what causes windows to freeze?

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JonnyK

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Jul 3, 2004
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lateley my win xp computer has been freezing pretty much constantly. i leave my computer on 24/7 and always have. but just recently almost every time i'm gone and come back the computer is frozen, with all windows, the mouse, and stuff still up on the screen but i cannot do anything. i was wondering if there are certain things that can cause this. there don't seem to be any programs that effect the freezing. what piece of hardware could be getting messed up and cause this?

thanks.
 
Usually it's because dust has collected inside the machine, and the heat sinks aren't working as well so things are overheating. Try cleaning everything and see what happens.
 
i haven't had my new cpu/hsf for too long and my room isn't very dusty at all. i doubt anything would have built up to that point, i'm looking through my case window right now and it looks fine :p but i'll blow it all out anyway and see what goes on.

i'm not sure about anything with my ram, i know my proc is staying super cool, <30c pretty much all the time, but i don't know about the ram. would the ram be a likely piece of hardware to cause the freezing or is it most likely something else?
 
if it's not heat related.. I would say your power supply needs to be replaced..
 
my psu is one that just came built in with a chieftec dragon case. so it's not a dependable brand or anything. I might get one if you think that could be it, and i just added a TV tuner card and bigger hard drive to my comp, so that could draw just enough power to make it start hurting.
 
any power saving crap turned on? standby/hibernate etc have been know to do this.
 
hulksterjoe said:
any power saving crap turned on? standby/hibernate etc have been know to do this.
Click to expand...
Ah finally someone else who believes these things are crap.
 
If it has nothing to do with hardware it might be filled with crap such as spyware/viruses.
 
neo86 said:
If it has nothing to do with hardware it might be filled with crap such as spyware/viruses.
Click to expand...


that's not likely, i know what sites are shit and how to get rid of problems if stuff does get on my computer, i run ad aware, spybot, and virus scan weekly at least.

I just got a new 500w psu and hooked that up, left the pc on all day while i was at work. i cam back to find it frozen on the screen saver. before it had usually been frozen just inside of windows. but i do know i have the hibernate, etc. turned off because they do cause problems, i have seen it tons of times.

I'm going to check some more settings and see what i can dig up, but for now, no solution or cause found.
 
has anyone here ever had problems with beyond tv3 ? That software is what i have installed most recently and it has like 10 processes running under it. My computer never froze before i got my tv tuner and that program, so has anyone had any bad experiences with beyond tv?

i just found out that my beyond tv is ver. 3.5.4 or something and the newest one is 3.7.4. it has no auto updater so i didn't even realize i had an old one i guess. hopefully this will fix it.
 
I want to revive this thread. I have gotten a new power supply, 500w antec smartpower is what it's called i believe. i formatted, then ran memtest86 for 7 hours or so and got no errors. I'm still getting hard freezes. any more ideas from anyone?
 
Time to look at your mobo. Any bulging or leaky capacitors visible? Also, if you have any expansion cards you could try swapping them out for a bit.
 
i scanned my mobo over with a flashlight and i couldn't see anything bulging or leaking ( i googled it to see what that would look like :p )

i also took out my tv-tuner card and put it in a different pci slot, just to see if that would make a difference.
 
Try running Cpuburn or Prime95 for 24 hrs straight. If it's not your mobo, your power supply, or your RAM maybe it's your CPU? :confused:
 
Boot your comp and let it sit in the BIOS for hours and see if it freezes. If it does your comp may be messed up (hardware-wise). But if it doesent that windows is just messed up. When windows starts acting up on me I just reformat.
 
If Windows locks up when running Prime95, then it's probably your processor. If at stock, it's probably faulty, overheating or the motherboard's BIOS isn't giving it the right Vcore!!!

More likely if OC'ing your processor!!!

I had that symptom when I hit the OC wall on my Athlon XP T-bred 2400+, when at 2.41 ghz. 2.41 ghz was the point where it started locking up when running Prime95 and at 2.50 ghz, can't even complete the Windows boot process, because I got a BSOD or the screen went black before Windows was even finished loading. :mad:
 
JonnyK said:
has anyone here ever had problems with beyond tv3 ? That software is what i have installed most recently and it has like 10 processes running under it. My computer never froze before i got my tv tuner and that program, so has anyone had any bad experiences with beyond tv?
Click to expand...

If your computer never froze before you installed the card and software, then this would be the most logical place to start. Uninstall the software, uninstall the card (do a system restore if necessary) and see if your computer still has issues. If this corrects the problem, then either ir's A) The card or B) The card + windows. The company should have some sort of support webpage or something where they might discuss the issue, or a forum where you can view/post the problem.
 
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