PC problem - screen freezing - any ideas?

jackieblack

I have a REALLY annoying problem with my PC, it has had this problem for nearly a year.
The screen freezes, apparantly randomly, some times it happens after just a few minutes, sometimes it takes more than half an hour, but I've also had it freeze before I've even had a chance to log on, it can happen when I'm on the internet, or when I'm not. The only thing I can do when it happens is restart the computer.
The PC itself carries on running, I know this because its happened when I've been watching a video clip and the sound carried on but the picture froze. It has also happene when I've been copying/transferring files, to MP3 player or memory stick etc. The little window said 10 mins left when the screen froze so I left it 15 mins before restarting and the files had all copied/moved.
I tried reformatting the hard drive, have upgraded the RAM, swapped the monitor, taken off Norton Internet Security (now have AVG and Spyware Doctor) and am fairly sure all the drivers. Flash Player etc are up to date.

Has anyone any ideas? It's driving me mad and I have run out of ideas (and my friends & family have run out of suggestions!)

mdbarber

jackieblack wrote: »

I tried reformatting the hard drive, have upgraded the RAM, swapped the monitor, taken off Norton Internet Security (now have AVG and Spyware Doctor) and am fairly sure all the drivers. Flash Player etc are up to date.
)

Don't we just hate intermittent faults, try the original drivers that came with the graphics card, sometimes our far eastern brethren forget or misinterpret reference designs no bigger as long as the referencer designer doesn't adjust some code in the later revision drivers to increase performance or something
After that, the system is failing to "refresh" the screen memory, this could be down to a fault in the video card itself or possible the interface controller on the mainboard
The gpu could also be overheating, check to see if there is a fan on the graphics card and whilst tricky try to see if it is spinning when the system is powered on

Holeypockets

When was the last time the PC was blown out with an air line? Dust can cause slowness by clogging fans.

jackieblack

I forgot to put that I have also had to reduce Hardware Acceleration as far as it will go, if I try to move the slider up at all it just keeps restarting - don't know if it's connected or a seperate problem.

jackieblack

Holeypockets wrote: »

When was the last time the PC was blown out with an air line? Dust can cause slowness by clogging fans.

I've never done this (although I've done a little gentle hovering of parts that were looking a bit dusty) so I will try it, thanks

jackieblack

mdbarber wrote: »

Don't we just hate intermittent faults, try the original drivers that came with the graphics card, sometimes our far eastern brethren forget or misinterpret reference designs no bigger as long as the referencer designer doesn't adjust some code in the later revision drivers to increase performance or something
After that, the system is failing to "refresh" the screen memory, this could be down to a fault in the video card itself or possible the interface controller on the mainboard
The gpu could also be overheating, check to see if there is a fan on the graphics card and whilst tricky try to see if it is spinning when the system is powered on

This sounds like good advice (although I can't honestly say I understand all of it!) I might sound a bit thick but what does the graphics card look like?
there is a fan but I think it is for the power supply(?)

jackieblack

Have had a quick look, but can only see one fan.

mdbarber

jackieblack wrote: »

Have had a quick look, but can only see one fan.

The board you see as you remove side panel is the mainboard, the graphics card, (if one is fitted*) will be fitted at a right angle to that and the fan will be underneath (facing down)
*Some mainboards have "integrated" graphics chips and this doesnt usually have a fan just a big heatsink, if thats the case the monitor will plug in near the keyboard and mouse connectors.

Integrated gfx chips use memory in the system , if that is the case have you upgraded the memory? running different speed sticks of ram can cause this issue.
Also there could be a fault with the memory try running some memory test software also,, google "memtest" free download

jackieblack

mdbarber wrote: »

Don't we just hate intermittent faults, try the original drivers that came with the graphics card, sometimes our far eastern brethren forget or misinterpret reference designs no bigger as long as the referencer designer doesn't adjust some code in the later revision drivers to increase performance or something
After that, the system is failing to "refresh" the screen memory, this could be down to a fault in the video card itself or possible the interface controller on the mainboard
The gpu could also be overheating, check to see if there is a fan on the graphics card and whilst tricky try to see if it is spinning when the system is powered on

A friend lent us his graphics card to try in our computer and this seemed to cure the problem!:j

I've now bought and fitted a new graphics card. So far so good!

:T Thank you to everyone who suggested something they thought might help!