System sill stops responding

[Cat]

Hi everyone ~
I posted this questions a couple of days ago but haven't
found a resolution. I was hoping that someone could help
because I'm getting desperate here; I am about to shell
out the big bucks and take the system to the PC repair
guy, but I was hoping someone else might have an idea.
Here's what's happening once again:

"A couple of weeks ago my PC started to freeze. Not
because of any particular program running or any other
thing I can figure out. You have to manually shut it off,
the three-finger salute doesn't work. I bought Norton
System Utilities in the hopes that it was a registry error
or something but that didn't help. I tried system restore
and the computer froze during that so it ended up all f'd
up. So I reinstalled Windows XP after reformatting the
hard drive, installed AntiVirus & sytem utilities,
downloaded service packs, and it still happens. I did
this twice. I have gone on the Symantec site and manually
followed every instruction they give for the various
viruses, but none of them were found on my computer.
There are no warning signs to this lock-up - it just stops
responding. I tried keeping the System Processes window
open to see if something came up when it freezes, but it
just stopped - no new processes showed up.

Can anyone help? this thing is driving me crazy!!!"


Here are the things I've tried already:

Subject: System Stops Responding
From: "Leo Edwards"
<[email protected]> Sent: 12/6/2003
9:11:51 AM

Go Start then Help and under 'troubleshooting' see what
it gives for 'Start Up & Shut down errors'. Take a look
there for some solutions.

Also, go 'Run' and type 'Msconfig'. Then under an
advanced button somewhere, check 'Disable fast shutdown'
and that might solve your problem.

Thanks for the fast response & tip Leo, but I ran the
troubleshooter mentioned and I'm not having any of the
problems listed there. And I can't find the 'Disable fast
shutdown' in msconfig.

Also, there is no rhyme or reason to when the system
freezes. Sometimes it will go all day without freezing,
and some days it freezes every five minutes. I can have
multiple programs running or no programs running.
Sometimes I'm on the internet, sometimes not. There seems
to be no method to this madness.

Could there be something buried somewhere deep in the
recesses of my computer that formatting wouldn't delete?
Is there a hidden virus somewhere? Help!!!

Subject: Re: System Stops Responding
From: "Tom Swift" <[email protected]> Sent:
12/6/2003 9:44:19 AM

"Could there be something buried somewhere deep in the
recesses of my
computer that formatting wouldn't delete? Is there a
hidden virus
somewhere?"

When a hard disk is formatted, everything is wiped out.
Nothing is left behind.

Tom Swift

"Thanks Tom, but I've had stuff recovered (albeit rather
expensively) from reformatted drives before"

 

[Tom Swift]

Let's presume for now that you formatted and repartitioned your hard disk
correctly, that you installed and configured Windows and all your software
correctly, and that your antivirus program is configured correctly. That's a
lot of presuming, because these tasks are not at all intuitive.

If your computer is still freezing, then software isn't the issue. It's
hardware. Undo the hardware changes you've made to your system, starting
with the most recent one, until you find the culprit.

Tom Swift

 

[Randy Patterson]

The flakey hardware pieces that can cause this are: Power
supply too small or dieing. Processor bad or going bad.
Processor running too hot. Hard drive bad or going bad.
Memory improperly seated or going bad. Did you do
something different in the couple weeks before the problem
started? Usually something new or different was installed.

 

[Cat]

Thanks for this - it might very well be the power supply.
The company I bought the PC from has replaced the power
supply twice already. IT was doing something different
before - just shutting off - but that could be the
culprit. Also, the fan went bad previously, but once
again it just shut itself off. That's why I didn't think
it might apply this time.

Thanks for pointing these out.

 

[Tom Swift]

Good for you. Your vendor replaced the power supply twice? Make sure they do
it right this time - and make sure they're using quality parts.

(Ah...maybe I should cut the vendor some slack. Maybe they just bought a bad
batch of power supplies. In any case, take advantage of your warranty.)

Tom Swift