PC problems... any ideas what to do?

[MontyVeda]

Since the other day, my PC will only boot up properly unless i boot it in Safe Mode.

When booting up normally it goes through the motions, but after a few minutes it freezes... first off a system restore to the previous day seemed to work, but after a few hours it just went and froze again, leaving me no option but to pull the plug. I've since done a system restore to last week, but no joy... it just freezes a few minutes after booting up... I can open task manager but can't seem to close any programs that i feel may be causing the issue (not that i have any idea really).

if i leave it to 'unfreeze' of its own accord, after say 30 minutes or an hour, it seems that explorer.exe eventually shuts down or crashes, as all tiles and the task bar disappears, leaving my desktop image and nowt else. At this stage, Task Manager will not open (Ctrl, alt, del), neither will the run command (win+r)

In safe mode all seems well, but don't really know what to do other than run a virus scan, Spybot S&D, disk clean up and defrag... tried all, no change.

Any ideas?

edit... its XP by the way

 

[classic33]

Base unit getting warm?

 

[ASC1951]

...edit... its XP by the way

The Choice of Champions!

When mine starts playing up the HD is usually on its way out, but that may just be me. Anyway, do do a full backup of anything valuable while you still can.

 

[MontyVeda]

Base unit getting warm?

stuck my hand on it and it doesn't seem warm... but good point, I shall take of the side and give it a vacuum.


my kettle also broke today

 

[classic33]

stuck my hand on it and it doesn't seem warm... but good point, I shall take of the side and give it a vacuum.


my kettle also broke today

They've just been keeping an eye on you thats all. Overheating computer was the self destruct signal to the kettle.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Flush it down the khazi and get a mac.

 

[MontyVeda]

i'd never considered the two could be linked... I'm about to have my first brew with my brand spanking new kettle... fingers crossed it doesn't have that new kettle taste

 

[MontyVeda]

Flush it down the khazi and get a mac.

that's not going to be too good for the khazi ... a broken khazi is the last thing i want. Mactard!

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Wot @ASC1951 said. Back up your data.

Then maybe try Microsoft help (you'll need another computer for that methinks)

Edit - there used to be a disc manager type thing which isolates damaged HD disk segments. Could be some of the OS is on damaged segments if you have never used that disc manager. Try running that?

 

[DWiggy]

Take the side off and check to see if the heat sink is seated properly and that all of the fans are spinning, sometimes removing the excess dust inside helps (Could be overheating if random shut downs)

 

[Crackle]

run msconfig in safe mode and switch off all the startup stuff. Then start again and see if it's better. If it is, you can add them back one ata time to see what's causing the problem.

 

[MontyVeda]

all important data is on external drives so that's safe

given it a vacuum out but wasn't too bad dust wise... side of the PSU was very very hot though, but not packed with dust like the old one was.

am about to reboot after Crackle's suggestion, thanks.

not a bad cup of tea for a new kettle either

 

[laurence]

turn it off and on again

 

[DWiggy]

...I was going to mention the PSU sometimes they can cause random crashes if on there way out.

 

[MontyVeda]

trying crackles MSconfig... fingers crossed.