Computer Guru's

[chumbucket]

My computer will all of a sudden just freeze up, cant do nothing but shut down and restart with tower button. Anybody have a clue?????

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Computer Guru's

Could be a bunch of reasons:<br /><br />Bad memory<br />Lose HDD or other data cable<br />Corrupted device driver (esp video)<br />Lose circuit board (esp video)<br />Bad board (esp video)<br />Buggy sw running in the background (check your start up folder to see what is starting automatically)<br /><br />What kind of computer and what OS? Have you installed any SW lately? When is the last time you ran windows update?

 

[Spidybot]

Re: Computer Guru's

The obvious thing to do is to get it running long enough to save crucial data and identify make & model of all add-on cards and built-in features. Then make sure you have or can get drivers for those, suitable for the OS you plan to run. Then re-install the whole thing.<br /><br />Start by looking it all over to make sure all devices and peripherals are proper installed. Check all connectors and clean (careful) dust and dirt out.<br /><br />It most often is a better use of time and ends up better, than spending numerous hours trying to fix/rescue it as is (and then decide to re-install it anyway). <br /><br />Depending on the hardware (access to driver's), you may want to use another OS than you did before or maybe upgrade something in the process.<br /><br />Make sure you make a budget as a new pc may very well be better value than an upgrade/repair fix mix.<br /><br />Ready-to-go systems (no OS, no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse) with good specs are available from some $300. Not high-end gear ofcourse, but probably better than the old puter.

 

[TPD211]

Re: Computer Guru's

If you recently installed software that may be the reason for the sudden freezes. Ralph and UU hit it on the head.<br />If your running Win ME or XP go back to a save point prior to when the freeze ups started.<br />Has anyone else been on the PC? My kids are famous for downloading junk and installing it on my PC even though they have their own.<br />Get a program called end-it-all, its free, just do a search and install and run it. It kills all programs running in the back ground except essential programs and is a good tool to diagnose problems. <br />Freeze ups are usually caused by a device driver that has been currupted or is missing.<br />Did anyone uninstall a program and say "yes" to everything? A device driver may have been uninstalled that is needed. <br />Viruses and trojans can lead to freeze ups. If you have a anti-virus program, update the definition files and run it. <br />You may also scandisk and defrag the hard drive. <br />As was mentioned by UU and Ralph, a hardware piece may be getting ready to die.<br />Some freeze ups occur when the processor gets hot, locking up the system. It will reboot then lock up a few minutes later.<br />Take the case off and see if the fan on the processor is clear, gently blow it clean, can air is for this. <br />Good luck with the problem, keep us posted.<br /><br />Ive been computing since 1984 starting out with a Tandy system with a 8088 processor. While not a guru I try to keep my hand in PC's.

 

[FireAm94]

Re: Computer Guru's

If I had to guess what your problem was without looking at your computer i'd guess it was spyware/adware eating up your resources. I would download spybot search and destroy (do a search on cnet.com) and remove all that it finds. Don't use Adaware......it tends to remove spyware without properly restoring winsock settings causing you to be unable to browse the internet. After you run spybot and remove the things it finds click on immunize and follow the instructions. The immunize feature prevents reinfection (don't have to worry about getting most of that stuff on your pc again). Also...if it's randomly freezing it could be anything from a bad power supply in your computer, bad surge strip, bad ground, bad memory, bad mainboard....i've seen it all where I work.<br /><br />Joe

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Computer Guru's

TPD211 has some great advice, as well as others! If I had to put money somewhere it would be heat! If you have had this computer for awhile, (over a year) Take the case off, clean everything really well, make sure your fans are working, pull the CPU and clean and replace the thermal compound on the chip! Ive seen this become powder over time and it will not transfer heat in that condition!

 

[FireAm94]

Re: Computer Guru's

I would agree that heat could cause this ONLY if it is a socket 7 processor or the like. The newer mainboards have a shutdown temp in the bios and if the chip gets to hot it powers off the system....it will not reboot. In other words...if the system is socket A (amd atlhon/duron) or within the same basic genere it should have shutdown temp saftey feature.<br /><br />Joe

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Computer Guru's

To prove it's hardware, go to here and download and run prime95 on a torture test. It is without exception the most stressful test of the processor and ram. Plus it usually tells you there was an error rather than just crashing. Prime95's real purpose in life is to find the largest prime number.<br />It is far more stressful and useful than 3dmark, or any burn in tester I've ever seen.

 

[FireAm94]

Re: Computer Guru's

I'm a firm believer and user of PC Pro diagnostic suite....but then again....the company paid for it.