Ok, anybody have any suggestions on what to look at when the PC keeps locking up? It only occurs when I am on the internet and it could occur when I first log on the the net or after I have been on for awhile. I don't recall it locking up unless we are surfing the net.
I have an HP that is about 5 years old, running a 533 pentium with 128 memory. When I launch the net, the available resources say 77 to 84% free, depending on if I shut down some of the hidden programs that launch during start up or not.
I appear to be virus free and have run SPYKiller and nothing shows up with the exception of a few cookies.
I also have just reformatted the drive and the problems still presist.
Oh, and I have a cable modem.
I would love to get a new PC but that is just not going to happen as my wife is fixin to go to school full time and we will no longer have the 2nd income coming in.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I would look towards your memory. Do you have one memory chip or two? If you have two, try removing one at a time and see if one or ther other eliminates the problems. If you only have one chip, you'd have to buy a replacement to test this. Given the specs of your machine, I suspect the memory would be rather cheap. If that doesnt solve the problem then you have bigger issues like possibly the motherboard.

 

If it is memory, and I believe yours would use either PC-100, or PC-133 RAM, I can send you some of that RAM. I have a few sticks laying around, free of charge. I need to look at what I have though, it might have disappeared.

you also need to find out what the limit is that your board supports, if I send you a 256 chip, and your board only supports 128, it won't work.

I used to have a laptop that froze up when I was on the net, it turned out to be my sound card drivers. It could be any manner fo drivers on your machine.

think about how long you have had this issue, and what you have done to your machine in that time frame from good to bad.

 

You didn't say what your operating system is. Some of the older ones, like Windows ME, are prone to problems. If you upgrade on line, like a newer version of Internet Explorer, you might run into software compatibility issues with an older OS.

You might want to see if there are service packs for your OS. They are normally free. Assuming you have Windows, you might try going out to Microsoft's web site and search on some key words or phrases. There's a lot to sift through, but you might find what you're looking for.

Good luck...

Dave

 

Thanks everyone for your replies.
I am running Windows 98 SE and I am up to date on my service packs.
As far as memory, I believe it is only one chip and if I remember right the total I can upgrade to is 256. I have not upgraded this machine in anyway and it is pretty much back to its original configuration as I just recently reformatted the hard drive. With the exception of a few games for my daughter, not much has been loaded onto the machine.
Here is a link to the product specifications on this machine:HP Pavilion 8655C

Kaiden,

If you still have that memory available and it will work for my PC I am definitely interested in it. Just let me know. You can e-mail me at russell336@charter.net.

Again, I thank everyone for their replies and hope to get this resolved as quickly and cheaply as I can so I can actually work instead of surf all day at my office



Gary

 

Run a spyware removal tool, like adaware. Sounds like your browser has been hijacked.

 

You could also try running a defrag and checkdisk (all options checked). It could be your memory considering the machines age. You'd be looking at pc-100 memory for that machine and it will be a little more expensive unless you get lucky and find a rebate on some. It's OLD memory now and harder to get a good deal on. If you can get a donation from kaiden that'd be cool. The only memory I have laying around is pc2100 wich won't work.

You might also look at replacing the network card. I have seen a rare instance of a faulty nic causing lockups. Especialy with win9x. There's a posability it could be a motherboard issue too. Probably hosed if that's the case. Try looking to see if there is any bios updates on HP's (compaq's) website. Make sure you are running the latest bios. Sometimes this will solve a lot of things.

I doubt it's a software issue if you reformated and the problem continued. I'm also assuming this problem just started and hasn't existed since you got cable.

One more thing you might look at is if the problem occurs while using other internet browsers. It could be the newest updates to IE or whatever is conflicting with something.

Last ditch might be reformating again and installing one thing at a time. Every time check and see if the problem occurs. It's a slow process but you might stumble accross an update that is hosing everything. You can do this with hardware too by removing everything but the Network card (since it happens when on the internet) then adding stuff back in piece by piece. If it is a sound card or something going bad you can find it this way. If you manage to get another memory stick take the old one out to test if that is the problem.

Good luck.

 

Just get yourself one of these:




I did and haven't had a bit of problems since.

 

kobiashi
dual processors

 

Wow, to put together one of these with al the options I would want (no monitor) I would have to spend $4,245.

I could put together a similarly equiped PC for around $2,000. The performance differnce would be negligable, and I might even get a 19" monitor with it.

Macs are cool and all but they gotta be able to compete with pricing.

 

damn kobiashi

I was going say, chit can it and get a new one

but thats a Star-Wars thing-a-migitity

 

<--- On a PowerBook as we speak.

I <3 Mac