Strange issue with loading web pages

I have an HP HDX 18t. It's only about 3 months old. I have not called HP support yet, as it's a pain in the *ss, so I wan't to try here first. Running on Vista. This happens on any browser I have tried: IE, Firefox, Opera. All OS and software is up-to-date. This usually happens after several hours of use.

I'm on the internet, browsing through various pages, regardless of what it is, and all of the sudden the page just hangs there and waits for it to load. Usually, the system says it's waiting for a reply, but nothing ever loads. Internet connection is good because I can send/receive e-mail, I can run various internet radio stations through Winamp, Yahoo Messenger and Skype also work without any issues. But web pages just stop responding. Nothing will load. The only option is to re-boot, which is also strange because at that point if I try to re-boot, it takes about4-5 minutes for the system to respond before it shuts down.

Any ideas? Nothing works, even if I try to disable the firewall (ZoneAlarm) and Anti-Virus (Avast) - it still will not work. Only re-booting seems to do the trick.

 

Is uTorrent running, even if you're not downloading or uploading anything?

 

If it's not browser or network related, then it's resource management related. Several hours of browsing, along with some programs thrown in sounds about right for a 32 bit 18.

If you're running a 32 bit HDX 18, then you're limited to the 3gb of DDR RAM it can see, and hence susceptible to resource management problems. If it happens more when your system has been up for some time and you haven't rebooted, then available system RAM is probably getting to critical levels and causing slowdowns. I deal with it on my 64 bit HDX after my system has been hibernating for some time - when it comes out, the processing and RAM usage is always up as it tries to catch up on tasks.

Aside from your background processes, any program you run is allocated a set amount of RAM for operation by the system - however, when you shut it down, and / or a background process stops, the same amount that was initially given to the program/process for operation isn't given back to the system; it's always less. Over time if you don't reboot or have a utility to reclaim the used RAM not given back, your available RAM reaches a critical level and your system starts using your hard drive as a virtual RAM device.

You can always verify your system resources are low by opening your Task Manager and looking at your CPU and RAM performance levels. Also, if you check your Event Viewer, (Control Panel, Admin Tools, Event Viewer) and look at the Application & Services/Microsoft/Windows/Resource Exhaustion log (click on Operational), it'll also show you when resources get to a low level and is detected by the system.

Even if it's happening and it's not after a hibernation, if you've got too much running in the background along with ZA and an A/V program, on a 32 bit Vista system, that's a lot of resource management. There's a program I used before I got my HDX (I still use it on my other systems) called Memory Boost, which allows you to reclaim used RAM from the System to get back lost resources. It monitors your available RAM, and shows you in real time when it gets to a critical level so you can reclaim it. You can download it as a full trial version: Memory Boost

In addition to reclaiming usable RAM, it also lets you see which processes are RAM hogs so you can shut them down after booting or target them for shutting off in the Startup Manager. You can also set the upper/lower limit of available RAM you wish to be notified at.

 

I'm not so sure it's resource management related. When this happens I have no other programs running. Just a browser (IE). I had an older HP ZT3000 with with only 1GB of memory and I was running the same programs and never had any issues. This is actually a recent development. I have not added any new software. I checked to see if RAM is being overtasked and it is not. I think the key here is that regardless of what browser is used the status always says "Waiting for ......to respond." Every other program works when this happens except the browser. It finds a specific address and contects to it but it just freezes up.