Freezing and having to reboot.

[twenty8twelve]

Hi I was wondering if any kind soul could help me with a really frustrating problem. My computer keeps freezing and I have to reboot. It seems to only happen when I'm doing something important (I'm sure the comp has something against me lol). Normally it freezes when I'm encoding or when transfering files from my external HD to the internal one.

I thought I'd solved the problem by completely restoring the comp to factory settings - giving it a new lease of life, but only a few days after it reverted to its old ways.

Here are the specs:
OP: XP servpack 1
Processor: 2.15 gig AMD athlon (128kb primary mem cache, 256 2nd mem cache)
Drives: 122 gb hd - with 86gb free.
Memory: 512mb
Display: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

(if any other specs are needed just ask )

I would really be grateful if anyone could give me any tips on how to stop it from freezing...oh I've already used msconfig to reduce the number of programs starting up.

Thanks

Em

 

[DonNagual]

Hello and Welcome to Techspot!

It could be a number of things (as you probably guessed) but let's check the obvious first. Hopefully it'll be nice and simple. But if your computer truely has something against you as you suspect, we may need to punish it in order to get it working.

We have a specialist at computer punishments, but we won't call on him unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. RealBlackStuff is dangerous.

OK, back to work. Right click on "my computer" then "manage" then "event viewer". Poke around in there looking for red (or yellow) error messages and see what they say. Follow the microsoft links to get more details on what the errors are and how to fix them.

Let us know how it goes, and good luck!

 

[twenty8twelve]

Hi DonNagual and thanks for your reply. I had a look around like you said but can't see anything that would seem to cause the problem.

Perhaps the "realblackstuff" maybe the only thing that might scare my computer into behaving itself lol!

I'm also really tempted to do another restore...but of course this probably wont solve the problem in the long run and it'll take me ages.

So, has anyone got any other suggestions before I bring out the big persuader (the hammer)?

Thanks again
Em

 

[DonNagual]

There were no red error messages in your event viewer (especially in the "system" section)?

Untill someone else comes along to help, I'd try the shotgun approach. Let's try a few things.

How about your motherboard chipset drivers and bios? Do you know how old they are? Maybe an update is in order here?

Also, open up your case and take a look at your PSU sticker. Who is the maker, and how many watts are you rated at? As your crash is only happening when the system is under load, the PSU is a suspect.

Dowload and run www.memtest.org to test your ram sticks. Let the test run for 6 or 7 passes (this will take a few hours).

What make is your hard drive? Go to the makers website and download their "diagnostic" program to test your hard drive.

 

[twenty8twelve]

just a quick update...(hopefully this wont jinx it). I basically gave the comp a good clean, inside and out ... the inside and fans were full of dust...put it back together and HEY PRESTO no more freeze (she says keeping her fingers crossed!!). Thanks for all your help Don