vincon
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XP SP3 Randomly Freezes When Accessing Network Shares or Outlook
I have a peculiar issue. I work for a governmental agency that is still using XP. An end user contacted me about system hangs. After running diagnostics on the system (Dell) there appeared to be a problem with the hard drive. So, instead of replacing just the drive, I found a newer system and re-imaged it. I stress tested it with Heavy Load and it passed with flying colors.
I then brought it back out to the floor and reconnected all cabling and placed it on the network. I had the user login and all was fine until afternoon. The new machine started hanging! I then observed what the end-user was doing and found that the problem was somewhat intermittent but fairly predictable. Whenever she opens up a mapped drive and accesses certain folders and files, the system hangs. It completely locks up with absolutely no activity whatsoever.
The odds of it being the system are slim, so I concentrated on her roaming profile. I renamed the one on the system to .old and configured the registry to clean up roaming profiles after log off. She pulled down her roaming profile but this did not work either.
She can logon to any other machine and apparently work fine with no issue. I am beginning to think it maybe the port her system is patched to. I also noticed a startup script that was failing on DNS issues. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it pertained to port 53. I blew that off because she can still access the shares and the Internet. But I can't say that I have ever examined the script or what its purpose is.
Any Suggestions are appreciated.
I then brought it back out to the floor and reconnected all cabling and placed it on the network. I had the user login and all was fine until afternoon. The new machine started hanging! I then observed what the end-user was doing and found that the problem was somewhat intermittent but fairly predictable. Whenever she opens up a mapped drive and accesses certain folders and files, the system hangs. It completely locks up with absolutely no activity whatsoever.
The odds of it being the system are slim, so I concentrated on her roaming profile. I renamed the one on the system to .old and configured the registry to clean up roaming profiles after log off. She pulled down her roaming profile but this did not work either.
She can logon to any other machine and apparently work fine with no issue. I am beginning to think it maybe the port her system is patched to. I also noticed a startup script that was failing on DNS issues. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it pertained to port 53. I blew that off because she can still access the shares and the Internet. But I can't say that I have ever examined the script or what its purpose is.
Any Suggestions are appreciated.
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ASKER
There is a certain file that will cause the system to hang about 60% of the time and it is an Excel file. But it will also occasionally hang when opening up outlook.
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Apparently no one else has this issue. When she uses another system, there doesn't seem to be any problems. That's why I was leaning toward some type of port/switch issue. Another option I have is to upgrade her from Office 03 to 07.
I replaced her original system due to this issue. I doubt its two systems in a row. I do think its the share, file, or port at this point.
I replaced her original system due to this issue. I doubt its two systems in a row. I do think its the share, file, or port at this point.
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Hi Vincom and thanks for accepting my solution.
Were you able to find out the root cause of this issue? I would love to know the final solution :)
Thanks
Were you able to find out the root cause of this issue? I would love to know the final solution :)
Thanks
Although I appreciate you awarding me points, but I have to agree with Scott I would love to know what actually solved the issue. Feedback would be appreciated.
ASKER