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Question

Computer keeps freezing

by Jan 3, 2013 2:36AM PST

Hi everyone. I hope someone here can help me with this most annoying problem I have been experiencing. I dont know what info you guys might need so I will try to include anything that might be useful. My computer is almost 2 year old Dell desktop with Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 2.93 GHz processor and 8 GB Ram. OS is Windows Home Premium 7. About 6 months ago I had some sort of nasty virus. I had to take it to a professional and he ended up completely reinstalling my OS. Not long after I got the computer back it started to freeze up. It wouldnt do it all the time, only occasionaly and only when I was on youtube or when a website like espn that had videos that would automatically start playing. It has gotten progressively worse since, happening more often and now it happens even when Im just using Excel or something. The sound will start to almost sound like a stutter, the computer will be unresponsive for 1-3 minutes and then come back. Sometimes in the bottom right corner I get a message that says "Display driver Intel graphics accelerator drivers for Windows XP(R) stopped responding and has successfully recovered". I dont know what this means, but is it odd that it says "Windows XP" when I am running and always have run windows 7? I have updated all my drivers. Also sometimes when I am typing the letters will lag, or not show up at all. Is this related to the computer freezing/hanging?

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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Answer
About the Youtube issue.
by Forum moderator Jan 3, 2013 2:38AM PST

Recently Flash changed. Try the usual first. Here's the words for google.

DISABLE FLASH HARDWARE ACCELERATION.

There is no other cure I know of for this one that I can give you in this small text box.
Bob

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Unable to disable flash
by ab1183 Jan 3, 2013 3:08AM PST

Thank you for the quick response. I certainly appreciate it. However when I googled how to disable the flash hardware acceleration I followed the steps until it the option "change settings" was grayed out and I was unable to continue. Some more googling lead me to a forum that said "There is no way to disable hardware acceleration with ATI or Nvidia 's installed. You would have to remove the software and run a generic Windows to disable the acceleration problem." Is this a safe/easy option for someone that is basically computer illiterate? And is this just a fix for the youtube problem? Is there anything I can do to stop it from happening when I am not on youtube, and to get rid of the typing lag that I sometimes experience?

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I didn't ask to disable video acceleration.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 3, 2013 3:12AM PST

Just FLASH HARDWARE ACCELERATION. These are not the same thing.

It's a common issue and since flash is used widely, even in some apps we want to turn this off first before was look at other things.

There are too many good web pages on how to to this but once in a while I see folk confuse hardware acceleration with flash settings.
Bob

PS. After this we look at cleaning habits. Example at http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6122_102-569818/getting-ready-to/?tag=contentBody;threadListing

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Thank you so much
by ab1183 Jan 3, 2013 3:20AM PST

Ok, I have disabled the flash hardware acceleration. I opened about 10 youtube videos at once and it didnt freeze! Before it would freeze with just one video. Thank you so much your fast help! I will take a look at the thread you linked to about cleaning my pc, as I have had it for almost 2 years and have never done it. Thank you so much!!!!

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Good to read this.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 3, 2013 3:23AM PST

It's a common issue with a fast fix for most. We always do this first. Sorry if I don't write at length how to do the change but there are so many web pages about it that I can't compete with thousands of good tutorials on it.
Bob

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The problem is back
by ab1183 Jan 4, 2013 3:42AM PST

I was on youtube today, watching 1 video and it happened again. I had a couple other IE windows open, a microsoft ecvel window open, thats it. Any other ideas what can be done to correct this problem?

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Given it's a Core2Duo.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 4, 2013 5:33AM PST

My next task is to replace the CPU Heatsink Compound and clean all the heatsinks as I put it back together.

Remember that PCs are not crash or lockup proof and one lockup is no reason to panic.
Bob

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