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Why is My Comp Freezing?
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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21. September 2008 @ 21:08 |
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Win XP
450W PS
AMD 2.6 ghz
512mb ram
Problem:
My desktop freezes after the computer is on for about 5 minutes. Sometimes it just freezes, and other times after a min after freezing, the blue error screen pops up with the kernal error message. If I restart, my computer will either freeze, or get to a certain point and reboot over and over. Usually it is slower than normal (as when trying to load the sys files when booting in safe mode). Before this, there were no signs of an issue. If I let it sit overnight and turn it on in the morning, it's as though the 5 minutes of working time I get is reset, and after that I have to let it wait again.
Possible Cause:
My guess is possibly excessive heat caused by a fan not working as good as it could, or something other heat-related issue. I had a problem with my power supply making a clicking noise when I would unplug and replug it back into the wall, but it would go away after I restarted a few times. that didn't happen for the last 6 months, but I'm thinking the 5minutes of time I get before it locks makes me think overheating, and the less and less directly after I restart makes me think heat even more. Only thing is, I figured it would shutdown the computer instead of restarting. I installed my CPU fan wrong once so it would startup for a few seconds before shutting down.
Any thoughts or suggestions or things I can try to do before it locks to check out what might be the problem? Thanks a ton!!
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AfterDawn Addict
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21. September 2008 @ 22:53 |
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I would bet it is the PSU, but it could be the video card or RAM, also.
Try a different PSU, first.
Life is good!
GrandpaBruce - Vietnam Vet - 1970 - 1971
Computer: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalim;Asus P6T Deluxe V2
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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21. September 2008 @ 23:23 |
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PSU making a clicking noise? that doesnt sound good. Replace your PSU with an Antec Earthwatts 380. Dont mess around with crappy PSUs, they can go up in flames and endanger you.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 06:58 |
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Agreed. PSUs that click can very soon turn into PSUs that are on fire. It has happened, and could well happen to you.
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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22. September 2008 @ 13:42 |
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New Problem: I can't even get past the black Windows loading screen.
What I've done thus far:
1-Tried to restart both in safe mode and normally, and each time it restarts before I get to the 'select user' screen
2-went out and bought new 500W PS, installed it
3-tired restarting, then tried unplugging everything except for what was necessary and restarted, then tried using just one memory stick at a time (tried just one, restarted, then switched to the second and restarted), and every time i can't get to the 'select user' screen without the computer restarting
now that I have a new PS and still having issues, i'm wondering if it could be an issue with my hard drive. And since I can't even get to Windows, I can't run any tests to check anything. Thoughts?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 14:27 |
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Bung the windows Cd in the drive, go to the recovery console and repair.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 14:45 |
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WHat kind of PSU did you get?
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 14:48 |
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It'll probably be awful, but I'd be surprised if it replicated the exact same issue as before. However, you're right to question it - IronRisng, if you bought a cheapo no-name brand unit, you'd be wise to take it back and get a proper one, else you may get a far worse problem than a clicking noise.
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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22. September 2008 @ 14:54 |
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sadly this thread poster is a poor college student with little money, so rather than go to best buy and spend $80, i went to the local campus tech store and bought this one for $30. brand new, they said it's the same one that they use in all the machines they build for ppl, and the guy i bought it from said he just replaced his w/ this one and hasn't had any issues since. granted, this might all be a load...
even if it isn't the best brand PSU on the market, shouldn't it at least fix my problem temporarily, indicating that it IS the PSU?
HERE is the link to the PSU I bought
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 14:56 |
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Coolermaster units aren't horrendous. They'll never produce anywhere near as much power as they say they can, but they tend not to go up in flames like most cheapo PSUs. They can cause stability problems often, but seeing as your problem is identical after changing the unit, I'm near-certain it isn't the PSU.
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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22. September 2008 @ 15:04 |
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i figured something along the same lines. im running a memtest run now on my machine after getting a tip that any error messages might help point me in the right direction. surprisingly enough to me, the machine hasn't locked-up or restarted itself since i started the test about 20 minutes ago, which is great. not sure what that means, but i figure after its done in several hours i can see where to go from there
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 15:05 |
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Memtest shouldn't necessarily crash or reboot, it will however give you errors at the end if your memory is at fault.
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onya
Suspended permanently
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22. September 2008 @ 15:11 |
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Just a thought guy's. After my box did almost precisely the same thing, I failed to notice the caps were swollen on the mobo. So after checking RAM and other heat related possibilities with no luck, the local techie picked up on the mobo virtually instantly.
Perhaps a solution?
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jony218
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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22. September 2008 @ 15:19 |
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do a chckdsk c: /f on your system partition and on all partitions/hard drives in your computer. If you have any file corruption from all the abnormal shutdowns, chkdsk can usually fix it so your computer will bootup.
Next use a linux live cd and see if linux runs without shutting down. If the livecd runs ok, then more than likely your hardware is good. The livecd will operate your computer and all it's components without installing on the hard drive.
If windows keeps crashing, it might be a device conflict. If you have a spare pci soundcard, I would install that instead of using the onboard sound.
If your video card has no fan, try and put a case fan near it, to blow directly at the video card heatsink.
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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22. September 2008 @ 15:43 |
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Originally posted by jony218:
do a chckdsk c: /f on your system partition and on all partitions/hard drives in your computer. If you have any file corruption from all the abnormal shutdowns, chkdsk can usually fix it so your computer will bootup.
If windows keeps crashing, it might be a device conflict. If you have a spare pci soundcard, I would install that instead of using the onboard sound.
If your video card has no fan, try and put a case fan near it, to blow directly at the video card heatsink.
if I can't get into windows normally or safemode, how can i run the chckdsk check?
i haven't installed new hardware for the last 18 months. Why would a conflict rear its ugly head now?
video card has a fan, so no issues there
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 15:47 |
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Check the capacitors on your motherboard?
Ones marked with arrows have gone bad.
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onya
Suspended permanently
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22. September 2008 @ 16:00 |
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@sammorris My board was an elitegroup brand.. so if my memory serves me..both Russ and yourself mentioned that as long as it works don't muck with it, just be thankful it works at all. LOL
As per your pic, yep that's what the buggers looked like.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2008 @ 16:03 |
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That's correct, ECS boards = trash. Not all of them, but a good majority.
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jony218
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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22. September 2008 @ 22:03 |
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All my motherboards are ecs, only had one go bad on me. I consider them very reliable for a low end MB and would have no problem buying one.
To run a chkdsk you need the windows installation cd to get into the repair console. Or the best way is to make a bartpe boot cd. It will boot the computer and you can use the command prompt or even do a scandisk.
The final option is to remove the hard drive and piggyback it onto another computer or stick it onto an external usb enclosure and run a scandisk (with the boxes to fix errors checked).
Chkdsk C: /f is a very powerful command and it has turned some of my corrupted (raw) windows partitions to boot again.
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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23. September 2008 @ 00:32 |
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I ran the mem test and it came back after 16 passes without any errors. I'm guessing that means the memory is good. I'll check the motherboard before I crash for the night and post how good/bad it looks. Thanks for the pic btw so I know what to look for
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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26. September 2008 @ 18:42 |
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sorry it took so long for me to get back to this, had training for new job this week.
checked the motherboard and everything looked clean on there.
i also tired to turn it on, starting windows either normally, in safe mode, or using last known good configuration. every time, regardless of what i select, the system moves slowly to the black windows loading screen then a blue screen pops up for about a quarter second and then the system restarts. i took a video of the process to see if i could makeout what the blue screen said, and this is what I got:
"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME
If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:" blah blah blah
Um, so I'm guessing that this can't mean anything good....
that, btw, was def not the blue screen that i had issues with originally. after checking Microsoft's support section, and knowing that i can't be using the wrong connector cable or BIOS settings since nothing has been changed in the last six months, their suggestion is:
5.At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r , and then press ENTER.
i guess ill be trying this and if anyone has any additional suggestions please let me know
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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26. September 2008 @ 18:45 |
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Either your hard disk, or the data on it, is messed.
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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26. September 2008 @ 19:50 |
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i ran chkdsk and my computer is now able to boot up. the minidump folder is empty, not sure if that is related to the recovery. i plan on backing up my files within the hour just in case something happens again.
any thoughts on whether this spells the doom for my poor hard drive for certain or not? i still have no clue how this happened...
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IronRisng
Junior Member
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5. October 2008 @ 15:48 |
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After trying what was suggested here I still had issues, but someone on another forum was able to help me. Looks like I was only one command away from salvation and a problem-free computer, as I have been for the last week. Thanks again for all the suggestions, and I've posted what ended up fixing my problem in the space below in case anyone else has similar issues in the future.
"Boot from d OS(win XP) cd..on d we'll come to setup window, press 'R', it'll take u to d recovery console window...at the C:>prompt, type "chkdsk /p" (without d inverted commas)/ u may get a message: found one or more errors in d volume after it's done...type: chkdsk /p again and press enter..continue doing it till the message: found one or more errors do not appear...then type: fixboot and press enter...type "y" and enter to confirm...u should be all set."
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