My wife's PC keeps freezing at odd times

Topic: My wife's PC keeps freezing at odd times (Read 1067 times)

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kentona

#1 November 05, 2009, 04:40:28 am

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It freezes all the time: during boot up, during POST, during memory check, during Windows loading, when its loading her desktop, and sometimes just randomly hours later.

I checked the RAM, cleaned out the machine (dust) and a few other things, but I'm stumped.

The CPU isnt overheating because its not shutting down the machine.

I need some ideas.

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Massy2k6

#2 November 06, 2009, 05:25:18 pm

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Im having the exact same problem with my pc, i've resulted to using my laptop.

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Allen Hunter

#3 November 06, 2009, 09:26:36 pm

I'm listening.
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solution: get a new computer

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Ghost_Aspergers

#4 November 06, 2009, 09:57:11 pm

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When in doubt... check your power supply.

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Massy2k6

#5 November 07, 2009, 03:18:10 pm

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I asked for the exact same thing in a computer forum and they all said the same thing to make sure all your drivers are updated and if that doesn't help then there could be something wrong with the power supply...

I spent £60.00 on a new power supply about 2 weeks ago and my pc will now last longer than 5Min's before it freezes but I still have the same problem, p.s. my drivers are updated also... In my case it could be a problem with the ram, who knows... personally I would take it to a professional who can give you a definite answer rather than you spending money like me on something which may or may not be the problem.

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kentona

#6 November 07, 2009, 03:26:12 pm

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I did the whole "new power supply" thing with my old PC years ago. Didn't help it at all.

Would a faulty motherboard battery do this?

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Corfaisus

#7 November 07, 2009, 05:47:21 pm

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There may be an over-heating problem. I know this sort of thing happened with my old computer, though I think it just shut itself off, because the fan fell off of the motherboard.

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Frisky SKeleton

#8 November 07, 2009, 08:00:20 pm

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Quote from: kentona on November 07, 2009, 03:26:12 pm

I did the whole "new power supply" thing with my old PC years ago. Didn't help it at all.

Would a faulty motherboard battery do this?

no, that would stop the POST or at most delay it (most modern computers have an autoconfig option). i ran a computer for years with a flat cmos battery , i got so fast at typing in the heads and cylinders of the harddrive.

especially if it's not a relatively new PC make sure all the IRQ interrupts or whatever are balanced, ie maybe take out your mouse or optical drive and see if it still happens. if it freezes at POST then it's something beyond the windows driver level that's making it freeze

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kentona

#9 November 08, 2009, 01:32:08 am

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It freezes randomly either during POST, after POST, during Windows boot, and even like an hour after booting up it'll just randomly freeze. The machine does not shut off (so its probably not overheating) and whatever is on the monitor at the time of the freeze is still there. The CPU fan is still spinning, too.

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Vellfire

#10 November 08, 2009, 03:39:26 am

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i had this problem before, it was due to a problem with my video card. like you said, everything would still be running just the image on the screen would halt. that's all i remember though, i replaced my video card and it went away. do you have one you could test in this machine?

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tuxedo marx

#11 November 08, 2009, 03:51:00 am

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stop putting it in the freezer

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DS

#12 November 08, 2009, 04:33:11 pm

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It could be an overheating problem with your GPU. I had a similar issue with my old pc when my GPU's temperature would go as high up as 95 Celsius and the same thing happened. Though it's weird that it happens randomly for you even when you aren't doing anything so it's not necessarily an overheating problem but I'd bet it's your graphics card which is broken. Although it could be some other hardware related problem as well so I wouldn't buy a new graphics card before testing if it's really the problem.

Last Edit: November 08, 2009, 04:36:25 pm by Ghost_Dad

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Carrion Crow

#13 November 08, 2009, 05:11:12 pm

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I had a dodgy Geforce 4 that made my system behave in a similar way, you can probably get some software to give you an idea of how hot the GPU is.

The best way to figure out what is wrong with your PC is to listen the sounds it makes when it dies, take a guess and swap its components with those of another machine if you have any lying around. Not everyone has a box full of old PC crap though.

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Vellfire

#14 November 08, 2009, 05:42:50 pm

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Quote from: Ghost_Dad on November 08, 2009, 04:33:11 pm

It could be an overheating problem with your GPU. I had a similar issue with my old pc when my GPU's temperature would go as high up as 95 Celsius and the same thing happened. Though it's weird that it happens randomly for you even when you aren't doing anything so it's not necessarily an overheating problem but I'd bet it's your graphics card which is broken. Although it could be some other hardware related problem as well so I wouldn't buy a new graphics card before testing if it's really the problem.

yeah this was my issue, although i never monitored the GPU temperature, i just figured it out after a while (because when my CPU would overheat it shut off, but this just froze the graphics)

definitely test it out before buying a new one though, unless your wife wanted a new one anyway :P

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StudioFortress

#15 November 12, 2009, 03:02:30 pm

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If it's a power issue then it might not be the PSU to blame. If your running your PC on a 4-way power adapter (or any other kind of power adapter) then change it so it's running directly from the plug.

I bought a 4-way power adapter a month ago for my PC but found it would randomly black screen several times a day. The PC is now plugged on it's own into the plug socket on the wall (no 4-ways or adapters). The issue hasn't occurred since. At the office where I used to work the guy next to me also had a similar issue, his PC would randomly reset without warning. Again his PC was plugged into a 4-way adapter and when changed to plug directly into the wall the issue was resolved.

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