| The Breakroom > The Water Cooler |
| PC issue |
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| John Rudd:
Any pc gurus on here? MY pc intermittantly locks up..no mouse or keyboard input is permitted.........the machine just stops dead no blue screen or the like...Only way out is to reboot... PC is an AMD based 1800Mhz cpu running Windows XP no add ins updates, with 512Mb memory, 2 hard discs, one as pure data storage... This phenomenon has only recently started and I dont believe it to be due to a virus....Had a VS on the machine and that makes things worse from a performance perspective so I took it off.. Any ideas what to do please? |
| Brass_Machine:
Hi John... I used to know a deal about PCs... Hard to tell without looking at it, but I have some tuneup suggestions. 1. Add more memory. 512Mb just isn't enough these days. Try to double it if you can. 2. Run a few spybot type programs... SpyBot MalwareBytes 3. Defrag the harddrive 4. Check add/remove programs to see if anything has been installed you don't use or didn't install I am sure a few others will have more tips for you. Eric |
| spuddevans:
I'm no guru, but I would try 1st of all running the windows task manager when you start your pc (just press Ctrl + Alt + Del together) then "minimize"it (2nd button from the left of the red X to close the window) That will also place a little bargraph display in the bottom right of your screen, this bargraph tells you how hard the processor is working. Then wait for the next freeze and check what the bargraph reads, if it stays at the max your problem is more likely to be software based. A hardware solution to try is to remove and re-seat the memory and any video/expansion cards. Sometimes they can not be seated quite right to begin with, then when everything warms up a contact breaks and the pc freezes. If you can add some more memory that would make a huge difference, add 1GB if you can. Hope this helps, Tim |
| Chuck in E. TN:
I would recommend freebie CCleaner, cleans up cookies and other accumulated junk, checks the registry for problems and allows a back up before changes are made in case of problems. Available here: http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner I would also highly recommend Auslogistics Defragging program. Free here: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download/ Use the defrag and optimize option first. Usual disclamer, no commertial intrest, just happy user... Chuck in E. TN |
| sparky961:
I'll second the reseating (or replacing) of memory (RAM). I recently had a computer that would freeze seemingly at random. I figured it was a video issue, but after trying another card the problem was still there. 4 of 4 slots were filled, so I took out all but the first. It ran great for hours without problems where before it would freeze within minutes of startup. Still not sure if it was bad RAM or slot, but I was definitely in the right area. I would absolutely not recommend free "cleaners". By default, XP uses NTFS rather than FAT. The only thing you need to understand from this is that NTFS doesn't need to be defragged the same as FAT. Also, I have never seen a computer freeze as you're describing due to a fragmented hard drive. -Sparky |
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