Vista - Manual reboot after freeze harm computer?

Periodically, my Vista SP1 PC freezes up. The mouse vanishes unless you move
to to the bottom of the screen where the taskbar is -- and you'll see a
spinning blue circle - but no keys or clicks work.

Here's the question. When this happens, does manually restarting by holding
down the power button damage the computer or performance or reliability of
Vista?

M. Krantz wrote:
Possibly. It is never good to do a hard shutdown/restart. You should find
out what is causing the freezing. It could be bad hardware, bad software
(legitimate or otherwise), driver issues. There is no way to give you
focused troubleshooting from the information provided. Start trying to
narrow down your troubleshooting by looking at Event Viewer and thinking
about what you are doing when the freezes occur.

Start Orb>Search box>type: eventvwr.msc

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Hi. Both freezes occured after I visited my Windows Live Spaces page using
Internet Explorer 7. Took the whole system down both times.

I am running Vista SP1. I use all the Microsoft furnished drivers whenever
possible, for my graphics card, on-board audio, etc., since I've found that
the drivers provided by the manufacturers (nVidia and Dell) to sometimes
create problems. I go to device manager and ask Vista to update the drivers
-- and then use the drivers it suggests and installs.

"Malke" wrote:

Hi M. Krantz,

It's usually not a good idea to do a hard shutdown if you can help it. It can cause corruption on the hard drive and data loss. When the computer restarts, select "Last known good configuration" or "Start Windows Normally". This can ultimately be fixed by doing a clean install if the corruption is to bad, otherwise chkdsk may be able to fix the corruption. It will not physically hurt the computer doing this just periodically though.

I would try to find out what is causing the computer to freeze up and fix the problem. Take a look at the "Reliability Monitor" to see if it can help you find out what is causing the problem. You can see how here if needed:

Reliabilty Monitor


Hope this helps,
Shawn

M. Krantz wrote:
I'm sorry to tell you this, but you have where to get drivers exactly
backwards. There are no "Microsoft furnished drivers" anyway; all the
drivers that come with Vista were written and supplied by the hardware
mftrs., not Microsoft.

Since you have a Dell, you should only be getting drivers from Dell for your
specific model computer.

Your problem could be caused by a bad network adapter driver but also could
be caused by a dodgy/faulty add-on in Internet Explorer. Troubleshoot by
using IE in no-addon mode and also by using Firefox. If you have no issues
with IE in no-addon mode and/or when using Firefox, you need to find out
which add-on is the culprit.

Run IE7 without add-ons - Start > Run>iexplore.exe -extoff [enter] OR
Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)
MS webpage explaining add-ons: http://tinyurl.com/2tro8f

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Thanks. I do not use any IE plug-ins because they have caused issues in the
past.

Drivers have been a challenge. The Dell-furnished nVidia driver, for
instance, caused my system to have display issues, mainly in inserting static
into MS-DVR files I converted to WMV files using Windows Movie Maker. When I
replaced the driver by the one Vista Device Manager suggested, that problem
vanished.

Then, with the Dell furnished Audio driver (Sigmatel), the MSFT Knowledge
base said there is a problem with the driver that prevented me from
installing SP1 using Windows Update. People on the Dell Forum suggested
removing the Dell furnished Sigmatel audio driver and replacing it with the
High-Def Audio driver installed by Vista. And voila, SP1 installed. Dell
still has not updated the Sigmatel driver flagged by Microsoft as being
problematic.

It seems as if the hardware manufacturers don't want to be bothered with
writing drivers - and see that to be the responsiblity of the OS provider.
Meanwhile, the OS provider, understandably, can't be expected to write
drivers for the millions of devices out there. It just leaves the user in a
pickle - causes system freezes - and frustration.

With that said, perhaps I need to see if I can find a better driver for my
network card and try that.

"Malke" wrote:

M. Krantz,

See if using IE7 with no add-ons in Step One of this tutorial will allow you to go to the site without problems. If it does, then you have a bad IE7 add-on installed. Follow the rest of the instructions to find out which one it is.

Internet Explorer - Reset


Shawn

According to this article by John Swenson, writer on the Windows team at
Microsoft, Vista users should first use the Windows Update drivers. Only if
the hardware isn't working or the drivers aren't available from Windows
Update should one look for drivers from manufacturers themselves. The article
really encourages users to stick with the drivers that Windows suggests.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Win...9ee4d1033.mspx

Mr. Krantz,

That is mostly to help people that do not know what they are looking for make sure that they have drivers that will work, usually . In my opinion, if you want the latest driver versions or betas, it is always best to get them straight from the manufacturer website. MS Windows Update does not always have the latest versions and may sometimes incorrectly ID the device giving you the wrong driver.

Shawn