Windows 7 Freezing

[Gene Wirchenko]

Dear Win7ers:

I have two systems on my physical desktop: my XP box (my main
system) and my Win7 box (a development system). I use a KDM
(Keyboard-Display-Mouse switch).

Sometimes, the Win7 system will freeze. When I switch to it, I
see the password screen, but nothing I type is entered into the
password box. This does not happen often. It does not seem to be
time-related as I have sometimes not used the Win7 system for days.

The Win7 system is set to go quiet. When it has not been used
for a while -- I have never figured out how long this is -- I have to
press the power button to wake it up. This is not a reboot; any
programs that were running are running when I sign on.

I suppose this could be the fault of the KDM -- a KDM is rather a
dancing bear -- but not necessarily. Does anyone have any checks that
I can do?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Dear Win7ers:

I have two systems on my physical desktop: my XP box (my main
system) and my Win7 box (a development system). I use a KDM
(Keyboard-Display-Mouse switch).

Sometimes, the Win7 system will freeze. When I switch to it, I
see the password screen, but nothing I type is entered into the
password box. This does not happen often. It does not seem to be
time-related as I have sometimes not used the Win7 system for days.

The Win7 system is set to go quiet. When it has not been used
for a while -- I have never figured out how long this is -- I have to
press the power button to wake it up. This is not a reboot; any
programs that were running are running when I sign on.

I suppose this could be the fault of the KDM -- a KDM is rather a
dancing bear -- but not necessarily. Does anyone have any checks that
I can do?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

The obvious one: raid your parts bin so you can try it with separate
devices rather than via a switch.

 

[Bob I]

Dear Win7ers:

I have two systems on my physical desktop: my XP box (my main
system) and my Win7 box (a development system). I use a KDM
(Keyboard-Display-Mouse switch).

Sometimes, the Win7 system will freeze. When I switch to it, I
see the password screen, but nothing I type is entered into the
password box. This does not happen often. It does not seem to be
time-related as I have sometimes not used the Win7 system for days.

The Win7 system is set to go quiet. When it has not been used
for a while -- I have never figured out how long this is -- I have to
press the power button to wake it up. This is not a reboot; any
programs that were running are running when I sign on.

I suppose this could be the fault of the KDM -- a KDM is rather a
dancing bear -- but not necessarily. Does anyone have any checks that
I can do?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Do you have anything set to wake it from stand-by? If not, then the
power button is all that is left.

 

[Jake]

I suppose this could be the fault of the KDM -- a KDM is rather a
dancing bear -- but not necessarily. Does anyone have any checks that
I can do?

Make and model of the KDM?

Are any of the devices wireless?

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

Make and model of the KDM?

D-Link KVM-121.

It appears that I have been using the wrong acronym. I thought
it was "K*D*M" for Display, but it is "K*V*M" for Video.

Are any of the devices wireless?

No.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Dear Win7ers:

I have two systems on my physical desktop: my XP box (my main
system) and my Win7 box (a development system). I use a KDM
(Keyboard-Display-Mouse switch).

Not an unusual setup.

Sometimes, the Win7 system will freeze. When I switch to it, I
see the password screen, but nothing I type is entered into the
password box. This does not happen often. It does not seem to be
time-related as I have sometimes not used the Win7 system for days.

Sounds like the KVM isn't keeping power going to the Win7 system's
keyboard/mouse inputs. The KVM is supposed to keep sending keep alive
type messages to the inputs of the background system just so the system
doesn't think the keyboard and mouse have disappeared. What type of KVM
inputs is it, i.e. is it PS/2 or USB?

The Win7 system is set to go quiet. When it has not been used
for a while -- I have never figured out how long this is -- I have to
press the power button to wake it up. This is not a reboot; any
programs that were running are running when I sign on.

This simply sounds like the system is being awoken from sleep mode.

I suppose this could be the fault of the KDM -- a KDM is rather a
dancing bear -- but not necessarily. Does anyone have any checks that
I can do?

First thing, you should check the Event Viewer of the Win 7 system for
error messages.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Jolly polly]

Dear Win7ers:

I have two systems on my physical desktop: my XP box (my main
system) and my Win7 box (a development system). I use a KDM
(Keyboard-Display-Mouse switch).

Sometimes, the Win7 system will freeze. When I switch to it, I
see the password screen, but nothing I type is entered into the
password box. This does not happen often. It does not seem to be
time-related as I have sometimes not used the Win7 system for days.

The Win7 system is set to go quiet. When it has not been used
for a while -- I have never figured out how long this is -- I have to
press the power button to wake it up. This is not a reboot; any
programs that were running are running when I sign on.

I suppose this could be the fault of the KDM -- a KDM is rather a
dancing bear -- but not necessarily. Does anyone have any checks that
I can do?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

first of all, disable sleep mode
and hibernation mode
control panel > power options
check to see if problem persists.
If it does try a standard mouse keyboard arrangement
check to see if problem persists.
if it does you'll have to determine if the problem is hardware or software
based. Run a DFT (Disk Fitness Test) on the hard drive and a program like PC
Check on the rest of the system, if they all pass the problem probably lies
with the OS, a format and reinstall is probably quickest way to sort that.

if you do get sorted leave a message here on how you did it, this will help
others in the future

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

[snip]

first of all, disable sleep mode
and hibernation mode
control panel > power options
check to see if problem persists.

AFAIK, that is the case.

If it does try a standard mouse keyboard arrangement
check to see if problem persists.
if it does you'll have to determine if the problem is hardware or software
based. Run a DFT (Disk Fitness Test) on the hard drive and a program like PC
Check on the rest of the system, if they all pass the problem probably lies
with the OS, a format and reinstall is probably quickest way to sort that.

if you do get sorted leave a message here on how you did it, this will help
others in the future

I am wondering about a point. I sometimes have mounted a USB
memory stick before pressing the power button to wake the system. At
least sometimes, this has caused a hang. I am not sure if this is the
only situation and if it always does that. For now, I am going to
experiment with this over the next week or so.

I did the USB mount as above just now and got a blue screen for
my trouble. Progress is being made?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

[snip]

if you do get sorted leave a message here on how you did it, this will help
others in the future

I think that I am there now. The USB drive did it.

I am wondering about a point. I sometimes have mounted a USB
memory stick before pressing the power button to wake the system. At
least sometimes, this has caused a hang. I am not sure if this is the
only situation and if it always does that. For now, I am going to
experiment with this over the next week or so.

I did the USB mount as above just now and got a blue screen for
my trouble. Progress is being made?

Mounting a USB drive before pressing the power button to wake the
system seems to cause trouble. Maybe not quite always, but often
enough that I will not be doing it in the future.

Maybe Windows is not aware that it was asleep and the change in
device configuration causes confusion?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Jolly polly]

[snip]

if you do get sorted leave a message here on how you did it, this will
help
others in the future

I think that I am there now. The USB drive did it.

I am wondering about a point. I sometimes have mounted a USB
memory stick before pressing the power button to wake the system. At
least sometimes, this has caused a hang. I am not sure if this is the
only situation and if it always does that. For now, I am going to
experiment with this over the next week or so.

I did the USB mount as above just now and got a blue screen for
my trouble. Progress is being made?

Mounting a USB drive before pressing the power button to wake the
system seems to cause trouble. Maybe not quite always, but often
enough that I will not be doing it in the future.

Maybe Windows is not aware that it was asleep and the change in
device configuration causes confusion?

Take a look at the BIOS settings
have a look under the boot sequence and change if necessary