problem...

[radeng]

Running windows 7.

On some sites - some Pprune, Wilts and Glos Standard, even BBC. Not every time, but far too often to be acceptable, the computer locks up. Mouse doesn't work, up -down keys don't work, CTRL-ALT- DEL doesn't work. I have to switch off and start again from there and often, it then wants to do a 'Check Disc'. That takes about 5 minutes.

Any ideas about how to clear this other than getting my tame IT man in?

I may be an RF engineer, but I have no idea about anything digital!

[G0ULI]

Have you installed any updates lately?

Is it possible to restroe the computer to before the previous update? Windows updates will automatically create a restore point where you can roll the system back to how it was before the update.

Have you changed any of the BIOS settings to try and improve performance?

Have you installed any new devices on the computer, even a new mouse?

Have you installed and updated graphics driver? These can cause exactly the problems you mention especially if downloaded from the graphics card manufacturers website rather than the computer manufacturers site.

[yellowtriumph]

My Asus TimelineX running W7 sometimes does that, about once month. As you say the machine does not respond to any kind of input and I have to power it off by holding down the power button. All is then back to normal although it is very rare that it subsequently performs a diskcheck.

I have sometimes found that when it is unresponsive that if I wait 5/10 minutes it does come back to life.

Not very much to help you I'm afraid, but perhaps it is nice to know you are not alone.

[radeng]

Have you installed any updates lately?

No

Have you changed any of the BIOS settings to try and improve performance?
No

Have you installed any new devices on the computer, even a new mouse?

No

Have you installed and updated graphics driver?

No

Is it possible to restroe the computer to before the previous update?

Hasn't done any updates for at least a month

[G0ULI]

Well that exhausts most of the most common issues.

Most of the issues where a computer becomes totally unresponsive revolve around hardware conflicts or potentially computer viruses/malware. You can check in the Control Panel, Device Manager, settings to see if there are any error messages flagged up. If there are no obvious problems then it is probably best to let your tame IT expert check over the system.

[andytug]

Sounds like the Windows Update Service might be the problem, have had this myself on two different laptops and there are many posts about it on the net.
Try going into run then services.msc and scroll down to Windows Update Service, right - click, properties and set to disabled. (also select to stop service) The issue is that when checking for updates in the background it will very quickly use up 100% of the CPU (or 100% of one core if multicore) which on a single core machine grinds it to a total halt.
If that stops the problem then you have a choice of leaving it disabled (no updates = increased risk) or trying leaving it on for up to 48 hours or more to maybe sort itself out.
Some have speculated that Microsoft did this on purpose to get people to upgrade to W10......

[Loose rivets]

Sorry, but have you run Ccleaner? Both my computer and I become dysfunctional without a few of those a week - if not a day. :8


Standing by for incoming.

[boguing]

Can you say that it definitely only does it on certain websites? And never does anything wrong when you're doing stuff other than using a web browser? Or is it a machine that's almost always used for browsing those sites predominantly? Just trying to establish how strong the connection to the 'some sites' is.