Member Avatar for superoo8

Hi all
I have a problem with my IBM A31 laptop that is driving me nuts. It is a pentium M 1.6, 512 ram, 30gig hdd, Windows XP Pro SP2. Everything is up to date, Bios, Windows XP, Drivers everything. It continually Locks up or freezes randomly. I have reinstalled windows several times to no avail it will freeze up from the moment windows finishes installing untill after everything is up to date. Sometimes it will run for 1 hour without problems and then sometimes 1 minute.
I have run memtest and the memory is fine (i have tryed new memory and in different slots)
I have run Hitachi Drive test Fine
I have run IBM PC DOCTOR it tells me everything is fine.
But the big poser to all of this is that it will run in Safe Mode for ever, which makes me think its an add on card or something like that.
Any thoughts no matter what would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Geoff

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by fren

Dani AI

Generated

— given the symptom pattern discussed here and 's comments about thermal and disk checks, the next phase is isolation: find what loads only in Normal mode (drivers, services or a peripheral) and systematically remove it.

Try these steps in order:

  • Perform a clean boot (msconfig): disable all non-Microsoft services and all startup items, reboot and test. If stable, re-enable small groups until the freeze returns to identify the culprit.
  • Use Device Manager to disable suspect hardware one at a time (wireless, touchpad, modem, audio, USB controllers, PCMCIA). Because the cursor movement seems involved, prioritize the pointing-device drivers.
  • After a freeze, open Event Viewer (System and Application) and note any errors or driver names logged just before the freeze time. Enable Boot Logging (F8 at startup -> Enable Boot Logging) and inspect C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt for drivers that fail to load or repeat between sessions.
  • Test outside Windows with a Live Linux USB/DVD. If the problem does not occur there, it almost certainly points to a Windows driver or service. If it does, hardware or firmware is more likely.

If a driver is suspected:

  • Replace vendor drivers with known-good versions (chipset first, then video, then input and wireless). Use IBM/Lenovo driver packs where possible.
  • Use Autoruns to remove all nonessential startup entries.
  • As a last diagnostic step, use Driver Verifier to stress third-party kernel drivers (take a full backup first and be ready to boot to Safe Mode to reset Verifier).

Also check for commonalities between both machines: same external mouse, docking station, PC card or even the same software package. Always keep a tested recovery plan (system image or restore media) before making low-level changes.

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Member Avatar for fren

Overheat can also cause the computer to freeze.
The processor fan may be failing in your computer, observe it. Be careful to clean both the heat sink and the processor fan.

Member Avatar for superoo8

Thanks Fren If i run the laptop in safe mode it will run all day, if i leave a screensaver running it will continue to run all day untill i move the cursor then after a minute or so it freezes which tells me its not overheating. To make things worse i have an IBM T23 which is doing the exact same thing

Member Avatar for fren

Run scandisk or check disk in winxp (check all check boxes in the "Check disk options" field) and defragment your hard disk.

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