlier this year, capturing
> the OS partition from when the XP Install was completed, and all her
> usual programs, NAV, Zone Alarm, etc. installed, and everything was
> running fine. I restored this image uneventfully, and the system
> again ran beautifully.
>
> I again let XP install all Critical Updates, and the previous
> freeze-ups immediately recurred. I do not know which one(s) are
> causing this problem. I re-ran DriveImage, and got her up and running
> again. But unless I can identify where the problem is, I won't be
> able to apply Critical Updates and keep her system up to date.
>
> It seems clear to me that one or more of the Critical Updates is
> triggering this problem. Any ideas or suggestions on which one(s) or
> whether or not this problem has been identified, with a fix
> available, would be greatly appreciated.

In the original clean install, I would look at the possibility that
there is a hardware driver incompatibility that only shows up with one
of the later updates, perhaps SP1. In the original configuration,
monitor Event Viewer for errors or warnings. Additionally, are all
XP-compatible drivers installed, including any chipset or motherboard
drivers that might need to be installed after installation of XP? Do
you find any Intel devices where there should not be Intel devices?

Q

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home Hi Don,
I cam to this newsgroup looking for the same info. My IMB
Thinkpad was doing exactly the same thing your daughter's
pc was doing. Even worse, I had to disconnect the power
cord and physically pop out the battery to get a reboot.
Not fun. I can't locate the cause either - I think it is
not one update but a couple of them combined that are
incompatible with each other. I finally reimaged my
machine and am simply NOT applying either SP1 or any
critical updates anymore. I figure since it continues to
run fine without them, I am better off a bit less up-to-
date than rebooting a few times a day. I hope you find
some answers. I am giving up based on what I've seen so
far. Oh well! Maybe I'll try again when (and if) SP2
comes out.
Sylvia

>-----Original Message-----
>Q,
>
>> In the original clean install, I would look at the
possibility that
>> there is a hardware driver incompatibility that only
shows up with one
>> of the later updates, perhaps SP1. In the original
configuration,
>> monitor Event Viewer for errors or warnings.
Additionally, are all
>> XP-compatible drivers installed, including any chipset
or motherboard
>> drivers that might need to be installed after
installation of XP? Do
>> you find any Intel devices where there should not be
Intel devices?
>
>Thanks for the reply.
>
>As I recall, the XP install was uneventful, and all
drivers were provided by
>XP. Device Manager shows no conflicts or problems. And
no unexpected Intel
>devices either. Is there anything specific I can check
to verify all
>drivers are officially XP compatible?
>
>So as far as I can see, the original XP installation
was/is ok; the problem
>appeared immediately after the Critical Updates were
installed.
>
>--
>Don
>Photo Website at:
>http://www.dlcphotography.net
>
>[Remove the "lens cap" for email]
>
>
>.
>

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home Thanks for the feedback, Sylvia. Sorry you're also having problems, but it
is a bit comforting to me to know that it's not just some quirk of my
daughter's system. For now, I'm going to do the same thing as you - just
sit tight and not apply any updates for the time being. This is not a good
long-term solution, but will have to do for now unless somebody can more
precisely pinpoint (or fix!) where this problem is originating.

Regards,

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]

"SylviaC" <EMail@HideDomain.com> wrote in message
news:088101c35903$a647e790$EMail@HideDomain.com...
> Hi Don,
> I cam to this newsgroup looking for the same info. My IMB
> Thinkpad was doing exactly the same thing your daughter's
> pc was doing. Even worse, I had to disconnect the power
> cord and physically pop out the battery to get a reboot.
> Not fun. I can't locate the cause either - I think it is
> not one update but a couple of them combined that are
> incompatible with each other. I finally reimaged my
> machine and am simply NOT applying either SP1 or any
> critical updates anymore. I figure since it continues to
> run fine without them, I am better off a bit less up-to-
> date than rebooting a few times a day. I hope you find
> some answers. I am giving up based on what I've seen so
> far. Oh well! Maybe I'll try again when (and if) SP2
> comes out.
> Sylvia
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Q,
> >
> >> In the original clean install, I would look at the
> possibility that
> >> there is a hardware driver incompatibility that only
> shows up with one
> >> of the later updates, perhaps SP1. In the original
> configuration,
> >> monitor Event Viewer for errors or warnings.
> Additionally, are all
> >> XP-compatible drivers installed, including any chipset
> or motherboard
> >> drivers that might need to be installed after
> installation of XP? Do
> >> you find any Intel devices where there should not be
> Intel devices?
> >
> >Thanks for the reply.
> >
> >As I recall, the XP install was uneventful, and all
> drivers were provided by
> >XP. Device Manager shows no conflicts or problems. And
> no unexpected Intel
> >devices either. Is there anything specific I can check
> to verify all
> >drivers are officially XP compatible?
> >
> >So as far as I can see, the original XP installation
> was/is ok; the problem
> >appeared immediately after the Critical Updates were
> installed.
> >
> >--
> >Don
> >Photo Website at:
> >http://www.dlcphotography.net
> >
> >[Remove the "lens cap" for email]
> >
> >
> >.
> >

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home Hi Mike,

> Not sure I can offer a resolution, but I think I can get you to a better
> place with the updates. First, I would recommend checking your system for
> spyware software prior to installing updates. A couple of programs that I
> have seen used (no Microsoft endorsement) are Ad Aware and SpybotSD. (I
> personally use SpybotSD on my home systems) Some software can get testy
if
> its functionality is removed or closed by a security update. Prior to
> installing a Service Pack or hotfix, it is also a good idea to stop or
> disable anti-virus software. By its very nature, this software operates
as
> a filter driver at the kernel layer and may create problems. Lastly, I
> would recommend installing the fixes one section at a time. First do the
> Critical, then any Recommended and finally any drivers. Please see below
> for information that I posted on another thread.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

I'll check for spyware, but believe this would be extremely unlikely. I did
a clean install of XP, added a few basic programs (NAV, Zone Alarm, ICQ, MSN
Messenger), and imaged the OS partition at that point, before doing any web
browsing or anything.

When I previously installed the Critical Updates I did not disable NAV, so I
guess I really need to try again. I had assumed that since I encountered no
problems or error messages during the Update process that everything was ok,
but this might not be the case. And since I had her system set up for
Automatic Update Downloads, they were done en masse. I guess I could do
them individually, but I suspect the number might be a bit large, making
this somewhat tedious.

With reference to NAV, do I need to do more than just disable "AutoProtect"
from the NAV system tray? That is, should I disable all NAV components from
loading (using msconfig) during boot, or is the disable sufficient?

Thanks again.

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]

>
> =========
> > Sam,
> >
> > Please recognize my obvious bias. I would highly recommend the security
> > updates, especially 026. For a more impartial source discussing this
> > security fix, visit; http://www.minasidownloads.com/nws0307.htm. As for
> > what to install from Windows Update, I would go with how the fixes are
> > grouped. The critical, I would automatically select. The recommended I
> > would pick and choose the ones that apply to the specific environment.
(do
> > you really need journal viewer if nobody around use has a Tablet PC?)
As
> > for the drivers, that is where things get sticky. I personally install
> the
> > drivers from Windows Update; however if I run into problems, then I go
> > directly to either the OEM or the driver manufacturer and look for one
of
> > theirs.
> =========
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mike Truitt
> Microsoft Corporation
>

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home Don,

You should be fine with disabling NAV in the system tray while you are
downloading and installing. Once the system reboots, NAV should come back
online no problem. Depending on when the system first started experiencing
problems, I know when 811493 was first released that it had a significant
problem with virus scanning software. Microsoft has since re-released the
patch and the current iteration on Windows Update should be fine.

It is funny I should be discussing this now. I am at work rebuilding my
boss' laptop after third-party software blew it away. I am in the middle
of a huge (80 meg) Windows Update installation as I type.

Best regards,

Mike Truitt
Microsoft Corporation

Windows XP >> System Freeze After Critical Updates: XP Home Mike

> You should be fine with disabling NAV in the system tray while you are
> downloading and installing. Once the system reboots, NAV should come back
> online no problem. Depending on when the system first started
experiencing
> problems, I know when 811493 was first released that it had a significant
> problem with virus scanning software. Microsoft has since re-released the
> patch and the current iteration on Windows Update should be fine.
>
> It is funny I should be discussing this now. I am at work rebuilding my
> boss' laptop after third-party software blew it away. I am in the middle
> of a huge (80 meg) Windows Update installation as I type.

Thanks again. I'll try to free up some time this week to work on this. If
my problems persist, I'll repost.

At least this experience gave me the opportunity of putting DriveImage to
the test, and it worked just fine. I use this same strategy with my main
desktop, and although I obviously hope I never need it, I feel a bit more
secure knowing it worked pretty well. I just do periodic images of my OS
partition, with all my images/data etc on the other partition (which in turn
is backed up to an external firewire hard-drive).

Good luck with your boss's laptop.

--
Don
Photo Website at:
http://www.dlcphotography.net

[Remove the "lens cap" for email]