Odd PC Problems...

Neon_Sonic · May 27, 2004

My PC has been acting really odd today. It's freezing every ten or fifteen minutes, it would seem. I can't have three explorer windows open before everything freezes up like I had a million programs running at once. The mouse will generally move, but I can't click on anything and I have to restart. I've let it sit for a few minutes and sometimes it has gone back to normal and other times it simply will not. I'm sure I've had to reboot at least 20 times today. I have an HP Pavilion a420n with a 2.16 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM, so I don't really see why it would be doing this. I ran Norton and Ad-Aware, but got nothing abnormal.

Any idea why I might be having this problem? Any help is highly appreciated.

X · May 27, 2004

Clean your CPU fan.

Nesagwa · May 27, 2004

X said:
Clean your CPU fan.

Better than that, clean the whole inside of the thing.

Jedite · May 27, 2004

How old is your PC?

Neon_Sonic · May 27, 2004

Jedite said:
How old is your PC?

Not old at all. I don't know when the actual model was made, but I just got this a few months ago.

The CPU fan seems to be working just fine and isn't dusty or anything at all.

Neon_Sonic · May 27, 2004

Sometimes before it does this, there will be an application called "Updates from HP Agent". It seems to do this on its own, without me ever opening anything and I'm not exactly sure what it's updating. I did try to actually run some of update utility and let it sit, but it just ended up freezing like it had been. It's also done this when that wasn't open, though.

chemical · May 27, 2004

X said:
Clean your CPU fan.

Most likely culprit. If the shutdowns are linked to CPU load (ie: how many programs you're running), then your CPU is probably overheating. Clean your fan.

Either that, or maybe your power supply is crapped out.

FeelGood · May 27, 2004

IS IT A GUARANTEED PROBLEM? will ur system freeze like 10 minutes after starting all the time? if you have 2 or more ram modules (256mb, 128mb etc) swap out one of them. if it still freezes put that one back in and swap out the other. you may have fried one of them so whenever ur cpu accesses that damaged module your system will lock up. it happened to me early this year now i only have 256mb. :crying:

doublef · May 27, 2004

I think it's definitely software related. Some spyware can bring computers to a halt if not taken care of...and I've seen it do stranger things to a computer than what you're experiencing. I have found that Spybot (http://security.kolla.de) and Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoft.de), when used together, work the best at rooting this stuff (both are freeware):

Spybot - http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10289035.html?tag=lst-0-1
Ad-Aware - http://download.com.com/3000-8022-10214379.html?tag=lst-0-1

Are you running an antivirus? Grisoft's AVG Free Edition is a good one. You may also want to check for recent viruses (Sasser, etc.). You can do that on Microsoft's, McAfee sites.

Hope that helps...

chris1 · May 28, 2004

Try doing a Disc defragmentaion and a Disc Clean up....

Clean out all your temporary internet files..

Neon_Sonic · May 28, 2004

Well, I defragged the hard drive (6+ hours for 160 GB), cleaned out my temporary internet files, and cleared some automatically starting programs and my PC is being slightly more cooperative. I'll do a disc clean-up and a few other things and let you all know if the problem persists.

I'll also check for spyware and take a look under the hood, though I don't think anything should need cleaning this early.

Highlander67 · May 28, 2004

Also, consider changing out both ram chips, one may be bad. If not, the power supply could also be a problem. If the amp is not constant, it can cause the problems you are describing.

Neon_Sonic · May 28, 2004

Highlander67 said:
Also, consider changing out both ram chips, one may be bad. If not, the power supply could also be a problem. If the amp is not constant, it can cause the problems you are describing.

I'm a complete idiot when it comes to hardware, so I profess my ignorance in advance, but you're sure that the RAM will consist of two chips? And the PC should still function if I pop one out? What should I do to check the power supply?

Chicago Cheeseburgler Crew · May 28, 2004

I love weird computer problems. <3

Just the other day, I was playing BF Vietnam online, and poof, my computer reboots.

doublef · May 28, 2004

Neon_Sonic said:
And the PC should still function if I pop one out?

Only one way to find out heh

You said you cleaned out some of the auto-starting programs....did you do an msconfig? If you didn't, you may want to check out if there are any freaky progs running in the background:

Start Menu -> Run -> type in "msconfig" (w/o the " "). The click the Startup tab. Anything out of the ordinary?

FeelGood · May 28, 2004

Neon_Sonic said:
I'm a complete idiot when it comes to hardware, so I profess my ignorance in advance, but you're sure that the RAM will consist of two chips? And the PC should still function if I pop one out? What should I do to check the power supply?

well if you bought the thing from a store with 512mb ram chances are it will have two 256mb chips in there. single 512mb chips are generally more expensive so they like saving money. yes the computer will function fine if you remove one of them. if its a bad chip it will immediately solve your problem and the crashes will stop. you will notice things are a little slower though since you just removed half of your ram. get a new one if you want things back to normal.

open the side of your tower and look in. the ram chips are long slender pieces that simply plug into a row of slots on your motherboard. turn off computer touch a metal piece on the tower to ground yourself then unplug a chip. close tower then boot up and play a game or surf the net for awhile. if there is no more crashes then u solved the problem. if it crashes shut down again put that chip back in and take out the other one. repeat until you tested all chips.

if you have one 512mb im not sure the computer will work if its damaged so this may not be your problem (if you habe one piece of ram and its damage i dont think you can even boot your computer).

Neon_Sonic · May 28, 2004

doublef said:
Only one way to find out heh

You said you cleaned out some of the auto-starting programs....did you do an msconfig? If you didn't, you may want to check out if there are any freaky progs running in the background:

Start Menu -> Run -> type in "msconfig" (w/o the " "). The click the Startup tab. Anything out of the ordinary?

Not really. Most of the stuff seems to standard Windows stuff that I recognize or some HP stuff that I have have any idea why they would need to put anything extra on here. I stick I'll steer clear of pre-built computers in the future. I have no idea what "spamsubtract" is, though. Before, I was using a little application called X-Cleaner or something similar. Most of the things I cleared were things I recognized that I just didn't want starting up. Others were things that looked slightly suspicious, but I didn't think much of them because Norton didn't detect anything. I need to use some anti-spyware software...

Neon_Sonic · May 28, 2004

FeelGood said:
well if you bought the thing from a store with 512mb ram chances are it will have two 256mb chips in there. single 512mb chips are generally more expensive so they like saving money. yes the computer will function fine if you remove one of them. if its a bad chip it will immediately solve your problem and the crashes will stop. you will notice things are a little slower though since you just removed half of your ram. get a new one if you want things back to normal.

open the side of your tower and look in. the ram chips are long slender pieces that simply plug into a row of slots on your motherboard. turn off computer touch a metal piece on the tower to ground yourself then unplug a chip. close tower then boot up and play a game or surf the net for awhile. if there is no more crashes then u solved the problem. if it crashes shut down again put that chip back in and take out the other one. repeat until you tested all chips.

if you have one 512mb im not sure the computer will work if its damaged so this may not be your problem (if you habe one piece of ram and its damage i dont think you can even boot your computer).

I'll try that, though I don't understand what you mean about grounding myself.

What should I do about testing to see if the power supply is working like it should?

Neon_Sonic · May 28, 2004

Well, I just unplugged the power cord so I wouldn't have to worry about getting shocked, and I only see one chip, so I guess there's nothing to test. This sucks. I'll keep trying different software things, but more than likely I'll end up having to haul this thing down to Best Buy 30 minutes from my house and wait to have them replace the RAM chip, if that's the problem. I'm glad we signed up for some kind of maintenance plan so when their cheaply-made products break, we at least get to have them pay for it.

*sigh*

SonGohan · May 29, 2004

Try this: Go to 'run' then type 'msconfig', then go to startup and uncheck everything, then reboot. See if you still have the same problem.

Neon_Sonic · Jun 1, 2004

SonGohan said:
Try this: Go to 'run' then type 'msconfig', then go to startup and uncheck everything, then reboot. See if you still have the same problem.

I did that and, unfortunately, I still have the same problem. I'm pretty much convinced that this has to do with something overheating. I took off the side panel to "give it some air" and let if cool down overnight and it was better, for about twenty minutes when it started doing the same thing again. I notice, while feeling around with it unplugged that some parts were very hot. Is there anything I can do about this short of taking it back to the store for repairs? Nothing is dirty or dusty, so I don't see why I should be having this problem to begin with.

Sundance · Jun 1, 2004

Neon_Sonic said:
I did that and, unfortunately, I still have the same problem. I'm pretty much convinced that this has to do with something overheating. I took off the side panel to "give it some air" and let if cool down overnight and it was better, for about twenty minutes when it started doing the same thing again. I notice, while feeling around with it unplugged that some parts were very hot. Is there anything I can do about this short of taking it back to the store for repairs? Nothing is dirty or dusty, so I don't see why I should be having this problem to begin with.

When my last system was on its last legs it started overheating so i just popped off one of the CD bay slot on the front and put a small fan in front to blow a constant stream of air in and keep it cooled.

kernow · Jun 1, 2004

re-install woo

sounds like a virus

or a shitty PC

get that XP disk out Mr, and AVG sux, I prefer anti-vir which is also free

but then ad infinitum you're basically XPeriencing windows at its finest.

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