Suggestions to track freezing problem?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marcus
  • Start date Start date
M

Marcus

For some reason, my PCs begun freezing several times a day. The only
way out is to press the reset button. I'm running Windows XP Pro w/
SP2. The problem begain a few days ago, and no new software or
hardware was installed. I have scanned the disk for errors, defragged,
ran a full virus scan with AVG, scanned with AdAware and Spybot S&D,
reseated all the hardware, cleaned out the dust as best as I could,
looked at the system and application logs where nothing unusual
appears that I can tell. So my question is, is there some kind of
utility either built into XP or downloadable that I can have running
that logs everything going on so I can see what is happening when the
freeze occurs? But I suppose logging EVERYTHING may not prove too
useful as it may be huge and make no sense to me. In any case, does
anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed further to track the
problem? I am about to run Memtest86 and see if my memory checks out.
Any other hardware diagnostic tools out there to be recommended?

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,
Marcus
 
Hi Marcus,

Logging won't help if this is a hardware issue, and freezing usually is.
Check the memory first, but you may find that a trip to your friendly local
pc shop will be necessary for proper diagnosis unless you have the means to
start swapping hardware. If you want to check the memory, there are free
programs here:

http://www.simmtester.com/page/products/doc/download.asp
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Find your cooling fans, all of them:

Power supply (up to 2)
Video card (1 or 2 depending on if you
have newer one)
Processor

See if they're running, and/or vacuum all the
crap outta them.

If they're OK, try another power supply. I've seen
this type of behavior with PSU's that have failed
electrolytic caps in them. Same thing for motherboard.
Look for popped/swelled up electrolytics (look like little
beer cans with heat shrink on them) especially near
the CPU.
 
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