Diagnosing a PC Suddenly Locking Up

My Windows 8 PC that I use for video production suddenly started locking up a few days ago.  Between actions in Windows Explorer and my Backup Utility, it would hang for minutes at a time before letting me continue.  At one point the computer locked up for several minutes, so I did a force shut-down by holding the power button.

A restart seemed the most obvious choice when the problems continued the second time I used the computer, but it still didn't solve the problem.

The Task Manager would not launch the third time I ran the computer after the problems started.

What's the Problem?

My initial diagnosis is either corrupt system files or bad RAM.

When I called my tech guy and explained the problem he was very sure that the problem lay in free space on both of my drives.  I have 20GB free on my 120GB drive that runs Windows 8 and my secondary drive used for some data is 99% full (23.4GB free of 1.81TB).

Previously, I had less free space on my C:/ drive and did not have these problems before.  Recently my D:/ drive has had less and less space since I use it for Adobe Premiere Cache files, but the only slight issue I would run into is the drive taking a little longer to access.  Sometimes Adobe Premiere Pro would have lag issues and then not playback the actual

The tech guy recommended installing a larger drive as my OS drive and making sure I have plenty of free hard drive space, as I have 16GB of RAM and sometimes the computer will need to have more space for Virtual RAM.

I tried plugging in a flash drive to start backing up some project documents and the Flash drive wasn't even recognized as being connected.  This almost never happens.

The Control Panel had a spinning wheel on loading and after several minutes still did not show anything except a loading bar.

Ruling Out Possibilities

There are free programs to test RAM, and since Windows doesn't seem to be working normally, I'd prefer to run a utility that can do its test outside of Windows. MemTest86 seems to be the go-to program for most tech people.

If the RAM is fine, then the problem likely lies in corrupt system files or not having enough free drive space on my D:/ hard drive (remember, it's 99% full).

4 Free Memory Test Programs (Updated August 2017)
MemTest86 (free)
Runs on a Flash drive or Disc before the computer boots into the OS.
"MemTest86 doesn't need an operating system to run a memory test. However, it does require an OS to burn the program to a bootable device. This can be done using any version of Windows, as well as with Mac or Linux."

MemTest86 v7.4 Free Memory Testing Tool Review

Why I'm Going to Reinstall Windows, Regardless

Since I'm still running Windows 8 from when I originally setup this desktop in the spring of 2014 (3.5 years), it's worth doing a Windows reinstall to see if that fixes the problem.  If that doesn't make the world right again, then it's some faulty hardware.  I was running old versions of some software, and had not done some Windows updates.

Saving Some Files Before the Reinstall

To backup some files from the separate D:/ drive hard drive that I may need, I could run a Ubuntu live disc and see if I can copy over some files from a flash drive.  If connecting a flash drive to the computer doesn't work, then the only way I can backup some of these files is to the Dropbox website or Google Drive, if I can get a few programs to run simultaneously without things locking up to the point that I need to shut down the computer again.

How to tell when your Mac turned on

The Console Application shows when things happened on your mac.

To find out when you're mac turned on or awoke from sleep, follow these steps:

Open the Console Application from Applications > Utilities > Console.

From the left menu, view the System.log

Entries listed in the log as "System Wake" show when your mac was turned on from Sleep.

Error code 0x8002006E When Burning a Disc

Today while burning a CD in the Finder, this error message popped up.  I run a late 2007 model 2.2Ghz MacBook Pro and Leopard 10.5.8

Error code 0x8002006E

I've seen similar error messages before when burning DVD+R's.  I solved the problem before by getting out a laser lens cleaner and running it.  Trying other blank DVDs from the same spindle to rule out a bad disc did not solve the problem before.

This solved the problem today:

I inserted a CD lens cleaner and let it work for over a minute.  (It was spinning very loudly while the disc played in iTunes.)

Afterwards I inserted another blank Sony CD-R from the same pack and tried to burn the same files again. It worked and verified successfully.

I found suggestions for how to fix this error code by checking out this forum page:

Error Code 0x8002006E [Archive] - MacRumors Forums

Testing your Optimum ISP connection speed

Bresnan was recently bought out by the company that owns Optimum. After speaking with a customer service rep. this week to help diagnose connection speed issues, he pointed me to the Optimum Speedcheck for customers in the West.

* Left click on the large speedometer.  No change will happen.
* Type the letter 'S'.  A Support Mode box will appear.

* Now click on the city nearest you to start the speed test.  (Being in Southwest Montana the rep had me choose Billings, MT for the testing city.)

When the first test runs, (which took only about 15 seconds on our connection), it will test the download speed. When that finishes, the second part, the upload test will run automatically.

After the testing is finished, you'll see both your download and upload speed displayed.

Our connection speed was only about one half of what we are paying for, but Optimum was not at fault.  Our wireless connection was causing the issue, which we determined after I connected my laptop directly to the wireless router with an Ethernet CAT5 cable.  The connection speed was a full 18,000 kbps per second, what the support rep. said it was supposed to be.

Our other roommate has his computer upstairs almost directly above the router and he had a 15,000 kbps connection when we tested his laptop.

Late 2007 MacBook Pro video card defect

My 2.2GHz MacBook Pro (late 2007) suddenly threw me a kernel panic a couple of weeks ago when I came home after it had been on for the evening. Upon shutting down the mac and booting up again, a strange pattern of gray lines started appearing right after the Apple logo appeared. Within a few more seconds, a crazy pattern of gray and black lines were on the screen and another kernel panic had appeared. This was not good, but as long as my hard drive was not dead, I knew I would survive.

Unfortunately I did not snap a photo before taking my mac in to the local Apple authorized repair center. Another blogger Irrashi had the images below on his post MBP: Distorted Video Problem, which are very similar to the scrambled video and following kernel panic I saw when my mac was having the video problem.








The video card was defective, as with many other MacBook Pro models from 2007-2008, and the repair was done completely free of charge and my laptop was ready for pickup the next day.

Apple requires their authorized technicians to ship back the faulty part within 48 hours of completing the repair. This makes it tough for small businesses that have only one or two technicians, but it does mean that you'll get your mac repaired very quickly if you ever need to take it in.

Learn More:
MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues - Apple.com

Mac Solutions: Eject stubborn discs

When a CD/DVD disc will not eject, or does not show up on the mac desktop, enter this command in the Terminal application to eject the disc:

drutil tray eject 0

Logitech USB 250 Headset problems on a mac

While using my Logitech USB Headset 250 for the first time on Skype, the headset suddenly lost the audio, then I could hear popping sounds, then nothing. I opened the System Preferences and the headset was no longer listed under the Audio pane.

Restarting my machine got the headset to appear again. Only a few moments later, the headset disappeared again from the Audio in System Preferences. I had not opened Skype or any other audio apps.

Uninitialized Data Requested - Parallels

How to fix the Uninitialized data requested error when loading a Parallels virtual machine.
(You may also see uninitialized data request.)

Today my Windows XP virtual machine hung while shutting down, so I stopped the virtual machine. When I tried to run Parallels again, it tried to load for a few moments and then showed this error message.

If you closed Parallels when a virtual machine was frozen or hanging, you might see this error message.

To fix this problem, simply restart your mac. It worked for me and Parallels loaded up just as quickly as it normally does. If simply restarting does not work, you'll probably need to reinstall Parallels, but your VM should remain intact.

Others like you have had this same problem with Parallels locking up after a frozen machine being stopped. Read more on the Parallels forum thread about this issue.