Computer freezes after exactly five hours' idle time

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

This morning I awoke to find my always-on Win XP (SP2) PC had frozen -
as in, no error or bluescreen or Event Viewer message, just a complete
freeze from which a hard reset was the only way to recover. I noticed
that the clock in the system tray said 05:15 before I reset it, so
clearly this is when it froze.

I just got home from work (UK time!) and discovered it had frozen again,
just as before, this time with a clock reading of 13:34.

The times set me thinking and I realised that last night I went to bed
at approximately 00:15, and this morning I finished playing about on the
computer before heading to work at about 08:35 (e.g. 08:34!).

So it seems that my computer is doomed to freeze after exactly five
hours' idle time.

Has anyone ever come across anything like this and can suggest things to
look for as the cause? I can provide system specs etc. but right now I
have absolutely no idea where my troubleshooting should focus so I won't
provide a load of unnecessary detail only to be asked for something
completely different anyway!

The only thing I would (probably) rule out is excess heat, which I know
can cause the system to lock up - my system doesn't usually run too hot
and even when there was some astonishingly hot weather a month or two
ago, nothing went wrong with the computer, whereas these past few days
it's been nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Paul
London, UK

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

are you using default screen savers? how many minutes is it set to? Could
be a bad file relating to this...


"Paul Speller" <spam@paulspeller.co.uk> wrote in message
news:6qjug19vsjr68b0fcvt8j305mbr7d3b2ri@4ax.com...
> This morning I awoke to find my always-on Win XP (SP2) PC had frozen -
> as in, no error or bluescreen or Event Viewer message, just a complete
> freeze from which a hard reset was the only way to recover. I noticed
> that the clock in the system tray said 05:15 before I reset it, so
> clearly this is when it froze.
>
> I just got home from work (UK time!) and discovered it had frozen again,
> just as before, this time with a clock reading of 13:34.
>
> The times set me thinking and I realised that last night I went to bed
> at approximately 00:15, and this morning I finished playing about on the
> computer before heading to work at about 08:35 (e.g. 08:34!).
>
> So it seems that my computer is doomed to freeze after exactly five
> hours' idle time.
>
> Has anyone ever come across anything like this and can suggest things to
> look for as the cause? I can provide system specs etc. but right now I
> have absolutely no idea where my troubleshooting should focus so I won't
> provide a load of unnecessary detail only to be asked for something
> completely different anyway!
>
> The only thing I would (probably) rule out is excess heat, which I know
> can cause the system to lock up - my system doesn't usually run too hot
> and even when there was some astonishingly hot weather a month or two
> ago, nothing went wrong with the computer, whereas these past few days
> it's been nothing out of the ordinary.
>
> Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
>
> Paul
> London, UK

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:38:35 -0400, Linda P wrote:

> are you using default screen savers? how many minutes is it set to? Could
> be a bad file relating to this...

No, I don't use any screen saver, nor any power options etc.

It didn't happen overnight this time so I think I may have fixed it - I
rolled back my system to the Checkpoint before it happened using System
Restore.

The only significant thing I'd done since then was get an updated driver
for my network connector from Windows Update - surely the drivers on
Windows Update are more or less guaranteed to be of a high quality? Oh
well, I won't get that one again!

Paul

 

[Nightowl]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Paul Speller wrote on Sat, 27 Aug 2005:

>The only significant thing I'd done since then was get an updated driver
>for my network connector from Windows Update - surely the drivers on
>Windows Update are more or less guaranteed to be of a high quality?

Hi Paul

No, they're not, I'm afraid. Best advice that you will see here all the
time is *never* download device drivers from Windows Update. Get them
from your device manufacturer or OEM computer builder instead.

--
Nightowl

 

[Rock]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Paul Speller wrote:

> On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:38:35 -0400, Linda P wrote:
>
>
>>are you using default screen savers? how many minutes is it set to? Could
>>be a bad file relating to this...
>
>
> No, I don't use any screen saver, nor any power options etc.
>
> It didn't happen overnight this time so I think I may have fixed it - I
> rolled back my system to the Checkpoint before it happened using System
> Restore.
>
> The only significant thing I'd done since then was get an updated driver
> for my network connector from Windows Update - surely the drivers on
> Windows Update are more or less guaranteed to be of a high quality? Oh
> well, I won't get that one again!
>
> Paul

Try rolling back the driver from Device Manager. Never get hardware
driver updates from the windows update site.

--
Rock
MS MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Obsidian_ShadowHawk]

If anyone is still checking this thread...

I have the same issue and I may have found a solution.

From this thread:

Computer Nerd:
"Although I'm not a 100% sure about the cause, it seems like in my case this was related to my network card. The card goes to sleep after sitting idle for a while and then has trouble waking up when I start working on the computer again."

Paul, this fits nicely with your problem disappearing when you rolled back your ethernet driver.

So, to solve this issue, either:

1. Roll back your ethernet driver.

OR AN EASIER AND MORE ACCESSIBLE SOLUTION:

2. Right click on "My Computer" and click "Manage". Go to "Device Manager" in the left column and find the entry "Network adapters" in the main window. Click the "+" next to it and right click on your ethernet device, then click ""Properties" and the tab "Power Management". UN-check the "Allow the computer to turn off this device..." entry. Click "OK" and exit out of the computer management shell.

This may require a restart, but hopefully it will fix your problem!

 

[buwish]

This topic has been closed by Buwish