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luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

When surfing the net for a few minutes, clicking the left mouse button freezes the screen. The error report message appears and I usually do not send the report. I then have to close and re-enter the web pages I was working on. Things will run for a few minutes and then the same problem happens again.

Occasionally, I get a message on booting up: "This application has failed to start because ConnAPI.DLL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem". I am not sure if this has anything to do with the 'freezing' problem.

My computer is a Dell Dimentions 9150. This problem appeared about 10 days ago. Before that everything worked perfectly.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4418 Location: Bath

Our man Nick likes a challenge and will be along later Cool

Have you tried restoring it to an early time before the problem.

I found a de-frag cured a lot of the problem as well, but wait for Nick first.

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Thank you for all input so far. Restoring has an adverse effect on the security setup. I frequently defrag.

I recently deleted all temp files and coockies. I do this periodically but have never suffered any problems as a result. I mention this to provide as much information as possible. It may be irrelevant.

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4418 Location: Bath

No the more info the better for when the mighty Nick turns up Laughing

I solved the problem of constant crashing by buying an Mac notebook Rolling Eyes

john

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

Hi Luminary,

That dll is apparently part of the Nokia PC Suite - are you still using it with your phone? if not then can you uninstall it from add/remove programs or reinstall and choose repair from the media it originally came from. From personal experience of this suite of software I've installed it twice over the past 2 years and uninstalled it within a week as I have encountered issues using other Bluetooth devices I own (it installs a driver which replaces the default windows driver which caused me grief connecting to other devices - not to say it WAS PC Suite, it may have been the combination of software I was using...)

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic58655.html

You say it happens every 10 minutes, and ONLY when you are browsing the web? - Do you use the Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox web browser? Which version? (ex: IE v6 or IE v7 or Firebird v1.5 etc - select HELP->About from the menu bar)

If you are using IE v7.x then choose Tools->Manage Add-Ons->Enable or Disable Add-Ons and disable everything except the one titled 'Diagnose Connection Problems..', restart your browser and surf for a while - did it happen again? If not, then go back into add-ons and enable 1 more item, wait and repeat until it stops working which will point at the dodgey plug-in.

If you are using FireFox go to Tools->Add-Ons and disable all [Extensions] only, as above, test it for a period of time and then enable each one in turn testing between them.

Further fault finding:

Can you remember anything from 10 days ago? Did you install any software that you recall? Install a windows update? Register on a web site (which asked to install stuff?)? Did you restore your PC using system restore?

Because you say it only happens when you are browsing the web and it appears to be stable until 10 minutes has passed, my first guess would be that a utility or plug-in installed alongside your browser is responsible (example: Google search toolbar, Yahoo search toolbar, Antivirus product, A N Other browser based add-on) and would go about uninstalling each in turn and restarting the computer to find out which may be the root cause - I would say Google and Yahoo are fairly stable and you can probably leave those two until last to uninstall if you have other plug-ins that you can uninstall first.

If you have paid for add-ons for your browser that required license codes or registrations, ensure you can reinstall them after they have been uninstalled - write down any license codes and such.

Please keep us updated - if you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to post more here - and leave as much detail as you can (a list of browser plug-ins would be useful so we can investigate if anyone else experiences the same behaviour as your computer using the same plug-ins.)

Cheers

Nick

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Hello Nick

Thank you for your detailed and logical reply.

Firstly, I use ‘Internet Explorer 7’ for all my surfing. My telecommunications are limited to ‘Skype’ and ‘Windows Messenger’. I am not aware of any ‘Nokia’ connection but I shall investigate.

Windows automatic update is turned on. No new software has been added recently nor have I used System Restore. I have had bad experiences with it in the past with other computers.

I have not knowingly downloaded add-ons recently. However, the automatic Windows update indicated a ‘Windows Internet Explorer 7’ download which I allowed thinking it may be a new critical update. This turned out to be a demonstration download onto a temp file and I think it was for Vista (my system is XP). I am not sure if this could have anything to do with the problem but I mention it just in case.

Yahoo has been on the computer for a long time without any adverse effect.

I looked up the IE7 Manage Add-Ons and unfortunately it does not show date of add-on but I shall perform the test you suggested as soon as I have a moment to do so.

I shall let you know the result and any other relevant information that comes to mind in the mean time.

If you have anymore ideas I would be grateful to hear them.

Regards

Luminary

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

Had another thought, is your mouse a USB mouse? If yes, can you try plugging it into another spare USB port on your computer please, also if you have any external HD's I wonder whether the power mode is set to shut them down after 10 minutes of inactivity - can you try unplugging them all. It may be worth switching off any power saving mode you may have active on your fixed HD's as well whilst you're trouble shooting.

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Hello Nick

Thank you again.

It is a USB mouse and I have already changed ports without effect.

There are no external HDs and power shut down is inactive.

I feel the problem is within Explorer. I shall commence your suggested tests soon.

Regards.

Luminary

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4418 Location: Bath

And when you get it sorted download Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird.

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Hello Nick

Here is the latest: I have disabled all add-ons (except diagnose etc) and have been surfing furiously. So far, no freezing! I shall carry on for a little longer just to be sure the problem is in one of the add-ons. I shall then proceed to enable them one at a time and go through the surfing test. The whole process will take some time so please do not be concerned if I do not return to you for a while.

I did not disable Mozilla Firefox so it does not seem to be an issue. Thunderbird was never on my computer.

Thanks again.

Regards

Luminary

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4418 Location: Bath

Sorry I mean use Mozilla instead in IE & outlook, its 10 x better

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Thanks. I shall try that once I have sorted out the freeze problem.

Regards

Luminary

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Hello Nick

Sorry for taking so long to come back to you. Here is an interim report to let you know how I am doing.

After disabling the active add-ons, I commenced to enable them one at a time. There are 21 of these in total. As luck would have it, the problem began to appear towards the last 4 or 5 add-ons. There are 3 add-onns that I suspect are causing the problem. It looks as if it could be more than one add-on in conflict. This may take some more testing to determine the real culprit.

I wish I had more useful information at this time to pass on that would be of benefit.

I shall report back later as soon as I have anything tangible.

Regards.

Luminary

NickAskew · Moderator Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 112 Location: Thirsk

Thanks for the update - it's great that you've actually made some headway with it as problems like this are a pain at best to get rid of.

luminary · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 16 Location: Hampshire

Hello Nick

I think I have pinpointed the offending add-on. The culprit is an add-on called: Skype add-on (Mastermind). I have disabled/enabled it several times with the same results so it must be the one. I am 99% positive (nothing is absolute in computers) and I shall now give it the test of time.

I am not sure how important this add-on is. Should I just disable it or should I delete it? While disabled, I cannot detect any adverse effect but I suppose time will tell.

Regards.

Luminary