HELP! Dell PC locking up

[zoeythecat]

Hi All,

Hope someone can give me some useful suggestions to try. Here is the situation.

Dell PC, Windows 98, PIII 700 Processor, 256MEG of RAM. User only has outlook2000 opened up. Therefore, system resources are good. This also uses a static IP address on the network. Here is the problem

(1) During the day at intermittent times the PC will just
freeze up. The user will just do a simple task of
minimizing the outlook. He will leave the PC for
a few minutes and then come back and the PC will just
freeze. He has no choice but to shutdown/reboot
(2) I turned off Powermanagement and took out the following
2 items out of startup (A) TCASUTI.exe
(B) Autoshutdown
(3) Also, contacted Dell. They claimed that there was a
possible known issue with HP Printer that could be
causing this problem. HP pretty much denied it.
The weird thing is I have another PC that is locking
up and connects to the same printer. This printer
is an HPOfficejetg95 all in one printer which sits
on the network. These 2 PC's connect via IP and
a network share. This is the only common thing.
There are about 4 other PC's that connect to this
network printer and don't have any problems with
the PC freezing up.
(4) I have updated the BIOS on both PC's

* My next task that I am doing today is to remove the printer from both Computers and wait a week to see if this resolves.

Any tips or suggestions in the meantime would be great. This has been going on for 3 months.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tourist]

It looks like it might be that printer that's causing these problems. However, if you want to look into other possible causes, I'd suggest running Dell's diagnostics utilities for that type of machine. That should tell you whether or not a piece of hardware is malfunctioning.

In a world without walls and fences, who needs Windows and Gates?

 

[zoeythecat]

Thanks Tourist. I will try that.

 

[tcstudio]

I too have a similar problem with a Dell PC is the user running any DOS programs?

 

[zoeythecat]

Tcstudio,

No DOS programs that I am aware of. I also suspect it could some setting with the Internal NIC. I did remove the HPOfficegetG95 printer and software a few days ago. I have not heard back from them yet. I plan on waiting a few more days before I fully suspect the HPOfficejet software.

I will let you know.

Thanks for the response.

 

[tcstudio]

If you have a copy of norton utilities or similar try running that this should clear up any reg or missing links etc. I have had several problems with HP printer drivers/sotware removal never all seems to disapper.