My Computer Keeps Freezing

Dougelas · January 5th, 2009, 04:51 AM

I just recently got a new computer (Thanksgiving-ish) and it keeps freezing on me, it seems to do it 5 minutes-3 hours into me booting up and using the computer, and it doesn't freeze when I don't have programs running. But when I am downloading something or running pretty much any program, it just goes on complete lockdown, the screen freezes, I can't move my pointer, can't pull up task manager, nothing. I haven't done much with it since I got it, I added some RAM recently, which seemed to work fine. I also tried adding a second hard drive from an old computer, which I suspected to be bad, and it was (confirmed by computer store). It wouldn't even boot when I had that in, but it's out now so I don't see how that could be a contributing factor. It also doesn't seem to slow down or show any signs of problems before it freezes, it's just sudden... My specs are:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3400+
2.2 GHz, 768 MB RAM
60G Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 Video Card
2 CD/ROM Drives, one is DVD

P.S.

I'm new-ish to computers, so if I left anything important out, just let me know.

rusty_sim · January 5th, 2009, 06:08 AM

my guess is malware. my second, but not academic, guess would be faulty hardware.

does it still freeze in safe mode or when clean booted?

bigBonehead · January 5th, 2009, 03:17 PM

Huh......

I would pull that new Ram out, D/L and run this: CCleaner - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com until it comes back with no registry errors.

Dougelas · January 7th, 2009, 04:24 AM

Well it was messing up long before I put the RAM in, and I have confirmed that it still freezes during clean boot, just not nearly as often. I've been on clean boot about 2 days and it's only frozen once.

Dougelas · January 24th, 2009, 03:27 AM

Alright well after a few weeks of running in clean boot, it's frozen on me at least 5 times in the past 2 days or so. So I guess it wasn't fixed. It usually isn't even when running something that takes alot of memory, so I'm not sure what the heck it could be. One thing that is also annoying, though not sure if it's related; my iPod touch will not read in iTunes. It reads in My Computer, and it charges. But it refuses to be read in iTunes no matter what I will do. There is an article on the apple website that is for this problem exactly, but I've tried everything on there and have re-installed the latest version of iTunes about 5 times by now, with no luck. This has been happening at the same time as the freezing, so I'm not sure if they could be related or not.

BipolarBill · January 24th, 2009, 08:39 AM

Did this thing start acting up only after adding the RAM? If so, it may be bad or incompatible.

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Scan your hard drive for errors - thoroughly. Open My Computer and right-click your drive. Select Properties > Tools. Check the drive for errors. Check BOTH boxes and OK. Reboot and let it scan. It will take a while so be patient.

You didn't say who built this PC or whether it's used. Blow all the dust out of it - especially around the CPU. It may be overheating.

Dougelas · January 25th, 2009, 06:30 PM

It's been acting up the entire time, so I'm sure it's not the RAM.

It's a home-built, and it's used, I got it as a gift and the giver got it at a thrift-store type place. I'll do the hard drive scan, but I have blown the dust out about 3 weeks ago now, and I've turned it on with the cover off to make sure the fans all work, and they do.

Thanks

Imperion1 · January 25th, 2009, 11:51 PM

Even after blowing out the dust and fans working, it could still be that the cpu or video card is overheating. Could be bad caps or bad powersupply.

Dougelas · January 26th, 2009, 02:52 AM

After the HD scan it SEEMS to be working, I've been on a few hours, so that may have been a factor. How can I tell if the video card has been overheating? I've not ever been doing anything graphics intensive, it has never frozen while playing WoW, but seems to do it while browsing the net, or doing something more simple.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone.

BipolarBill · January 26th, 2009, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dougelas

I just recently got a new computer (Thanksgiving-ish) and it keeps freezing on me

Quote:

It's a home-built, and it's used, I got it as a gift and the giver got it at a thrift-store type place.