freeze and close program

[tfrosty1]

get message "program not responding" and computer is frozen. This has happened with Outlook Express 6 and also with Windows Exel. When this happens I invoke the "close program" dialog box and touch "end program" Program does not end and computer is still frozen on the original screen. A message comes up concerning error message reporting. No difference if I say yes report error or no. Start Shut Down will not shut computer down. Last resort kill power to unit. Wait a while and reboot. This does work, but not a recommended course of action. Never had this problem with Windows 98 SE. Did have occcasional freeze, but "close program" always worked.

Any Ideas?

[cluberti]

Does the problem occur in safe mode w/networking? If you've got a PS/2 keyboard, you can also do this to generate a complete memory dump the next time your computer does this:

First, make sure that your paging file is at least the size of physical RAM +50MB or so, and that it is on the drive or partition where Windows is installed. Then, do the following:

1. Create or set the following registry value:

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters

Value: CrashOnCtrlScroll

Type: REG_DWORD

Data: 1

2. Right-Click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Properties"; this will open the "System Properties" window. Go to the "Advanced" tab and click "Performance Options". Click "Change" under "Virtual Memory". Set the pagefile to be located on the partition where the OS is installed, and set it to be equal to Physical RAM + 50 MB.

3. Also in the "System Properties" window, click on the "Advanced" tab, then click "Startup and Recovery". Make sure "Complete Memory Dump" is selected (see 3a if this is not in the list). You can change the location of the memory dump file to a different local partition if you do not have enough room on the partition where the OS is installed.

3a. If the "Complete Memory Dump" option in step 4 is not available, you will need to manually set this registry value:

Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl

Value: CrashDumpEnabled

Type: REG_DWORD

Value: 1

4. You will need to reboot for these changes to take effect.

The next time your computer hangs like this, on the keyboard, hold down the RIGHT-hand CTRL key and then press the Scroll Lock key twice. This will bugcheck the box (with a STOP 0xE2), and do a complete memory dump. Once the dump completes, and the computer is restarted, the dump file can then be analyzed to see what's hanging your box.

[tfrosty1]

Thanks very much for the detailed help. Unfortunately, I do not have the confidence required to edit my registry files. Problem does not occur in the safe mode w/ networking. So far, only while using OE6 and MS Excel.

Thanks again