I was hoping someone might be able to help with a rather odd problem
I've been having with Vista. I recently replaced a bunch of things in my
computer - basically everything other than the drives and sound card.
Reactivation was a pain but seemed to go smoothly. I updated all the
drivers in ths OS (Vista Ultimate, 32 bit) and let it "burn in" for a
couple of days by running Prime95 and keeping an eye on temperatures,
stability, etc. Everything worked fine - no apparent problems with
hardware or drivers and things would chug along quite nicely.

I notice that SP2 is lurking in Windows updates, so figure what the
heck - improve performance and stability a bit. So I went ahead and
installed it. Unfortunately, to my dismay, there was a background
installation of an updated version of Avira Antivirus that I had
forgotten about. Something blew up and I had to hard reboot. SP2 had not
been completely installed it (did not go through the part with the
reboots). In any event, I tried it again and this time it did finish -
no installation problems at all with SP2. Also completed the Avira
installation, which also went fine.

However, shortly after I installed SP2, a very odd problem started to
surface. After using the computer for a while, it would slowly start to
seize up. First, one application would just stop responding and show
"(Not Responding)" in the toolbar. Then another. Then I would not be
able to bring up task manager. Then I wouldn't be able to bring up the
start menu. This process would occur over the course of say 10 minutes
after maybe 2 hours of use, but this seemed to vary. The mouse however
always remained responsive. CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing.

Keeping the computer on overnight shows the end result - when I push a
key on the keyboard, the screen wakes up and the mouse pointer moves
around, but nothing is shown on the screen other than my desktop
background, or the background to the login screen. In either case there
is nothing else at all - no icons, no taskbar, no login prompt, nothing.
CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing. So I need to hard reboot.

I have gone through the Event Viewer logs and the Reliability &
Performance Reports as well as the System Information reports. The logs
do not show any particular event or thing happening around the time
things lock up.

I have also tried backing out SP2. It uninstalled successfully, but
unfortunately the problem did not seem to go away.

I'd very much like to avoid a complete reinstall of Vista. If anyone
has any clues on what this is and/or how to fix it I would certainly
appreciate it.


--
vistablista

"vistablista" wrote in message
...

I was hoping someone might be able to help with a rather odd problem
I've been having with Vista. I recently replaced a bunch of things in my
computer - basically everything other than the drives and sound card.
Reactivation was a pain but seemed to go smoothly. I updated all the
drivers in ths OS (Vista Ultimate, 32 bit) and let it "burn in" for a
couple of days by running Prime95 and keeping an eye on temperatures,
stability, etc. Everything worked fine - no apparent problems with
hardware or drivers and things would chug along quite nicely.

I notice that SP2 is lurking in Windows updates, so figure what the
heck - improve performance and stability a bit. So I went ahead and
installed it. Unfortunately, to my dismay, there was a background
installation of an updated version of Avira Antivirus that I had
forgotten about. Something blew up and I had to hard reboot. SP2 had not
been completely installed it (did not go through the part with the
reboots). In any event, I tried it again and this time it did finish -
no installation problems at all with SP2. Also completed the Avira
installation, which also went fine.

However, shortly after I installed SP2, a very odd problem started to
surface. After using the computer for a while, it would slowly start to
seize up. First, one application would just stop responding and show
"(Not Responding)" in the toolbar. Then another. Then I would not be
able to bring up task manager. Then I wouldn't be able to bring up the
start menu. This process would occur over the course of say 10 minutes
after maybe 2 hours of use, but this seemed to vary. The mouse however
always remained responsive. CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing.

Keeping the computer on overnight shows the end result - when I push a
key on the keyboard, the screen wakes up and the mouse pointer moves
around, but nothing is shown on the screen other than my desktop
background, or the background to the login screen. In either case there
is nothing else at all - no icons, no taskbar, no login prompt, nothing.
CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing. So I need to hard reboot.

I have gone through the Event Viewer logs and the Reliability &
Performance Reports as well as the System Information reports. The logs
do not show any particular event or thing happening around the time
things lock up.

I have also tried backing out SP2. It uninstalled successfully, but
unfortunately the problem did not seem to go away.

I'd very much like to avoid a complete reinstall of Vista. If anyone
has any clues on what this is and/or how to fix it I would certainly
appreciate it.


--
vistablista

Can you boot into Safe Mode, and, if so, do you have the same symptoms? If
you haven't already download and run your drive manufacturer's diagnostics
program and see if it comes up with anything. You can try running System
Restore to a point before you installed SP2; that might get you back up and
running correctly.

SC Tom

Thanks SC - most appreciated. Yes, I can boot into safe mode and in fact
I don't experience the problem at all - I let it run overnight and a bit
in safe mode and it didn't freeze up.

I have run some disk scans but nothing has come up. Unfortunately, for
whatever reason, I only have one restore point available, and that
restores the system to the post-SP2 state (I had uninstalled it once I
installed and experienced the problem).


--
vistablista

"vistablista" wrote in message
...

Thanks SC - most appreciated. Yes, I can boot into safe mode and in fact
I don't experience the problem at all - I let it run overnight and a bit
in safe mode and it didn't freeze up.

I have run some disk scans but nothing has come up. Unfortunately, for
whatever reason, I only have one restore point available, and that
restores the system to the post-SP2 state (I had uninstalled it once I
installed and experienced the problem).


--
vistablista

I don't suppose you have a full backup you could restore from?

Do a clean boot http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135 and see if the
problem persists.

Try running SFC /SCANNOW from a command prompt. You'll need a Vista w/SP1
DVD or SP1 expanded to get the correct files.
You can also try a repair installation. Or, if worse comes to worst, a clean
install.

SC Tom

SC Tom - sorry for the delayed response. I just wanted to thank you for
the excellent advice. SFC did not pick up anything but the clean boot
process you pointed to me allowed me to identify the service that was
causing the problem. Took quite a while to go through given the nature
of the problem (set boot configuration, reboot, wait to see if it
freezes overnight, repeat...) but it did let me avoid a reinstall.

Thanks again - most appreciated.


--
vistablista

"vistablista" wrote in message
...

SC Tom - sorry for the delayed response. I just wanted to thank you for
the excellent advice. SFC did not pick up anything but the clean boot
process you pointed to me allowed me to identify the service that was
causing the problem. Took quite a while to go through given the nature
of the problem (set boot configuration, reboot, wait to see if it
freezes overnight, repeat...) but it did let me avoid a reinstall.

Thanks again - most appreciated.


--
vistablista

You're more than welcome. I'm glad it all worked out.
Was a Windows service, or a 3rd party one causing the problem?

SC Tom

Third party - Logitech - something for my webcam, I believe. Which was
odd as it had never caused problems before. In any event once I disabled
it things were fine. Installed an updated version of the software and so
far, so good. Probably just a stroke of bad luck on my part.


--
vistablista