Any help appreciated...

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:09

Right where to start, basically my pc freezes either on boot or after bring on for a period of 5 minutes to 4 hours. Its been doing this all day today and im getting quite annoyed. It seems to boot up with no issues (other times it freezes for a minute or so) after being left off for an hour or so. Would the cause of the freezing be heat related? I currently have the pc running on my bed with the side of the case off with no problems whatsoever (boot was fine). The unit is usually on the bottom shelf of my tv stand which is a bit of a confined space.

Other info probably pointless: pc is a HP Slimline, 3 years old nearly, running windows 64 bit and had a full restore 2 weeks back.

So yea, any help appreciated.

D.Roberts · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:12

Well if you now have side panel off and its ok heat is likely.

Whats the temps?.

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:19

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:37

3 years old......a spring clean is due i think.

If the rig runs fine with the case open then i think its safe to say it's heat related. Get yourself a can of compressed air and give a short burst at the heatsink (system off!). You'll be surprised how much crap builds up between the fins.

If you have cleaned and its still an issue, repost and we'll go from there.

D.Roberts · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:45

Is that idle temps?.

If so they are a little high tbh well the CPU any ways

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:49

honosuseri said:
3 years old......a spring clean is due i think.

If the rig runs fine with the case open then i think its safe to say it's heat related. Get yourself a can of compressed air and give a short burst at the heatsink (system off!). You'll be surprised how much crap builds up between the fins.

If you have cleaned and its still an issue, repost and we'll go from there.

hmm maybe i should invest in a can... i guess blowing the dust doesnt have the same effect as a can of compressed air would...

D.Roberts said:
Is that idle temps?.

If so they are a little high tbh well the CPU any ways

All that was running when the print scr was taken was FF, msn, spotify, winrar.

D.Roberts · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:51

Wait for a second opinion but around 50c is a little high I would say basically idling.

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 00:55

Give it a good clean. Clean the fans too, they will have crap stuck to the blades resulting in poor circulation of air.

If the fan is mounted ontop of the heatsink, you can unscrew it and blow into the heatsink to clear the crap. I'd remove the fan from the cpu header, take it out and give it a good clean. Remember to reconnect it to the cpu header when u put it back on!

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 01:02

honosuseri said:
Give it a good clean. Clean the fans too, they will have crap stuck to the blades resulting in poor circulation of air.

If the fan is mounted ontop of the heatsink, you can unscrew it and blow into the heatsink to clear the crap. I'd remove the fan from the cpu header, take it out and give it a good clean. Remember to reconnect it to the cpu header when u put it back on!

Im guessing the fact my pc only has a fan on the heatsink and a fan on the gpu could be a factor in the temps? considering how squished everything is in the case. I'll give it a good clean tomorrow i think...

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 01:59

Marff said:
Im guessing the fact my pc only has a fan on the heatsink and a fan on the gpu could be a factor in the temps? considering how squished everything is in the case. I'll give it a good clean tomorrow i think...

Yip. The slimline cases are similar if not slightly larger than a xbox 360. On that note it wasnt too long ago i had to repair my bros xbox from 2 red rings (overheating). Once opened there was so much dust and crap in there. Quick blast with compressed air, case back on and it was sweet as.

You could consider removing the heatsink, clean off the TIM and reapply some better stuff and or heatsink. That depends how confident you are in pc building i suppose

xirokx · 14 Aug 2010 at 02:10

to resolve freezing issues - generally speaking - its a trial and error method as it could be a number of things..

1) heat - so try giving it a clean as suggested

2) faulty or dying RAM - download memtest and run that if you get any errors you found your problem

3) conflicting devices (have you installed any new hardware recently)

4) software - have you installed any new software recently

if the answer to either 3 or 4 is yes then get rid of them

good luck

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 02:11

Im pretty confident with pc's imo and would happily remove the heatsink and apply new thermal paste but as cheap as it is im skint... broken leg for the loss.

** Will run the memtest now.. no new hardware installed and the only new software was fm 2010, half life 2 DM and portal..

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 02:28

Well i would download prime95 if i was you. This is used to "stress" the cores to test stability. Keep an eye on the temps in hardware monitor, if it's getting to 70 degrees that is the limit for the cpu.

A good clean is in order, you can source TIM locally im sure (cant name competitors) but these guys stock good stuff. I have akasa hi-spec 550 (i think) it's a silver compound and was around £5. You can use the fluid that comes with cd/dvd cleaners to remove the old TIM

Best of luck

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:06

Thanks for all the help... ran the memtest and had 0 errors so im guessing that's not the problem. Will give prime 95 a run. I shall definitely try and source some TIM as it seems like the best thing to do.

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:09

I'd suggest you seal the case to give u a better idea of heat build up. Keep an eye on the temp, stop prime95 if the temps rocket.

No worries fella, we are all here to help

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:12

honosuseri said:
I'd suggest you seal the case to give u a better idea of heat build up. Keep an eye on the temp, stop prime95 if the temps rocket.

No worries fella, we are all here to help

Any chance you could post a link to prime? or point me in the right direction? can seem to find a download which sounds like the right program.

** After the memtest the temps are idling at 56 degrees :/

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:23

not sure if I can post a link (not sure of forum rules) a popular search engine should show it as the first result.

The software is done by GIMPS. It talks about registering but you dont need to sign up, just click on the windows link download

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:31

honosuseri said:
not sure if I can post a link (not sure of forum rules) a popular search engine should show it as the first result.

The software is done by GIMPS. It talks about registering but you dont need to sign up, just click on the windows link download

Yea i realised i needed to read the full description and not a small segment... well ran the stress test and it wasnt long till the cpu core temps hit 70...

That was a torture test.. im hoping i ran the right one..

honosuseri · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:52

Was this run after you cleaned the case and heatsinks etc?

Torture test does work the CPU hard if the system was to crash this would more readily cause it than the "random" incidents you were seeing.

I would suggest moving the system from that cabinet too, it certainly isnt helping.

Marff · 14 Aug 2010 at 03:55

honosuseri said:
Was this run after you cleaned the case and heatsinks etc?

Torture test does work the CPU hard if the system was to crash this would more readily cause it than the "random" incidents you were seeing.

I would suggest moving the system from that cabinet too, it certainly isnt helping.

Cant do any cleaning atm everyone in the house is asleep and have work in the morn so its best not to wake them if i value my life lol... I'll run the test again tomorrow after ive given it all a good clean.