Browser Lockups

[chris18]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this but here goes.

In recent weeks I've begun to experience problems when browsing. My default browser is IE6 but I also have Crazy Browser and a trial version of Opera. I've had the same problem with both IE and Crazy Browser, can't be sure if Opera has also been affected. For info I do sometimes have two browser open at the same time and again the problem arises.

When I try to open multiple windows the browser will suddenly become very slow and eventually my whole system stops responding.

If I try to close any open windows the system seems to try a refresh and eventually I usually get a white screen and the screen is shown as not responding. Even using Task Manager doesn't cure it and eventually I have to reboot.

Just to add to my fun(!). This morning I had one browser window open, I then opened OE and Windows Explorer. Everything was fine until I mistakenly tried to open Windows Explorer again when I got exactly the same condition. Everything stopped responding and I had to reboot.

I've run a memory test, as this seemed the most likely cause of the problem, using GoldMemory and this didn't show any problems.

In all other respects my system is running OK i.e I don't get any lock ups etc, it all seems to be linked to the browser.

To the best of my knowledge I haven't got any virus/trojan as I'm fairly well protected and nothing has been flagged up.

I do have quite a bit loaded at Windows startup, all of which is "essential", so wondered if this might be reducing my virtual memory too much.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can add additional memory to my mainboard. When I upgraded last time the info I got from Soltek as to the max memory size and modules I could install was confusing. At the moment I have 2x256MB Crucial CT3264Z265 DDR PC2100 and a 1x512MB Crucial CT6464Z265 DDR PC2100 installed.

Any help much appreciated.

[s7p9a2m4]

I doubt your machine ever accesses virtual memory with 1 gig of ram. Did your machine start acting up after you upgraded ram? Bad ram and improper bios settings will give you big trouble.

Crazy is just a front-end for Internet Explorer and uses the IE engine, so to speak. If you have trouble with IE, Crazy will also give trouble. If you are not having trouble with Opera then IE is corrupted.

IE is integral to the operating system. There is no uninstalling/installing it to correct it. If you are sure there is no virus problems, you can try the scannow sfc command and you will need the Xp cd to do so. This should restore any missing or corrupted files. Your comment on Windows Explorer crashing also tells me you have a corrupted operating system assuming your ram is fine.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_r...e_and_oe_6.htm
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[chris18]

Originally Posted by s7p9a2m4

I doubt your machine ever accesses virtual memory with 1 gig of ram. Did your machine start acting up after you upgraded ram? Bad ram and improper bios settings will give you big trouble.

Crazy is just a front-end for Internet Explorer and uses the IE engine, so to speak. If you have trouble with IE, Crazy will also give trouble. If you are not having trouble with Opera then IE is corrupted.

IE is integral to the operating system. There is no uninstalling/installing it to correct it. If you are sure there is no virus problems, you can try the scannow sfc command and you will need the Xp cd to do so. This should restore any missing or corrupted files. Your comment on Windows Explorer crashing also tells me you have a corrupted operating system assuming your ram is fine.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_r...e_and_oe_6.htm
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Thanks for the reply.

Have followed the scannow-sfc link in your signature and I think I will give that a go.

My ram upgrade was done sometime ago so that's not the issue.

Will have to test Opera further to see if when using Opera alone I get the same problem. Unfortunately, because as I said some pages won't work with Opera I have to still use IE as my default.

Your comments about a possible OS corruption are probably nearer the mark. Although the Windows Explorer crash has so far been a one off I have also be having trouble when booting from cold with the missing hall.dll error.

This has happened about four or five times in the last couple of months. Usually if I power down, leave it a few seconds and then boot up again the system will come up OK and I get no further trouble for that day, even when I do a restart.

Looking through various articles this seems to be linked primarily to a corrupt boot.ini on dual-booting systems (which I don't have_. I have found an easy to follow aricle on how to repair the boot.ini How Do I repair a Missing or Corrupt HAL.dll

I suppose everything is pointing to a system corruption somewhere, although in every other respect my system is stable, it's only Internet browsing that seems an issue, but I'm trying to ignore a system corruption as that might entail a format and reinstall to get a truly clean system. I thought I had an old image file taken with Acronis TrueImage but looks like I might have deleted that by mistake when trying to create some spare space - unless I archived it off to some DVDS which I will need to look for. I do however have a Windows backup file (backup.bkf) from last year but not sure that will be any good in the circumstances as I think I've updated to SP2 since it was created (upgrading to SP2 may have been the reason why I deleted the image file)

[chris18]

Originally Posted by chris18

UPDATE

I have now run sfc /scannow and also keeping to Opera for my browser and will be interested to see how things run.