Acer Aspire 9410 freezes

My Acer Aspire 9410 randomly freezes for like 10 seconds, then it goes back to normal, then after 10-15 secs freezes again for like 2-3 secs and then it goes finally back to normal. During freezes nothing works, the screen does not show anything weird. Sometimes after a freeze my internet connection (wireless) closes, and the only way to repair it is to restart the computer. I'm running Windows XP Media Center with all updates. All drivers are all updated. Maybe just my BIOS is not the last version. I tried using no battery, disabling some services, I don't have Norton, I've used all cleaners, registry repairing softwares, Avast scan, etc. nothing seems to help. The event viewer does not show any warning and/or error at the time of freezing. Anyone can help ? Thank you in advance

 

Has this just happened or something that has gradually got worse.
The words "registry repairing software" might mean that a fresh install of XP is required. When it freezes is there high CPU activity ? Does task manager show anything using a lot of resources ? Fan on a lot ? (indicating "something" is running and using resources) when just sitting idling.
I'm not sure on XP what the options are for running a file check but sfc /SCANNOW but might be worth trying,
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic43051.html
To update the BIOS is just asking for trouble IMO. If anything goes wrong you'll end up with an expensive doorstop
I'd be tempted to reinstall from the hidden recovery partition... learn from it... and make regular running backups so you can easily recover from anything like this again.

 

It's been present almost since the beginning and it gets worse at times, but not constantly. I know, I should have asked for a replacement, but it's too late now...
By "registry repair" I meant registry cleaning, like IObit Advanced System Care, Eusing Registry Cleaner, CCCleaner, etc.
During freeze the fan is normal, I can't open any program so I don't know about CPU use, I'll try to keep the task manager open until it happens. Another thing is that during freeze whatever sound is playing it loops fastly and continuously until the freeze ends.
I agree about the BIOS being too dangerous, but even the SCANNOW option scares me a bit, but I'll give it a thought.
Thank you, other ideas welcome

 

I would run scannow. It's a tool that's built into the operating system. Won't cause any problems, but if it does find anything wrong it may ask for an XP install disc (not a recovery disc) but at least it might prove something.


You have either to live with it or do something !

There should be a full pdf user manual preinstalled. Type acer into the search/run box. That will tell you how to recover from the HDD hidden partition which will bring the PC back to how it was on day one. If your nervous of scannow (no need to be) make an image backup of your HDD as it stands now. That way you can try all sorts and always return to exactly how it was.
If you get nowhere then I would certainly reinstall XP, and test it before you start adding other programs back. Make running incremental backups as you "progress" so if some program or other causes a problem you don't have all the hassle of another reinstall. Remember to back up personal stuff to a flash drive or SD card first as reinstall wipes everything.

 

Hi, I ran the SCANNOW. It asked me for files in the original Windows Service Pack 3 CD, that I do not have (I just have the manufacturer one), so I extracted the XP3 files as described on the site you suggested. It asked me for these files a few times, like 6 or 7, I always canceled the request so that the verification could go on. At the end it asked me for 3-4 files from the Win XP Install Disc 2, and I canceled it again, but then it did not give me any option to take this files from other folders. How can I direct the file searching to folders in my computer ? Thanks

 

Hi, don't know the answer to that I'm afraid. Found this on MS support,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747
If you google scannnow and XP there's tons of info... I never said it was easy
Running scannow has perhaps proved there is a problem though. I know it sounds like a total cop out but reinstalling may well be the best option here.

 

Well, I had to modify the entries in the registry so that three keys were pointing to the C: directory and I had to move the SP3 rebuilt folder to the C: root. The scannow now went pretty smooth apart from the end where it asked me for some Service Pack 2 files. But, the system seems (maybe only "seems") more stable, no freezes up to now. We'll see...