pc hangs often

My pc has been hanging rather often. I read that it could be a lack of memory. But i'm running windows xp sp2 with 1gb of ram. Is that not enough? My pc is pentium core dual 2.33GHz. I did not even have this kind of problems when i was running pentium 4 2.6GHz with 1Gb ram. In fact my old pc seemed to run smoother. Anyone could advise on this issue?

 

Did the problem occur after ...
Installed MS updates?
Installed new program(s).
Installed new hardware or plug in devices (per USB interface)?

Check in Device Manager for any conflicts.
Check in Event Viewer, all views for any error issues. The logs are time stamped, so qualify system problem to event occurring.

Your system hardware spec's are good.
Normal listed processes in Task Manger from 25 to 45 would be within the norms. But must be careful about processes which perform "Auto-Updates / Searches. They bring into play the following ...
Must have Internet connection available.
The speed of your Internet connection (dialup can be a frustrating).
The sites availability and server speed.

Impending hardware failure is another possibility, but first let's get the above address.

 

i'm not sure when it occurred because i had formatted my hard disk and reinstalled my windows xp and had updated it to sp2. There are no conflicts in the device manager. However i notice that the hang is normally when i try to change some configuration. I was changing the language for unicode programmes when it last hanged on me.

 

my pc hanged again. i realised that when one programme hangs the whole pc hangs as well. anyway this time it was my browser hanging. the event viewer put this "The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer ******-PC that believes that it is the master browser for the domain on transport NetBT_Tcpip_{21D5FC1D-E12D-43DA. The master browser is stopping or an election is being forced." ***** is my dad's pc. what does this mean?

 

my family is sharing the internet connection via a router

 

This is not your normal Internet browser (Internet Explorer/Firefox whatever). When you are connected in a LAN, the computers chatter & fight between themselves to elect a Master Browser - the computer which would keep a track of all the computers on the network. This happens every few minutes.

This event is quite normal. It does not indicate any malfunction or problem either with your computer hardware/software or any setting.

Solving your problem (hanging) is a black art, but here are the steps:

a) Update your anti virus scanner/malware scanner.
b) Disconnect from LAN & internet
c) Check for virus/malware
d) Check CPU temperature & fan speed (check for options in BIOS or download programs which can do that)
e) Check SMPS
f) Check RAM
g) Check other hardware (motherboard/grapchic card etc.)

 

PeteC sorry - but that message tells me that the computer is connected to LAN but not whether its a part of domain or workgroup.

 

I've seen that "Master Browser" before on a workgroup with three XP machines in a peer to peer environment and it was malware or AOL AIM related. Still not sure what its all about because I wiped the problem machine and the "Master Browser" issue never reappeared. The culprit may have been new.net but the machine was loaded with malware.



edit: This may be related to a corrupted winsock from what I just read.

 

That tells me that you are ( may be ) having the same problem(s) that I did until I installed a Workgroup Switch inbetween the Machines and the Modem and made each machine 100% independent.

We play many games between the machines just like we play golf on the Internet. And if the Internet does go down we can still have fun.

That is my 1 cents' worth of thoughts.

BillyBob

 

I'll agree with rsinfo on the Master browser Election issue. It's a common event error that I get often and have learned to pay no attention to it. It's by design and not of any importance to the level of requiring repair nor does it cause anything else to malfunction. It can be caused by something as simple as the order of LAN user start up.

Read more about it.

I think your hanging problem is due to something else so disregard the Master Browser issue for the time being. It's just a petty squabble between users on the LAN.

 

Correction.

That should be between the PCs and the Router.

My WGS has 3 lights ( 2PCs & a Printer which are all on right now ) the Router only has 1 light ( #4 which is apparently the connection between the NSW and it. ) PLus the Internet light is blinking.

BillyBob

 

SD2:

Thanks for the info - I haven't seen it but once. I did read about order of query in Network Neighborhood earlier and the article you linked to makes this pretty clear. MS also references the potential for a corrupt Winsock2 and as mentioned earlier I suspect New.net had a role in my limited experience with this message. Regardless, it appears that this is nothing to be troubled about based on the information you and rsinfo provided.