Freezing

[SayeeSreedhar]

I have been using HP Pavilion computer 8622 with Intel Pentium Processor 667 MHz since august 2000. The OS is win98 second edition. My computer gets frozen very frequently especially while using the mouse to scroll. In such situations nothing works other than turnning off the computer and restarting.I cahnged the OS TO WINXP PRO but the same problem is continuing.Any Help is much appriciated.

[Roger Faucher]

Please check all the fans and look for any airflow obstructions (especially between the front bezel and the front metal case).

Roger

[Ronald Postma]

If it happends with a clean install, it could be an hardware problem.
Does the winXP invent logs say anything when the pc freezes.

What kind a mouse do you have USB? had a lock problem when an specific USB mouse is connected. An other USB or PS/2 mouse did not give any problems.

An other question, did you overclock your pc?

[SayeeSreedhar]

I am currently using the Microsoft USB optical mouse.Previously I have used HP's scroll mouse which is ps/2.As I am getting the problem of freezing I have changed to USB mouse but there is no change.Still my computer hangs without any reason.Help is much appriciated.

Thanx in advance.

[Jon Finley]

Could be either hardware or memory related.

Add any new hardware lately?

Make any changes to memory, or add memory?

It's also possible that you've got a bad stick of RAM. http://www.memtest86.com has an ISO image that you can download and burn to a CD that will allow you to boot, and run SEVERAL intensive memory tests to detirmine if any of your system memory is bad.

Jon

[Jim Kisco]

Chronic freezing points to a corrupted install of Windows 98, but also bad hardware.

1. Try either a re-install of Win98 or save your data and do a clean install.
See you tried the WinXP so, probably not the issue.

2. If it continues, it is probably the motherboard. I've seen the problem fixed by replacing the motherboard many times.

I personally think its the motherboard, since you tried the WinXP install already.

Jim

[SayeeSreedhar]

Firstly I would like to inform that this freezing thing is happening since the day of purchasing of this model.When I have complained about this to the reseller he didn't do anything except to reinstall the OS with the recovery disks.I thought that its happening with win98 so I moved to WINXP PRO even then I am getting this problem of freezing.It doesn't give any errors it just freezes. I am fed up with this model.So I request can any one help me regarding this matter.As suggested by John Finley I will test the memory with the tool memtest.

[Roger Faucher]

When you purchased the system was it new or used? If used, there may be something added to it since HP made it. Tell us what devices/add-in cards/etc it has. How much memory is there? How much HDD free space? What external devices, if any, are there (serial/parallel/USB/etc)?

Please try installing the chipset (i810) driver and latest BIOS from here:
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/softwareList.jhtml?reg=&cc=us&prodId=hppavilion20801&lc=en&plc=&softitem=OS%20Independent&sw_lang=en&pagetype=software

Run MSCONFIG and select 'Diagnostic Startup' and see if that helps. Let us know results please.

Thank you.

Roger

[Jim Kisco]

Doing John and Roger's suggestions will narrow things down and move the troubleshooting forward, but in the end motherboard swap will be the best turn around to fixing things.

Since there is no error messages, this only reinforces my belief that the motherboard is bad.

Scout out a replacement with your vendor.

Jim

[SayeeSreedhar]

This is Reply to Roger Faucher

To my knowledge the system I purchased was new.When I first switched On the system what I found is that the sound card is not

recognized.When I have restarted the machine the sound card is recognized.This problem started to occur frequently.Another

problem was the Freezing.The system Freezes 5-6 times a day.When I complained about this,the vendor ran the rescue disks and

the problem was solved to some extent,the sound card problem was gone.But the problem of freezing was not solved.The vendor

told me at that try to update the windows and mcaffe antivrus from their respective websites.I did all those updates but the

problem wasn't solved.I didn't add any new hardware at that point of time.

Recently a year back I have added 128MB SDRAM,Pinnacle Studio Pctv card and a 80GB Hard disk as a slave.I have replaced the

hp scroll mouse with the microsoft's USB Optical mouse.I changed the OS to WINXP Pro.Even then the problem wasn't solved.The

freezing continues without any reason.

Regarding the link that you have given.I already updated my inteli810 graphic chipset to latest version 6.13.01.3196.
About the BIOS update I didn't do.

Today I've tried to update the Bios as since my version of Bios is 1.10(04/11/00).As from the link given by you I have

downloaded the Bios update Version 2.10 and tried to update the bios as instructions given in the HP'S Website.I am unable to

update the BIOS.I've created a bootable Dos floppydisk and tried to boot but I am getting an error saying no C drive is

found.I think this error is coming since I am using the WindowsXP Pro and my hard disk is in NTFS Format.I have also searched

the internet for help and finally found one solution.

The solution says that copy the Bios update folder to the bootup floppy disk and run the Bios Update. The Bios update started

to some extent and after that I got the the following error.

PhoenixPhlash Error
File does not contain the same BIOS part number
PRESS ANY KEY TO REBOOT

I request help regarding this matter so that I can run the Bios Update without having any errors.

Thanks in Advance.

[Roger Faucher]

I suspect that if your existing BIOS is version 1.xx, you cannot install any version 2.xx. Sorry I can't say definitively. I don't have that information.

Roger

[#12]

Hello . I have seen this a few times .It is the bios has gone bad and thus makes the system not want to run like if your transmistion in your car is going out you can drive but you notice it when you take off or stop.
The solution would be to find a bios update to that motherboard but sometimes the bios chip goes bad and on a few repairs I have seen the circut in the end where the mouse plugs into go bad. but since you have changed the mouse I would say it is the Bios.
I have ran across the bios error before and tried installing the update and geting the same error.
You need to check the bios info in the setup by pressing the F1 key and seeing if it says anything about enableing and disableing the flashing .
Some motherboards are not built to be upgraded since this was made when windows 98 was out I am thinking your Motherboard doesn't have the capability of being flashed.
I might be wrong becasuse I don't have your model of mother board .
LIst the model here and the bios version if possible.
Hope this helps some?
Alex

[Jim Kisco]

Sayee ;

Update us on your progress.

I think you should go back to the dealer, and summarize that everything that has been tried, but nothing has been able to fix the freeze problem.

Nicely ask that the motherboard be replaced. Mention that hp staff and PC systems engineers have been helping you and show him the HP forum. Weeks of effort.....

Alot of smoke and nothing to show for it.

After getting the new motherboard, try a clean install of Win XP Pro to finish.

Good luck,
Jim

[Pedro Pinto_2]

BIOS and driver updates are not going to solve your issue. Installing WindowsXP on such a low resource unit it something unthinkable. WindowsXP run at minimum performance in a 1G 256ram 20GB 32MG graphic card system. Any other bellow than this cannot be working with windowsXP. The best thing you can do his a system upgrade of some parts, other than that i wouldn't advanture more than Win98SE on this unit. If it freezes then the best way to know if it is a software or hardware issue is to enter BIOS setup and leave unit untouched for some hours, if it freezes then it is definitly a hardware issue, if not the issue may be related with the software, check the programs that you have installed, maybe some of them can cause this conflict. The best way to check if this issue is related to a specific program it to reinstall OS using HP recovery CDs, update all the system drivers and, without installing any extra software than the one that goes along with the OS see if it freezes. It so then, again, it is a hardware issue. If one install the normal programs that you use one at a time, move around with unit to see when it starts hanging.

Please test these solution and update has soon has possible.

Best regards

Pedro Pinto

[Roger Faucher]

Here are the actual hardware requirements for WINXP:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/sysreqs.asp

Roger

[Pedro Pinto_2]

Do you really believe what is said on this web page? I have windowsXP installed on a p500 with 256 with 16MB graphic card and it works at a minimum acceptance speed, still it is very slow if several programs are running at the same time, i.e, more than three IE windows openned at a time may cause system failures. Microsoft only wants to sell, try contacting them for help, they will say two things, either the windowsXP is an OEM version or it is a hardware issue, never a microsoft windows issue.

Best regards

Pedro Pinto

[Roger Faucher]

Sayee:

What is the capacity of your boot hard disk drive? How much free space exists? Have you tried removing the paging file from the boot disk (C:) and putting one on your 80GB drive (D:?). Make it twice the size of your system memory for now. See this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308417&Product=winxp

To force your computer to stop and display the error message when an error occurs, perform the steps in the following article under MORE INFORMATION (DO NOT PROCEED BEYOND STEP 3. UNDER THE FIRST PARAGRAPH):

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311806&Product=winxp

Now, if your computer stops with a blue-screen error message, please post it here.

Thanks.

Roger

[SayeeSreedhar]

Firstly I am sorry for the delay in replying.

Does anyone found solution to my problem?.

My computer some times even hangs when a new OS is being installed.

[SayeeSreedhar]

I am desperately looking for the help.

Any useful help is much appreciated.

[Jim Kisco]

So you never got a replacement motherboard......ummmmm

Looks like bad hardware no patching can fix.

Jim,