Computer Freezing at boot

[saphiree]

Hey guys, I have a weird problem with my PC.

When I boot it, I sometime run into a problem where windows freezes. As soon as I click something after a boot an hourglass will appear whenever I move my cursor over the start bar, and I cannot click anything (not even ctrl+alt+delete). Everything is just frozen. All I can do is just reboot my PC with the reset button on my case.

First I thought the problem was because of the b.net launcher as it often happened when it was searching for updates/updating right after a boot (and the problem started a little while after I downloaded it).
So after a while I disabled it at boot, and I haven't had a problem for around a month or two.

Yesterday I noticed that the b.net launcher icon did not show in my notification area, so I decided I always wanted to show the icon.

When I booted my PC today the same freeze occurred, but I'm a bit sceptical that it might be the icon showing that makes my PC freeze.

I don't necessarily need to the answer to what is wrong, but do any of you know a way, that allows me to collect some kind of logs or something similar, so I can find the cause of these crashes/freezes.

I run Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

I also have a small suspicion at my Corsair USB headset, as I believe I started using it around the same time as the crashes occurred (although I'm not sure). My main suspicion is still the b.net launcher however.

Of cause the problem can also be because of bad drivers, but I'm really not sure how to find out what is causing it. Especially since it doesn't freeze all the time.

 

[Dr Super Good]

I also run into this problem from time to time. I believe I fixed it by slowly solving all errors that were appearing in the event viewer. It is possible that due to such an error an infinite loop is occurring during the boot process from time to time. Such errors I had were missing modules (google update ghost modules), a windows incremental update bug (as a result of them releasing a buggy update), some module being set to auto start when it has to be manually started by a process, etc.

 

[Velmarshal]

Well you can try to eliminate possible causes.
1. Check your CPU temperature
You can download Speedfan for that, its a free program. If your CPU is above 50 ~ 60C when idle and 80~90C under load, then you need to clean up the dust on the heatsink. Such freezing can occur when CPU is overheating, since it temporarily shuts down to prevent any permanent damage to it. If the temps are reasonable, then you can move on.

2. Get CCleaner
Make sure to check System tray icons cache. http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/Velmarshal/Untitled2_zps32acfce7.jpg
You can check everything else, but avoid "Wipe free space" it takes ages and doesnt really do anything.
Run the cleaner

Clean up the registry using the registry tool in CCleaner.

Disable every non essential program in startup (including antivirus).

Try restarting. (keep the headset disconnected just in case)

 

[Dr Super Good]

1. Check your CPU temperature
You can download Speedfan for that, its a free program. If your CPU is above 50 ~ 60C when idle and 80~90C under load, then you need to clean up the dust on the heatsink. Such freezing can occur when CPU is overheating, since it temporarily shuts down to prevent any permanent damage to it. If the temps are reasonable, then you can move on.

Does not help him since the freeze occurs shortly after bootup before all start programs are loaded. Loading a program is impossible before the freeze occurs. Additionally it makes no sense that it is overheating as it would occur every time and not "sometimes".

2. Get CCleaner
Make sure to check System tray icons cache. http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/...ps32acfce7.jpg
You can check everything else, but avoid "Wipe free space" it takes ages and doesnt really do anything.
Run the cleaner

Clean up the registry using the registry tool in CCleaner.

Will not help him in any way as it clearly is not a registry fault as that would occur on every start up. Also those tools cause more damage than good since they change values in the registry indiscriminately which can break programs.

Disable every non essential program in startup (including antivirus).

Might help. However that renders the system unusable as you do not ever want to run the OS for long periods with no AV active.

Try restarting. (keep the headset disconnected just in case)

That is what he does? It only occurs "sometimes" after all so restarting fixes it.

 

[Velmarshal]

Those steps are there to merely rule out any other issue that might have something to do with freezing. After those steps have been carried out, then the real troubleshooting begins.

 

[Dr Super Good]

I would strongly advise against them. One is not possible as it would be an underlying fault always present and the system will never start, the other is using some tool that appears to be scam ware, it is at most undamaging to the system (probably can damage stuff) and will not fix anything but the most obvious of problems.

 

[Velmarshal]

Scamware? CCleaner and Speedfan?
I refuse to continue this discussion any further.

If OP needs my help he will pm me, otherwise I'm done here.

 

[saphiree]

Thanks for the input guys (both of you). I have used CCleaner before, and it is good for cleaning your disk, although I'm not sure it will help me with this problem.

I've been thinking about dusting off my computer anyway, so I might as well do that.

The solving of my event log sounds interesting (and time consuming ), but could very possibly help me solve the problem

 

[Dr Super Good]

Scamware? CCleaner and Speedfan?

I called CCleaner scamware as it is entirely pointless (what does it actually do?!). They pretend to fix stuff but actually what they "fix" often makes no difference or can even break things as it does not know what it deletes often (such as file extensions no longer linking to the correct program to open them).

Speedfan is fine but cannot help him as an overheating problem, which it can help detect, is an underlying fault and so would affect every boot. If he was overheating he would freeze every time he starts the computer and not "sometimes". Well maybe it would overheat on certain warm days but that still does not match the description of "sometimes" as that implies some sort of randomness to it (temperature is not random).

I know what he is referring to as I have seen it affect 3 W7 64bit computers. It is pretty harmless (only crashes at start-up in a rather random and impossible to predict way) but is still annoying. It seems to be an underlying fault with Windows 7 that comes and goes.

My only recommendation is to check event viewer and fix all the major errors that it is logging. I have not suffered this problem in a while now since I did that but it could be a Windows update fixed it as well. Microsoft does provide you with automated tools to fix some of the errors (after all, they caused them) but it is still a highly techy process requiring a lot of Google and some understanding. Some tools (maybe CCleaner does this stuff!?) might fix some of them automatically, but they can all be fixed by hand.

You should have no Critical and Error events after freshly booting. Having any indicates something wrong.

 

[saphiree]

The only error I have which could relate to the freeze is a critical level error (41). It basically just states that the system was improperly shut down, which I can't really use for anything.
All errors previous to this one are from before the freeze.

 

[Dr Super Good]

That is caused by you shutting the system down forcefully so can be ignored.

The annoying thing about this error is you cannot diagnose it as the computer has frozen when it occurs and all traces of it occurring are lost due to the forceful shutdown. It might be AV related so make sure you always have the latest client version installed.