Windows XP SP2 Freezing Problem: Solutions?

[anantchowdhary]

Whenever Windows XP SP2 starts after the welcome screen..it freezes.Or in a better way if we put down the mouse to the taskbar...the start menu duznt work.

Ive seen this on many machines running windows XP Sp2.Any solutions?

Thnx

 

[BoredNL]

Is it just as programs are loading when you log in or is it frozen permanently?

If it is just while programs are loading and you want your computer to be responsive faster, then you will need to reduce how many programs are running at startup (such as any messengers like Yahoo Instant Messenger, or OpenOffice starter, etc, etc). If the start bar freeze doesn't unfreeze no matter how long you wait, then a temporary fix (for each time you boot) would be to press CTRL + ALT + Del (to bring up Windows Task Manager) and end task the explorer.exe that is "not responding" (which is located in the "Processes" tab). The start menu and desktop icons should disappear and then come back again. If they don't, then in "Windows Task Manager," go to the "Applications" tab, click "New Task..." (located in the bottom right of the window), type in "explorer.exe" and hit "ok." Everything should pop up.

If it locks up again, then are there any other programs at 100% CPU usage? What about other programs at extremely high memory usage? (To check these, you have to be in the "Processes" tab) If too much memory is used, your computer will use your hard drive as RAM, which will cause an extreme amount of slowdown and could be causing these problems you are speaking about. (maybe some poorly done spyware or adware is eating up all your RAM.)

It's possible that this is a known problem with some people's setups and there might be a solution offered by Microsoft. After anyone installs Service Pack 2, there are millions of updates that need to be applied. After applying those, if the problem still exists, search the Microsoft database or maybe someone else here (or elsewhere) could help you.

Well, good luck. :)

Phil

 

[anantchowdhary]

Hey thanks.I had tried the explorer.exe remedy earlier too.Ive fixed the problem by removing a few startup applications

 

[Lamfxs]

Hi I also had my share of problem with my sp2 but I was able to solve them thanks to a great tech support site. There are lots of solutions for different problems. I am sure you will find some answers there.

Here is the page for http://www.fixya.com/support/p156946-microsoft_windows_xp_professional_with"

Hope it helps

Lee

 

[Astronuc]

Also, anyone who upgraded from XP Sp1 to Sp2 WILL have problems! Guaranteed!

I found out too late.

 

[ranger]

Following BoredNL's advice about making a new task; try typing "msconfig" to bring up the system configuration utility. From here you can choose what programs are loaded just after login. The "Startup" and "Services" tab will be of interest; make sure only needed tasks and processes are loaded at login time. If for some reason you can't make a new task that way; boot into safe mode-you hit F8 just before the windows xp boot time logo appears and select safe mode as the boot option.

On a side note, I've had a problem similar to the way you've described it. The only thing is that sometimes I can have a successful login and other times I can't. So when I do manage to login, I created a new admin account and used that to try and fix the problem (msconfig didn't work). I downloaded avast! virus scanner and ran it; it found hundreds of instances of win32.parite which was infecting all of the executables! Anyway, it cleaned up everything and I had to reinstall almost all my programs because win32.parite destroyed almost everything.

If you can't make a new admin account, just use the one that you made when you installed windows xp. At the login window hit ctrl-alt-del to bring up the old fashioned login window and type "administrator" as the username and enter whatever password you assigned to it when installing the operating system.

 

[Kurdt]

I had a similar problem when I installed SP2 from a CD I got with a copy of windows XP. When I reinstalled windows and downloaded the service pack instead it was fine.