Windows 2000 freezing (services.exe)

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redxiii

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Hello,

I'm having a weird problem with Windows 2000 here: Everytime I'm watching a movie or playing a game, the system freezes for a second or two, I looked at the task manager and discovered that it freezes because "services.exe" goes to 100% CPU use.

At first I thought it was my dual shock pad, but I rechecked the soldering and tried using another software, and the problem continued. I already formated the HD and still get the same problem. Can someone please help me? :)

Attached is my Services configuration (all the activated services).

Thanks.
 

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It might be because you have every service initiated. You don't need half of them to be running constantly.

Browse blkviper.com and you'll find a guide for tweaking the services.
 
Thanks Klostrophobic, but I tried disabling almost every service and it still freezes...

The strange thing is that I play for almost 5 minutes, then it freezes for 2 seconds, then I play more 5 minutes, and it freezes again... It only happens when playing a game or watching movies.
 
Do you have Zone Alarm? For some reason, that really bogs down my system and I turn it off whenever I'm not on the internet.
 
What programs do you have running in the background? It could be one of these programs that is using service.exe.
 
I don't have ZoneAlarm or any firewall/anti-virus. I really don't want to format the HD now, I did that 3 times this week (trying WinXP, didn't really like it so formated again) and I'm kinda tired of doing that. :p

Here are the programs running in background:
 

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I took a picture at the exact moment of the freezing: ZSNES, that was at 86% CPU use, drops to 0 and services.exe goes to 97%.
 

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Hmm, odd. Perhaps it's a setting in ZNES. You could perhaps buy a SNES and Mario Kart, it's much more fun on the TV with the real controllers, trust me, I have it!
 
Too bad I sold my SNES with Mario Kart and some other cool games a while ago. :( Stupid me! I though that since I bought a PS2 I wouldn't need that old 16-bit thing! :p

But that damn problem happens while I'm playing others games too, like Commandos 2, or when watching movies =[
 
Originally posted by redxiii
Thanks Klostrophobic, but I tried disabling almost every service and it still freezes...

The strange thing is that I play for almost 5 minutes, then it freezes for 2 seconds, then I play more 5 minutes, and it freezes again... It only happens when playing a game or watching movies.
Click to expand...

Actually, the last thing you want to do is start disabling services at random. Some of those services are vital to WinXP's operation.

When was the last time you defragged your hard drive? How much RAM do you have?
 
My mouse stops responding periodically. It gets REALLY annoying when playing WarCraft3. It seems to only happen when I'm scrolling, so I have to press the opposite direction on the direction keys to prevent the computer from scrolling all the way across the map.
 
Originally posted by risingson77
Actually, the last thing you want to do is start disabling services at random. Some of those services are vital to WinXP's operation.

When was the last time you defragged your hard drive? How much RAM do you have?
Click to expand...

It wasn't really random, I looked at blkviper.com website and disabled every service that could be disabled without causing problems. ;)

My system: (CPU) 1-Intel Pentium III, 501MHz, 512KB (0% Load) .:. (RAM) usage: 135/192MB (70.31%) .:. (GFX) NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro, (Display) 800x600/16bit/85Hz .:. (OS) Windows 2000 Professional, Service Pack 3 (5.0 - 2195), (installed for) 3d 4h 50m, (uptime) 3h 12m 53s .:. (HDDs) 8.69G/18.9G(45.7%) free

When the problem started the HD was only 5% fragmented, I'm going to check and defrag it now. Thanks. :)

My mouse stops responding periodically. It gets REALLY annoying when playing WarCraft3. It seems to only happen when I'm scrolling, so I have to press the opposite direction on the direction keys to prevent the computer from scrolling all the way across the map.
Click to expand...

I remember that happening to me long time ago, when I played Age of Empires 2, really pissed me off... It happened to problem with my mouse connector (I was using those generic cheap mouses :p)
 
Originally posted by redxiii
It wasn't really random, I looked at blkviper.com website and disabled every service that could be disabled without causing problems. ;)

My system: (CPU)1-Intel Pentium III, 501MHz, 512KB(0% Load)
Click to expand...

Problem 1. A P3 500 doesn't go very far these days, I'm sorry to say. Trouble is, replacing the CPU often means replacing the motherboard as well. This may be a bigger can of worms than you want to open.

A newer graphics card wouldn't hurt either. I need to pop for a new one myself before too long....


.:. (RAM) usage: 135/192MB
Click to expand...

But this is your big problem. Your computer is probably continually accessing the page file - whenever it needs to do that, the computer can skip or freeze. I'm packing 256 MB of PC2100 and I can still use some more.

I'm guessing that your PC is using 100 or 133 mHz SDRAM (my old K6-2 500 used 100 mHz). This stuff is dirt cheap and will most likely make a huge difference in your PC's performance.
 
Yea, I'm aware this computer sucks, It's about 4 years old. :p

The ram is PC100 also, I know it sucks, but I won't be upgrading it until I get a new mobo and cpu (not until september, computers here are kind of expensive). When I play ZSNES the ram usage is not that big, it's arround this: 90/192MB (46.88%), but I'll get the ram monitor up to see how much ram is used when Zsnes freezes.

EDIT: When it freezed, there was still 125MB free. The HD is now 0% fragmented also.
 
Well, saving for a new MB/CPU seems like the most sensible solution at this point. No sense in spending money on RAM that'll be outdated in the new setup.
 
Thanks you all for the help! :)

I'm going to format this thing again and install things slowly and testing to see what is causing the problem.
 
You sound like me! :lol:

<- has formatted half a dozen times in the past month or so.

I would suggest making sure your heatsink fan is clean. I took a look at mine the other day, and it was caked with dust (this, after well under a year of use).

Once it was clean my temps dropped 5-10 degrees Farenheit...and I had increased my clock speed from 1200 mHz to 1466 mHz! :eek: The temperature is much more stable under load as well. I played Postal 2 for a couple of hours yesterday and the CPU temp only increased by 10 degrees - and cooled right off when I stopped.
 
Originally posted by redxiii
Thanks you all for the help! :)

I'm going to format this thing again and install things slowly and testing to see what is causing the problem.
Click to expand...
You could try testing Linux out if all else fails. It wouldn't really be much of a loss if you backup your data files(documents, spreadsheets, etc) on a CD or two. Because hey, you've already done a clean install for Win2k and that didn't work. I suggest giving Linux a go, whether Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, whatever.

Oh, and my mouse only started having troubles after my dad installed a 170GB harddrive. Why we need that, I don't know. I guess he likes backing up the backup of the backup...
 
Originally posted by rjensen11
You could try testing Linux out if all else fails. It wouldn't really be much of a loss if you backup your data files(documents, spreadsheets, etc) on a CD or two. Because hey, you've already done a clean install for Win2k and that didn't work. I suggest giving Linux a go, whether Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, whatever.

Oh, and my mouse only started having troubles after my dad installed a 170GB harddrive. Why we need that, I don't know. I guess he likes backing up the backup of the backup...
Click to expand...

Woa 170GB!! :eek:
That's one hell of a big HD!

The clean install of Win2k works fine, it's not freezing anymore. :)

I'll now install things little by little and testing everytime to see what was causing the freezing.

I had Linux Debian installed in another partition, it's really nice but not to use as the main OS, since it's not very compatible.
 
Yeah, I have 2 80's and a 170 or something in this machine alone, and my dad has who-knows-how-much-more in his.... So... pointless, in my mind.... I would be content with two 40's or 2 80's, but that extra 170 is just overkill in my mind.... I mean, he has at least 400 CD's in his closet, and if he really wanted to, he could spare some money for a few CDRW's, then he could backup his documents and spreadsheets and not have to worry. But jeese....
 

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