Freezing Screen+Quickest cure?

Jake'sGran

This must have been asked before so apologies if this is a regular question. My screen froze about half and hour ago and the only thing I could do was switch everything off and start again. I did try CTRL+ESC which I seem to remember was suggested in the past but it did not cure it.

bc3000

this happens to me as well.. interested in the answer!

S0litaire

What programs are running when it freezes?

Is the fans in your comp running?

totalsolutions

>CTRL+ESC Just brings up the Start menu. You mean CTRL+ALT+DEL (x2) ?

Jake'sGran

S0litaire wrote: »

What programs are running when it freezes?

Is the fans in your comp running?

Sorry, can't remember what I was doing at the time - might have been a favourite garden group. I assume the fans were running. How would I know?

Jake'sGran

totalsolutions wrote: »

>CTRL+ESC Just brings up the Start menu. You mean CTRL+ALT+DEL (x2) ?

CTRL+ESC did not bring anything up! I will try what you suggest next time and hope it works.

exup

there may be a few reasons why it is doing this -
your harddrive may be on the way out - allow 2 - 3 years average use on a hard drive - but if its started making clicking or squeaking noises then it may be on the way out.
loose connections or corroded connections. it may be that you need to reseat the ribbon connectors to your drives from the motherboard - easiest way is to ease them off one at a time and then replace them back so you dont mix them up.
Your grahpics card may be overheating - but I doubt it is your CPU as this would probably force a shutdown rather than a freeze.
WHen was last time your ran system maintenance - defragmented your hard drive? ran system clean up?
START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS
and look for drive defrag and system cleanup

as for checking your fans ? just hold your hand over the fan intake /outlet and see if it/they are working - but dont know how many fans you may have - there may be one on your power supply unit. usually one on the back of the PC unit and then there could be extra ones on the sides / front etc

Jake'sGran

Hi EXUP

I recently did all the things you suggest, cleanup etc. In fact this machine is working very well at the moment so it may have been something I did wrong.
The freezing screen is a rare occurrence so I will try Total Solutions remedy next time.