freezes on google maps

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tim - 21 Oct 2005 03:46 GMT

Problem in brief:
My computer crashes and freezes a couple of minutes after Google Maps is
loaded.

I am running Windows Me 4.90.300 with Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106 with
all the security updates (I did a windows update two days ago). I have
checked and cleaned for spyware with Spybot S&D and X-clean. Anti-virus
definitions are up-to-date and recently scanned.

Problem in detail:
If I visit google maps and play with the map, everything goes fine. However,
a couple of mintues after that the computer freezes. I am not able to use IE
or explorer. If I have windows of IE or expolror open, I cannot switch to
them with ALT+TAB. However, I can switch to other programs (like Outlook
Express, Netscape, etc) with ALT+TAB.

If I CTRL+ALT+DEL to see the processes, it is always an IE window that is
"Not Responding". If I "End Task" that window, the computer goes black/blue
and stays like that. If I CTRL+ALT+DEL, then I get a blue screen saying that
"...close program is trying to close something ...", etc. I have to
CTRL+ALT+DEL again to restart or hold the power switch for 10 seconds to shut
down. When booted back up, things work fine (if I don't go to Google Maps).

I have had this problem for quite a while, actually since google came out
with google maps. I have been putting off this problem but lately more and
more news and stories I read online have pointers to google maps and if
mistakenly clicked, i know i will have to reboot within the next 10 minutes.

I hope somebody can help me sort out this problem and fix it.

Thanks in advance.

Reply to this Message

Don Varnau - 23 Oct 2005 14:09 GMT

Hi,
Some steps you might try...
First, clear the IE cache. IE> Tools> Internet Options> General> Delete
files (and delete offline content when that dialog pops up) It's often
recommended that the TIF folder be kept at about 50 MB (Settings.)

This may well be a graphics display issue. You may need to update or
reinstall your video drivers. Start at Control Panel> Display> Settings>
Advanced for information on your video adapter/driver including (possibly) a
link to the manufacturer's website. Turning down Hardware Acceleration from
Display> Settings> Advanced> Performance may help.

Google maps make liberal use of javascript. You might reinstall your
scripting engine. Go to
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/downloads/list/webdev.asp
for the appropriate download of Windows Script 5.6

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

> Problem in brief:
> My computer crashes and freezes a couple of minutes after Google Maps is
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> Thanks in advance.

Reply to this Message

tim - 02 Nov 2005 15:30 GMT

I tried all the things you mentioned. Still the problem continues. map loads.
but computer freezes a couple of minutes later.

I thought of blocking out the google maps page. I added local.google.com and
maps.google.com to the "restricted sites" zone. So when I go to those pages,
the map does not load and all is good. However, I noticed that google uses
different urls to point to a page with map. For example.
http://www.google.com/lochp points to the google local and so does
http://froogle.google.com/lochp.
Then I added google.com to "restricted sites" zone. That disabled cookies
and I could not get gmail, so I had to remove it from the restricted zone.

How can I block the "map" portion of the page from displaying? Does the
script (or whatever) for the map come from a different url (like
http://script_for_map.google.com) that I can block? I looked at the html
source but could not find anything.

Any help to stop the actual google map from loading will be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks
Tim

> Hi,
> Some steps you might try...
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> Don
> [MS MVP- IE]

Reply to this Message

Don Varnau - 05 Nov 2005 14:27 GMT

Hi,
Sorry. I forgot to revisit this group.
Some longshots...
If you C-A-D after closing out a google maps page, are there any strange
processes running?

Do you shut down/restart every day even when this problem doesn't occur?
WinME likes an occasional restart.

Tried clearing the cache after using google maps? (Internet Options>
General)

Sorry... no more ideas.

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

> I tried all the things you mentioned. Still the problem continues. map

loads, but computer freezes a couple of minutes later.

> I thought of blocking out the google maps page. I added local.google.com and
> maps.google.com to the "restricted sites" zone. So when I go to those pages,
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> Thanks
> Tim

> > Some steps you might try...
> > First, clear the IE cache. IE> Tools> Internet Options> General> Delete
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> > Google maps make liberal use of javascript. You might reinstall your
> > scripting engine. Go to

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/downloads/list/webdev.asp

> > for the appropriate download of Windows Script 5.6

Reply to this Message