Computer Keeps Freezing

adam42381 2009-02-26 16:11:58 UTC #1

I've never had any issues with DVDFab Platinum until the past 3 days. Every time I try to burn a DVD my PC freezes prior while ripping the original disc. I have to power down manually via the power button because my PC won't respond. I've tried it on 4 different DVDs and it's the same result. I'm running the latest version of DVDFab which I downloaded and reinstalled again today and am still getting the same problem. Any thoughts?

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 531
Vista Home Premium 32X
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.30 GHz
2 GB Ram
180 GB free hard drive space

StormJumper 2009-02-26 16:26:27 UTC #2

[quote=adam42381;2227940]I’ve never had any issues with DVDFab Platinum until the past 3 days. Every time I try to burn a DVD my PC freezes prior while ripping the original disc. I have to power down manually via the power button because my PC won’t respond. I’ve tried it on 4 different DVDs and it’s the same result. I’m running the latest version of DVDFab which I downloaded and reinstalled again today and am still getting the same problem. Any thoughts?

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 531
Vista Home Premium 32X
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.30 GHz
2 GB Ram
180 GB free hard drive space[/quote]
This issue of system lock up can be related to a few things
1…Hard drive has to much fragmentation and needs to be defragmented
2…A disc cleanup needs to be preformed to free up space on the hard drive
3… need to do a scan for malware/spyware

also you say prior the ripping, if you are talking about the scanning/analizing then also check the transfer rate of the drive make sure you are in DMA mode.

adam42381 2009-02-26 16:31:46 UTC #3

[QUOTE=StormJumper;2227946]This issue of system lock up can be related to a few things
1…Hard drive has to much fragmentation and needs to be defragmented
2…A disc cleanup needs to be preformed to free up space on the hard drive
3… need to do a scan for malware/spyware

also you say prior the ripping, if you are talking about the scanning/analizing then also check the transfer rate of the drive make sure you are in DMA mode.[/QUOTE]

Pardon my ignorance. When I said ripping I meant the process that occurs while the original disc is in and not while the blank dvd is being burned. I hope this clarifies it a little bit. Also, how do I check the transfer rate to make sure I’m in DMA mode? Thanks for any help!

StormJumper 2009-02-26 16:38:18 UTC #4

That’s why I said [B]“if you are talking about the scanning/analizing”[/B]
Open common settings->General and click on the Reset DMA button, BUT if that doesn’t seem to help do the other things

adam42381 2009-02-26 16:43:15 UTC #5

I hope my response didn’t come off the wrong way. I’m sincerely asking for help because I’m ignorant when it comes to this stuff. I guess I was referring to the scanning/analyzing part where my PC freezes. I already defragmented, ran disc cleanup and scanned for malware/spyware. How do I check the transfer rate to make sure I’m in DMA mode. I seriously do appreciate any help you guys can give me.

StormJumper 2009-02-26 16:48:50 UTC #6

Hey yo everything is cool
If you look at the bottom of my signature you will see Checking DMA & reset if necessary, just click on the link for a guide on how to do it

adam42381 2009-02-26 16:55:26 UTC #7

Thanks for the help. I’m going to give that a try and see what happens.

adam42381 2009-02-26 17:30:47 UTC #8

Same issue. PC froze with about 10 minutes left. Any thoughts?

StormJumper 2009-02-26 20:27:52 UTC #9

Well with you knowing it as 10 minutes left tells me that it is no longer a problem during the analizing stage so it must now be during the burn process, either that or during the transfer to your hard drive so which is it

AGJ 2009-02-26 20:52:20 UTC #10

Download [B]Advanced System care free v3[/B], [B]CCleaner[/B]and[B] Malwarebytes[/B]all 3 are free. Run all 3 until they find nothing. then run them again to make sure everything is fixed. Even if this does not fix your problem it is still a good thing to do at least once a week

adam42381 2009-02-27 03:20:58 UTC #11

I’m sorry, it was around 10 minutes left in task 1/2, not the burn process when my PC locked up this time.

adam42381 2009-02-27 04:08:36 UTC #12

[QUOTE=GJ;2228076]Download [B]Advanced System care free v3[/B], [B]CCleaner[/B]and[B] Malwarebytes[/B]all 3 are free. Run all 3 until they find nothing. then run them again to make sure everything is fixed. Even if this does not fix your problem it is still a good thing to do at least once a week[/QUOTE]

I downloaded and ran all 3. Several issues were found so hopefully this does the trick. We’ll see…

Macrovision3500 2009-02-27 04:15:12 UTC #13

[QUOTE=adam42381;2227940]I’ve never had any issues with DVDFab Platinum until the past 3 days. Every time I try to burn a DVD my PC freezes prior while ripping the original disc. I have to power down manually via the power button because my PC won’t respond. I’ve tried it on 4 different DVDs and it’s the same result. I’m running the latest version of DVDFab which I downloaded and reinstalled again today and am still getting the same problem. Any thoughts?

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 531
Vista Home Premium 32X
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.30 GHz
2 GB Ram
180 GB free hard drive space[/QUOTE]

Here is a list of the most common issues why the PC freezes:

Video Card over heating caused by a faulty Video Card. (defective)
PC ram is faulty (also may be the culprit)
The Processor’s fan is not providing enough cooling…
the mother board Phoenix bios anti-lock system mechanism
8321/8292 needs to be looked at.
NNX iTrophileâ„¢ sub systems hard-drive swap check chip built in Bios (mosly in Alienwareâ„¢) custom made PC’s.

Make sure to look everything I suggested to make the PC run
okay again.

Kind Regards.

adam42381 2009-02-27 08:23:36 UTC #14

It’s still freezing up. I’ll try to look at those things you posted, Macrovision3500 - if I can figure out how…

maineman 2009-02-27 09:39:38 UTC #15

In addition to the excellent advice by Macrovision (and this is really just an adjunct to what he said), you should take a can of compressed air and clean out all the dust…particularly around the cpu heat sink and all the fans…cpu, psu (power supply unit), video card and case.

A cheap (as in free), effective and easy method to test your RAM is to use memtest86.
Here is the download site for the freeware version. You can also purchase a disc, but it’s easy to make your own. You can also run it from a floppy.

http://www.memtest86.com/

I’d recommend that you take a look at the Technical Info on the homepage,
Memtest86 will work with any OS and actually will work without an OS at all.

You can also just pull out a stick of RAM, one at a time and see how your rig runs, but this is hardly scientific…still, it may give you your answer.

It’s also a good idea to pull out the RAM, clean-out the sockets with compressed air and re-seat the RAM.
I think he meant for you to do this as well (implied)…since it’s part of troubleshooting the RAM

adam42381 2009-02-28 12:41:16 UTC #16

I’ve followed all the above recommendations but still have the same issue. I’m wondering if it’s an issue w/ my burner. It’s about 18 months old and has been used a lot. I’m looking to find a good replacement for it on Newegg. The model info from Dell doesn’t give a brand but says it’s Half Height but I’m not finding anything like that online. Any thoughts? BTW, I’m also upgrading my RAM to 4GB.

EDIT: I took out the burner and it’s an LG model GSA-H31N. The drive looks like it’s standard width (I measured it to be 1 5/8 inches in height).

StormJumper 2009-03-01 15:13:17 UTC #17

[quote=adam42381;2229156]I’ve followed all the above recommendations but still have the same issue. I’m wondering if it’s an issue w/ my burner. It’s about 18 months old and has been used a lot. I’m looking to find a good replacement for it on Newegg. The model info from Dell doesn’t give a brand but says it’s Half Height but I’m not finding anything like that online. Any thoughts? BTW, I’m also upgrading my RAM to 4GB.

EDIT: I took out the burner and it’s an LG model GSA-H31N. The drive looks like it’s standard width (I measured it to be 1 5/8 inches in height).[/quote]
What kind of security do you have on your system ? like firewall, anti-virus and spyware detection
also are you able to use other burning software without the system freezing up on you ?

adam42381 2009-03-01 17:24:34 UTC #18

I’m running the Windows firewall, AVG anti-virus and MalwareBytes. I’m having no luck with any other of the many burning programs I’ve tried. I don’t know if it’s a burner issue/Ram issue/overheating issue. I don’t know anything about PC fans but could adding a cheap PC case fan possibly help here? Would that be the way to go or a different type of fan? I’m looking on Newegg and getting confused by all the different fan types.

Here’s a link to all the fans on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=11&name=Fans-Heatsinks

StormJumper 2009-03-01 17:30:01 UTC #19

[quote=adam42381;2229894]I’m running the Windows firewall, AVG anti-virus and MalwareBytes. I’m having no luck with any other of the many burning programs I’ve tried. I don’t know if it’s a burner issue/Ram issue/overheating issue. I don’t know anything about PC fans but could adding a cheap PC case fan possibly help here? Would that be the way to go or a different type of fan? I’m looking on Newegg and getting confused by all the different fan types.

Here’s a link to all the fans on Newegg:

Try this program for doing a little house cleaning [B]->[/B] http://www.cdspeed2000.com/
and don’t be shocked with what it finds

adam42381 2009-03-01 17:38:46 UTC #20

Do I need to download Nero DiscSpeed or Nero CD-DVD Speed?

EDIT: I guess DiscSpeed is the new version.