[Mrcobra]

Can anyone tell me what are some of the reasons why a computer would randomly freeze ? It may happen 1-3 times a day while the computer is in operation for about 8-12 hrs.

Thank you

 

[thomas55]

Overheating could be your problem when your computer is starting up press del to go into the bios and look for system monitoring. Go into there and you should see a temperature if its over 70c then its bad and overheating is your problem.

 

[Mrcobra]

thank you, I will give that a look. One question though. I should probably do this after it actually freezes up on me right ? When I first turn it on in the morning it would for obvious reasons NOT show hot.

 

[bonk]

Is it always when it has been on for awhile before it freezes?

 

[Mrcobra]

Yes, like just now it has been on for about 3 hrs and I was playing BF-2 and wham freeze. I rebooted and checked the temp it said it was at 65 and shutdown is at 85. I thought that when a comp overheats that it will shutdown to protect itself instead of freezing.

 

[Rich-M]

Download and install Speedfan so you can monitor temps and fan speeds in Windows
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

 

[Mrcobra]

We;ll do that tomorrow:

On probably the same lines today when I booted the comouter it was asking me what I wanted to boot from. ex) Floppy, Cd, IDE0, IDE1 and maybe one other. What the heck did I get that for? We'll see how she boots tomorrow.

 

[Mrcobra]

So after I have installed the speed fan what exactly am I looking for lol

 

[Rich-M]

cpu and system temperatures and various fan speeds...tell us what you see,

 

[Mrcobra]

lets see if I can do this right: First pic is after computer being on for 10 min and the 2nd one is after 3hrs:

http://attachments.techguy.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=95819&stc=1&d=1168037453

http://attachments.techguy.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=95820&stc=1&d=1168037490

 

[Rich-M]

Well that's not unusual for an Athlon XP.

 

[schusterjo]

Microsoft says whenever a computer freezes or reboots (crashes) you need to run chkdsk
Start, my computer, right click on your hard drive, select properties, select tools, error checking click "check now"(chkdsk).
(General maintenance can save alot of headaches, see link below for general maintenance)

Hard drive
Download the diagnostic tool and check your hard drive
Hard Disk Drive Diagnostics/Utilities

Overheating

Description

When your CPU overheats, it will usually cause your computer to reboot. Video card overheating causes artifacts to appear on your screen, and usually wont cause reboots.

Diagnostic

Enter BIOS upon powering on your computer. Most BIOs have a hardware monitor. Use this to check your temperatures and fan speeds.

There is also hardware monitoring software that can check your temperatures from Windows. Your hardware monitoring software should have come with your motherboard. If you have no monitoring software, you can go to www.cpuid.com and get PC Wizard. PC Wizard is an easy to use program that will let you know what kind of temperatures you have, and what your fan speeds are at.

Causes

CPU overheating is usually caused by a failing CPU fan or improperly applied thermal paste. Fortunately, these 2 causes are easy to fix. If the CPU fan is dead, buy a new one and install it. If the thermal paste is improperly applied, remove the old paste off and apply new paste.

Another method is to take a house fan and open the case blowing the fan on high into the case.
if this helps we know its heat.
Goto radio shack buy a can of PCB cleaner (printed circuit board) unplug computer for an hour, open case spray everything starting from top working down to the bottom make sure you get the cpu heatsink and video card really goods.

Power Supply (PSU) Problems

Description

It is important to have a functioning, proper size of PSU for your computer. Having an underpowered or failing PSU is often the cause for random reboots. To get an estimate of how powerful a PSU, use this PSU calculator and add about 50W to the minimum power the calculator gives you.

Diagnostic

The easiest and best way to diagnose a faulty PSU is to swap it with another one that you know is in good working order.

Flowchart for ATX Power Supply Repair
Causes

PSUs just die after a while.

RAM

Description

Faulty RAM and RAM slots can cause random errors/reboots.

Diagnostic

The best way to determine if RAM is your problem is to run your computer with one stick at a time, and see if the problem occurs for either stick. This obviously doesn't apply if you only have one stick to begin with Also, try the RAM in different slots. The actual slots might be causing RAM-failing like problems. The next step is to run memtest86 to determine if you have faulty RAM.

Drivers
Visit the manufactures website and download the latest drivers for your hardware.

Viruses/malware/Trojans

Ad-Aware SE Personal
I run this daily

SpywareBlaster 3.5.1
I update once a week (keeps bad pages with known malware that cold cause damage from being displayed.)

Spybot - Search & Destroy
Daily or every other day

CwShredder
This is one I only use once a week or month lol but good to have

AVG Anti-Spyware
In order to get full use of this one you have to buy it but has a free trial. Good program to have and run before you run Hijackthis.

Download and update (update is very important before you scan) boot into safe mode (You do not need to boot into safe mode every time to run programs. Some malware cannot be fully removed or detected unless you are in Safemode, This is why I recommend running it the first time in safe mode then perhaps once a month in safe mode)

With some computers if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the "F8 key", tap the "F8 key" continuously until you get the startup menu.

Scan the computer,

Boot backup into Normal mode, download
CodeStuff Starter manage your startup programs

Disable all startup programs that you "do not" need running at startup.

A guide to help keep a smooth system.
Maintain your system with Windows XP

Diskeeper
The best program to use for defragging

 

[Mrcobra]

schusterjo some great information there, tyvm:

Here is a pic taken after a freeze and a reboot: No real difference there either I don't believe:

http://attachments.techguy.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=95877&stc=1&d=1168107988

 

[Rich-M]

61c is a little high for cpu...I would suspect time to reseat cpu and heatsynch and apply fresh layer of grease after cleaning off old. A change to a 3rd party hsf like Thermaltake Volcano 8 or 9 would sahve 10 degrees off that for a few bucks because the stock Amd hsf for XP cpu, really sucked.

 

[Mrcobra]

All great information: I took case apart and did the ole vacuum in er. Not one freeze tonight. I removed the hsf and noticed the paste(glue) wearing away. Two questions. 1)How do I know what size,shape,power,color etc. of HSF to get and 2)Where do I get this paste(glue) and how is it applied ? Can it be applied to thin or too thick ? Which part although I don't see why it would matter does the glue(paste) go on ? The bottom of the HSF or the chip cover ? I am assuming that HSF stands for Heat Seek Fan ?

UPDATE: I just ran PC wizard and got this:

Mainboard: MSI 661FM3-V (MS-7103)
Chipset: SiS 661FX
MFG of main board: Unspecified
Processor temp after 3.5 hrs of gaming (BF-2): 57.5 C
MainBoard temp: 32. C
Power/Aux Temp: 52.5


Thanks guys

 

[schusterjo]

Best site to show you exactly how to apply thermal paste to "your" (shows how to apply on any cpu)
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

where to buy it?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...=&origkw=thermal&kw=thermal&parentPage=search

 

[Mrcobra]

No freezes all week. Darn dust, lol.....Thanks for all of the great help:

After I did all of this my swat game just lags unbelieveable now. BF doesnt lag at all but this swat game has gone out of control. Thanks again for all of the great great info.