Unexplained nighttime hang

[skylang]

I have a strange problem that I would appreciate any help to solve. Every night, somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 AM, my Vista Home Basic machine hangs. I know the time it hangs because the screen saver is set to show the time, and whether the screensaver is running or not, the clock on the screen is frozen at a time in that period when I come to it in the morning. But the time is not consistent though, just that it will be somewhere in that period.

When I come to the machine everything is frozen. Moving the mouse or hitting keys does nothing. The only option I have is to hit the power button and reboot.

There is nothing scheduled to run at that time. There IS a network synchronization that is supposed to run at 1:00 AM (Allway Sync), so that might be a clue. Allway Sync uses Windows Scheduled Tasks to start it. Its the only Windows Scheduled Task. It does not complete its task (which takes several hours if I run it manually), so does not log a completed synchronization. I haven't been able to tell if its related to the problem, or simply a victim of the problem.

I have checked the event viewer, and it is completely silent about anything happening around the time that the system hangs.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can track down what the problem is? Is there some way, better than event viewer, that I can get a log of what's going on when it hangs?

Any ideas welcomed.

[catgate]

a network synchronization that is supposed to run at 1:00 AM (Allway Sync),

Is this in the same time zone as your machine?

[skylang]

a network synchronization that is supposed to run at 1:00 AM (Allway Sync),

Is this in the same time zone as your machine?

Yes. I just use it to backup my work files to my home computer, for the sake of having an offsite backup.

But I'm not very convinced that it is causing the problem, since when I run it manually it runs quietly in the background while I'm working, without disturbing anything or taking much in the way of resources.

[catgate]

a network synchronization that is supposed to run at 1:00 AM (Allway Sync),

Is this in the same time zone as your machine?

Yes. I just use it to backup my work files to my home computer, for the sake of having an offsite backup.

But I'm not very convinced that it is causing the problem, since when I run it manually it runs quietly in the background while I'm working, without disturbing anything or taking much in the way of resources.

It was just a momentary flash of my usual brilliance!!!

I did not know what "Allway Sync" was and it could have been an application working to a different time setting, and it might just have been making you machine "tetchy". Depending of course if you home machine was behind or ahead of, or whichever way the cookie crumbles.

[skylang]

It was just a momentary flash of my usual brilliance!!!

I did not know what "Allway Sync" was and it could have been an application working to a different time setting, and it might just have been making you machine "tetchy". Depending of course if you home machine was behind or ahead of, or whichever way the cookie crumbles.

Thanks, I realize that.

What I wish is for some kind of logging that could tell me what happens at that time - what applications/services start/stop, etc.

Another hint that I have just found is that the Hamachi VPN client that I use to connect to the network lost its network connection this morning at 2:30 AM - about 29 minutes before the hang.

Is there some way to log network activity for later review?

[Boris]

Have you looked in Event Viewer ?

[skylang]

Have you looked in Event Viewer ?

Yes:

I have checked the event viewer, and it is completely silent about anything happening around the time that the system hangs.

There's nothing listed at that time, unless I'm not looking in the right place. But I stepped through all the logs, I think, and couldn't find anything listed.