Computer Freezing

[Guest]

Following on from my problems last week, my computer is randomly freezing,
nothing on the screen moves (Mouse Cursor etc) and the only way to stop it is
by pressing on the restart button, and recently the computer is refusing to
start straight away.

I can hear the computer making it's normal sounds but nothing appears on the
screen (The start up screen etc). So I turn the computer off, leave it for
1/2 an hour and it works, until it freezes again, after 20 minutes or so (Im
not sure if it's regular or just a coincidence)Following on from my problems
last week, my computer is randomly freezing, nothing on the screen moves
(Mouse Cursor etc) and the only way to stop it is by pressing on the restart
button, and recently the computer is refusing to start straight away.

I can hear the computer making it's normal sounds but nothing appears on the
screen (The start up screen etc). So I turn the computer off, leave it for
1/2 an hour and it works, until it freezes again. The BIOS doesn't beep
either while it won't start

The screen is also occasionally flashing black for 1-2 seconds aswell
(Although it rarely happens, twice during the whole of yesterday)

The major problems occured when an error message appeared saying a device
had failed and Windows needs to restart, the screen had gone into a lower
resolution and the colours were weird (I assume it was a drop in the number
of colours on screen)

It seems as though the graphics card is being affected although the device
manager says it is working fine.

I ran a anti-virus last week and got rid of any Viruses, I ran it again to
check that there were none left.

Any ideas?

 

[Mary Sauer]

Have you gone to the manufacturer's web site of your graphics card and looked around
for an upgraded driver?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

You have all the classic signs of a hardware failure. The system needs to be
checked out by a competent professional. Backup any data critical to you, as
they may need to create a clean installation. Freezing of this nature is
almost always related to an overheating component. This is why it works for
a short time after the system has cooled off. Once under full stress, it
fails and the system locks up. It will need to be replaced, and it often is
a motherboard component.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Denis Scadeng]

Following on from my problems last week, my computer is randomly freezing,
nothing on the screen moves (Mouse Cursor etc) and the only way to stop it is
by pressing on the restart button, and recently the computer is refusing to
start straight away.

I can hear the computer making it's normal sounds but nothing appears on the
screen (The start up screen etc). So I turn the computer off, leave it for
1/2 an hour and it works, until it freezes again, after 20 minutes or so (Im
not sure if it's regular or just a coincidence)Following on from my problems
last week, my computer is randomly freezing, nothing on the screen moves
(Mouse Cursor etc) and the only way to stop it is by pressing on the restart
button, and recently the computer is refusing to start straight away.

I had this problem and the standard advice was that it was overheating
but when I opened up the CPU fan was blasting away so I assumed it
couldn't be that. Eventually, after a long and sorry saga, everything
packed up so I decided that I might replace the CPU. When I removed the
fan I discovered that the CPU had three labels with manufacturer's name,
warranty, etc. on top - between the CPU and the heatsink. With such a
perfect insulator I am surprised it lasted as long as it did. I
understand this is a common practice among assemblers who don't know any
(very) basic physics.

Take the heatsink off and have a look - be careful though, the fixings
can be a bit tricky.

Denis

 

[S. Taylor]

and just because the fan is blasting away, doesn't mean it's being
effective.
you should check it's speed (in bios) , less then 4000 rpm's ain't good.
Contrary air circulation is also bad.(i.e case fans close to the cpu should
blow air in,
if you have multiple case fans, you may want the 2nd, to be distant from the
cpu, and blowing outward.
Clownshoes' case, he should also suspect his video card.