Help diagnosing a freezing laptop

[drjones]

Hi guys, have a client with a freezing laptop & I can't figure it out; I'm completely stumped. Here's some detail:

- HP Pavilion Laptop DV7 (I can get the specific model # if needed)

- Has OCZ Agility3 SSD 128GB (I installed it like 9 mos. ago)

- Win7 x64 Ultimate (I did a clean install of this when we put in the SSD)

- Just started freezing yesterday, 9/17. I checked & no windows updates had been installed since the 13th so it couldn't be a rogue update causing this. I installed a few win updates today, the 18th.

- It locks up just like a PC would if it had RAM or HD issues, but you can hit ctrl/alt/del, bring up task manager and then it keeps plugging along.

- The Only errors in event log are:
o Source: WMI Event ID 10
o Source: atikmdag event ID 43029
o Source: atikmdag Event ID 52236

- The last two point to display adapter/driver, it is an ATI mobility Radeon HD4500 with driver v8.632.1.2000 dated 8/17/2009

- I ran the built-in windows memory diagnostic, came up clean.

- chkdsk came up clean.

- ran SFC, it too came up clean.

I have ZERO idea.....my only guess would be something with the SSD because I've had issues with several other OCZ SSDs, but no BSOD on this machine, and no errors in the event log that point to anything at all, let alone any hardware issues.

Perhaps we should try a system restore?

Help!!!

 

[NYJimbo]

Maybe nothing but what are the temps. I know you can break out of the lock, but still, good to know.

When you do the ctrl-alt-del are you doing anything to get control or does it just wake back up? Does it look like explorer is restarting ?

Run it in safe mode and see if it freezes.

Can you trigger the freeze or is it unpredictable?

If it freezes will it ever pop back up on its own (like within a minute) ? Sometimes when a video driver dies you can get a freeze and then anywhere from a few seconds to a minute later it will refresh the screen and resume with a warning.

 

[coffee]

To make sure on the SSD drive:

1.Remove it and use a bootable linux cd to run on. See if it still locks up. If it doesnt then its either a software issue or hard drive.

2. Put the hard drive back in and boot up the linux cd again. See if you are still having issues. If not then its a software error most likely.

3. Could very well be the ati driver.

 

[PCX]

First, use a real memtest diagnostic tool. Memtest86+ is way more reliable then the memtest that is supplied by Windows.

Second, I would test the hard drive. We have been using HDD Scan for SSD. OCZ is known for being a crap drive, so that would be the first place I would look.

The suggestion above about using a live Linux CD is good for many types of issues, but keep in mind that Linux does not react or crash in the same manner as Windows when it comes to hardware issues, so this may or may not narrow down the problem.

 

[FremontPC]

I'll 3rd the Linux CD. Use the Disk utility to check SMART and run the long and short self tests too. Any firmware updates for the OCZ? Can you clone that drive to a test drive without errors?

You could also try running without the ATI driver. Sure it will look horrendous, but....

 

[cypress]

In regards to just checking SMART on the SSD, wouldn't CrystalDiskInfo work? Sorry I haven't worked on a SSD machine yet so that is why I was wondering.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Are we 100% certain that this system is clean? Malware could be causing your freeze ups.

 

[PCX]

In regards to just checking SMART on the SSD, wouldn't CrystalDiskInfo work? Sorry I haven't worked on a SSD machine yet so that is why I was wondering.

You don't ever want to just check the SMART data on a drive if you have the ability to test it. SMART data will not always, in fact it wont in most cases show you if a hard drive is failing unless its really bad or too late.

 

[cypress]

Yeah I always use gSmartcontrol and I know that one of your preferred tools to use as well. But I saw that you used HDD Scan which is why I asked about CrystalDisk

 

[PCX]

Yeah I always use gSmartcontrol and I know that one of your preferred tools to use as well. But I saw that you used HDD Scan which is why I asked about CrystalDisk

HDDScan will do a full scan on the hard drive as well as pull its SMART data. CrystalDisk does not do a full diagnostic on the hard drive, it only pulls SMART Data. I only use HDDScan for IDE/PATA drives or SSD. At least till I find something better.

 

[KC Tech]

I would do a memory scan or swap out the memory if you can.

 

[drjones]

Spoke with client again today.

Event logs still show nothing out of the ordinary.

Did a clean boot, still started freezing in the manner I described; a ctrl/alt/del will "unfreeze" it.

HDDSCAN came up clean.

Guess I could run a real memtest soon....Any other ideas?

 

[coffee]

Spoke with client again today.

Event logs still show nothing out of the ordinary.

Did a clean boot, still started freezing in the manner I described; a ctrl/alt/del will "unfreeze" it.

HDDSCAN came up clean.

Guess I could run a real memtest soon....Any other ideas?

what did sfc /scannow show?

Also, Try getting taskmanager open and see if you have some process running wild.

 

[sys-eng]

Like others here, I want to suspect the SSD because they do have a reputation for suddenly failing without warning. But since this is a video related error, I believe I would focus there. Here is a another discussion of similar problem: http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/27233-event-id-43029-52236-a.html

I use to work on gaming rigs a lot and they had a lot of issues with video drivers because the users always wanted to try out the latest "modded" driver which often caused their system to crash or freeze. When replacing video drivers, it is important to use the special driver removal tools designed specifically for that purpose; otherwise, updating or backdating the drivers may not make any difference.