Computer freezes or restarts or programs terminate unexpectedly

[Guest]

I am using Windows XP Pro on my comp with an AMD 1800 cpu, Nvidia G-Force
Ti-4400 video card, 250mb of RAM, 20 Gb HD & also 1 DVD drive, floppy &
cooling fan - My problem is this - my computer seems to work fine for about
15 minutes or so then starts to freeze up or programs will terminate
unexpectedly or the computer will just restart on its own. Then the fun
begins, I will have to do numerous resets to get it going again only to have
it freeze up on the restart & so on. I have been able to successfully run a
virus scan only once & that was when I turned the monitor off, no viruses.
I believe that I may have a faulty graphic card or the hard drive is not
functioning properly or that I may have a heat problem. Any ideas on how I
can narrow this down?

 

[Malke]

I am using Windows XP Pro on my comp with an AMD 1800 cpu, Nvidia
G-Force Ti-4400 video card, 250mb of RAM, 20 Gb HD & also 1 DVD drive,
floppy & cooling fan - My problem is this - my computer seems to work
fine for about 15 minutes or so then starts to freeze up or programs
will terminate
unexpectedly or the computer will just restart on its own. Then the
fun begins, I will have to do numerous resets to get it going again
only to have
it freeze up on the restart & so on. I have been able to successfully
run a virus scan only once & that was when I turned the monitor off,
no viruses. I believe that I may have a faulty graphic card or the
hard drive is not
functioning properly or that I may have a heat problem. Any ideas on
how I can narrow this down?

The problems you describe are usually caused by failing hardware. I'd
particularly look at the video card's fan. I've had several of those
older Ti4400's fail. Here are general hardware troubleshooting steps:

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an extended period of time - unless
errors are seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Usually
you will download the file and make a bootable floppy with it. Boot
with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical
errors, replace it.

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power
supply can be faulty.

5) Test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it isn't.

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a good local
computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Malke