PC Keeps Sticking, can anyone help please?

Lizbetty

Hi everyone

I wonder if anyone can help please? Our pc has been sticking for quite a few months now - I initially thought it was a mouse problem as the cursor stops moving, and tried a new mouse but it is still doing it. The only way round it is to reboot. The number lock key doesn't work, it just completely jams up.

It's very sporadic. We have quite a bit of memory as far as I'm aware. It's only about a year old.

We would have taken it in for checking but my husband is self employed so we just keep swearing and rebooting as he needs it for his emails .

We have Avast antivirus, Zonealarm firewall.

Hope someone can help. I'm sorry, I'm not sure what else you might need to know. It's Windows Xp and we have the latest Internet Explorer installed.

Thanks in advance, Lucy

rhythmsoup

You could try booting the PC with a linux "live" CD its a bit like a operating system on a CD, if your PC show similar symptoms then its likely to be a hardware problem. If it works ok then it could be a problem with your operating system (windows) or some installed software.

To get a linux CD and the instructions to burn the image, go here

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

fwor

If it's only about a year old, you could try exercising your consumer rights against the company that sold it to you, but that can be difficult with PCs.

It could be one of many things, unfortunately.

If it's been used in a very dusty environment it could be fluffed-up inside and overheating, but that's unlikely in 1 year.

The other thing that I've seen cause this are old device drivers - specifically on the graphics card in the example I saw. Best way to check and update is to go to the makers website, but a second best option is to go to the MS Windows Update website, scan for updates and then check for hardware driver updates.

shingen

Hi,

I am trying to figure out what the issue is you are describing. Is it that the computer is loading and working then starts sticking when trying to use it. If this is the case and you can still move the mouse you need to go to task manager to see what is happening. To get to task manager press ctrl + alt + del and choose task manager. you should see if any programs have stopped responding. If you could give me more information I may be able to suggest an alternative plan.


Regards,

Shingen

JonnyThunder

This sounds like a memory access issue or an overheating problem. It's a new PC, so it's unlikely to be overheating.

I'd suggest getting a memory test tool and checking your memory under a stress test. You can find memory testing tools here

Lizbetty

Thanks for the replies. Oooh, I just typed out a huge response and it blooming well froze half way. Grrrr.

Anyway. It could be dust, I really ought to check as we had a giant house rabbit a metre away from the pc who moulted a lot, and while I did vacuum.... It would be embarassing if that were the issue so I will duly vac the innards when the kids go to bed and I dare remove the screws.

The pc was built by a local shop, and I have a feeling the copy of Windows isnt exactly kosher. It says 'resources are not available' when I try to do the updates - and it says there's 12 necessary ones outstanding.

The pc just freezes up completely shingen - I can't do ctrl/alt/del when it happens, or even exit using the ctrl/esc, I just have to hold down the button and wait for it to switch off and then reboot it.

I did wonder whether it was a CPU thing - I googled possible problems a week or so ago and noticed that the system idle process wasn't always at the top of the CPU thing. I don't know enough about it to be able to tell you more, rather embarrassingly. I will try and get any more info you may need if you can guide me as to how I might find out what you might need to know?

Thanks for the offer of help with this. A chap will be phoning us back tonight about a possible call out but it's a £ we could do without

I'll post this off before it crashes again...and then reread it and add any bits necessary so I don't lose all of the above!

Thanks lots again, I really appreciate your help folks. x

Chorlie

My fathers does something the same, but his freezes up on boot up and has done for a couple of years, the old way around it is a hard reboot.

The fan is almost always on so could be a heating issue

He's running XP.

dogmaryxx

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then, click Run now button from the Automated Troubleshooting Services page and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services: Internet Explorer freezes or crashes

Lizbetty

dogmaryxx wrote: »

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then, click Run now button from the Automated Troubleshooting Services page and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem

Microsoft Automated Troubleshooting Services: Internet Explorer freezes or crashes

Thanks, I just tried that as per your post. It says no fixes could be detected so I guess it must be something else. x

spakkker

Have a look in event viewer - right click my computer/manage/event viewer entries are timed so see whats going wrong when it freezes.

Lizbetty

spakkker wrote: »

Have a look in event viewer - right click my computer/manage/event viewer entries are timed so see whats going wrong when it freezes.

There does seem a lot of entries, is there anything in particular to post that might be useful? Or any way to copy to lot, please?

eg
Windows (2168) Windows: The database engine has successfully completed recovery steps.

Windows (2168) Windows: The database engine has begun replaying logfile C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS.log.

Windows (2168) Windows: The database engine has begun replaying logfile C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows\MSS03BAA.log.

This was was with a 'Warning!' symbol
TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

It has crashed once so far this morning and the 'System' and 'Applications' are the only tabs that show events from today mind you, if that's any help?

Incidentally, our braodband connection has been dropping rather a lot lately too - Plusnet said it's nothing their end, although we don't have a wireless router to see if is because of us having a splitter thing set up for the modem. Not sure if this may be related?