windows freezes

[entrana]

after using my pc for a while, its been randomly locking up just freezing. theres no fixed timeframe but it just happens. every hard drive activity stops, no mouse moving no audio or anything there just an image of the desktop on the screen. i have to restart all the time.happens like once in 5hours or so. it can range on to about 15hours of use. any ideas guys?

[ravi_9793]

There can be many causes like:
1. Virus
2. Overheating
3. Bad driver
4. Corrupted windows files.. etc

[paroh]

I think problem with the drivers so download the latest drives of ur sound card, video card etc. And also check what the exact error in event log. u can vew log right click on my computer->manage->event viewer check in system and application about the error

[entrana]

nothing shows in event viewer

[mrintech]

Clean your System RAM

[bandrew]

Have been going through the various sections and I am so impressed to see how helpful you are to each other. Have already accumulated knowledge towards various aspects that were not known to me and I decided I would also try and help others if I can.
In your case my friend what the others have said might surely be one of the reasons for your computer to freeze additionally check the CPU fan which might have accumulated dust and the heat sink beneath it. This happened to me once and upon cleaning it solved the issue, think its worth a try. Some of the color laser jet printers have made me curious.

[entrana]

just cleaned a few days ago, also cleaned ram

[mrintech]

you must call some technicians

[satyamy]

Which Windows you are Using ?

[Anorion]

-try to bring up msconfig. If it does not show up, its a worm or a trojan. If it does show up, clear up all non-essential items from the startup.
-does the comp freeze when you use particular programs? does it happen at a particular level of CPU use? This could be an overheating problem. Open up your cabinet and check if the fan has collected dust.
-Some processes run automatically at certain times. ISP providers launch ads at intervals on IE, for example. Check if the browser launching is causing the freeze. Also check autoupdate features in any AV/OS that you use. If this is the problem, disable auto-update and IE.
-Open your cabinet, and check for loose contacts. If your RAM has slipped, your comp won't start at all, but check the hard disk connections, and the drive connections. See if there is anything loose.
-Also check if any of the wiring is interfering with the fan.
-If none of these help, it is almost certainly a problem with the operating system files. Drivers should not freeze, unless the system is detecting a new hardware, and taking a long time over that. If you have recently connected a new Hard Drive, web cam, printer, scanner - etc, then disconnect this and check.
-Bring up the task manager, and have a look at the processes. Check out suspicious processes on this site.. This will help you identify and trojans/spyware/viruses/worms that might be hogging your resources.
-Run a boot time scan. If you don't have an antivirus that does this, use Avast from the Nov DVD.

[entrana]

ill try that. btw it just happened so ill let u guys know soon enough how it turns out

[tkin]

Originally Posted by entrana

after using my pc for a while, its been randomly locking up just freezing. theres no fixed timeframe but it just happens. every hard drive activity stops, no mouse moving no audio or anything there just an image of the desktop on the screen. i have to restart all the time.happens like once in 5hours or so. it can range on to about 15hours of use. any ideas guys?

Try to scan your Hard Drive for errors using this software, bad sectors can cause these problems a lot.
http://www.hdtune.com/

Get the free version and do the scan. Also check if there are any S.M.A.R.T value exceed issues.

[entrana]

its a rather slow scan will post back here when scan is finished

all seems to be ok with the scan

i noticed one more thing
when it freezes, the hdd led stops blinking and usually happens after 2-3 hours after waking up from hibernation.

[sakumar79]

Try to install Linux on your system or run it through Live DVDs... If you can run it for a long time without freezing, you are dealing with a software problem... Otherwise, if you get system freeze with Linux also, you are most likely dealing with a hardware problem which may be caused by one of many components such as PSU, motherboard, RAM, RAM slot in the motherboard, harddisk, etc...

Arun

[entrana]

sorry im unwilling to try linux

[Anorion]

Ah check the hard disk connections to the motherboard.

[sakumar79]

@entrana, even if you dont want to try linux, just get a Live DVD and run it... You dont have to install anything on your hard disk... Try to keep it running for a while... Play a game, browse the web, write some documents, etc... Just to see if this problem relates to software issues or hardware issues...

[entrana]

if hdd connection was loose the hdd wudnt have worked at all

[tkin]

Originally Posted by entrana

if hdd connection was loose the hdd wudnt have worked at all

Not loose connection but errors like corrupt firmware module, S.M.A.R.T errors or bad sectors.

[entrana]

i checked for bad sectors how to check for smart errors?

not hibernating "SEEMS" to solve the problem. will just stop hibernating i guess..

[entrana]

the problem is not hibernating but using the computer for more than 10 hours i think. i just have to keep restarting

[tkin]

Originally Posted by entrana

i checked for bad sectors how to check for smart errors?

not hibernating "SEEMS" to solve the problem. will just stop hibernating i guess..

Use this tool and perform the S.M.A.R.T test, short DST and short Generic test.

Since the HDD is from Seagate, be carefull, my 500GB Seagate just died on me after 1.5 months of moderate use, make sure to back-up important datas regularly, don't trust Seagate.

Heres the tool;
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...loads/seatools

Also my PC started to hang up just before my HDD went kaput, read my post;
Help:Seagate 500GB 32MB HDD Dead

[entrana]

yeah i backed up all my data. the sad part is my external is a seagate too ( i heard the seagate externals were fine though. thanks for the advice

[thelordrrulzzz]

hi digitians,
My friend has a 4 year old configuration which has started giving him some hardware problem. The configuration is as follows-
1] Celeron 2Ghz processor
2] Intel 845G chipset
3] 40Gb HDD
4] Lite-ON DVD writer
5] 512Mb DDR1 RAM

The computer was working fine till thursday but it abruptly got shut down and then it just won't start up. When he tried to power up his machine then da LED on the mobo didn't glow. So i thought it might be a problem due to a faulty SMPS so i replaced it with a spare i had.

After replacing the SMPS the LED on the motherboard glows, the DVD writer LED blinks, the keyboard's NumLock also blinks and the optical mouse is also powered up But the LED for HDD doesn't glow at all indicating absolutely no activity. All the other peripherals are absolutely fine according to him so

what do u think could be the problem???

P.S.- I thought of posting this query in this thread to avoid making extra threads and wasting BW here...No offences intended to entrana
Regards.

[tkin]

Originally Posted by thelordrrulzzz

hi digitians,
My friend has a 4 year old configuration which has started giving him some hardware problem. The configuration is as follows-
1] Celeron 2Ghz processor
2] Intel 845G chipset
3] 40Gb HDD
4] Lite-ON DVD writer
5] 512Mb DDR1 RAM

The computer was working fine till thursday but it abruptly got shut down and then it just won't start up. When he tried to power up his machine then da LED on the mobo didn't glow. So i thought it might be a problem due to a faulty SMPS so i replaced it with a spare i had.

After replacing the SMPS the LED on the motherboard glows, the DVD writer LED blinks, the keyboard's NumLock also blinks and the optical mouse is also powered up But the LED for HDD doesn't glow at all indicating absolutely no activity. All the other peripherals are absolutely fine according to him so

what do u think could be the problem???

P.S.- I thought of posting this query in this thread to avoid making extra threads and wasting BW here...No offences intended to entrana
Regards.

The SATA power connector is unable to provide power to the HDD(if the HDD is IDE then the IDE power connector is faulty).

If you're sure the PSU's O.K then the last PSU took the HDD along with it when it died(maybe a power surge killed both the PSU and HDD)

[damngoodman999]

My Window is never freezing even if i open my window and keeping , is there any possibilities freezing windows in TAMIL NADU ,???

[tkin]

Originally Posted by damngoodman999

My Window is never freezing even if i open my window and keeping , is there any possibilities freezing windows in TAMIL NADU ,???

What do you mean?

[damngoodman999]

Originally Posted by tkin

What do you mean?

Just kidding take it easy , the thread was shown as "WINDOWS FREEZING"

[satyamy]

Originally Posted by thelordrrulzzz

hi digitians,
My friend has a 4 year old configuration which has started giving him some hardware problem. The configuration ................

even if your HDD gone bad you will get display

r u getting display ?
do you hear a Single Beep when you power on the PC ?
Pls specify what problem you r getting ?

if their is no display
Remove Unnecessary Component like TV Tuner Card, LAN Card if any ...
try to remove than clean than reinsert your RAM
if you have 2 RAM test both 1 by 1

i think what "tkin" said abt power is what happen with your PSU & HDD

[thelordrrulzzz]

@satyamy
The monitor's LED is blinking but there is absolutely no video signal on the CRT.
This implies that there is absolutely nothing coming on the CRT screen. Due to this he is not even able to log into his bios. We are thinking that the worst case scenario can be that his processor has been blown off

@tkin
Even if the HDD was killed by the PSU's power surge then it should be possible for him to enter the bios settings on boot up. So the main thing is that he just can't even enter the bios..

What do you guys think can be da problem then???

If it is the case of the processor being screwed up is there a method to verify this. I mean to check if the processor is really dead....