Computer freezing when accessing network files

Question

Whenever any application on my computer tries to reach out to files that are on my companies network drive [i.e. not on my computer], it locks up and crashes. This can be as simple as opening up a project in an IDE like Visual Studio or Visual Basic. It also occurs when I am trying to launch company applications through our proprietary launcher application. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to causes that are consistent with the following factors:

• The lockups are affecting only me, even though I am running the same OS and the same programs as the other developers running on the same network.

• The lockups are total; I have left my computer running overnight after one has occurred and nothing can fix them; only a hard reboot of the computer (holding down the power button) can get around them. The only thing that isn't frozen is my mouse cursor.

• The lockups only happen when accessing files on the network drives. Launching local files is not a problem.

-Lockups only happen when an application is reaching out to the network drives. I can copy/paste/open files directly from those drives in File explorer just as I would before, it is only when another application tries to access them that that lockups occur.

• The lockups are intermittent; when the lockups are a problem, they are 100% consistent, but suddenly the issue disappears for days or weeks at a time (as they did last week) and then it reemerged this week, locking my computer down completely whenever they occur.

• Changing computers does not matter; I have two desktops and one laptop which are all doing this.

• The applications being run that are causing the lockups are commonly used ones run by most other employees, and they are not experiencing the same problems.

My hypothesis was that it has something to do with my specific company issued user account (since the lockups cross computers), but neither my supervisor nor IT support people here have seen that as likely, and people who have tried logging into my machines with their accounts have seen the lockups occur, even though they are logged into their accounts, which suggests that it has something to do with how I am using my machines...

I've been struggling to identify what the commonality is between all the lockups, other than reaching out to the network drives, given that no one else at my job is experiencing this.

Solution

Since you've had other users try to log in, you've eliminated your account as the cause. The only thing in common when there is an issue is that all PC's are ones you use regularly. There are a few likely causes for this issue:

• The PC's are not fully integrated into the network... e.g. security scans are identifying them as foreign and forbidding access.

• There is software installed on these PC's that conflicts with the applications' access to the network, such as an intermediate application like Glasswire that intercepts traffic.

• Network access on your PC's is set up differently from other machines.

To completely eliminate your account, per se, as the issue, request another machine, or have IT switch your machine for that of someone else. Don't install any non-authorized software on the new PC, and see if the issue recurs.

Comments

[DavidPostill]

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because issues specific to corporate IT support and networks are off topic, see On-Topic. Please talk to your IT department.

[VivaLebowski]

@DavidPostill I'm confused by what is meant by "issues specific to corporate IT support and networks" then; should I take this to mean that any bug or technical problem which happens to involve networks in a corporate setting is off-topic? it's impossible for me to say rather this problem is specific to our corporate IT support and networks by its very nature, since I don't know what the cause is. Since I've already received one helpful response, I'd feel much better if you could make suggestions on how to improve this question to make it more usefull rather than simply closing it.

[VivaLebowski]

@DavidPostill I have edited my question to make it more corporate-network agnostic. If I can make any further improvements to the question please let me know.

[Ravindra Bawane]

@VivaLebowski this rule is to make sure that the IT staff responsible for getting and keeping your computer functional in the corporate environment have the opportunity to do so. If they are unable to resolve the problem themselves they may very well up here, asking for help. But they need to be aware of this issue. There is also the fact that on corporate networks, the problem is often a misconfiguration, or an incompatible configuration, and not only do your IT need to know about this, they are the only people with the information to diagnose this, and with the ability to resolve it.

[Scott - Слава Україні]

I agree with the closure of this question for the reasons stated.   But also, I find it unclear.   You say “The lockups are affecting only me” but also “(other) people who have tried logging into my machines with their accounts have seen the lockups occur” — so it isn’t only you.   You say “which suggests that it has something to do with how I am using my machines”.   Huh?   If it happens to other people, that suggests that it has something to do with your machines, and maybe with something you have done to them, but not with the way you are using them on a day-to-day basis. … (Cont’d)

[Scott - Слава Україні]

(Cont’d) …  Don’t bother editing this question; it is not a good candidate for reopening. This problem is the responsibility of your IT support staff, and it’s up to them to ask us for help if they're stumped. But please try to make any other questions you ask here internally consistent.