computer ?

[hunter84]

I have been fighting with my pc at home for about a month or two now and am ready to throw it out a window. But any way it is freezing up on me when I go onto the internet. Not always on the first page I am opening sometimes second or third but i don't get far then I'm done and have to stut it down and start over. Does anyone have any clue about why this is happenning.
P.S. when it freezes, nothing works not even CTRL+ALT+DEL
any suggestions are appreciated.

[mf_dolphin]

When a computer hard freezes like that it is usually caused by a corrupted program. Does it just freeze on the internet or does it freeze on other things as well? If it's just the internet then I'd reinstall Internet Explorer. If it freezes on other things as well I'd look at replacing the memory. Defective memory can cause it as well.

[blizzard]

Maybe its because you burnt it out trying to catch Chad on the fantasy baseball league. Or maybe its just giving us lowlanders a chance to catch up to you. Whatever the reason, hope it gets straightened out soon.

[hunter84]

It was suggested to me that internet explorer 6.0 had some big errors in it and that i should download a patch for it. It took 4 times to get to the download page without freezing and when i checked for that patch it said i already had it. A cousin then said I should reinstall it.I did, now its worse then before. I should say he is very knowledgable with computers so you don't think i'm listening to someone who isn't. And I know some of you here are also, that is why I have to ask.
And yes Marshall it is 99% of the time on the internet that it freezes. Last night I tried to print an email and it froze then. three times.
When you say changing memory, what exactly do you mean. Ram?

[hunter84]

Maybe its because you burnt it out trying to catch Chad on the fantasy baseball league. Or maybe its just giving us lowlanders a chance to catch up to you. Whatever the reason, hope it gets straightened out soon.

this belongs in the sports forum. but anyway maybe you should turn yours on at home

[mf_dolphin]

RAM=memory. If it was RAM then you would have problems with other programs beside Internet Explorer. Do you use a lot of other programs or is your primary use the Internet. The reason I ask is that if you are mostly on the Internet then it would make sense that that's when it freezes for the most part.

[hunter84]

Yes, I guess I really don't use it for much else. My wife uses it for word occasionally. I just put in an additional memory chip of 128 to go along with the 64 that was in it. Would you suggest taking the 64 out and trying it with just the 128.

[mf_dolphin]

Did the freezing start after you added the new memory? When something happens like this you can usually looks back at the last change that was made as the source of the problems. I would take out the new memory as a test and see if the freezing stops. Incompatible memory is a known cause of this type of problem.

[hunter84]

No, the new memory is only days old in the computer. some one also told me it could have been a lack of memory. About 2 weeks ago I downloaded a bunch of patches from MS but the freezing has be going on long before that.
I should tell you I have about 2.2GB of free space on the hard drive.
Keep the ?'s or suggestions coming. Thanks

[hunter84]

The only thing I can remember doing is upgrading I.E.5.0 to I.E.6.0

[mf_dolphin]

I would go ahead and remove the original 64MB of memory as a troubleshooting point. A shortage of memery is usually marked by a slowdown in performance not by locking up. Theyere may be a defective portion of the original memory chip so by removing it we'll see. Let me know.

[hunter84]

I'll try it when I get home tonight. Thanks for your help.

[mf_dolphin]

Glad to lend a hand! I've worked on computers since the first IBM PC. I think I've seen it all at one time or another. Good Luck!

[Lindaloo]

That is what kept happening to mine. I was downloading and installing Internet Patches and stuff through microsoft. My PC was freezing up and I felt like tossing mine. I also had a trojan on mine and it was running my iexplore (another version). I tried re-installing windows but that did not work. Then my PC crashed because of all the microsoft updates. It was just one big mess.

I have not had any problems since. **knock on wood**

[ColdFront77]

My computer used to freeze 'relatively' frequent, internet access was slow and I had crashes ("blue screen with white text") on and off since my computer was delivered/I went online on Friday, June 30th, 2000 from here in central Florida.

In March I upgraded from 64.0 of RAM to 192.0 of RAM, too (adding a 128.0 MB)... I mentioned it here prior to and again when it was installed.
I changed from dial-up to cable modem on Friday, November 1st.

With the increased memory (192.0 of RAM) and my cable access I am content with the speed of my computer.

I've only had a few freeze ups and a few "blue screens with white text" in the last two months. I would think these would of occur anymore at all since I upgraded my memory, but apparently they do.

[WidreMann]

What Windows do you have? I suggest going to Wink2k or XP. Win2k is extremely stable. I think it has crashed once in the two years I have had it (maybe not even once) and that would be when I was doing something that I shouldn't have been doing in the first place. You never get protection faults, blue screens of death, lock-ups or any other types of errors.

[hunter84]

I have windows 98. would I need to buy one of the others you mentioned and would that in your opinion fix the problem.Just asking cause I'm useless with that thing.

[WidreMann]

Some questions and things you can do that might help:
1) What, if anything did you do before the problem started? That is, did you install any programs, go to any websites you don't normally go to or do anything along those lines? If you can identify anything, you can try removing it or changing settings back to the original.

2) Is there any pattern with the freeze-ups? Any programs besides IE that freeze-up? And does there seem to be any factor you can determine that makes it likely to have a freeze-up? Perhaps this will allow you to figure out the source of the problem.

3) Are you absolutely certain the RAM is compatible with your system? Sometimes incompatibilities can cause issues, though I would imagine that the system wouldn't work at all. Still, it might be worthwhile to check and even try removing the new RAM altogether or trying different combinations of RAM (i.e. just the new or just the old) to see if there is any difference.

4) Do you have virus checking software? If so, make sure to run a scan (and if you already have, then ignore this) and make sure you have it updated as much as possible.

5) It could have something to do with internet settings. Since everything is reversible, it might be worthwhile to tinker around. I don't know the nature of your connection program, so I can't really help there.

I don't know entirely what you have already done, so you may have tried everything listed above. Sometimes playing around works, as long as you don't delete things that you can't get back.

It might be worthwhile to call tech support as well if nothing still works. I suggest upgrading your operating system if your computer is able to handle it only as a general principle since Win2k is, in my opinion, a better operating system and more stable. But it wouldn't be worthwhile to go out and buy an expensive copy and install it in blind hope that it will make the problem go away.

[hunter84]

thanks, I am going to print this and check. Is there a way I can look back and see when I upgraded to I.E.6.0 does it show up in it's properties?

[ColdFront77]

I see scanning for viruses was one of WidreMann's suggestions for you to try to fix the problems you are having with your computer. So, I figure I would put on the table an issue with my anti-virus program.

I finally got a virus scanning software several weeks ago, after not knowing whether or not I should get it. This may sound strange, but when you are in a situation where you want to buy things with money you slowly are getting once a month... you find saying things you need and want are harder to actually get or at least for me seem that way.

Here is my issue... After so many hours a window pops up saying to update [or words to that effect] viruses. If I click 'OK' is gives me an error; I don't recall what the error is at the top of my head. So, need less to say, I have been cancelling each and every time is pops up.

Thank you in advance for any assistance anyone can give me.