kartalcik Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I have installed bootcamp and xp. Everything is working fine except the fact that i am getting random freezing for couple of seconds. And Xp would go back to normal state afterwards. Couple of times i tried to watch task manager and i have not seen any cpu spikes. I used ultimate bootcd to do memory test. That did not return any error as well. What happens is that i loose myboard and mouse, if any music playing, player locks and repeats the half second of music over and over. And sometimes it looks like built in wireless card resets itself tries to reconnect after freezing goes away. I tried disabling power saving feature on Usb hub as recommended on the site. It looked like it helped little bit. But I am yet getting the issue here and there. More than anything else it is annoying! I feel like it has something to do with the wireless card`s power failure but i cannot give any evidence. Under macos i did not get this kind of freezing. ALthou i have not tested it heavily please help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFI Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 What's your Mac model? This happened to me in my Macbook Pro's 20Gb NTFS bootcamp partition as well, which has Windows XP Pro SP2 installed. I solved it. What happened was I was installing and unistalling so many games (like about 15)...that the NTFS (XP) partition became extremely fragmented after a while as a result. Then the laptop randomly locked up under Windows XP only (OS X was perfectly fine), and If I were to play a game, would freeze, and the sound would go into a loop. Sometimes XP would permantly lockup, and if a sound was playing in the background...it would go into a terminal infinite loop. I checked the startup items, and processes as well...and everything was clear. I then did a disk cleanup and then defragmented the XP volume right after that...and this stopped the random freezes altogether. You might want to give that a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoic43 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 I have the same issue on my MacBook Pro running Vista Ultimate.. I get the random freezing almost daily, with the sound stutter if theirs any music playing, ive re-installed the OS and still have the same issue.. thought it might me an overheating issue at first, since the machine gets quite hot, but no indication of that being the cause so far as it freezed no matter if my CPUs at 55 or 65 degrees. I regularly run disk cleanup and defrag my HD though doesn’t help in my case.. The freezes normally only last a few seconds then the machine comes back to life, though its extremely annoying.. Since this was my first Apple product, ive put it down to CrApple hardware, wish i got an alienware instead.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFI Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 ive put it down to CrApple hardware, wish i got an alienware instead..[/size][/font] It has nothing to do with Apple hardware, since the issue does NOT happen under OS X as well. It's crappy Vista (and poor fragmentation issues of Xp in my case), that is the result of this. It's got nothing to do with heat issues. My 8600M GT has reached scorching 95C during intense gaming action with high end shader graphics...and the MBP still blazes in the game with no stutters, freezes or crashes. It can handle far more heat than that due to the Aluminum enclosure. The Alienware's case will warp (plastic) if it ever reaches that hot...which is why they look like tanks in real life, because they need to spread all that heat, as they are made of plastic. Make sure you don't have any viruses (you are running Windows, after all) that might be spiking the processor usage causing it to momentarily hang. Check your startup items and see if you have any strange process that startup during system load. Check the systems "tasks" that also startup...that and the one before that are totally different processes. Generally you should be able ot narrow it down to the startup process, but if you can't go deeper into the startup system tasks...and see in that. Both of those menus can be accessed by going to msconfig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoic43 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 My system doesnt have ANY VIRUSES, im a windows/solaris certified sysadmin i know how to take care of my kit!! Id agree that the windows built in Defrag sucks, thats why i use third part apps that i trust.. as far as defragging goes my system is at peak performance.. Same goes for my start-up, services .etc they are all optimised with every non essential app/service switched off.. I have plenty of HD space and 3GB of RAM on my MacBook Pro.. I also have a lower spec 2year old alienware with a mere 500MB of ram that is also running Vista Ultimate.. my Alienware doesnt stall but my Mac does.. you figure it out!! id like to give apple and my shiny Mac the benefit of the doubt, but i cant see anything that points to it being otherwise.. I apologise if im a bit pissed, but 2k+ for a system that randomly freezes is enough to tick anyone off.. Nb. sysinternals is better than msconfig.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFI Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 My system doesnt have ANY VIRUSES, im a windows/solaris certified sysadmin i know how to take care of my kit!! Id agree that the windows built in Defrag sucks, thats why i use third part apps that i trust.. as far as defragging goes my system is at peak performance.. Same goes for my start-up, services .etc they are all optimised with every non essential app/service switched off.. I have plenty of HD space and 3GB of RAM on my MacBook Pro.. I also have a lower spec 2year old alienware with a mere 500MB of ram that is also running Vista Ultimate.. my Alienware doesnt stall but my Mac does.. you figure it out!! id like to give apple and my shiny Mac the benefit of the doubt, but i cant see anything that points to it being otherwise.. I apologise if im a bit pissed, but 2k+ for a system that randomly freezes is enough to tick anyone off.. Nb. sysinternals is better than msconfig.. Maybe it's got something to do with the Apple drivers for the Macbook Pro then. Because, if the Alienware does not stall, but the MBP does...then it has to be most likely the support drivers that Apple provided. When I ran Vista Ultimate on my MBP...nothing was wrong, everything ran smooth, other than the fact that the OS was using up 600MB when I was doing absolutely nothing (right after startup too). Other than that, Vista did run really smooth, but that was becuase I had 4GB of RAM to back me up. Are you running Vista as your main OS? (ie more partition space allocated to it than OS X). If you are, and this problem persists...I would go to the Genius Bar, and get your MBP checked out. What worries me is whether or not they will help customers with Bootcamp issues, since Bootcamp is beta, and is not suported officially by Apple. It's kind of a "use it at your own risk" sort of matter. Have you tried XP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoic43 Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 My drive is split 70/30 to Vista which runs smoothly on my MBP, except for the Random freezing which happens at least once a day. Not sure if the Genius Bar can help, even if they do agree to look at a bootcamp setup, they will no doubt want to replicate the freezes to see for themselves.. and so far i cant seem to find what causes them never mind replicate a freeze.. Haven’t tried XP though reading “Kartalcik”s post, he has the exact same symptoms as me running on XP, so not sure if its worth installing Xp just to try and find out.. Nb. Your 600MB might be due to superfetch or one of its derivatives, its vista trying to be smart by putting commonly run exe’s into memory.. I guess ill give the Genius Bar ago and if i cant get an answer.. ill just call it my ‘3 second’ freeze break and live with it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orbitalpunk Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 im having the same problem on my mac pro when playing the bf2 and bioshock demos. it never happened before last month. the changes i have made were the firmware update recently and changing my 4 cores to 8 myself. just can't figure it out. ill try the defrag. its not the drivers cause i reinstalled xp and used the old bootcamp disc already. please post a solution if you find one. i get the same freeze and audio loop as well. sucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoic43 Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 Lets look at this deductively.. We all seem to have different machine configurations, hardware .etc What we have in common (machine/configurations): - Using Apple Mac hardware. - Running Windows XP or Vista. - And using bootcamp. Common Symptoms: - Random freezing for ~3 seconds before machine resumes operation - Weird audio loop occurring during the freezing phase if any sound is playing. Possible issues: - Viruses (Nope: my systems clean and still freezes) - CPU spikes (Nope: freezes occure regardless of cpu) - Overheating (Nope: freezes seems to occur at any heat) - Harddisk Space (Nope: plentiful and hd split 70/30 to Vista) - Memory (Nope: Kartalcik ruled that out with a bootcd memory test) - Drivers (Possible: though its hard to tell if a beta bootcamp driver is causing the freezes) - OS (Possible: though freezing only seems to occur on MacHardware e.g. other laptops/machines ok) - Defragmented disks (Possible: though even after a clean install im still effected, also ive seen extremely defragmented systems 5+ years of abuse, at best that slows down the system considerably, though dosent freeze it!!) Any other sugestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kartalcik Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 If i disable bootcamp taskbar feature, freezing seems to go away. Could you guys try out ? Also open your "msconfig", you can type to run box also, and disable bootcamp from startup menu, so it does not load when Windows starts. I believe i also disabled apple keyboard driver. I use "input remapper" instead O personally think that it has something to do with apple drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoic43 Posted September 3, 2007 Share Posted September 3, 2007 Freezing Stopped :-) Cause: bootcamp taskbar feature.. After disabling the bootcamp taskbar feature for almost a week, i can now concur with ‘kartalcik’ findings that it was indeed the cause of the freezing, hopefully apple will fix this bug during the next beta release.. Thanks kartalcik.. --- Update: Possibly related.. seems my builtin Keyboard no longer works during Windows Boot (e.g. repair menus, options .etc) though i can live without it for now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damnatus Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 I just registered because I have the same problem. I'm on a Mac Pro. I never freeze in anything outside of a game, though. The games I have tried recently are the Bioshock Demo, Warfront: Turning Point, Tabula Rasa Beta and Warhammer Online beta. All of these games crash even when I disabled the bootcamp startup feature. Before I disabled it, City of Heroes/Villains would freeze and I would have to press the power button, but it happened quite a bit into the game compared to the ones I mentioned (which all crash within minutes of me playing the game). Can anyone help me? I'm thinking of reverting back to an older version of Boot Camp, as my Windows side is used primarily to play games (work on the OSX side). Is there any way to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kartalcik Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 i am glad that my suggestion solved your problem. From what i can tell I was the only one found out issue with bootcamp software. WHen i discovered the solution i was so happy. I am sure you are happier person too Freezing Stopped :-)Cause: bootcamp taskbar feature..After disabling the bootcamp taskbar feature for almost a week, i can now concur with 'kartalcik' findings that it was indeed the cause of the freezing, hopefully apple will fix this bug during the next beta release..Thanks kartalcik..---Update: Possibly related.. seems my builtin Keyboard no longer works during Windows Boot (e.g. repair menus, options .etc) though i can live without it for now..Damnatus I do not think that what you are having is same as our problem. Yours sound more like opengl-direct x driver to me. Try reinstalling direct x and bootcamp nvidia driver. Also if you are using a special game controler it may cause problems too. Try attaching to different usb port. Or look for never drivers for your game controller. I just registered because I have the same problem. I'm on a Mac Pro.I never freeze in anything outside of a game, though. The games I have tried recently are the Bioshock Demo, Warfront: Turning Point, Tabula Rasa Beta and Warhammer Online beta. All of these games crash even when I disabled the bootcamp startup feature. Before I disabled it, City of Heroes/Villains would freeze and I would have to press the power button, but it happened quite a bit into the game compared to the ones I mentioned (which all crash within minutes of me playing the game).Can anyone help me? I'm thinking of reverting back to an older version of Boot Camp, as my Windows side is used primarily to play games (work on the OSX side). Is there any way to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoic43 Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Kartalcik thanks for figuring out the ‘bootcamp’ issue its been bugging me for a long time.. 'Damnatus' it does seem that you have different freezing issue, that could be due to your graphics drivers.. I generally always use the latest graphics driver and have had no problems playing Bioshock, i've also installed the Bioshock graphics patches (check google) though that’s only for minor in game graphic bugs, but worth trying.. You could also try downloading the latest nvidia/ati drivers instead of using the old ones that come with bootcamp.. There’s plenty of guides to using the latest graphics drivers, hers the sites i use for my laptop with an ATI card, check your specs and the net for similar updates for your setup: http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/ati.htm http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/ati.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damnatus Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 I downloaded and installed the latest graphics drivers for my ATI Radeon X1900, but it did nothing to stop the crashes for my games. I don't know if this is the graphics card that's causing this, but this all began when I installed the 1.4 update. I'll try a few different games and see if the games I have been playing are just unstable. If not, do you think you guys could tell me how to roll back to a previous version? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kartalcik Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Damnatus try unplugging all the usb devices and playing the games with your laptop only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damnatus Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Kartalcik, I'm running on a Mac Pro, not a MacBook Pro, so I unfortunately can't do that. Alright, I tried EVE Online, as well as UFO: Afterlight and Star Wars: Empire at War. None of these games crashed before 1.4, ever, but now they do, minutes into the game. So, there obviously must be something in that update that is causing games to crash. Strangely, Second Life works totally fine. I think that may be attributed to it being in windowed mode. What should I do? Unless there is something I can do to fix it without regressing, I would really like to know how to go back to an older version. I got my Mac Pro in November/December, I believe, so I know I was fine with the firmware that was available back then (as I only upgraded to 1.4 from that version). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kartalcik Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Damnatus, try to uninstal graphic drivers first. Maybe you can try this first http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745 . After that do a clean install. Just incase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damnatus Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Just tried doing those, still have the problem. If anything, it made things worse - my card was reinstalled, but the control center is broken and won't load up now. I'm thinking the only way to do fix this is to go back to an older Boot Camp version. This version is just borked when it comes to playing games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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