Randomly freezes

BluesFan · 02-24-2008, 02:57 AM

I have no idea why but my computer will randomly freeze up. The only thing I can do is reset it or turn the power off and back on.

I have checked and the fans are working. I cleaned out some dust bunnies that got in there.
I don't know what else to do with it.

Can someone help?

SirKenin · 02-24-2008, 03:10 AM

Check for bad capacitors on the motherboard, replace the power supply, or both.

AlphaBlues · 02-24-2008, 12:59 PM

XP or Vista?

There is something in Control Panel - System - Advanced - StartUp and Recovery - Settings that you can verify, if there is a checkmark in Automatically Restart remove it.

You'll be able to see if there is a problem somewhere with your computer, rather than reboot it will probably show a BSOD (good for XP, don't know if it's the same in Vista).

Good Luck

oscaryu1 · 02-24-2008, 01:38 PM

Download, burn, and run Memtest86.

jimkonow · 02-24-2008, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oscaryu1

Download, burn, and run Memtest86.

+1

BluesFan · 02-24-2008, 02:25 PM

It is windows xp home edition.

There is something in Control Panel - System - Advanced - StartUp and Recovery - Settings that you can verify, if there is a checkmark in Automatically Restart remove it.

You'll be able to see if there is a problem somewhere with your computer, rather than reboot it will probably show a BSOD (good for XP, don't know if it's the same in Vista).

I am not sure what to do with that but I will check it out.

How do I check for bad capacitors on the motherboard?

And Memtest86, is this to test for bad memory? Because it checks the ram at every start up. Or is this something different?

BluesFan · 02-24-2008, 08:44 PM

I downloaded and ran pc wizard 2008 but could not get it to tell me the processor temp.
I was thinking that maybe it was getting too hot and locking up.

BluesFan · 03-06-2008, 06:24 PM

I am still having the freeze up issue and have no idea why.

azwebs · 03-07-2008, 02:12 AM

To check for bad capacitors, open up the PC and check for any liquid around the capacitors. I think its more likely you've got a RAM problem. I had a faulty stick in my old desktop, and whenever the PC tried to write to it, it froze, crashed, and restarted the machine, regardless of whether I was actually doing something RAM intensive. Running MemTest is your best bet, it'll check over your RAM, which is probably the cause. How old is the machine, and have you replaced any components (namely RAM) since it was built or bought?

BluesFan · 03-07-2008, 03:39 PM

It tests the ram at every start up. But I will run memtest anyway.

02-24-2008, 02:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
BluesFan Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 69	Randomly freezes I have no idea why but my computer will randomly freeze up. The only thing I can do is reset it or turn the power off and back on. I have checked and the fans are working. I cleaned out some dust bunnies that got in there. I don't know what else to do with it. Can someone help?

02-24-2008, 01:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
oscaryu1 VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 13 Posts: 9,856	Download, burn, and run Memtest86. __________________ Core 2 Duo E2140 1.6GHz @ 3.04GHz GA-P31-DS3L pqi Turbo CL4 DDR2-800 2GB Sapphire HD3850 256MB Sony Writemaster DVD Burner EIDE Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200.9 8MB SATII

03-07-2008, 02:12 AM	#9 (permalink)
azwebs Silver Member Join Date: May 2007 Age: 14 Posts: 200	To check for bad capacitors, open up the PC and check for any liquid around the capacitors. I think its more likely you've got a RAM problem. I had a faulty stick in my old desktop, and whenever the PC tried to write to it, it froze, crashed, and restarted the machine, regardless of whether I was actually doing something RAM intensive. Running MemTest is your best bet, it'll check over your RAM, which is probably the cause. How old is the machine, and have you replaced any components (namely RAM) since it was built or bought? __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad QX6850 3.0Ghz 8GB Corsair 800Mhz DDR2 RAM (4 x 2gb) 6 x 500GB Hard Drive SATA II (3 Terabytes) Gecube HD 3870X2 1gb Dual GPU PCI Two 18x DL DVD Burners TV Tuner w/ Remote 2 Firewire Ports/8 CH Audio/Floppy/7 USB's 255mb Fibre Optic Broadband Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit

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02-24-2008, 03:10 AM	#2 (permalink)
SirKenin banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,711	Check for bad capacitors on the motherboard, replace the power supply, or both.

02-24-2008, 12:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
AlphaBlues Bronze Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 28	XP or Vista? There is something in Control Panel - System - Advanced - StartUp and Recovery - Settings that you can verify, if there is a checkmark in Automatically Restart remove it. You'll be able to see if there is a problem somewhere with your computer, rather than reboot it will probably show a BSOD (good for XP, don't know if it's the same in Vista). Good Luck

02-24-2008, 02:25 PM	#6 (permalink)
BluesFan Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 69	It is windows xp home edition. There is something in Control Panel - System - Advanced - StartUp and Recovery - Settings that you can verify, if there is a checkmark in Automatically Restart remove it. You'll be able to see if there is a problem somewhere with your computer, rather than reboot it will probably show a BSOD (good for XP, don't know if it's the same in Vista). I am not sure what to do with that but I will check it out. How do I check for bad capacitors on the motherboard? And Memtest86, is this to test for bad memory? Because it checks the ram at every start up. Or is this something different?

02-24-2008, 08:44 PM	#7 (permalink)
BluesFan Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 69	I downloaded and ran pc wizard 2008 but could not get it to tell me the processor temp. I was thinking that maybe it was getting too hot and locking up.

03-06-2008, 06:24 PM	#8 (permalink)
BluesFan Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 69	I am still having the freeze up issue and have no idea why.

03-07-2008, 03:39 PM	#10 (permalink)
BluesFan Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 69	It tests the ram at every start up. But I will run memtest anyway.