My Computer Freezes! Yikes!

[Rackhir]

Going along with Xcorvis, I've found that the thermal paste on the heatsink needs to be changed after a couple of years. If you're comfortable taking off the heatsink on the processor, it's a very easy fix that takes five to ten minutes and costs around eight bucks. This may improve things.

This is not good advice in my experience. There are only two reasons you should have to change the thermal paste.

1) There was too little applied
2) There was too much applied.

One is obvious. Sort of. It takes much less than you'd think on average for reason 2.

Two is not quite as clear, but thermal paste is not as good a conductor as the metal of the heat sink or the chip package. All the thermal paste is there for really is to make sure that there is good contact between the two. So too much paste will actually inhibit the transfer of heat from the chip to the heat sink.

The only other reason I can think of that you should need to change the thermal paste was if you had removed the Heatsink/fan unit multiple times and it had some how become corroded or oxidized. I've seen computers that have run for well over 5 years without needing to do this. And if you have a computer that is over five years old, you aren't going to be running much of anything current on it anyway.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I think its unlikely to be the paste - that's been fine for years... but what do I know?

In any case, shortly after I posted last night, the PC shut down. I had the case open, so I immediately checked the fan, which was running, and the general heat level, which seemed fine - and my hardware monitor that I was watching didn't register much of any change in heat from boot up time to very shortly before the freeze.

I think I'll try uninstalling Prey, just in case its the cause, and I'll blow out the dust in the case. It's dusty but super dusty. And I'll start pricing replacements! My 2.6 Ghz PC might just getting a touch too old... I'll have to figure out how to understand processor speeds on these new-fangled core duo thingies...

 

[Rackhir]

I think its unlikely to be the paste - that's been fine for years... but what do I know?

In any case, shortly after I posted last night, the PC shut down. I had the case open, so I immediately checked the fan, which was running, and the general heat level, which seemed fine - and my hardware monitor that I was watching didn't register much of any change in heat from boot up time to very shortly before the freeze.

I think I'll try uninstalling Prey, just in case its the cause, and I'll blow out the dust in the case. It's dusty but super dusty. And I'll start pricing replacements! My 2.6 Ghz PC might just getting a touch too old... I'll have to figure out how to understand processor speeds on these new-fangled core duo thingies...

There are multiple fans in a computer. You should not be checking only the processor fan. A lot of power supplies have fans. Usually there are several fans in the case. There may be fans cooling the motherboard chipset. Any of these failing or not pushing sufficient air could cause the problems you are seeing.

If that's a Pentium IV 2.6ghz chip you can almost certainly benefit substantially from a processor/motherboard upgrade. The speed ratings for the processors are essentially only relative to the similar chips. Anything you get is going to be considerably faster even if the clock speed is signficantly lower than what you have now. However, you will almost certainly need new ram and most likely a new graphics card and probably a new powersupply as well. Essentially you will be building a new computer.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ is a good resource for information on these sorts of topics.

 

[Thanee]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/04/which_is_the_best_mainstream_cpu/index.html

This one is particulary useful, I'd say.

Bye
Thanee

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

I have also had similar problems after upgrading my processor. I had to remove and re-seat the processor and that seemed to clear it up. My screen also froze when my processor completely died... but there was no re-booting it at that point While you are cleaning out your case, you may want to re-seat memory, processor, and/or video/PCI cards. (NOTE: I can't be responsible for anything that breaks during this process )

 

[XCorvis]

There are multiple fans in a computer. You should not be checking only the processor fan. A lot of power supplies have fans. Usually there are several fans in the case. There may be fans cooling the motherboard chipset. Any of these failing or not pushing sufficient air could cause the problems you are seeing.

Ditto that. There are fans inside most Power Supplies and on many video cards. It could also be a loose heat sink on a different component, like the video card, or other chip on the motherboard. Take a look at those too, poke them gently to make sure they're still snug.

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

My 2.6 Ghz PC might just getting a touch too old...

Really, unless you're running all the newest and latest games (or want to and can't), a 2.6 Ghz should work just fine unless you're on Windows Vista.

I'm running a Pentium III 1.7 Ghz with 640 RAM no issues whatsoever, and have been for several years. The newest games don't run on it, but then again I don't have much interest in playing them - I'm happy with Starcraft and the Unreal line of games. My PC runs Adobe Acrobat full Professional 7 and Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Office XP (I personally cannot stand the newest office suite) just fine on Windows XP Professional.

Take a look at the recommended specs for Prey. If your PC meets or exceeds them, you should be fine.

Most likely it is a heat issue, a problem with chips/cards not being seated correctly, or a RAM problem.

As others have said, check all the fans, not just the one, and make sure that everything is seated correctly.

Also, I have had a RAM chip go bad before, and was having freezing issues very simular to yours, so that might be another issue to keep in mind. You can test by taking out all but one of the RAM chips and seeing if it has the same issue; if it does, keep trying the RAM chips one by one. If it has the same issues on all of them, that's not the problem.

 

[drothgery]

I'm running a Pentium III 1.7 Ghz

Not unless you're overclocking, you aren't. The fastest Pentium III Intel ever shipped was a 1.4 GHz Pentium III-S (which was a server chip).

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

Not unless you're overclocking, you aren't. The fastest Pentium III Intel ever shipped was a 1.4 GHz Pentium III-S (which was a server chip).

Missed a digit. It is a 1.17 GHz. Sorry for the typo, didn't mean to be misleading.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'm sitting here with my PC open, sitting directly in front of my keyboard as I surf. All fans seems to blowing - with the possible exception of my power supply.... Hmmm...