27-Inch Imac Windows 7 Bootcamp issue

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Alrighty - To be completely honest, I wasn't too sure where to post this, as this problem might either be something related with the hardware or software
Please move this to the appropriate subforum if needed.

I'll lay down my specs first:
I own the 27 Inch Imac, 2 core duo with the Radeon HD 4670 graphics card 4gb ram.

My problem in a nutshell, Running in Windows 7 via Bootcamp:
a
Experiencing freezing - mouse is still moveable, however anything open is unresponsive - control/alt/delete doesn't work. However If I wait it out, everything will start working again
b
Experiencing a total lockup, mouse isn't moveable, neither is anything responsive - needless to say control/alt/delete doesn't work either.

Usually I'll walk away and return when I see the blue screen with the task manager options and whatnot is visable.
Both a and b can be waited out, eventually the computer 'wakes up' and starts responding again after a while
Usually the lockup occurs if I try to close programs down during the minor freeze.

These freezes and lockups seem to occur most often when watching a flash video via my internet browser -usually as the video finishes, both mozilla firefox and internet explorer will do this often, though not every time.
A lockup will undoubtably occur when srubbing through a video a few times when in fullscreen mode. The freezes are usually only last a couple of minutes, while the lockups are considerablly longer.
Video codecs and stuff are fine, I know what I am doing when it comes to that

Sometimes it'll just freeze up for a minute or two randomly

Problem Freezing and lockups
Potential causes Flash based stuff like youtube and facebook chat, Scrubbing through a fullscreen video

EDIT: The flash based freeze-ups happen a lot more frequently if the mac has been awakened from sleep mode.

I haven't updated the graphics driver to the mobility one yet, as I would prefer not to unless I know it is the source of the problem.
I'll happily go into more detail and whatever if needed

Any thoughts on what is the cause?

Hopefully mine isn't an isolated problem, and one that already has a solution.
 
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Have you installed the bootcamp drivers from the Snow Leopard disc and the latest update?

Which version of Windows 7 do you have?
 
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I presonally didn't fully oversee the installation for bootcamp, but checking the device manager nothing seems like it hasn't installed correctly. I'm quite sure all drivers have been installed from the Lepoard OS X as the person I had doing it is definitely competent enough to manage such a thing

If you mean by updating - the apple software updates, everything has been installed, bar Itunes and Quicktime components - Windows 7 updates are up-to-date as well.

I've had this Mac from around the beginning of April, just after apple released the firmware update for it - That firmware update fixed and broke nothing, It isn't the cause of these freeze-ups because they were happening in the few days before I updated the firmware.

I'm using Windows 7 Utimate 32-bit

Actually another thing I've just realised (I'll add this to the first post also)
The flash based freeze-ups happen a lot more frequently if the mac has been awakened from sleep mode.
 
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Have you tried installing the latest version of the flash player?
 
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Alrighty, just for the benefit of the doubt I've updated to the newest flash player, still no real changes.

The video srubbing freezes might have something to do with the codecs, so just to be safe I'll look for more stable builds and install them in a less haphazard way. However if it was just some overhead from some conflicts with codecs, the whole system shouldn't be freezing up - just the player itself, at most.

- Just done a quick test with video codecs and framesizes, MJPEG, H.264, XVID, DVIX, HUFFY all produce the same results and having a smaller framesize isn't a factor. -

The lockups aren't immediate for the video related stuff, they will occur if I scrub around to around 4 points in 3ish seconds - Not as though I am intentionally trying to make the system work hard.
So yeah, I dunno what the deal is

I'm primarily a video editor, so locking of up OS while just scrubbing through a video is definitely more of a problem than the flash related stuff. The only reason why I brought up the flash stuff was because I thought it might be connected with the general freezing and such

This might sound a little blunt, but would I perhaps be better off looking for help somewhere else?
 
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Bring up task manager, sort by CPU usage. Recreate the error and have a look what's dominating the system.

My bet would be codecs. As you say the client for the video makes no difference.
 
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I cannot monitor it while the error occurs as it seems to only happen when viewing the media fullscreen
The Media player (MPC- HC) will not freeze up when the video is played at its native resolution. (when not in fullscreen mode)
So it has got me thinking, I'll update the build of MPC I'm using, and reinstall/update the codecs/decoders I'm using, as well as the splitters and stuff

I'll do all this tomorrow, before I head off to work
I shall let you know of the results
 

chscag

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The solution to your problem may be video drivers.... Your machine needs the mobility driver set as that's what chipset you have. It may be a large desktop 27" iMac but as others have found out, it is after all a large notebook computer built vertically with a fantastic display.

Download and install the Radeon mobility chipset drivers for your GPU, and give them a try. Let us know.

Regards.
 
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I would first use your Snow Leopard disk to reinstall the Windows drivers, since as you say, you didn't oversee the BC installation - and people have been known to forget to do that. If the problem persists, it is likely that you need to install the Mobility drivers as chscag indicated. That's a known issue for the iMac - the SL disk doesn't install those for some reason. That should fix the problem.
 
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I have similar issue as what Justin123 experienced.
I'm using Bootcamped Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit on my macbook (mid 2010 with GeForce 320M graphic).
What I experienced:
  • Frequent freeze on opening Flash based web (especially with Firefox).
  • The freeze problem gets worse while playing games that has internal browser such as GTA IV. So it didn't freeze at all during game's run-time, but start to freeze a lot if you escape to the menu to see the map, change settings, log-in & out to XLive, etc. (My main reason to install Windows is to play this kind of games)
  • Less frequent freeze while playing DVD movies with Windows Media Player.
The freezes happen for 30-2 minutes & after that my system runs normally before the next freeze happens. With Windows Task Manager opened I can't see any process hogging the CPU/memory.

I have tried:
  • Reinstalled the windows driver from the Snow Leopard disk.
  • Updating my display driver with the latest nVidia driver .
None of them solved the problem :Confused:
 
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Have you updated to the 3.1 drivers since reinstalling from the Snow Leopard disc?
 
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Updating the video drivers ... hmmm please be sure that you downloaded and installed the MOBILITY driver from Radeon -- for some reason, the BC install thinks its a desktop driver, so when you update it keeps updating the wrong driver. Be sure you selected to install the mobility driver. That should do it ...

Cheers
 
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Sorry, I agree with the principle of mobility drivers but don't install radeon drivers on an Nvidia card
 
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Sorry about the super late reply
I've re-installed the drivers from the snow lepoard disc and have updated the display driver to 8.741.0.0 (27/05/2010)
I couldn't install the display driver while in safe mode because the ATI setup was unable to detect...something - I installed the driver over the top of the older one (as you would any other program)...no problems there, in any other programs, or in the device manager itself. So I assume no errors or conflicts have arisen because of that.

Playing flash videos seems to be more stable, but I still experience a lockup when the video finishes (an example, youtube - as the video finishes and the player offers 'related videos' or to play the video again)

I've also noticed 'system interrupts' is the highest process running (in CPU consumption) during one of these lockups.

In short, updating the display driver has helped the problem, but it is still far from running perfectly.

Is there any sort of tool I can run to see exactly what is causing these lockups? or at least to see if it is some sort of driver related conflict?
 
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Here's what I did over the weekend:
  • Uninstalled current geForce driver.
  • Installed the display driver from the BC 3.1 (Snow Leopard disk). Still didn't solve the issue. Freezes on flash based web especially on Firefox. And GTA 4 still freezes like crazy (~2-5 minutes freeze on every 3-20 seconds of un-freeze) if you escape to the menu, while the gameplay is running extremely smooth.
  • Updated the geForce driver to the latest 258.96. Still no difference :Confused:.
 
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Just as a heads up ikok,
I've noticed practically ALL of the flash based lockups have disappeared when I disabled all the enhancements of the speakers Start Menu > Control Panel> Sound > Speakers > Properties > Enhancements > 'Disable all ehancements'

I do experience the occasional freeze, but it is of the 'normal' variety (brower will freeze (Non-responsive) but I can still use the computer while the it freezes.

While it isn't completly perfect, I'd say I've solved my own problem. The thread can now be locked if you wish.
 
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An off-the-wall solution.... But if it works happy days.

Thanks for posting back with the solution, maybe don't.
 
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Sorry have been away last month.
Yes Justin123, you're right. I noticed this issue was not purely Flash problem, it was the audiodg.exe process that hogged my CPU utilization during the freeze (can not be caught by Windows Task Manager). A process introduced since Vista related to audio. After disabling all audio enhancement... Bam!! all my problems were gone in an instant :D
So it wasn't the video driver fault after all...
This issue can be closed then. Thanks all.
 

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