My PC Keeps Freezing after an hour...

[Ninja Mantis]

I have a HP Pavilion 8655C Pentium III with 30.GB, 128 MB RAM that is 5 years old and all has been well for quite some time but recently...my pc keeps freezing up on me after 1 hour of usage, whether I'm online or not.

I cannot shut down either. It just freezes at the point of shutting down every day now for a week. Pulling the plug to restart has to hurt the system I figure...

I have done all maintenence, like defragging, deleting cookies, and disk clean up regularly.

I have Norton Utilities and have done System Checks and the only problem I have is a missing DLL file that I can't replace (don't know why or how) but that wasn't the problem since thats been the case for a year already.

I have Spybot, Ad Aware and Norton Anti Virus Corporate edition running.

Any suggestions as to why I might be freezing all the time?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

Ninja Mantis

[VHockey86]

Give the case a good clean out (mostly getting rid of dust and stuff).
Could be heat related issues.

If you have the operating system disc (not sure if HPs still came with them back in those days), sounds like you could use a reinstall too.

[just_a_nobody]

I agree with VHockey86, however, not knowing what OS, you are running, it is hard for me to recommend a new install, but a repair install wouldn't be a bad idea, if you are having DLL problems.

You say you are cleaning out your cookies, but are you also cleaning out your Temporary Internet Files? Get Ccleaner, if you don't already have it, it does a great job cleaning out uneeded files on your computer, just make sure, you look over all the settings, before you run it. Get Ccleaner here: http://www.ccleaner.com/

I would also get rid of Norton, and download AVG7 for antivirus. Norton products are resource hogs, and they are not worth the trouble they cause. You may also want to download memtest86, and check your memory. Get memtest here: http://www.memtest86.com/ I would also add another 128+ MBs of RAM, so you have more resouces to play with.

After, you clean the inside, of your computer, make sure all your connections are sound, before you close it back up. Download Everest, if you don't already have it, so you can monitor your temperature, fan speeds, and voltage readings. Those readings can be found under computer/sensors in Everest. Get Everest here: : http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en

Another thing to check on, while you have your computer open, is to check to see if any of the MOBO's capacitors are bulging at the top, or leaking anywhere, if they are, then you need to replace those capacitors, or get a new MOBO.

If you have a computer desk, where the computer is stored in closed cabinet shelf area, be sure to open the door, on that cabinet area, so you get better air flow, to the computer.

[Ninja Mantis]

I am running Windows 98 and use Internet Explorer to go online.

[just_a_nobody]

With win98, I would have, at the minimum, 256 MBs of Ram. Download Memetest86, and let it run all the way (a few hours), to make sure the memory that you have, in your computer now, is good.

I would also put the Windows CD in, and do another install, keeping your already installed files, and not do a reformat. However, I would wait, till you can get your computer, to run stable, without freezing.

[jrsweger]

You shouldn't have to unplug the system to get it to shut off, just hold the power button in for 5 to 10 seconds, it should eventually shut down. Since you have Ad Aware, Spybot and Norton already, I suggest you download something like Start-up control panel from http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml. This will allow you to selectively stop certain programs from starting. It's possible that something that is starting up at power on is causing this. With this program you can selectively stop one at a time to eliminate it.

It's not uncommon though for Win98 to have these sorts of problems especially if you open and close alot of programs. Mine used to lock up several times a day for no apparent reason. You may want to consider upgrading to XP but you will certainly have to get more memory although XP will run on 128 meg.

[Ninja Mantis]

Thanks for all your help guys.

I took your advices, cleaned the back of my pc...which was chock full of dust I didn't realize was there. I took the panel off and it was like a forrest of dust! Amazing. Then I remember that the last time I cleaned it was about a year ago. Though we keep a clean home...its amazing how dust is relentless.

I also downloaded some of the recommended programs and suddenly...I was able to shut down last night. It was like...dum dummm dummmmm dum dummmm...and poof...it went off...normal like.

Thank GOD for this site!

You guys are AWESOME!

I wish I could buy you all a ice cold beer (or whatever you drink).

Thanks.

[just_a_nobody]

Way to go Nija! We're happy you got it going, and thanks for letting us know.

[Ninja Mantis]

The people on this site are AWESOME.

Someday when I'm good enough to give out advice, this is the place where I'm going to do it.