PC Freezing

skyking_comms

Hi,
Ive just installed Vista Ultimate onto my desktop PC. It originally had Media Center on but i thought id upgrade as Ultimate has Media Center version 2 on it.
Anyway... when Media center was installed i noticed my machine would freeze for a couple of minutes and then it would work normally again. I thought it was a software problem and by upgrading had hoped it would go away. Well it hasnt. Ive noticed after a few minutes vistas icons in the bottom right hand corner dissapear. The tabs at the bottom of the page dissapear when you roll over them and other weird things happen..so its freezing again!
It must be hardware fault. I had replaced the CPU a while ago as that failed. But AMD sent me a new one as it was under warranty. RAM wise I have 2 DDR3200 512mb sticks. Do you think its a RAM problem, hard drive or something else? Unfortunately i dont have any spare hard ware so would like any advise on what you think I should change??
Thanks

Darren

computerwoman

skyking_comms wrote: »

Hi,
Ive just installed Vista Ultimate onto my desktop PC. It originally had Media Center on but i thought id upgrade as Ultimate has Media Center version 2 on it.
Anyway... when Media center was installed i noticed my machine would freeze for a couple of minutes and then it would work normally again. I thought it was a software problem and by upgrading had hoped it would go away. Well it hasnt. Ive noticed after a few minutes vistas icons in the bottom right hand corner dissapear. The tabs at the bottom of the page dissapear when you roll over them and other weird things happen..so its freezing again!
It must be hardware fault. I had replaced the CPU a while ago as that failed. But AMD sent me a new one as it was under warranty. RAM wise I have 2 DDR3200 512mb sticks. Do you think its a RAM problem, hard drive or something else? Unfortunately i dont have any spare hard ware so would like any advise on what you think I should change??
Thanks

Darren

it sounds like the HDD is on its way out, they usually come with a 3 year warranty nowadays, try getting another from the maker's, when mine started playing up, my mouse would freeze, (usb mouse) it just stopped working, so had to put a normal PS2 mouse in that worked for awhile then that wouldn't work, so I thought it was a virsus, tried to format the HDD but it wouldn't have it, so got a new one, and had no problem's since, normally it's just one thing that goes, and since having similar problem's I would try the HDD first.
good luck
cw

globalds

vista has loads of driver issues .So before you panic and buy anything new .see if your drivers need updating .I have ultimate vista running on one of my pc's and it seems logitech has no driver for it's wireless keybord.This is no real problem but other drivers or conflicts regarding softwrae are the usual causes .
Next I would look at your PSU ..Vista may well be making demands on your graphics and motherboard that are just tipping your power to the point where things start bahavng strangely.
The good news is that things will only get better with vista ,so hang in there.

skyking_comms

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. I think your right about the HDD. Its a western digital that i bought from Aldi (badged on the box as tevion) They do have a 3 year warranty. Only thing is i dont have the box or receipt, so fingers crossed they can check the serial number.
Also havent got a slave HDD to copy my data onto :-( Oh well

Cheers

Darren

CHR15

If you get no joy from Aldi you could try the WD website.

Enter the drive serial number to find out if you are covered

http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/serialinput.asp


If you cannot get to the serial number, download Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics.

http://support.wdc.com/download/

skyking_comms

Thanks for the links
The serial number comes up as being 'No Limited warranty'
Product was originally sold to a system manufacturer. Please contact the system manufacturer or the place of purchase for warranty service.

At least that shows it came from somewhere else. I will try that test, but ive seen those before and they dont show problems like this.
Anybody know of a tevion helpline number, or will i have to ask in my aldi store? I moved house and lost my original box. But then I have had the drive 2 years and didnt expect it to fail. That will teach me! Date on HDD Is May 17 2005.. so at least that proves when it was made!

Cheers

Darren

skyking_comms

Just to let you know i ran that diagnostic test and after 1hr30 it said it passed. No problems

computerwoman

skyking_comms wrote: »

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. I think your right about the HDD. Its a western digital that i bought from Aldi (badged on the box as tevion) They do have a 3 year warranty. Only thing is i dont have the box or receipt, so fingers crossed they can check the serial number.
Also havent got a slave HDD to copy my data onto :-( Oh well

Cheers

Darren

Hi if you get in touch with them via internet they will just send you a new one, without even wanting the old one back, that's what usually happens,
cw.

skyking_comms

Have you got an email address?

computerwoman

http://www.wdc.com/en/
this is for western digital cant find anything for tevion bot if you look on the HDD it should have something on there, you'll need the serial number and the date you bought it, they will just send you a new one.
hope this helps
cw.
http://support.wdc.com/
try this one.