|
Answer» Hi
A friend has asked me to look at their PC (as above) running XP Home.
It keeps freezing after about 30 minutes from switch on and then a shorter time. It GIVES a black screen with the arrow or egg timer for the cursor - after about 5 minutes it reboots with no intervention from me.
I suspected a heat problem - the BIOS allows a health check and shows the temperature of the box (about 30C but strangely says the speed of the fan is zero when it is definitely working ) and the CPU 36C after freeze. The CPU fan has an 'intelligent' VARIABLE speed to keep temperature at a level this can be enabled or not - it is set at enabled.
The CPU fins were very fluffy and I cleaned these off and the CPU and case fans were dirty and cleaned these. Both fans are and have been working.
After cleaning I tried again but it refroze at about 40minutes from restart.
The PC has two logical drives of about 30GB each - the C drive has about 500MB of free space left. I can take about 10GB off that drive but want to back it up first. When I try to back up the drive onto external storage, it freezes before I manage to complete the back up.
I would be very grateful for any pointers to solve my problem.
Windows needs approx 15% free space to run properly....that means C: should have at least 5G free space.This sounds dumb, but
- try putting a big desk fan behind the case to blow air into the case.
This is based on a TRUE story. Hey, I am having the same problem random SHUT down when ever accessing something unknown? the HDD is wiped so no operating system and it now just happens while installing it.
I have done all the same checks but am at a complete
I fear its something like motherboard failure at some point so does anyone know of any testing WARE I could use to test the motherboard?You should start your own Topic so it can recieve the proper attention...Hi when having this type of problem it helps to have a few tools on hand. First try a copy of memtest running on the computer this will help isolate the motherboard and CPU and off course the memory. If the Bios has power supply as well as temperatures checking make sure the voltages are within 10%. Carefully noting if any are high and others are low. if this is the case the power supply is not very shiny and you should try another power supply. Quote the power supply is not very shiny Advanced diagnostic technique.
Wow.../Hi
A further update.
I tried the desk fan idea - thanks Geek - it lowered both the system temperature and CPU temperature but still 'failed' after a few minutes.
Since then I have removed the Hard Disk and put it in a docking station - I have been able to access the hard disk with no problem and after a number of random resets back up the hard disk. This was done on another PC with the docking station connected to the USB port and and an external 1 TB drive via another USB.
What appears to be happening is that the hard disk appears to be 'switching off' after a period of time with a Delayed Write Failure referencing the docked drive and it can only be cured by switching off the docking station. During one failure CHKDSK was initiated by XP - this showed no problems. I also ran a Kaspersky anti virus scan - this also showed NO problem.
I have almost completed the moving of about 5GB of data from the C to D drive - thanks for the suggestion Patio.
Would this problem with the hard disk be the cause of the original PC freezing? Are there any hard disk diagnostics which I can run in addition to CHKDSK? How do I cure it? Should I run any programs before re-installing the hard disk back in the original PC?
You will find Free diagnostics at the HDD manuf. site...
|
