Computer Randomly freezes

[joel122]

Hi, this problem has been going on for quite some time on and off and I'd really like to put an end to it once and for all. My computer has been randomly freezing as of late and the only way to fix it is to manually restart the computer itself. Usually what happens is that it will simply freeze very randomly and I'll be able to move the mouse around but nothing else responds. As soon as I click somewhere with my mouse, wherever I clicked the mouse will freeze as well at that certain spot. Num lock does not work either, neither does ctrl alt+ del, etc. Usually if sound is on at the time, well whatever is playing will freeze at that specific note or sound and keep repeating as in a loop. I thought I had managed to fix this problem a few months back by updating my device drivers, but this does not seem to be the case. If anyone could help me with simple instructions, as I am by far extremely bad with computers, it would be very helpful and appreciated, thank you,

 

[Tmagic650]

What is the computer, a laptop or desktop?

 

[joel122]

Desktop

 

[Tmagic650]

Make or model?

 

[joel122]

I am running Windows 7 with an amd processor, that's what I mostly know as a friend built the computer for me a few years back. If additional information is needed I'd be more than happy to hand it out

 

[joel122]

If anymore information is needed, which I guess it is, just let me know, im just not too sure what is needed from my part to asses this situation.

 

[joel122]

I've had several freezes this morning and they seem quite frequent, I'm completely loss as to what I should do. Any further instructions would be very helpful.

 

[Tmagic650]

The power supply may be the cause of this. Try swapping it out

 

[joel122]

I had previously tried that, but it had no real change to the problem. I think it would be important to note that the freezes happen very randomly at times, but more often than not it will happen once watching a video or playing a game.

 

[DelJo63]

but more often than not it will happen once watching a video or playing a game.

I would suspect the video system (card+onboard mem) OR the system memory

 

[joel122]

How should I go about fixing this problem? Should I actually swap out every single part suggested one by one, or would there be an easier way to figure this out ?

 

[DelJo63]

First stay OFF gaming and streaming and play with google, news.google.com or yahoo news - - just drive some content.
The object is to see if it is a general, overall problem vs related to your normal activity.

Set you screen saver for short time but not to sleep or hibernate - - see if the system will idle for a few hours without being overloaded.

 

[joel122]

From what I can see the pc seems to be running fine when not overloaded with much. It hadnt frozen while idle, it really does seem to freeze randomly when I am doing other tasks or simply watching videos, or playing games.

 

[DelJo63]

I suspect your video system - - look for video driver update, then find video benchmarks and run them. See:

http://www.ocinside.de/links_en/ocsoft_links/
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5793-unigine-valley-benchmark.html

 

[joel122]

I downloaded the valley benchmark software and passed a benchmark at custom settings it ran fine and I got a score of 500 or so.. Afterwards, I ran a benchmark with extreme HD setting turned on, and midway through, the computer froze once again. Is there anything in particular I should be looking out for when running these benchmarks?

 

[Tmagic650]

Run Memtest86 v5.01 for at least 7 passes...
http://www.memtest.org/

 

[DelJo63]

As I suspected, it is video related. Are you running with an onBoard video chip or a dedicated controller (which one and how much memory does it have, does it have a dedicated fan).

 

[joel122]

I am running memtest right now, will update you later tonight if any errors were found.

 

[joel122]

After 17h and 5 passes of running memtest, there seems to have no error, I shall keep passing it for at least 7 passes, but until then, there seems to be no sign of errors occurring. As for my graphics driver I believe I am running an amd Radeon, the exact specifications I am not sure, I believe it was an on-board one, but then again I am not 100% sure. I shall have to check with my computer specifications when I am home for the exact model.

 

[joel122]

Sorry, I have been away for a few days but I came back with my computer still running memtest and it has run 21 successfull passes without any signs of errors, what would be the next step that I should follow?

 

[DelJo63]

Update the video driver

 

[joel122]

Sorry if this may seem obvious, but if I go to "device manage" and proceed by clicking on my "display adapter" which will open up my video driver, which is an AMD Radeon HD 7560D, by the way, and then right click on it and update the drivers software by automatically searching for them, would this be the correct way of going about this? Though as I do this it tells me that windows determined that my driver is up to date. So does that mean that they truly are up to date or do I have to manually find them and update them?

 

[joel122]

I think its important to mention that a few months ago (6 or so) I had updated my video drivers, by automatically searching for them and it seemed to have updated them and fixed the problem until now. I remember having downloaded skype a few hours or maybe a day or so before it froze, I don't know if its relevant information or not?

 

[DelJo63]

Yes, I've seen that inconsistency too, so take the make/model info and search the vender's site for firmware to match

 

[joel122]

Is there any way exactly to know if the firmware has not been already installed or updated? As I've mentioned I have an AMD Radeon HD 7560D, so I should go to the AMD website and search for that specific make/model and find any updates or firmware for it and install it?