However that does lead me to two theories… a) The video card really was the issue and I have actually solved my problem. Or b) I still have no idea what the real problem is, but somehow the video card seems to be holding it off. I like to think it was the former… and considering what I’ve investigated and decided previously, I’m fine with saying it’s a video card issue.

Either way though … my freezing problem is apparently gone. I can now actually run Aero on Windows 7 and  not have it lock up on me. I call that a win.

At the end of January Microsoft released a optional update for Windows 7. Might as well try it, right?

Ya, fail.

I installed the update (along with a few other Win7 updates for the month. Restarted. Turned Aero back on. Then left the system idle for a while.

Came back to check it after a while and bam, froze. Did the same thing. The system “woke up” but I couldn’t get my taskbar or anything. Exact same symptoms as before.

Sadly I think I’m throwing in the proverbial towel on this one. Will just end up buying another video card at some point and giving that a try. I don’t think it’s a driver thing. I think it’s a hardware thing.

Initially tried disabling Windows Defender and EFS. I really had no idea what was causing it. And the few threads I found online didn’t seem to have any more of a clue than I.

After taking a few minutes to think about it the next time it happened, I recalled the Aero Peek function and some of the other weird stuff that Aero does. Perhaps a graphics problem? So I’m running an Nvidia 8600 GTS from XFX with 256 MB of memory. Driver was 100% up to date directly from XFX for Windows 7 64 bit. Then I disabled Aero and went to the Windows classic view.

Have not had the problem since. That leads me to believe it is either a driver problem, a video card problem, or an Aero problem.

Today I downloaded an updated driver and have turned Aero back on. Now it is merely a waiting game to see if the problem has been actually fixed or still remains.

EDIT: Nope. Still not fixed. Turned Aero back off. Back to Windows Classic.

How?

I disabled Aero and went back to Windows Classic. Hasn’t frozen since. In my last post I hinted at a video problem – and I suspect that may have been it. With Classic enabled, the Aero “Peek” and other little things like that are disabled with the Aero package as a whole.

And like I said, it hasn’t frozen since… going on nearly a week now. I couldn’t get by 2 or 3 days before.

The “combo drive” (CDRW+DVDROM) in my Macbook decides to shit the bed. OK, so it’s not totally dead – but it makes some awful noises and decides to randomly spit out a disc it’s trying to read. Definitely a drive problem. Does the same thing in Windows. I wasn’t even able to play Starcraft that I installed on it. Just ejects my disc.

eBay to the rescue though. $60 later and I have a replacement drive on the way. This time figured I’d go with a “superdrive” … or what Apple calls a DVD burner. Damn things are expensive.

A new replacement drive is $100+ and some were as high as $200 depending on where you look (iFixit, I’m looking at you). With instructions from iFixit, it shouldn’t be too hard.

I do this shit for a living… replace hardware in laptops I mean. I have no problem swapping a system board or a processor or display in a laptop. Sure, it’s a smaller space, but patience and attention to detail is key. With an Apple though… it’s a whole different ballgame.

Ok, maybe not. But it will probably be a bit different than most of the “Wintel” junk I tear apart all day.

Oh… and my Windows 7 freezing problem is STILL not fixed. Tried new video drivers. Didn’t help. Also just now turned off Aero. Why am I thinking video issues? Well when I go to wake it up (and it just sits there like a dumb cow) I can hear a fan spin up in my case – which sounds small enough to be the fan on my video card. I don’t know for sure, it’s just another hunch. We’ll see how it goes.