Suggestions for Troubleshooting Windows 7 lockups

I've got a Dell Latitude E6500 that was working fine under Vista x64. I got one of the new Seagate 500GB Hybrid SSD/HD 2.5 drives and thought.. hmm.. let's try Windows 7 x64 on it.

Bottom line: It works great for hours and then it will hard lock. I don't mean BSOD (or whatever the Windows 7 equivalent is). I mean my screen is displaying a static image (if there is a clock displayed, it will be frozen at the time the lockup occurred) and the mouse and keyboard do not work. Control-Alt-Delete will not work. I have to hold down the power button to reboot.

The event log records nothing at the time the lockup occurs.

Obviously something is happening to the system to cause the lockup, but the default Windows 7 x64 doesn't log it.

How can I log the things Windows doesn't normally log in Event Viewer ?

Craig L

Posted 2010-07-10T01:09:38.980

Reputation: 1

Answers

Would it be possible that your system is overheating? That can cause severe problems, such as lockups and eventually damage that hardware of your computer?

Josh Hunt

Posted 2010-07-10T01:09:38.980

Reputation: 20 095

I installed Real Temp v3.40 and set it to log the temps to a CSV file every 5 seconds. So hopefully that will tell me if it is a temperature problem or not. – Craig L – 2010-07-10T04:47:21.747

According to the Real Temp log, my laptop froze at 5:37am this morning, about 3 hours after I went to bed. The temps are were all what you'd expect for an idle laptop. The search for an answer continues. – Craig L – 2010-07-10T22:58:46.980

This article contains lots of useful advice and takes into account the type of the lockup:
Troubleshooting a Computer Lock Up .

Apart from this, I suggest you have a look at this thread where the problem was with the wireless network driver. Installing the Vista driver solved the problem there (Windows 7 and Vista are entirely compatible on drivers).

harrymc

Posted 2010-07-10T01:09:38.980

Reputation: 306 093

Could be an issue with the power management feature or one of its settings. Try disabling all the settings then wait an see if it locks up then. If it doesn't lock up then work from there to see what feature or setting is the cause.

SgtOJ

Posted 2010-07-10T01:09:38.980

Reputation: 6 843

An article by HP here, some of the advice is only for HP computers but most of it is good troubleshooting suggestions.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01896793&cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en

Moab

Posted 2010-07-10T01:09:38.980

Reputation: 54 203