Another 'What's wrong with my PC?' thread

[threebikesmcginty]

Tap it with a sledge hammer.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

McGinty is contributing to a thread on PC

That can't be right.......he's the most un-PC person here.

That's not true, I'm respectful to everyone, even those dirty stinking bastards the French.

 

[Crackle]

Do you do online banking and have you downloaded and installed anything like Trusteer?

 

[MontyVeda]

Does it happen in Safe Mode too ?

Good point, I shall give that a try and see what happens.

Dust. Dust dust dust. Dust. Clean the internals properly. Remove and re-seat any cards, Grafix, sound etc. Maybe renew the heatsink compound for the processor.

Blowing the dust out is usually easier than sucking it, but it will be messy.

it's virtually free from dust as i tend to vacuum it every few months... but good point.

If it is hardware then:

I would test the Memory using Memtest - it's free and you can then tick that off your list.

After that I would check the psu (needs another psu dropping in - I use them £10 off ebay ones as they can always be held for emergencies), then the HDD (ditto) and finally the Mobo.

I shall check that memtest thingy. thank you

1. Check what is the process causing the freeze (open your task manager and sort by memory usage.) And tell us.
2. Scan for viruses

Can't do anything after the freeze, meaning task manager is inaccessible, and even if open it freezes too. However the little green guage on the toolbar doesn't show a CPU overload when frozen.

Without wanting to derail the thread, and a genuine question... if you bought PC with (e.g.) Windows and Office pre-loaded, and have no discs, are you basically jiggered? (assuming you want to keep using them, but PC needs re-setting)?

I do have an old cracked copy of XP with i run on my back up laptop (currently a genuine copy on this PC), so I may reinstall it with the cracked version to see if it improves things, or reset the machine as @0-markymark-0 suggested.

it's a lovely day up here in lancyshire and I'm whining about freezing!

Plenty for me to be going on with when it's not freezing, so thanks chaps

 

[MontyVeda]

Do you do online banking and have you downloaded and installed anything like Trusteer?

I do do online banking but have never heard of Trusteer, so i guess i haven't installed it.

It has recently been swept with Spy-bot, Malware Bytes and CCleaner, none of which came up with much.

 

[the_mikey]

Either overheating or the HDD is failing.

 

[MontyVeda]

Either overheating or the HDD is failing.

oddly enough, if left in it's frozen state for too long, which i guess is essentially 'off' and it all cools to 'room' temp... the only way i can get it to reboot is by preheating it with a fan heater for a few mins. This sent my geeky brother into a frenzy... "There's no concievable reason that would work!" ...but it worked better than any of his suggestions when it flat refused to boot up.

This did all start about a month ago when we had that really hot week... the fans were going like the clappers so i switched it off to let it cool down, and that's when it started deciding it didn't want to switch on, but it did... eventually. Then a couple of weeks ago, I turned it off again... through desperation tried the fan heater, booted uit up and it's been freezing intermittently ever since. (note: heat is removed as soon as it boots)

It may well be the HDD, or the CPU... it's five years old and has been switched on for pretty much that entire time, save to odd monthly re-boot... if it's lucky.

It could just be a simple case of it getting towards the end of its natural life.

 

[crdf]

Can't do anything after the freeze, meaning task manager is inaccessible, and even if open it freezes too. However the little green guage on the toolbar doesn't show a CPU overload when frozen.

Did you scan for viruses? Although if the CPU is not going up it is most probably not a virus.
Have you noticed any pattern about the freeze?

Someone suggested to test the memory card, I think there would be an error if that was the problem, but you can still give it a try. One thing though: if you have more then one memory cards you need to test them on by one (by manually removing the others).
Couple of other hardware checks you can do
1. Download HDD tool and check the HDD for bad sectors. If there is too many bad sectors and the OS is trying to read them it might cause a freeze. You can usually use the same tools to isolate those bad sectors. Just see what brand is the HDD and look for the tool on their website.
2. IS the heat protection disabled? Usually when PC's overheat they will shut down, but if that is not happening it might cause a freeze. If so you can also check your core and HDD temp. with "Aida" or "Everest".

For maintenance for my XP I use the followign two very useful programs:
1. CleanerCC -a very good FREE tool to clean your registry and temp data.
2. Your Uninstaller - not free, but recommended when removing programs.

In the end, if you can be bothered, just reinstall the XP. You can still find it for download on websites. Just use your original key.

P.S. Years ago we were advised never to vacuum a PC, I don't know if that has changed but I I would suggest buying air under pressure. Not sure if the vacuum thing is real or not.

 

[crdf]

oddly enough, if left in it's frozen state for too long, which i guess is essentially 'off' and it all cools to 'room' temp... the only way i can get it to reboot is by preheating it with a fan heater for a few mins. This sent my geeky brother into a frenzy... "There's no concievable reason that would work!" ...but it worked better than any of his suggestions when it flat refused to boot up.

Are you telling me that holding the on/off button for 30 second did not shut the system down? If so you need to check the power management. It is possible that Casper the ghost has changed the assignment to the actual button.

You may simply need to clean the fan/s. I used to do that every month on my old PC and I would grease it up as well. Can't be bothered with the laptop. If you can't weither just pay for proper cleaning. It will save you money for a new one.

 

[MontyVeda]

Are you telling me that holding the on/off button for 30 second did not shut the system down? ...

no... holding down the power does shut it down, which is how i get it out of the freeze, by rebooting (if it's not been frozen for too long and therefore not cooled down too much, no additional heat is required).

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll add them to the list and work through... but yes, it's been virus and malware scanned, and CCleaned several times since it started playing up. Good shout on checking the HDD for bad sectors

 

[slowmotion]

Without wanting to derail the thread, and a genuine question... if you bought PC with (e.g.) Windows and Office pre-loaded, and have no discs, are you basically jiggered? (assuming you want to keep using them, but PC needs re-setting)?

I'm not sure about how you might re-install Office without a security key. I would suggest asking Microsoft. Even if you don't have a physical disk of the original Windows OS and the drivers specific to your PC, they are often stashed away on a secure sector of your hard drive. You can use this to return your PC to "factory fresh" status but you may lose your files, docs, emails etc and programs. If you can't even boot up in Windows, download a free version of Ubuntu on another machine and save it on DVD. Then boot up Ubuntu on your sick machine and squirrel away your data, docs etc on a removable drive. Then re-install your Windows OS etc, and load your files etc back into your fresh and fragrant PC. I have not explained it very well, but it isn't difficult. Even I managed it after a three minute tutorial from the bloke at the local corner shop.

All this only applies if your hardware isn't crook!

 

[the_mikey]

P.S. Years ago we were advised never to vacuum a PC, I don't know if that has changed but I I would suggest buying air under pressure. Not sure if the vacuum thing is real or not.

Only reason I can think of is some of the internal surface mount components might not be as well soldered or attached to the main pcb as you think they are, a ribbon cable might not be as secure or as robust as it looks, seems safer to blow the dust away with a can of compressed air.

 

[crdf]

I just had another idea for cooling down. You might want to simply invest in a laptop cooling pad with fans.

Good luck.

Only reason I can think of is some of the internal surface mount components might not be as well soldered or attached to the main pcb as you think they are, a ribbon cable might not be as secure or as robust as it looks, seems safer to blow the dust away with a can of compressed air.

Yes, I have a feeling it might have been a myth. I was told a spark might appear, causing boards to burn out. I don't think I ever heard something like that actually happening and it sounds a like a superstition.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Just a final thought. XP may not be fully supported by microsoft anymore but if you rely on the security supplied by their updates then good luck to you. Most of only worry if you antivirus software stops protecting you and several [including avast] will be covering XP for a few years yet.

With respect, I don't think you appreciate the position. There are exploits out there that can switch off anti-virus software without you even knowing it's happened, and there's absolutely no way to prevent that now that Microsoft is no longer issuing security updates. If you continue to use an XP machine with Internet access, you will get hacked sooner or later.

 

[MontyVeda]

With respect, I don't think you appreciate the position. There are exploits out there that can switch off anti-virus software without you even knowing it's happened, and there's absolutely no way to prevent that now that Microsoft is no longer issuing security updates. If you continue to use an XP machine with Internet access, you will get hacked sooner or later.

We'll have to wait and see... I've never had much any faith in Microsoft's 'security' updates... which is why the windows firewall has always been turned off in a favour of a third party firewall. Surely any exploits have to get through first. No M$ security doesn't mean no security.