[the.elephant]

this might be a little more technical for soompi forums but imma try anyways.

so 2 days ago, my computer randomly shut down and restarted on me. so i was like "wtf was that?" then ever since that time my computer would randomly freeze. i have to press the power button to shut it off because ctrl+alt+delete wont work. first i thought it was overheating so i took my case off and cleaned out my computer from dust and such. then i realized that my PSU fan wasnt working. it has 2 fans but only 1 of them is working. but it didnt feel hot to the touch. the one that's working is the one that's "inside" the computer and the one that's not working is the one right next to the power cord.

so other than that im not sure what's causing the random freezes. i ran malwarbytes several times. when i say randomly freeze it would sometimes last less than 10 mins after start up or sometimes last over an hour. a few times, not all the time, when it froze it would make a loud beeeeeeeeep sound until i restarted it. i've had this desktop over 5 years with no upgrade at all >< but this is the first time this ever happened so im a bit lost.

it's definitely not a software prob i dont think. it would freeze whether im just surfing internet, listening to just music, or watching a video.

im gonna try to replace my PSU if that fixes it but i dont have high hopes.

[niknok]

it could be a software problem! try to run first all your system tools (antivirus, registry optimizer, spyware software) in safe mode.. sometimes unnecessary programs usually spyware could make your computer to halt or stop responding.

[the.elephant]

i dont think it's the software's prob... right now, i put a small desk fan directly to the computer without the side computer shell.... and it hasnt crashed for little over 2 hours!!!!!!!! i have not replaced the PSU yet.. im going to best buys later today.

EDIT: it just froze couple mins after i posted that ^ i must have jinxed it

This post has been edited by the.elephant: 02 April 2009 - 12:04 PM

[Meenuh]

What are the specs on your computer?

It could be the RAM. Maybe wanna check that out. You said it was 1 long beep right? If that isn't the problem then it is probably your PSU.

[the.elephant]

the long beep happened only a couple times earlier but it doesnt do it anymore. it just freezes now.

i dunno if it's the ram either. i've had the computer 5+ years so i know what it's capable of... so why would it be acting up now?? can ram just break??

i just talked to my friend who knows computers and he said that PSU usually should still work with one fan only. and if PSU overheats or something then the computer would just power down but in my case the computer still has power and everything works but it just freezes so he said it might be a virus... im gonna back up my files and format my computer... hopefully that will fix it... not sure... let me know if anyone has any other suggestions

fyi, i just had to restart my computer twice writing this message because it froze twice. and this 3rd time it didnt freeze so i was able to finish the post... weird!!! if it is a virus then i dunno what's triggering it because im not doing anything unusual.

[Meenuh]

I found something that sounds very similar to your problem and it says pretty much the same thing. RAM or PSU but I supposed it could be a virus but considering you've had your computer for so long .. I wouldn't rule out the PSU.

http://www.overclock.net/amd-general/22222...-long-beep.html

[the.elephant]

i wish that poster wrote if the prob was solved or not... and how... ><
ill definitely replace my PSU and RAM if formatting doesnt solve the issue!!! sigh sigh sigh

[awdark]

My psu has two fans in it one of them is always on and the other turns on only when its needed.

After it freezes and you reset the computer, does it work normally again? If it continues to act glitchy then we can suspect overheating as a cause of your problems.

In terms of hardware, it can also be motherboard or hard drive.

If you get Speed Fan (google it) it can tell you the SMART status of your hard drive. I used to have a bad motherboard which would cause the drives to spin down (you can hear them go click and spin down) then the computer would freeze. Initially I thought it was the drives exceeding the peek error rate but a new drive had the same problem. You can physically examine your motherboard/video card for swollen capacitors, it is old enough to have that kind of problem.

[the.elephant]

yea when i restart, everything works fine until it freezes. hmm maybe my PSU isnt broken then... does your inside fan or outside work?? which is the one that only works when it gets too hot??

what do you mean the "drives to spin down" lol im dumb

i havent noticed any clicking noise before freezing yet and i just checked all the capacitors and they looked fine to me.
i just posted the problem on http://www.pchelpforum.com/windows-xp-2000...ter-freeze.html to see what they say

[awdark]

If you can restart like that, then most likely it isn't a heat issue.
But you should listen for your drive, normally its like a sound that fades down out of nowhere. When I turn off my computer I can hear it, its a sound slightly higher than my fans and fades out smoothly unlike the fans. I focus on that because I had 2 computers that did that... it would just stop and freeze (sometimes bluescreen) I knew that if I didn't do anything that accessed the drive (like click anything) I could just sit there and stare at my screen knowing I can't click save lol

[Azn_Boy]

I've had this problem before, it's not a virus.

More of an intermittent freeze where the mouse pointer freezes along with the screen.

Usually it might be due to an overheating problem. Do you turn your computer off everyday?

If it's not that then it's probably some sort of static electricity problem that's causing the computer to malfunction.