Strange PC Problem

[Blackthorn]

For a while now visiting certain websites, for example www.tweakguides.com, would occasionally cause my PC to freeze. Screen just freezes and I have no idea why, no errors are reported and I have no other PC problems.

Has anyone else ever experienced something similar?

 

[Barney Fife]

Clear the IE/FF cache, do system maintenance, Disk cleanup, delete browser history, delete temp files, delete cookies, check memory, check for overheating.

Good Luck.

 

[Blackthorn]

I call that my daily routine...

 

[MRG]

funny you mention this, because a week or so ago, I was just browsing various websites dealing with technology & one of the articles I read, was about how spyware & adware will monitor the sites you go to & depending on the site, will cause your PC to crash, freeze or even reboot. This is/was quite common with earlier versions of Lavasofts Ad-Aware program. When a person went to update their definitions, certain types of spyware or adware (I don't remember which it was) would activate & instead of allowing the person to go to Lavasofts website, it would hijack your browser & cause it to either crash, freeze, reboot or just direct another site to load. This has happened to me in the past, as well as many others I came to find out. Often when you try to manually update windows via the website, this is known to happen.

Not saying that this is your case. Could be one of several reasons why your PC freezes when you visit different websites. Saw this, which saved me from typing it out:

- Browser you are using and it's version would help. (help, about "browser name" will give you the version)
- Try a dif. browser. (download firefox or opera if you are not using it already).

Here is what I would do first: (if firefox does not work)
- Disabling all add-ons could tell us what the culprit is. Does this resolve the issue?
- I'd then check for viruses / scumware by doing the following:
- Download and install Ad-Aware & Spybot
- Update them and run them.
- Does it work? if no:
- Download Avast Antivirus
- Uninstall your current anti-virus software and see if the problem is resolved (I've seen AVUs cause this)
- Install Avast
- Update Avast
- Run a scan while disc'ed from the internet

Too, if you have updated to IE7 and you have something like the Google Tool Bar that lets you block hijack attempts or Home Page Resets then you may have a program that is still there trying to do that but is being blocked.

I'd go into "msconfig" and check to see if I see any thing that concerned me. This sometimes takes a practiced eye and, always, a personal effort to go Google the acronyms one does not understand to make the apropo determination.

But too, even if you uncheck some of those options the offending program may just thwart your efforts by rechecking it or recreating the offense---it is better to find the bugger that is causing the issue...

I'd definitely run Adaware SE (Personal Edition is free), Spybot S&D and load up SpywareBlaster 3.5.1---update all three..***n them...see what you get or if the problem persists. (These utilities are freeware and cost nothing but time to install)

LSP-Fix (free download about half way down the page in that link) I think, is about the same thing as WinSock XP Fix 1.2 (both free utilities to download and use---not shareware�)

If that did not fix my problem I'd check my Hosts File file in Windows. Without going into detail, this is a place that hijackers can attempt to change the translation of user friendly IP naming schemes...If you have a bunch of junk there that you don't understand then, odds are, you've got some malware or even good software that is buggerizing your internet activities.

To check your Hosts file, go to run and enter the following syntax exactly as I have it below this paragraph:

notepad c:\windows\system32\Drivers\etc\hosts
Your Hosts file should automatically open in Notepad assuming everything is according to Hoyle and the Hosts file is in the Windows Default Location. With the exception of the last line, �HP50C284 HP00187150C284� unless you have a networked HP printer the way I do then otherwise, your host file could and probably should look like the following: (I left the reference to my HP Printer to give an idea of how network addresses are listed that are actually good entries or additions to what the default Hosts File looks like�)

Sometimes a program can be used to block unwanted ads on the Internet by editing the Hosts file [and] too, there are several scripts pre-made to do just that sort of thing�if that is the case then your host file could look very different. I do not advise using such a script when a presentation such as yours is on the table. As a matter of fact, I strongly suggest getting to the most basic of needs to accomplish your goals so that we can identify the culprit without having to second guess bad script and or other add-ons that are probably not necessary in the first place.

You can feel free to copy that Hosts file and replace your current Host file, after you have renamed the current something like Hosts.old. Then restart the computer to bless the new Hosts file and see what you get.

If none of this seems to work for you then you may have to start looking at your issue from a hardware stand point as opposed to the software approach we have been taking in this post thus far.

Some of the hardware issues I�d address would be that I know for a fact that some of the Dells have a USB issue�I�d visit the Dell site for the patch if you have a Dell---this in regard to USB�The relation here to your issue even if you don�t have a Dell is to check with your Mobo or Vendor of your computer system to see if you have the latest and greatest updates---not a bad idea to do the same from Microsoft as well.

Another hardware issue you might have is the improper Drivers. There has been some reports from what I have seen, with a Laptop that by correcting the driver usage found the issue solved�You have not stated if you have a laptop from what I read unless I missed it. Regardless, this may be something worth investigating on your end as a driver issue.

Another place to address the USB as hardware related would be in the BIOS�you could see if you have an option to adjust the speed of the USB channels---you can in some BIOS programs and others not so don�t fret too much if you can�t locate the option---it may not be there.

Lastly, I would address the USB from a hardware stand point by checking to see how many devices are USB connected. Your presentation does make me lean a little toward a power shortage at some point during your Internet activity. Right now I �m thinking the more simple a page it is the less likely your browser is apt to freeze. But this is a shot in the dark�regardless, if you can, I�d make sure I did not have to many USB devices on my system such as an un-powered USB Hub or an lot of devices connecting in straight and single type of connections that would draw a lot of power.

If using a laptop you�d have to realize that the USB is not going to be that big on available power and it can be out run very easily with out having some kind of external power source.

And lastly, from a hardware scenario, I would try the USB device on another computer and disable all the other network devices on the new target computer to make sure that the test USB device is the only network device being used---see if you can duplicate the problem�if not, then it is your computer regardless of software vs. hardware.

I hope this helps some what, even if just a little..

I read that Flash on some websites can sometimes cause a site to freeze. Sites like MySpace for example. Try manually updating to the newest version of Flash. See Below:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Have you tried reinstalling Windows? If you do, make sure you do a clean install. Do not just install a version on Windows on top of your existing version, as it will not get rid of spyware, adware, viruses ect. When you are given the option to do the "Quick" format option, DO NOT USE IT, as it is not a reliable format, like the other option is, which will take much longer, but fully erases all data.

Let us know how it goes.

-MRG

 

[Asus]

When you are given the option to do the "Quick" format option, DO NOT USE IT, as it is not a reliable format, like the other option is, which will take much longer, but fully erases all data.

Let us know how it goes.

-MRG

Actually the full format does the same thing except it checks for errors. The easiest way to explain a normal format is that it soft deletes the files by telling the drive to forget about the files it has stored (drive still has 1s and 0s made up of the previous files). You would need to do a zero fill format to wipe any trace of the data (fills all spots with ZEROs).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302686

When you choose to run a regular format on a volume, files are removed from the volume that you are formatting and the hard disk is scanned for bad sectors. The scan for bad sectors is responsible for the majority of the time that it takes to format a volume.

If you choose the Quick format option, format removes files from the partition, but does not scan the disk for bad sectors. Only use this option if your hard disk has been previously formatted and you are sure that your hard disk is not damaged.

 

[MRG]

Ahhh.. Great info there Asus. Of course had I went to Microsoft's site & looked that up, I would have know that. Instead I used what was listed on a few different sites that said the same thing. In hindsight, I bet they prob got the info from the same source, which turns out was wrong. LOL!

I learn something new every day! :thumbs:

-MRG

 

[Blackthorn]

Well I can confirm this problem is only on Firefox, and it's not caused by any of the add-ons.

What I find especially strange is the site that it crashes on. Other than that one occasion it crashed on Tweakguides, the crash is almost entirely exclusive to www.pcspecialist.co.uk, the very site I bought my PC from.

Also I really don't want to format. I'd rather just avoid the site and open it in IE if I ever need to access it. Scans have also shown no malicious content.

 

[Krynn72]

What version of Firefox are you using? I know that sites which use quicktime for streaming things did that to my computer until I got the firefox 3 beta.

 

[Blackthorn]

I'm using the latest public build. Interesting you say that, but the site doesn't use QuickTime, you can check it out yourself.

 

[Krynn72]

Yeah, I checked it to see if it had quicktime, I just thought maybe it could be something along those lines.