My Computer Freezes! Yikes!

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'm having an issue with my computer - its getting up there in age, so I may need to replace it in any case - and I was hoping that the collective wisdom (well, collective knowledge, at least) of ENWorld could help.

For the last couple of days, when I boot up my home PC, it will run for a while and then freeze. Not BSOD, but the image on my monitor will freeze, and the PC becomes totally unresponsive (I don't think it is continuing to run normally with a frozen image on the monitor, but I can't rule it out). This started when I was playing a new video game (Prey) so I thought it was an issue with the game, but it is continuing to happen now even when I'm not playing it. Generally, the time between bootup and freeze has been decreasing, but increases somewhat if I let the PC sit for a while. I've had it freeze as early as the Windows start up screen. Right now, it happens quickly enough that I can't really work with the PC at all (I'm on my work PC right now).

Any thoughts? I've replaced the power supply, heat sink, fan, and graphics card over the last year, but nothing within the past three months or so. Prey is the only new program I've installed recently. I can't get the thing to run long enough to do any kind of scan or virus check, but I'm generally pretty good and diligent about viruses and such.

 

[XCorvis]

What you're describing is a heat problem. Some part of your computer is overheating after it's been on for a few minutes, then freezing and causing your system to crash. Letting the system cool down lowers the temp enough to use it again.

Check all the fans in your system to make sure they're still spinning and not clogged. Blow out the dust. Check the heat sinks to make sure they're on correctly and snug. When you replaced the main heat sink, did you use thermal paste? How much? Do you have a temperature monitor for your system?

 

[Rackhir]

I'm having an issue with my computer - its getting up there in age, so I may need to replace it in any case - and I was hoping that the collective wisdom (well, collective knowledge, at least) of ENWorld could help.

For the last couple of days, when I boot up my home PC, it will run for a while and then freeze. Not BSOD, but the image on my monitor will freeze, and the PC becomes totally unresponsive (I don't think it is continuing to run normally with a frozen image on the monitor, but I can't rule it out). This started when I was playing a new video game (Prey) so I thought it was an issue with the game, but it is continuing to happen now even when I'm not playing it. Generally, the time between bootup and freeze has been increasing, but increases somewhat if I let the PC sit for a while. I've had it freeze as early as the Windows start up screen. Right now, it happens quickly enough that I can't really work with the PC at all (I'm on my work PC right now).

Any thoughts? I've replaced the power supply, heat sink, fan, and graphics card over the last year, but nothing within the past three months or so. Prey is the only new program I've installed recently. I can't get the thing to run long enough to do any kind of scan or virus check, but I'm generally pretty good and diligent about viruses and such.

Variable time lock ups like this are often heat related. You might want to open the case and make sure that all the various fans and such are working properly. Also try putting it in a cooler location in your house/apartment, such as very close to an air conditioner.

You might want to try booting it off the system CD and having it repair the windows instalation (be careful though, a lot of comercial (HP/Dell/etc) only ship with a restore CD which wipes your HD and resets it to how it was shipped. If you still get the lock ups and such when booting, then it's almost certainly not a OS/Virus/Software problem.

 

[Merkuri]

Yeah, like others have said, it does sound like a heat problem. If it runs longer after the machine has been off for a long time (like overnight) and freezes almost immediately after it's been running for a while then it's definitely heat-related. As a quick fix, you may be able to cool it down by running with the case open, but make sure nothing gets inside (like your foot, or a pet) while the case is off and it's running.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'll have to double check the fans are working! Thanks, guys - that makes a lot of sense.

 

[Rackhir]

I'll have to double check the fans are working! Thanks, guys - that makes a lot of sense.

Xcorvis's tip about checking the processor heatsink is a good one. Some of them use an asymetrical clip to hold the heatsink/fan on and if you don't have it on the right way, it may not be pressing the heatsink/fan on the processor correctly.

Also having replaced something within a couple of months doesn't really mean anything in terms of it's likelyhood of failure.

 

[trancejeremy]

Besides heat, it could be something is loose. Make sure all your cards and such are tightly seated.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Xcorvis's tip about checking the processor heatsink is a good one. Some of them use an asymetrical clip to hold the heatsink/fan on and if you don't have it on the right way, it may not be pressing the heatsink/fan on the processor correctly.

Also having replaced something within a couple of months doesn't really mean anything in terms of it's likelyhood of failure.

That's certainly true. It's running now - the fan does work, and in fact, it was just the fan not the heat sink that I replaced. I've got a fan speed and temp monitor running that I'm going to keep my eye on as it runs so if it shuts down I can hopefully get some idea of whats going on.

 

[talwynor]

my 2 cents

I'll add another possibility fwiw. I had a similar problem that affected me only when I played WOW. Turned out to be bad memory...not sure why it affected only one application, but the computer would just freeze and render itself into an instant paper weight.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Xcorvis's tip about checking the processor heatsink is a good one. Some of them use an asymetrical clip to hold the heatsink/fan on and if you don't have it on the right way, it may not be pressing the heatsink/fan on the processor correctly.

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.