Windows 7 freeze on file save

[Harleey]

We have 3 office computers on Windows 7 Pro and one on Windows XP and a server running Server 2008 R2. The Windows 7 computers will freeze at what appears to be random times when saving a file. This happens mostly when saving scanned files or Outlook attachments. It has never happened in Word or Excel and never happpens to the Windows XP computer. Also it doesn't matter if the file is saved locally or on the network. Very often the computer that freezes will freeze 3 or 4 times in a row and then work fine for several days. I have been keeping Process Explorer open on one monitor to try to monitor what is happening but havn't found anything so far. By freezing I mean the programs stop responding and lastly the mouse stops. A reset is the only way to get up and running again.

 

[Shintaro]

Welcome to the W7 Forums.

My apology for the slow responce.

You could try Driver Verifier on the machine that is freezing.

Driver verifier

Using Driver Verifier is an iffy proposition. Most times it'll crash and it'll tell you what the driver is. But sometimes it'll crash and won't tell you the driver. Other times it'll crash before you can log in to Windows. If you can't get to Safe Mode, then you'll have to resort to offline editing of the registry to disable Driver Verifier.

So, I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise.
Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

Then, here's the procedure:

1. Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
3. Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
4. Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Special Pool", "Force Pending I/O Requests" and "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
5. Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
6. Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
7. Select "Finish" on the next page.

• Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen.
• Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly.
• The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out.

If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation.

Reboot into Windows (after the crash) and turn off Driver Verifier by going back in and selecting "Delete existing settings" on the first page, then locate and zip up the memory dump file and upload it with your next post.

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

 

[Harleey]

Thanks Shintaro for your suggestion. I wil ltry it and see what i can find. This problem may not show up for several days and because of this, my update posts may also be slow but I will post what I find.

 

[Shintaro]

Hi, just wondering if you have had any more crashes?

 

[Harleey]

Hi. Yes, I have been having lots of computer freezes. I have discussed it with a local computer service person and mentioned that I had used an Acronis disk image from computer 1 to update computer 2 from XP to Windows 7. It was after this that the computers started to freeze. On computer 2 I did change the OS license to the correct code and did change the computer name but he thought that even though Acronis is supposed to be able to be reinstalled on different hardware there might be some network information deep in the registry or system that may still be the same on both computers and causing a conflict. So his suggestion was to do a clean reinstall of Windows 7 and all programs on computer 2. So now I'm in the process of reinstalling. Tis a tedious job when you have lots of programs to reistall & update! I will post again after this reinstall.