Random temporary Vista lock-ups

My laptop (Acer Aspire 6920G) running Vista Home Premium has been experiencing some random but temporary lock-ups since the day I bought it. I used the recovery function to reset everything to factory specs and while it seems to have reduced how frequent the lock-ups happen they still occur.

The interesting thing is that when the computer locks up, it isn’t a total lock up. I can still move the mouse cursor around but for the most part I can’t do anything else. I can access the start menu sometimes but if I try to start a program from there, nothing happens. The lock-ups seem to occur when I’m running some sort of windows type program like Internet Explorer or even when I’m browsing for files. The biggest thing I’ve noticed though is when the lock-ups happen, the HD access light stays solid, and it does not blink at all. The lock-ups last roughly about five minutes when they do occur, and I hear a clicking sound similar to the sound a hard drive makes when it is being turned off or on during computer start-up or shut down at the moment it comes out of the lock-up. Furthermore, any functions I tried to perform during the lock-up are initiated when it comes out of the lock-up. For example, if I tried to open Microsoft Word during the lock-up (which never happens while it is in the lock-up), it’ll open up after the five minute or so episode.

I wonder if it has something to do with the hard drive since the HD access light stays solid and because of the clicking sound that is made right at the moment at the end of the lock-up. Keep in mind I am still able to perform some functions during the lock-up like minimizing windows but not much more (and occasionally, the program running will give me a “Not Responding” warning). Anyone know what could be wrong?

 

First - have you contacted Acer or whomever sold you the computer? A new computer does not lock up like this, and you should have this fixed by the manufacturer.

 

I would run diagnostics especially on the hard drive. I would next check your system event log. Lastly the next time it locks up bring up task manager and see if there is an app hogging all your system resources.

 

A lot of lockup issues like this is hardware. I would bet that it is the ram that is causing the lockups. If you have 2 sticks of ram, you can take one out and try it and if you have any issues swap the ram sticks. It can also be the actual hard drive itself also. It can be frustrating and complicated sometimes.

Good luck.

 

The computer did the same lock-up again except after the usual five-minute freeze the I got a Blue Screen and the computer restarted. After the restart, Vista said the cause of the problem was with the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" (iaStor.sys), would that help anyone diagnose the problem?

 

About the only thing I can recommend is to go to Intels website and download the newest Matrix Raid drivers

Here is the link for Vista 64 but its the same download for Vista 32.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/fil...ndows+Vista*+64&lang=eng&strOSs=150&submit=Go!

This may fix the lockups / crashes, its worth a try

 

Apparently, _Vista and the Intel RAID manager do not like each other very much. Intel has a brief discussion of the contretemps, and some suggested work-arounds, here.

 

I downloaded the newest versions of the Intel Manager but unfortunately the problem still seems to be not resolved. I'm a bit reluctant to take my computer in for service for a couple of reasons:

1. I've had this happen before and not just with computers, but I've taken in things for service where they tell me there is absolutely nothing wrong with the thing and give whatever it is I'm trying to get fixed back to me still broken. I continue to insist and sometimes unfortunately they never do end up fixing the thing.

2. I'm in school and need a computer to write papers because a lot of them are due now because it is getting close to the end of the semester. I'll put up with the temp. lock-ups in return for having something I can actually do my assignments on.

I'll try looking at he RAM and running diagnostics on the hard drive.

 

Have you checked under the event logs to see if anything's been logged regarding the lockups?

 

Virtually every lockup or pause I have experienced on Vista has been directly correlated with a loss of Verizon DSL signal.

 

if you are hearing clicking noises from the hard disk, it is very likely that the hard disk is about to fail. If you check the event log you probably will find a bunch of I/O errors in the System log.

 

I checked the log tonight and lo and behold the event viewer does pick-up the lock-ups (I check the clock and it matches up everytime the computer locks up). The event viewer says that "The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."

Log Name: System
Source: iaStor
Event ID: 9

 

this typically means that the HDD is doing a bunch of retries. Not good news, I'm afraid. You should use a tool like the one below to check the HDD SMART values and confirm that they are in the threshold for replacement:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=703&sid=3&lang=en

 

I agree completely; were I you, I'd make a complete backup immediately, and then get ready to fund a replacement hdd.