Member Avatar for Stickman

I've been having a problem with Windows ME where, when left alone for a length of time, it will freeze. It will awaken from sleep, but will freeze if just left alone. Any help with this issue is appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

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Good follow‑up from , and — they covered the obvious Windows power settings, heat/dust checks and basic system-file checks. Since reports those steps didn’t stop the idle freeze, move to a layered approach that looks beyond the OS: firmware/driver interactions, selective startup isolation, and hardware diagnostics.

Firmware and driver angle: many older Compaq/PIII systems can exhibit flaky ACPI/APM behavior under Windows 9x/ME. Enter the machine’s BIOS/setup (watch the boot prompt for the setup key) and check any ACPI/APM or power-management options; try toggling those settings and retest. Also look for BIOS and chipset (motherboard) updates from Compaq for the 5127SR series — a BIOS/chipset update often resolves sleep/idle problems that the OS alone can’t fix.

Isolation and software diagnostics: perform a selective startup with msconfig (disable all non‑Microsoft services/startup entries), reboot and leave the PC idle. If stable, re-enable groups of items to find the offending driver/service. Boot into Safe Mode (F8 at boot) and let it sit idle to see whether third‑party drivers are involved. Run a full disk surface check (chkdsk /r) and a bootable memory test (for example memtest86 run for multiple passes) to rule out disk or RAM faults.

Hardware and practical notes: aging power supplies, marginal capacitors on the motherboard/PSU or intermittent RAM faults frequently show up only under low activity. Visually inspect for bulging/leaking capacitors, try a different PSU if available, and test/replace suspect RAM. If firmware, drivers and hardware checks still leave the system unstable, a clean reinstall of ME or migration to a more modern OS is often the most practical long‑term fix.

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Member Avatar for Member #127113

First of all Welcome to Daniweb !

Now please you can tell me about your system configuration and any other bugs happening before it happens

Member Avatar for jbennet

1) what are your specs
2) is it overheating?

Please get all windows updates for windows ME.

Member Avatar for Stickman

The computer is a Compaqs 5127SR (5000 series) Pentium III processor

1.o GHz 256MB SYNCDRAM

40 GB hard drive.

I actually found out more with some digging. The computer goes into "sleep" mode, where the keyboard will have the moon symbol lit up, but nothing else goes to sleep. It happens randomly. I can have 6 programs running, with no problem. Yet, if I just leave it on its own, it freezes. I really don't know much about this computer, so thats all I can provide.

I don't believe it is overheating, though.

Member Avatar for jbennet

I only mentioned overheating because of its age as over time dust gets into the PC and blocks up the CPU fan and heatsink causing it to become less effective.

Member Avatar for Member #127113

Dear stickman

First disable all auto shut up setting from properties of windows (right click on desktop) and select power from screen saver then look fo standby-harddisk turn off etc. click there and select Never to all

Or if till it happens after disabling this all things another fact is may be that your system is infected that starts its activities when system is in idle mode try to find out malfunction by antivirus software (with update)
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Note: This is all suggestion from me not a actual solution

Member Avatar for Stickman

I followed your advice and it still happens. I also double checked for heat and dust buildup, but I haven't found anything. The only thing left is that it may have a virus.

Member Avatar for jbennet

i dont know is ME has this command (might be nt based systems only) but go to run and try

sfc /scannow

you might need your ME disk. It will check and see if any of your system files are corrupted

Member Avatar for caperjack

ME is like 98se just the SFC is needed

commented: ty +22
Member Avatar for jbennet

thank you for that, caperjack

Member Avatar for caperjack

ok!

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