Computer freezes/turns itself off

Bumhucker

Bumhucker

Bumhucker

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I'm trying to fix my brother's PC but can't work out what to do next!

The problem is that it very often freezes or just turns itself off without any warning. It does this when trying to play or use media files like music, video etc. Also when importing a CD into iTunes and playing games. But never when just using an internet browser.

I've tried turning off the "Automatically restart" option in My Computer options but there is no error message, the computer just turns itself off without warning.

I've looked in utilities like Speedfan, Everest and MotherBoard Monitor.

Temperature in MBM says 52 C, Speedfan says 127 C! I'm guessing that's just a little problem with Speedfan. :)

The voltage readings are similar to my computer which works fine. So I'm guessing the PSU is working OK. This problem has been happening for a few years now and in that time the PSU has been replaced with no effect on the bad behaviour.



So now I think that the only option is to replace some of the parts. I think it could be the memory or motherboard but which is it worth trying first? Is it worth trying to update the BIOS of the motherboard?

Thanks
 
It works fine on the internet, but not when he plays sound? Do the two work fine on their own, but mess up when you do both?
 
It plays up when trying to run media files, the web browsers have no effect on the behaviour.

So:

Internet on it's own is fine.
Media files on their own is bad.
Media files and internet is bad.

That's why I think it's something to do with activities that require extra memory. Maybe Firefox doesn't really strain it as much.
 
My bet is on either the RAM or CPU.

Download memtest and create a bootable CD with it. It will test the RAM before windows boots and if that fails you have your answer, if it passes then start looking at CPU options like Temp / Voltage / clock speed.

From the description it seems to be crashing when under some sort of load so CPU / RAM is definatley the place to start IMO. Hope this helps.
 
Power-offs with no error are nearly always a dodgy PSU in my experience. The voltages might be fine - but they don't tell the whole story.
 
Curio said:
Power-offs with no error are nearly always a dodgy PSU in my experience. The voltages might be fine - but they don't tell the whole story.
Click to expand...

The problems existed before the current PSU was installed. Could it be two dodgy PSUs?
 
ManCuBuS said:
Download memtest and create a bootable CD with it.
Click to expand...

It looks like this is only possible with the deluxe version. Would it still be effective testing in Windows or is there another programme to do it?

EDIT - It's ok. I've found a good programme called Ultimate Boot CD that's free and contains many system testing tools.
 
Last edited:
Benjarghmin said:
Call me odd but it may be an IRQ issue. Check your IRQ assignments in your BIOS.
Click to expand...

I'm not really familiar with IRQ and what I'm meant to be looking for.

Looking at my computer in PnP/PCI Configurations in BIOS it shows the IRQ Resources as:

IRQ-3 assigned to [PCI Device]
IRQ-4 assigned to [PCI Device]
IRQ-5 assigned to [PCI Device]
.
.
.
IRQ-15 assigned to [PCI Device]
 
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