# [SOLVED] Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)



## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I've been having some strange problems with a fairly new PC and I was hoping the community could help. It all seems to stem from my windows Explorer not functioning properly, but I'm worried it could be a hardware issue. This computer is fairly new, just 8 months old. These problems all started happening about 3 weeks ago.

Specs:

Windows 7 64-bit, Home Premium SP1 (w/ all of the latest updates)
AMD PhenomII X6 1055T Six-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System
1TB Western Digital SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
GigaByte GA-890XA-UD3 AM3 AMD 790X Motherboard
GSKILL 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory
700 Watts - XtremeGear Power Supply
x2 ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Cards (in CrossFire mode)

Problems:
1) When I boot the computer, everything works fine until I get to the "Starting Windows" boot screen. The Windows logo will do it's animation for about 6 seconds and then freeze. Then, nothing will happen for either a few minutes or not at all. The activity on my hard drive also seems to stop. I usually have to hit the reset button and start all over again. Windows asks if I want to repair my startup, and I have many times before, but that doesn't seem to work.

2) Windows Explorer will hang or not respond every once in a while. I'll delete or move applications and it won't show what I did on the desktop, folder, etc. until I hit F5 to refresh. I'll right click and the loading circle will display for a minute until windows tells me explorer isn't responding. I usually have to reset explorer one or twice an hour on my PC.

3) Some programs will load in the background, but not come up at all. This occurs with my copy of Norton Security Suite and the worst culprit of this is iTunes. iTunes cannot load completely for about 10 minutes. Then, when it finally loads, it freezes for about 5 minutes. Then, if I plug my iPod in, it freezes and won't respond at all. Even trying to end the task using task manager is a chore.

4) Sometimes shutting my computer down will take a very long time to do. Last night it took 3 minutes for it to completely shut down. Otherwise it just stays on the screen that says "Shutting Down". I also hear no activity from my hard drive.

What I've tried to fix the issue:

1) I tried two different utilities to check my hard drive for errors and both came up clean.

2) I tried wiping the HD and rebooting my Windows software. Interestingly, everything seemed to be working fine when Windows 7 booted up the first few times after this, until I started to install updates from Windows. Now I have all of the updates in and it's working just like it did before I rebooted.

3) I've run memtest, prime95, and a complete virus scan. No errors were found.

4) I had my CPU overclocked to 3.5 ghz, and my RAM had to be overclocked a little to 1666 mhz (but I did research online and they said the GSKILL ripjaws can handle that just fine). It doesn't matter because I reset everything back to it's factory settings and the problems still occur.

Now, I've asked Microsoft to help and all they told me to do was run a clean boot, run it in safe mode, etc. None of that worked. Like I said, I even rebooted my computer. Updated all the drivers. But it doesn't seem to matter. That's why I'm beginning to think this is a hardware issue. I read online that my CPU can only run a certain amount of ram speed (1333 mhz) because of it's integrated memory controller. Did I damage anything running my ram at 1666?

Also to note, the strange thing about all of this is that I can run certain applications, especially games like Starcraft 2 and Crysis 2, just fine. No hang ups, no lag.

Thanks and I look forward to your help.


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Hi MrZippo and welcome to TSF. Please go to task manager, service tab and post the screenshots. Did you install anything new around the time the problem started?


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Software wise, the only thing I installed before I began having issues with my new boot of Windows were windows updates. Other than that it's been Steam, iTunes, CPUID, and prime95. But the issues were occurring before I installed those programs.

Hardware wise, I bought that 8GB of ram 4 months ago and installed it myself. Shortly after, I installed a second Radeon 5770 HD video card about 2 months ago. No issues started to occur until 3 weeks ago.

And that fresh reboot, or re-installation, of Windows 7 happened on Wednesday. I'll add screen shots shortly, I'm not on my own PC right now. Thanks!


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Part 1 of 2: screen shots of all of the services I'm running:


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Part 2 of 2 of the services I'm running.


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Download *CPU-Z*
CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

*CPU*

* Name and number.
* Core stepping and process.
* Package.
* Core voltage.
* Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.
* Supported instructions sets.
* All cache levels (location, size, speed, technology).

*Mainboard*

* Vendor, model and revision.
* BIOS model and date.
* Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.
* Graphic interface.

*Memory*

* Frequency and timings.
* Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

*System*

* Windows and DirectX version.


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Also please check your disk fragmentation.


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

I did both, like I said I downloaded CPUID/CPU Z. Everything looks fine on there though. Windows won't even let me defrag because nothing is fragmented. Like I said, I just rebooted/reinstalled Windows about 4 days ago and only installed a handful of apps and drivers.


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Let's try doing a repair install. Repair Install - Windows 7 Forums


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Bad news, mcorton. I've attempted to do this Repair Install about 9 times now and...the setup.exe won't even load. On one of the attempts I waited as long as 10 minutes and nothing happens.

On the final attempt I got this message: D:\SETUP.EXE The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Try taking out 2 RAM sticks and see if there's a diference.


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

I tried removing two of the sticks and the same problems occurred. I then put in two of my the original sticks of ram that are each DDR3 2gb and @ 1333 mhz. The computer is still showing the same signs of problems.

I did manage to restore my computer to a time before I updated it with a bunch of Windows updates after I did the clean reboot. It works a lot faster now, but the "Starting Windows" freezes still happen. Basically, it's not my RAM. Could me my HDD though. I tried booting a few times before I did the restore, and I got an error saying that is could not properly load my hard disk. I ran check disk and it found no errors.

Could this all be happening because my AMD processor's integrated memory controller says it supports up to 1333 mhz of memory, and not 1666 mhz? I was running my new ram at 1666, and they were stable with it. But maybe it hurt my processors IMC?


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## mcorton (Apr 16, 2009)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

Try running it at they system default speed and see if that helps.


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

*Re: Frequent hangs and programs taking 10 minutes to load (Windows 7)*

I'm doing that now. Everything is at the system default speeds, including the RAM.


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## MrZippo (Mar 19, 2011)

Solved it. It was a crappy 12 in 1 memory card reader that came with the PC. Thanks for the answers though!


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