Freezing for no reason?

kmistry

kmistry

kmistry

Associate
Joined
10 Apr 2006
Posts
1,084
Location
Leicester
Freezing for no reason? Any Help?

Hi there, i've cleared up most of my PC problems thanks to these forums, but another annoying one has just occured......

My computer keeps freezing for no reason, it will stay on the windows screen and i wont be able to move the mouse, use the keyboard anything, its as if someone has taken a printscreen and left it there :mad:

This can happen at any time, i thought it was an airflow problem at first so i cleaned my hsf and left the side panel off and got my cpu temp down 20 degrees(crazy i know).....

The only option for me then is to reboot the computer via the reset button. It just happens at random times, sometimes after being on for 30 minutes sometimes after being on for 2/3 hours, and i don't necessarily have to be doing something either, it could just be idle!

thanks in advance for any suggestions.....
 
Last edited:
That was what i was thinking but then how could that be, as its been working perfectly since i got it (2001!)
 
kmistry said:
That was what i was thinking but then how could that be, as its been working perfectly since i got it (2001!)
Click to expand...
Just download Memtest and run it, you'll soon find out if its the memory.

It could be a driver issue, or a physical fault or more-or-less any hardware issue. Just test the memory and take it from there.
 
Try running it in safe mode and see if it still freeze's then it will give a better indication if it is software related.
 
Ok, i just ran Memtest overnight, and it definitely isn't the memory, as it ran for almost 8 hours without creating any problems at all.....

I will try safe mode and hope that this isn't the case, i just installed IE7 and 1 or 2 updates, but im hoping that this wasn't the thing causing the problem......
 
Scan Disk?......

Some fast PC's have been known to shut down too fast and cause problems as a result. Might not be you problem, but its worth checking.
 
I thought that too, but just a week ago i did a full scan using my anti-virus program and it was clean.....
 
Pity you don`t have a dual boot to troubleshoot but yes i`d get shot of ie7 pronto in safe mode,(has caused probs for folks)uninstall those updates and disable automatic updates.
Try and think exactly when it started this (right after update and ie7?),and did you change anything?(like ram timings/overclock cpu).
Run msconfig and check for any processes that you aren`t sure about.
 
it was happening pre IE7 so i dont think thats the problem, thing is because the system is so old it could just be borked! i haven't ever overclocked this thing, pertially because xp2200 is cack @ clocking......

but i will have a go, thanks for the suggestions....
 
just a quick word of advice, leaving the side panel off your case usually increases tempature as it disrupts the airflow fans create.
 
Aha, cheers for that, I was actually going to put it back on the other day, but the CPU temp was so damn hot (65C)!! But I suppose that now hopefully I can put it back on seeing as I cleaned the HSF
 
Ok, wow, this seems to make the problem even weirder.....

the computer only seems to crash when im not doing anything.....though it did crash the other day when i was playing hitman BM (i was about to get silent assassin as well.... :mad: ) Anywhoo, anyone think of what it can be....basically the computer is just freezing and whatever sound or whatever was playing will keep repeating.....or if no sound is playing then nothing....the screen will just freeze and i will have to hard boot.

can't be system or cpu temps as they are hot 56C (but its an athlon thoroughbred) and 52C system temp, and i have mobo monitor to monitor these things.... i just need it to stop freezing so i can use the damn thing!

any comments/suggestions welcome, thanks in advance
 
i tried safe mode, everything seems fine :(

I'm now stuck, i reckon that i'm just going to give it a full format and hopefully that will solve the problem......
 
the same thing happend to me a while ago, have you taken any pci or graphics cards out recently, i was fiddling around in mine and then it kept freezing up, i could almost make it freeze when i wanted too (not that i did want to). it turned out that one of the pci cards or my graphics card wasnt seated correctly. reaseated them all and it fixed the problem straight away.
 
ts quite possible with all those restarts that drivers/files/reg has become corrupted.
Before you reinstall uninstall mobo monitor it caused my old system to be unstable,just a thought.
If you can partition drives so u can dual boot,can be a life saver(don`t need to be big partitions either).
 
Last edited:
a hardware problem wont definatly show up when reinstalling xp, i was doing a complete format when my problem started, in attempts to fix the problem i reinstalled a further 2 times and never did the hardware issue come up, i think the card was only very slightly unseated or dust or something was causing the problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom