XP lock-up??

[Dutch Paul]

I`m running XP which is a relatively new install (a couple of months) and occasionally it`s locking up for a minute or so.
If I press Ctrl/Alt/Delete and look at the running processes, it is always "System Idle Process" which is running at 99%.

Any ideas??

[kevchard]

Is antivirus updating. Failing that could be a hardware issue. What other progs are running at the same time?
99% system idle is norm.

[Dutch Paul]

Originally Posted by kevchard

Is antivirus updating. Failing that could be a hardware issue. What other progs are running at the same time?
99% system idle is norm.

Antivirus is up to date and scanned recently.
I ran Adaware and Spybot - nothing found.
Disc clean-up and defragmented recently.
It doesn`t seem to matter what program is running at the time - Firefox, Outlook, Excel etc - a combination of one or all 3??
There aren`t any extra programs on start-up, just the bare minimum + antivirus.
When it locks up, everything just freezes for a minute or so, then everything is back to normal. It maybe happens once or twice a day.
If I check on the CPU usage, it is normally quite low - 2-3%, BUT the red lamp on the front of the PC is ALWAYS flashing as if the pc is continually working hard.

The only thing I have changed since before this started happening is I reconnected a 2nd HD - which I formatted, it was the old HD I used a while ago without problems. Could this be using excess resourses? (although it is still empty).

[wilf]

I think your hard drive is failing - bad sector causes it to lock up or exhibit cradle lock. You don't get any loud clicks from it as well, do you?

[Purple AK]

Originally Posted by wilf leek

I think your hard drive is failing

After 15 secs if the other thread is anything to go by :rotfl:

[kayjayd]

Are you running Google Desktop by any chance? My eldest lads machine was doing exactly this the other day and it was Google Desktop indexing files on the PC. Whole thing was locking up for a short while and hard disk light was constantly on and you could hear the disk rattling like a good'un. Stopped Google Desktop running it's indexing and all is now well.

[Dutch Paul]

Originally Posted by kayjayd

Are you running Google Desktop by any chance? My eldest lads machine was doing exactly this the other day and it was Google Desktop indexing files on the PC. Whole thing was locking up for a short while and hard disk light was constantly on and you could hear the disk rattling like a good'un. Stopped Google Desktop running it's indexing and all is now well.

No Google Desktop (or any other add-ons)
No clicking either.
I`m on the wrong side of a bottle of wine at the mo and going out soon, but tomorrow I will disconnect the 2nd drive and see if there is any difference.

[Dutch Paul]

I`ve just disconnected the second drive and all seems fine so far.
The red LED isn`t working constantly like before - but it hasn`t had chance to freeze up yet.
I will give it a few days and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help so far guys :thumb:

[Miket]

Originally Posted by Dutch Paul

I`ve just disconnected the second drive and all seems fine so far.
The red LED isn`t working constantly like before - but it hasn`t had chance to freeze up yet.
I will give it a few days and see how it goes.

Thanks for your help so far guys

My Xp's locked up all the time. :thumb:

[Dutch Paul]

Originally Posted by Miket

My Xp's locked up all the time.

That`s probably just due to age related panic attacks causing unexpected stamping on the brake pedal for no apparent reason.