Hi guys, about yestuday my desktop just froze. (i was still able to move my cursor) however my icons cant be clicked on.. nothing was working. totally frozen besides my cursor.. I would restarted my comp and after broswing the net about 30mins it would freeze again (and again i could only move my cursor around).

I thought it might be because my comp is DUSTY and i vaccuumed it but, it still has the problem.
Im using windows xp PRO
1gig ram
amd 3400+

Maybe i need to format my comp... i dont know, would appreciate any suggestions and advice thanks !!

You vacuumed it?  Not a good move.  Never vacuum your computer.  It could cause static electricity that can fry your components.  When you want to clean out your computer, use a can of compressed air.  You can maybe get away with using one of those little keyboard vacuums, but even then, you'd have to be careful.

As for your problem...
What protection programs do you have?
Have you made any recent changes prior to this problem?
Have you tried using System Restore to go back to an earlier point?1.Well.. i used AVG anti-virus
2. and i dont REMEMBER making any changes... because i was capped which means i couldnt download anything. however i remember having an AVG update
3. Im not sure how to do a system restore.. is it possible to restore back to yesturday or the day before?

thank you for your reply CDMattIf you want to try system restore, follow these instructions:

1. Go to Control Panel (catagory view)
2. Click on Performance and Maintenance
3. At the left side under 'See Also' click on System Restore
When you're in the System Restore Menu
1. Make sure the 'Restore my computer to an earlier time' circle is ticked and click Next
2. In the small calender, click on a date like 2 days before today and click Next
3. Make sure all programs are closed and click Next again.
The computer will take slightly longer to boot but you won't loose anything like recently saved work but recently installed programs might be uninstalled.

Note to everyone else, this is from a post I posted some time ago if it seems familiarTo use System Restore, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.  Try restoring to a couple of days ago and see what happens.  Keep in mind that even if this works, it may only be a temporary fix.  But perhaps it could buy you enough time to try some things out.

Also, I should've asked...have you tried starting your computer in Safe Mode?  When the computer is starting, keep pressing F8 until you get a menu where you can select to boot in Safe Mode.  Does the problem still persist?  If not, try running a virus scan while still in Safe Mode.Using a normal home vacuum cleaner in a PC case is a very bad idea! The powerful suction can do all knds of harm. In particular, the fans on the CPU heatsink, display card and in the PSU may be very much overspeeded, causing the motor and / or bearings to be damaged or even destroyed. So check these and also watch your temperatures. Also, RAM chips and cards can be dislodged enough to cause intermittent connection problems.

The 30 minutes sure sounds like a heat related thing...


This is weird because, ive experienced my comp overheating before and all it does is restarts itself. however this problem is different.

i vaccuumed the tower after this problem started to occur so yeh... It was fustrating because when i get into something for example chatting on msn, surfing, watching something with windows media PLAYER it would STOP and the window would show like a 'Not Responding' screen you get what i mean, and my cursor will have the 'loading icon' when i put it over the window. other then that when i move the cursor to 'my computer' icons etc its normal but i cant click on nothing!i have YET to try the safemode method but i will if the system restore dosent help Ok, try restore first, then post back and tell us what happened.Ok i restored it back a full day before the problem occured and the problem still exists.

BUT i have tried safemode and to my surprise... its not freezing.. hmmm maybe a program or something causing this problem?. Btw i also realised that at the beginning to startup attitray.exe(something like that, related to my gfx card) would be 90-100% CPU usage which i Ctrl+alt+delete and end task the *censored* thing.. maybe something to do with my gfx card driver/programs mmm -shrugs-I once read that 90% of system freezes/crashes turn out to graphics card related.  I have Radeon 9100 and I never run ATItray because of the high cpu usage. You don't need it.
well i have an 9800XT raedon

what do i do with the atitray thing.. uninstall it? or untick it from msconfig?I would try booting to safemode and uninstalling the vid card. Physically remove it after powering down and do a few cold boots.
Then replace the card re-boot and re-install the drivers.

Hope you learned the vaccuum thing even if it was the hard way... Quote from: dream on April 28, 2007, 09:13:30 AM

what do i do with the atitray thing.. uninstall it? or untick it from msconfig?