Computer crashes/freezes/hangs-up

My computer crashes intermittently. It has NEVER crashed when booted in either SAFE or DOS mode. It crashes most frequently with the mouse pointer
on a horizontal plane on the File/Edit/View line at the top end of the screen, on roughly a 9 - 3 o'clock line in mid-screen or at the bottom of the screen on the Start line. It will crash when the mouse pointer enters the particular plane ,BUT it will also crash with the mouse pointer static on the 9-3 o'clock plane but when scrolling with the down-arrow keyboard key (for instance scrolling down the favourites list). Similarly, it has also crashed in DOS (entered from Windows) when the characters being displayed coincides with the mouse pointer static on the 9 -3 o'clock plane on the right side of the screen. Sometimes it will crash when dragging the right-hand side scrolling bar when it passes the critical 9-3 o'clock plane. Strangely, when re-booted after a crash, it will crash again in the same screen area. The incidence of crashing is definitely lower when the screen display has been changed from 800X600 to 640x480 - but it stll crashes. After start-up in the morning it will some days be crash-free for hours and then suddenly WHAMO !!!
This has been going on since March 2004 and I have spent a great many hours trying to resolve the problem (updating drivers, anti-virus software, running Reg Clean, checking what's ready to run, new battery, trying this, trying that. etc), all to no avail.
It is not hardware, it is not temperature, I have the most up-to-date mouse/graphics/keyboard drivers and there is no apparent IRQ conflict.
My computer has on-board graphics and no AGP expansion slot. Where does one go from here ???
HELP, PLEASE !!!! Many thanks.

 

Do you have, or did you ever have, any sort of "hot corner" software installed? Maybe with a screensaver you downloaded? Something that lets you park or click the mouse in one corner of the screen and the screensaver will immediately kick on?

I sounds like it might be some hot corner software gone nuts.

 

Many thanks, Miz.
No, I've never downloaded that type of software. In my efforts to solve my 'computer crashing' problem I have downloaded Everest, Belarc, Fresh Diagnose and M/S Memory Diagnostic, Reg Clean, SpyWare Blaster, SpyBot, Ad-Aware, and AVG. The last five I run twice a week and once a week I run Disk Clean, Scan Disk and Disk Defrag (ME version).
Several times I've run Aumha's 'Parasite Checker' and the M/S Memory Checker (once in extended mode - ran continuously for over four days/nights).
Except for Bridge Baron there are no games played on the computer. I use the following software: I/E, O/E, MS Word, MS Excel, Simply Accounting, Family Tree Maker, Nikon View, WinZip, Adobe Acrobat, and at this time of year an income tax program (TaxWiz). I have QuickTimePlayer which I think I've used once or twice in three years.
My ' problem' computer is a Pentium 11, Slot-1 - M741LMR M/B, AMI BIOS, 400Mhz Intel Celeron CPU, 256Mb RAM, 4.2 GB H/D (about half full), Logitech optical mouse (Mouse Port), HP printer, HP scanner (USB) - Graphics Accelerator is SIS620. A CD-ROM and a FDD. One PCI and one ASI expansion slot.
I re-installed Windows 98SE in November 2004
I've downloaded, upgraded, de-upgraded and re-upgraded the Graphics/Mouse/KeyBoard drivers - too many times, enough already. I can see no conflicts in IRQ's - the mouse and K/B each have their own dedicated IRQ.

 

Do you happen to have Sysagent at windows startup? This file does the "hot corner" area for windows version of the screensaver activator.

 

Hi Mark:

No, have never had SysAgent on my start-up and I've NEVER downloaded a screensaver. The only 'hot corner' display that I remember seeing are the words 'safe mode' in each of the four corners - which I'd use all of the time if I could access the internet and the printer. The fact that it has never crashed in either safe mode or when booted-up in DOS indicates to me that it is NOT a hardware problem. There are definitely fewer 'freeze-ups' when I cut the screen resolution from 600x800 to 640x480. I scaled back the graphics acclerator several months ago - seemed to help for a while then 'whamo'.

Thanks.

 

The Sysagent.Exe I am referring to is part of Windows 98, it would be installed into the folder C:\Program Files\Plus! . Anyway this is eliminated as a possible cause.
I am no expert on video cards, but it appears yours may be developing a problem. It wouldn't crash in Safe Mode or pure dos mode [not dos window] as the more elaborate video functions are not in use, your card would be in 16 color mode, not 16, 24 or 32 bit modes.

 

Thanks Mark.
My computer has built-in graphics and no AGP expansion slot - so one cannot just replace the defective graphics card with a new one. In addition, PCChips has discontinued the M741LMR M/Board. So, I guess I'm 'toast'. I guess it's a bit hard to accept that a simple task such as scrolling the favourites list with either the mouse or the keyboard can 'on and off ' freeze the computer. Strangley enough, scrolling anywhere on the desk top never hangs the computer - but get into an application, move the mouse-pointer to the top left to click on 'File' - instant ice.

 

There are PCI slot video cards on the market, but the choice of them is getting smaller. I have a Slot 1 [266 MMX] computer I just resurrected, and it uses a Rage 128 All in One Wonder Pro, and performs good.
It would be nice if you could borrow any PCI video card long enough for an install and test run.

 

An update on computer/mouse freezing problem.

Have been struggling with my Win98SE computer freezing since October 2004. Went down many, many roads - all to no avail. Finally came across a suggestion that it could be possibly be caused by M/S Office 2000(Word)'s NORMAL.DOT file. Experimented with that for a while, renaming the normal.dot file and deleting the 'data' registry entry then re-initiating Word - it worked off-and-on, sometimes for hours on end and then suddenly 'wham'!. Through sheer frustration I uninstalled M/S Office 2000 and it's been three weeks now since my last freeze. I'm tired of using Wordpad, not having 'SpellCheck' and 'M/S Excel' but what the heck, it beats the computer crashing constantly, often at some very inopportune times. I'm planning to re-install Excel to see what happens and if OK I'll then re-load Word.

 

Thanks for the update on this. I merged the two threads.

 

Audrey,

This MB has problematic Video Drivers. It uses the SIS video processor on the motherboard and they have always been problematic.

You might want to try to putting in a PCI video card and disabling the onboard video processor in the CMOS setup.

What video driver are you using? The SIS 530 or the SIS 620?

George

 

Audrey,

Question for you:

How much memory is in this PC? Do you have a lot of cute little icons in the lower right corner of the screen on the taskbar?

1. You might not have enough memory (RAM - your video function shares your computer memory).
2. If you have a lot of things loading up at bootup, then you might be running out of resources. Reboot the PC, BEFORE you do ANYTHING else, right click MY Computer, select PRoperties, then click on the Performance tab and tell me what % free resources you have. It should be greater than 80% from a cold reboot.

George

 

George - many thanks for your replies.

Re: PCI video adapter: The M/B has one PCI slot and one ISA slot. The cable internet installer could not get the built-in network (LAN) adapter to work so he installed an adapter into the only PCI slot. So a PCI video adapter, if still available, is not an option. The video driver is SIS620 - I've downloaded and installed it twice since last October. Desperate, I guess.
The computer has 2x128MB PC100Mhz SDRam with 8MB seconded by, I think, the video driver/system. I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic (MTINST.EXE) - the full, in-depth version ran continuously for over three days. Memory OK - no problems reported.
Immediately after a 'cold' boot the System Resources = 86 percent free.

M/S Support has two articles on troubleshooting problems with the Global Template (normal.com). It is a bit of a struggle without M/S Word and Excel but boy am I enjoying working on a computer that does not freeze/crash all the time.

On a personal note: It is Aubrey, not Audrey. Thanks.

 

Hi Aubrey (sorry about the D),

You sure your board is a PC Chips board? There is an Amptron board that looks soooooooooo much like what you describe (1 ISA and 1 PCI slot).

Try going to this site and see if the video driver SIS60vga9x.zip helps.

http://www.video-drivers.com/companies/796.htm

George

 

Iclarius:

I've just checked the user's manual that came with the system:

Title on cover: PC100 SystemBoard. Slot 1. M741LMR user's manual.

On the PC-Chips web-site, the M741 is definitely their board (discontinued), and I'm quite sure that this was verified by both Everest and Belarc.

Most of the info in my previous post (e.g. SIS620 video driver, open slots etc.) came from the user's manual.

I'll have a go at your suggested driver.

Many thanks.

 

Aubrey,

PC Chips, Alton, Amptron use MBs that are for all intents and purposes, the same. I think they get their boards from the same manufacturer in Taiwan.

Go here and tell me if this is your MB:

http://www.amptron.com/HTML/m741lmr.html

Good luck. I've fought that SIS chipset video drivers for a long time now. NOT fun.

George

 

Hi George:

Yep. I did not remove the tower cover to expose the M/B but the picture on the Amptron web-page looks the same as the Mainboard Components diagram in my user manual. The Amptron board, like mine, has only one PCI slot even though the Key Features on the right of their picture says 2 PCI, 1 ISA slots. However, I scrolled down and their Slot 1 specs are word-for-word what is in my manual, including only one (1) PCI slot.
I searched on the 'Video-drivers' web site for SIS60vga9x (as per your post)but did not get a hit. But I did download a SIS620vga9x from the Amptron site and will install it later - the SIS60 in your post is probably just a typo.
I'll keep you posted.
Many thanks.

Aubrey

 

Have you ever tried reducing your hardware acceleration? If not, it might be worth a try. Open the control panel>system and click the performance tab, then graphics. Drag the slider to the left to reduce the acceleration features. The first notch to the left will disable only acceleration support for the mouse pointer (cursor). The farther you go to the left the more things get disabled. All the way to the left disables acceleration all together. If you can eliminate the problem by just moving one notch to the left you'll not notice a whole lot of difference in your display. If you move it all the way to the left and disable it all, you'll still be able to use higher colors and resolutions but things will get slower. You'll notice a difference when you do things such as dragging a window around on the screen.

If memory serves me correctly, in the window where the slider bar is there's a question mark in the upper right corner of the window (where the X is that you use to close the window). If you click on it (don't remember if you have to left click it or right click it) and then click on the slider bar it'll tell you what each of the settings does.

Give it a try. Either turn it off all together and then if it helps work your way back to the right with the slider bar until you have problems or else start one notch to the left and if you still have problems try moving it another to the left. Your choice.

 

Zander: Thanks for your info about the graphics accelerator. I've tried that, by itself and coupled with backing-off the screen area to 640x480 pixels and changing the refresh rate to the BIOS default. I've also toggled the BIOS settings between 'optimal' and 'best performance'. Singly and collectively they all reduced the 'crashing' for a short period and then just when you think you've got it licked, wahmo! Strangley enough it has never crashed when booted in 'safe' or 'DOS' mode but has crashed in DOS when in doing something in DOS from a Windows boot.