Computer freezes takes many restarts

My computer freezes up constantly. The longest it has stayed on with out lock up is 2 hours. Sometimes it will not restart until chkdsk runs; (no errors are ever found. Multiple attempts at find virus infection or Malware have come up empty.

Is My one year old computer falling apart? I have reformatted and reinstalled windows multiple times yet problem remains. 

Hi TRJolly, and a very Happy Christmas to you.

I have taken a look at the work you have done with Ken in the Virus and Spyware removal forum. and also your logs…. it is clear that after formatting and reinstalling not all your drivers were installed correctly…. did you go onto the manufacturer's website and download and install all chipset, video, audio and all other drivers and install them?

The fact that you have formatted your hard drive and reinstalled Windows on a number of occasions,and with the problems you describe continuing, indicates that the issues with your computer probably rest with your machine's hardware rather than its operating system of software.

As your machine is only a year old it is probably better to return it to the vendor and get them to fix it either under your warranty, service agreement of statutory consumer protection laws operating in your jurisdiction.

If you want to make some final checks before taking it back to the vendor ( but don't delay unduly) then I am setting them out for your consideration.

1 Create a new user account with admin privileges (via control panel and carry out some tests… any improvement?

2 Boot into safe mode with networking (via F8 before windows loads) and test your machine… Note your protections AV etc will not be providing your with your usual security,,, so be careful!… visit only this site www.bbc.co.uk and see how your machine behaves opening documents viweing your photos etc., any improvement?

3 Do not run any scans with AVG during these tests….( the AVG you have installed is the 2012 version (current version is 2015) and its unusual to install an older version especially after so many formats and reinstalls of Windows…and the constant scanning with AVG especially when you had a second anti virus product running resident in memory at the same time, may have damaged critical important files….)

4 Download a live distro of Linux, burn the .iso to a CD or DVD ( you must burn it as an image …a simple copy wont do!) and then boot from it

http://puppylinux.org/main/Overview%20and%20Getting%20Started.htm

Give your system a good workout using Linux ( Linux Puppy is good)… you won't need an anti virus product as Puppy will run happily in RAM and not write anything to your hard drive (unless you ask it to)….

Linux Puppy is different from Windows, so it may take a few minutes to get used to it…(only one click to open stuff…not two!) but its pretty straightforward, and of course its free…. If puppy runs Ok then its pointing towards your Windows or software as the potential problem….. but if it wont run then you are either doing it wrong or its likely a hardware issue.

If you have a spare hard drive on the shelf somewhere then its probably worth replacing the old one and insralling Windows afresh on it and seeing if there is improvement.

let us know how you get on at each of the above stages

Regards

paws

I created a new user as requested. The first thing I noticed was a faster boot up. I ran programs I have that work APU and Memory pretty hard. The demo version of hitfilm 3 caused a freeze up after I added atomic particles to a video file I was editing.

2. While in safe mode and at BBC site computer did not malfunction. I rebooted windows normally, I had Hit film running but no editing, Just watching tutorials on youtube. The first thing that occurred was loss of shockwave on youtube site. This time freeze up was different. I could still move curser around but nothing would respond I had to close browser with task manager. When I went to start menu I selected shut down but there was no response. I let computer sit hoping would start responding again. but it finally went to blue screen and shut off. I haven't run any scans with AVG.

I had a hard time getting a restart until I went into bios to make sure hard drive was still first selection for boot. It wasn't, m optical drive was listed first. This has happened before. Once I reset boot sequence back to hard drive. windows started.

I noticed a rather loud whirring sound coming from inside. this is the first time I have heard it but I usually have room noises that would cover it up.

I pulled side panel off to investigate. I didn't find the source or the noise, instead I smelled heat and shut power off. The heat sink on my Cpu was very warm. I removed fan and heat sink and found that there was not much heat sink compound on cpu, it wasn't even covered completely. I bought some compund and applied it. and reinstalled sink and fan. This is where I am now.

My cpu temp. at idle is 1 degree C where before it was 21 C. I checked voltages coming from power supply and they are all almost 2 volts low. I have never worked on computer hardware but I was an electronic tech in the Navy. Voltage drops of this amount did not affect tube amps and radios back then. I don't know if I have a faulty power supply or what. It is a 500W but I have never heard or the manufacturer AZZA. The company I bought this computer from are no longer in operation. Still don't know where noise was coming from. 

I haven't downloaded Linux Puppy yet. will do this after posting. Thanks

HiTRJolly,

Good work so far!

Some observations for your consideration:

1 The temps on your CPU at 21 C are just fine….( even at double that figure it would still be OK)…however as you know heat is agreat enemy of electronics… so as low a temp as you can reasonably run at, is desirable.

2 Creating a new user account and testing it, was designed to establish if the problem was due to a corruption in the previous user account….. the faster boot up (slightly faster) is exactly what we would expect, but if the freezing still happens on the new account then we need to look elsewhere.

3 Booting into safe mode with networking and testing, provides diagnostically significant information….. if the problem ceases then it's likely that something that loads in normal mode ( but not in safe mode, where only a minimal set of drivers and services are loaded) is a likely suspect….. to identify the likely culprit we could use msconfig in normal mode to stop all non essential start up items…. and then start them again in small groups after a reboot each time…sooner or later the system will freeze up and point to the drivers concerned…….( it will one of the last ones loaded….. However we can leave this alone just for the moment….

4 Your logs indicated to me that not all your drivers had been downloaded from the manufacturer's site and installed after each formatting and reinstall of Windows….. it also seems that the freezing is linked to usage of your video/graphics…( watching you tube, films and film editing etc etc) This is the line that I think we should pursue as a priority…….. Please visit the website of your computer manufacturer or video card manufacturer and download and install the correct driver, make sure you get the right one! then reboot and carry out a further test….

5 I am sharing my thoughts with you as being a Navy tech you will understand the approach I'm taking….Normally for "ordinary" members on our site here we just say.. i recommend you do this and then that etc….. as it saves a bit of time….

6 The voltage output from your PSU is worrying….. as you know testing it under load is the ideal scenario, but its far easier just to swap out the suspect PSU for a known good working one, and then test again (you may be able to borrow one from a chum rather than having to buy one… but 2v low is likely to foul up practically anything on your machine particularly as the load increases…..

7 The idea of usiing Puppy is that Puppy will/should install its own Linux drivers…. if your machine doesn't freeze whilst using puppy then its pointing very significantly to Windows and in particular your video/graphics driver as likely being the culprit.

So to sum up swap out the PSU and then test with a reboot in between if no joy then install the correct Video driver reboot and test the machine…again

Let us know how things go and if you need detailed step by step instructions on any of this just ask and we will send them down.

Regards

paws.

yep the very first thing i'd do is get a new power supply, a 2v drop is more than a bit worrying to me and i'm surprised it even boots.

tolerances should be 5% either way i believe so your looking at about 1/2 a volt plus or minus 12volts on the 12v rail, not 10v.

the extra draw of the cpu when under load is probably in my opinion why these crashes happen when watching youtube videos etc, flash uses up quite a lot of cpu cycles so the load is greatly increased along with the power draw needed by the cpu.