pc still freezing up

catford

sorry to keep asking for help but i'm getting really fed up with my pc freezing up! 5 times today-to get booted up!!!!! it just stops no keyboard/mouse/no nowt.i have to turn off and on again. this can happen at any time during start up and connecting to b/band,but virtually never once we're up & running. I'm afraid we may have to visit a pc repair man and i cant really afford that!! anyone got any ideas????

Reluctant_spender

Has this suddenly started to happen...Have you updated hardware or software.

Has something been downloaded, virus,trojan, malware or spyware?

Try running an online anti virus scanner - www.kaspersky.com/beta

Run spybot, adaware and or Microsoft Anti spyware program from safe mode.

Visit PC Pitstop free Diagnostic and Tuneups

Finally have you checked for conflicts control panel > system > hardware > device manager. Do you see any yellow exclamation marks that could pin point a prooblem.

culpepper

Probably isnt this but I sometimes get mine unable to detect the hard drive and have to turn off the whole thing and then reseat the IDE cables.After that it is fine,I think it might be a faulty IDE connector on the mobo but its fine for months after I push them back in.Sometimes a graphics card needs reseating (my son had this on his).

edna_clouds

My computer does the same as catford and it really is frustrating:eek: . This is the second computer that has done this and the first one went back for the very same reason. My computer usually freezes up during dial up but can also freezes while browsing but not so often. What computer are you using catford,it wouldn't be a hp multimedia centre would it?

rogerramjet

If it's freezing on boot check the IDE cable is seated correctly (as already mentioned) also if you have the facilities chage the IDE cable to see if it is the fault as they do fail and are the last thing peole really check...(seen a few with this problem)

There could be a possibility that the CPU (Processor) is overheating, this could be down to the fan failing or the heatsink not making a good thermal connection with the processor...the only real way of checking this is to remove the heatsink and reseat it...but without thermal paste available not a good idea.....you can take the side of the case off though to check if the fan is running, can't be missed believe me :P

Another possibility is the memory is failing, if you have two memory chips the easiest option is to remove one and check if it freezes.....if it does remove that one and try another, again this is only feasible if you have two chips or access to one you know is good.

The board or the processer could also be faulty, but unless you know someone who is willing to let you test your bits/their bits on yours/theirs the chance of finding out what is faulty is slim.

My current system kept crashing randomly, sometimes on boot, sometimes after an hour. I put it down to cooling.or motherboard..it took me a long time to actually rectify the fault which I finally found was a faulty processor, I actually thought it was a problem with the board more than cooling, but it was only when I had the opportunity to use a different processor did I manage to pinpoint the problem.

hope you find it's something easy...which reminds me, have you installed any new software recently? sometimes conflicts can occur on start up which can cause systems to run slow or even crash....best option in this case is to press the F8 key as the system starts (try once the main bios screen shows, otherwise a consistant press can help) if the system doesn't crash and your using win XP try and do a system restore to an earlier date to see if that cures the problem.

elvis_bloggs

Mine keeps freezing too, it can happen at anytime, I know when it is about to happen, I get that little eggtimer thingy next to my cursor.

catford

culpepper wrote:

Probably isnt this but I sometimes get mine unable to detect the hard drive and have to turn off the whole thing and then reseat the IDE cables.After that it is fine,I think it might be a faulty IDE connector on the mobo but its fine for months after I push them back in.Sometimes a graphics card needs reseating (my son had this on his).

checked those connections--all seems ok! thanks!

catford

edna_clouds wrote:

My computer does the same as catford and it really is frustrating:eek: . This is the second computer that has done this and the first one went back for the very same reason. My computer usually freezes up during dial up but can also freezes while browsing but not so often. What computer are you using catford,it wouldn't be a hp multimedia centre would it?

No i'm not using H P at all. but thanks.

catford

rogerramjet wrote:

If it's freezing on boot check the IDE cable is seated correctly (as already mentioned) also if you have the facilities chage the IDE cable to see if it is the fault as they do fail and are the last thing peole really check...(seen a few with this problem)

There could be a possibility that the CPU (Processor) is overheating, this could be down to the fan failing or the heatsink not making a good thermal connection with the processor...the only real way of checking this is to remove the heatsink and reseat it...but without thermal paste available not a good idea.....you can take the side of the case off though to check if the fan is running, can't be missed believe me :P

Another possibility is the memory is failing, if you have two memory chips the easiest option is to remove one and check if it freezes.....if it does remove that one and try another, again this is only feasible if you have two chips or access to one you know is good.

The board or the processer could also be faulty, but unless you know someone who is willing to let you test your bits/their bits on yours/theirs the chance of finding out what is faulty is slim.

My current system kept crashing randomly, sometimes on boot, sometimes after an hour. I put it down to cooling.or motherboard..it took me a long time to actually rectify the fault which I finally found was a faulty processor, I actually thought it was a problem with the board more than cooling, but it was only when I had the opportunity to use a different processor did I manage to pinpoint the problem.

hope you find it's something easy...which reminds me, have you installed any new software recently? sometimes conflicts can occur on start up which can cause systems to run slow or even crash....best option in this case is to press the F8 key as the system starts (try once the main bios screen shows, otherwise a consistant press can help) if the system doesn't crash and your using win XP try and do a system restore to an earlier date to see if that cures the problem.

No new software or anything-I think i may have to get the doctor to look at it on a no fix /no fee basis!

catford

elvis_bloggs wrote:

Mine keeps freezing too, it can happen at anytime, I know when it is about to happen, I get that little eggtimer thingy next to my cursor.

thats one more egg timer than i get!!thanx.

Toxteth_OGrady

Download Memtest from this link.

It's zipped, so just extract it to a temp directory and read the Readme. To run the program you just install Memtest on a floppy and boot from it. The tests run automatically.

It will tell you if your RAM is ok.

:cool:

TOG