windows 7 - PC keeps crashing/freezing

07
2014-07
  • Nick

    Basically my PC started doing this a while back. Broke it down into parts to easily refer to.

    Part 1. Usually around the log on screen, the PC would freeze completely. So I would restart, sometimes it would power up and then just not display anything, having to restart it several times until it does display something.

    Part 2. The next time, it will normally be within 5 mins of checking my email or something where it does it again. It will repeat the same as Part 1. When I finally get back onto doing something, it sometimes does it again within 15-20 mins of using my PC.

    Part 3. Also, also well as freezing, it will sometimes goto a corrupt screen (see picture) for about 2 seconds and then restart itself.

    Pic

    enter image description here

    Part 4.

    After about 30 mins of this turning off/on again, the PC will run smoothly for hours on end!

    • Answers
  • Codezilla

    It's possible your video card is overheating but where you're only booting up or doing other simple things it seems more plausible that the card (on-board or an actual video card) could be going bad and needs replaced. Very small chance that it could be a driver issue. I'd check for the latest drivers for the video card, install them. If it still happens I'd be buying a new video card myself or motherboard depending on if the video card port is on-board or an actual video card.

  • mohamed nur

    You need to troubleshoot the computer, try to figure out when this issue has first occurred. Follow these steps.

    1: Check for recently installed software or hardware devices. If the lockups started to happen after you installed a new piece of software program, hardware device, or new drivers, uninstall it and see if the problem can be solved.

    2:Try to use a different VGI cable if that doesn’t work try to check your VGA output and see if there any pins missing our damaged.

    3: Scan your computer for viruses and spyware. First make sure that your virus definition is up to date. Then run the antivirus program to identify and eliminate the possible viruses in your computer. If your computer has not been infected by viruses, it may still have some harmful malware or spyware. Use a spyware removal tool to scan and clean the spyware on your system.

    4: Check for free hard drive space Check your drive C and save at least twenty percent of unused disk space

    5: Check for overheating. Overheating is another known cause of lockups, especially for notebooks. Make sure that your computer fans are working. Too much dirt can also hinder the computers' cooling system.

    1. Check the hard disk. Corrupted hard disk can cause computer lockup as well. To check the disk for errors, right-click on the disk C: icon in "My Computer", select the "Tools" tab, check all check boxes in the "Check disk options" field, and press the "Check now" button. It should ask whether you want to schedule the check next time you restart your computer - answer "Yes" and restart your PC. The check will be performed automatically after startup; it can take a while, so be patient. The program will attempt to fix some problems automatically - however, if the hard disk is failing physically, it will need to be replaced. It is also a good idea to run Disk Defragmenter (located in Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools) to optimize data placement on the hard disk for increased performance and reliability.

      1. Check the RAM (Random Access Memory). Sometimes random lockups can be attributed to the computer memory (RAM) starting to fail. You can test the memory by running Windows Memory Diagnostic that can be downloaded from =>>http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp. If problems are found, you can plug and unplug your RAM to see if the problem goes away. If not, you might need to replace your RAM entirely the soonest possible time.

    original source of information=> winaso


    • Related Question

    crash - Windows 7 Freezes (No BSOD)
  • Giovanni Galbo

    It looks like Windows 7 (x64) froze on me at 8:30AM this morning (I found it like this almost 12 hours later). No blue screen, just frozen. It looks like the screen was a darker than normal, almost as if it froze perhaps before the UAC screen was going to appear (no idea why it would, I wasn't using the computer) or maybe it was going to go into screen saver mode.

    This happened about a week ago as well.

    I'm currently looking to update all of my drivers in case that's the culprit.

    Last event log entry was at 8:28:47AM : "The Computer Browser service entered the stopped state." Looking at the log it looks like the Computer Browser starts roughly every 2-3 minutes, so I suppose that can be a culprit as well.

    Any idea on what I can do to find out what's causing the issue? Unfortunately no core dump since a BSOD did not occur. Its really frustrating when you're left with so few clues.

    UPDATE (JAN 16 2010)

    After a couple of months of not having issues, my computer started freezing again. This time however, I was able to replicate the problem.

    Using FireFox, on Twitter using PowerTweet, if I scroll up and down multiple times (or even use page up/down keys) I am able to get Windows 7 to freeze (again not BSOD, just frozen... to the point where even caps lock or num lock don't light up on keyboard).

    I'm not sure if the real problem is FF or if it just more easily manifests itself using FF. I'm also not sure if the problem is really PowerTweet, or if its the fact that PT expands multiple Flash Videos (maybe the problem is Flash?).

    Either way, the most I'd expect is FF to crash, not the entire computer. What do you guys think:

    1. Software problem (FF or Flash)
    2. Video card problem (hardware or driver)
    3. Mouse driver problem (because it happens on scroll... although the bug did manifest itself through page down key so I doubt it)
    4. Windows 7 bug

    Further info: I've tried to update as many drivers as I could... video card, chipset, audio, etc. So if its a driver issue, then unfortunately its probably not fixed yet.


    • Related Answers
  • John T

    Sounds like a video card Issue. Since it doesn't happen very often it's difficult to troubleshoot. Is hardware acceleration set to full? Is your video driver Windows 7 compatible or just a Vista driver? Have you installed anything lately?

  • Emory Bell

    It is also possible that this problem is caused by overheating. While computers generally turn off when they overheat, I have seen one that freezes and exhibits the same symptoms you are describing. I would suggest grabbing CoreTemp and keeping an eye on it as you attempt to replicate the issue if John T's answer doesn't help.

  • harrymc

    In addition to the other utilities mentioned hare, GPU-Z will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about your video card, including the temperature.

  • gercio

    I had the same problem. No overheating. Did some tests - memtest, changed graphics card, swapped RAMs between banks, disconnected HDs, reconnected them, changed PCI places and so on. I reinstalled all drivers, updated BIOS etc.

    I don't think it can be a software/driver problem. If so - there should be a BSOD. That's because drivers are "below" the core system. So it had to be hardware. It couldn't be memory (memtest, should BSOD). I did a CPU burn-in test - no problems. I turned the graphics hardware acceleration off - no change. It also wasn't the HD.

    The only remaining thing that could be IMO at fault was the mainboard. How do you know if the mobo is stable? You let it run 3dmark for 24h and see if the computer hangs. And so that was my conclusion.

    Guess what - after changing the motherboard - all problems are gone.

    Once again I would like to stress that I spent long weeks trying to figure this one out. And maybe I was just lucky that my conclusion was correct.

  • Giovanni Galbo

    OK, I hope I'm not jinxing myself here, but I may have solved the problem. The freezing on fire fox scrolling seems to not be happening anymore (the only thing I was ever able to replicate). We'll see if random freezing is fixed as well (I'll report it here if it still freezes).

    Doing some research on this, it looks like someone with a similar motherboard as me (ASUS p6t deluxe [I have version 1, he has 2]) had freezing problems as well. His memory timings were set to auto, which did not match the settings specified in Asus's qualified vendor list. Setting them to those settings fixed the issues.

    In my case, "auto" was not setting them to either asus's recommended values or the ram manufacturer's recommended values. I decided to go with the RAM's settings because they were higher performing (with the intend of trying Asus' values if it didn't help).

    So far I've passed the scrolling test. Hopefully random freezing will be fixed as well.