# Solved: Windows 8 Freezes Up



## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

I've got a Dell desktop computer and recently upgraded from Windows 7 (perhaps the only time MSFT ever got one right) to Windows 8 - and it's awful; possibly even worse than Vista. There are many perplexing problems: the apps are junk, some of the function that I had in 7 is no longer there, and the worst is that it simply freezes up from time to time, forcing me to reboot the system at least once a day.

There seem to be a million freeloaders running on the system as well - but all I really want to do is simple computing, office stuff, email, etc. without so much bother. I must spend an hour a day because of windows 8 - multiply that by millions and MSFT should be on the wrong end of a class action suit.

So, is it possible to work through the lockup issues on this forum? My only other viable approach is to take it to the Geek Squad or some such.

Thanks,
Dave


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I suggest that you download from Dell's web site and install your Windows 8 drivers, beginning with the chipset.

What are these "freeloaders"? Did you do an "upgrade" install and these are leftovers? 

Take a gander at the first sticky thread in this forum; there may be some hints that will improve your productivity.


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## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

will try these and post results.


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## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

Before I installed Windows 8, MSFT did a test to see if it was compatible with my system ... and said that it was.

So, I just went to Dell for the appropriate drivers for my system and, based on my service tag, they say that on this Inspiron 530, the latest OS they support is Vista 32 and 64. 

Thoughts?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

It sounds like Windows 8 is still running fairly well--not forcing you to reboot too many times a day. I was hoping the problem would be something simple--a driver update.

I guess we'll need more details on the freezing. A "hard" freeze that requires holding the power button for several seconds? Something that still allows you (maybe slooowly) to get into Task Manager and see if somebody is hogging CPU or memory?


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## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

Anyway, when it freezes nothing but a reboot will do. Can't get task manager up, etc. Seems to be open Windows Mail that freezes everything, but not sure. Won't close, won't select any mail, etc. 

How else can I get info?

Dave


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I do not know.  And I don't know anything about Windows Mail except that I do not care for it. But until somebody else chimes in let me try for a little more info ...

There are no updates pending for it?

I assume you've tried various ways to get out of Windows Mail? Alt + F4; Windows Logo key

How do you reboot?


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## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

60% of the time, it's the little button on the front of the system. the rest, it's the system restart from Windows 8. Not sure if there is a direct correlation between which type of boot and which system is hanging it up.


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

run dell diagnostics


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## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

OK, I've run the diagnostics. It took quite a while to do that because when I went to restart the system, my only option was update and restart. So, I did that and after several hours of churning, it seemed to be stuck on the step that puts the following message on a blue screen:

Keep your PC plugged in until this is done.
Installing update 1 of 13

After it had sat on that particular message for more than two hours, I finally resorted to the hard system reset and am now back in my system, ostensibly without the software updates.

Dave


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

try installing the updates one at a time,leaving no.1 until last


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## PapaBear60 (Feb 13, 2013)

Obviously, I had a bunch of old Windows 7 junk, a highly fragmented disk and some registry problems. Moreover, I am running on an older hardware platform. So, I followed the recommendations in an article from PCWORLD entitled, "How to optimize Windows 8 on old hardware", including two of the programs they recommended. Then, when I restarted, all of the updates went in just fine and I'm back up and running.

Thanks.


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## dai (Mar 7, 2003)

glad you have it sorted


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

That's great, and thanks for letting us know. I've found out from experience that sometimes those PCWORLD articles tempt us to go too far and delete stuff we need later, but they also can fix a lot of issues. Glad you got it working decently.


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