pc freezes

[mell001]

my pc freezes at random times but usually when you play any sort of media.when it freezes nothing works.i have to hit the reset button on my pc.i recentley had new ram,powerpack and a 80gb harddrive installed.i run windows off the 80gb and all my media is on a 300gb harddrive

[Armageddon]

mell how much ram have you got ?

[mell001]

mell how much ram have you got ?

 

i think its 1gb ddr2.it never used to crash untill it came back fro the shop with the new hardware.i took it back but they said it was not there problem as they had installed windows on a new harddrive.i must have a virus on my media harddrive.iscanned it and its clean.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Mell, what program did you use to scan that drive, also have you scanned the smaller 80Gb drive as well? you may not have a powerful enough program to find any nasties, and in most cases it is best to scan also with antispyware or antimalware programs as well.

If it looks like a virus or malware issue we will move you to that forum if necessary.

Nev.

[mell001]

Hi Mell, what program did you use to scan that drive, also have you scanned the smaller 80Gb drive as well? you may not have a powerful enough program to find any nasties, and in most cases it is best to scan also with antispyware or antimalware programs as well.

If it looks like a virus or malware issue we will move you to that forum if necessary.

Nev.

i used avg9 trial version.could it be conflicting hardware or a driver problem.a friend said it could be my sound card.i have a msi motherboard,radeon x800 graphics card if that helps.i am a novice so i dont really know

[PseFrank]

my pc freezes at random times but usually when you play any sort of media.when it freezes nothing works.i have to hit the reset button on my pc.i recentley had new ram,powerpack and a 80gb harddrive installed.i run windows off the 80gb and all my media is on a 300gb harddrive

 

 

Hi Mel, I assume by powerpack you mean PSU (Power Supply Unit)...forgive me if I'm being dim.

 

More ram will need more power. What is the wattage of your PSU? And also, can you tell us what your paging file settings are?

 

You may have details of your PSU on the invoice from the repair shop. If not you will have to look inside your tower.

 

To check your paging file size (Virtual memory). Go....

Start

Right click My Computer

Click Properties

Click Advanced

Under performance settings click Advanced again

 

Under Virtual Memory click Change

 

What does Recommended say?

 

What does Currently allocated say?

 

I may be off the mark here...but just a thought.

[mell001]

Hi Mel, I assume by powerpack you mean PSU (Power Supply Unit)...forgive me if I'm being dim.

 

More ram will need more power. What is the wattage of your PSU? And also, can you tell us what your paging file settings are?

 

You may have details of your PSU on the invoice from the repair shop. If not you will have to look inside your tower.

 

To check your paging file size (Virtual memory). Go....

Start

Right click My Computer

Click Properties

Click Advanced

Under performance settings click Advanced again

 

Under Virtual Memory click Change

 

What does Recommended say?

 

What does Currently allocated say?

 

I may be off the mark here...but just a thought.

 

yes you are right.i did mean psu.i have no idea what wattage it is.all iknow is before when you turn it on at the mains it would take a few tries powering up,since i had the new one it starts 1st time.i checked the virtual memory and it says recommended 2302mb and currently allocated 768mb.could this be a problem and if it is could you please help me in fixing it.thank you

[PseFrank]

yes you are right.i did mean psu.i have no idea what wattage it is.all iknow is before when you turn it on at the mains it would take a few tries powering up,since i had the new one it starts 1st time.i checked the virtual memory and it says recommended 2302mb and currently allocated 768mb.could this be a problem and if it is could you please help me in fixing it.thank you

 

 

Hi Mell,

 

I cannot promise that this will cure your problems, but it might help. I think that it was Plastic Nev that has at least hinted that you may have a nasty in the works. He has more experience than myself on that subject, but give this a try anyway.

 

You've told me that your recommended page file size is 2302mb. Go to that same window again using the same path as I outlined before.

 

Check (tick) Custom size

 

In Initial size (MB): type 2302

 

In Maximum size (MB): type 2302

 

Now click Set

 

Click OK

 

You may get a window that says something like "The changes that you have made require you to restart your computer"

 

If you do, then click all the Apply and OK boxes that you need to, and then reboot.

 

Hope this helps you out...

[mell001]

Hi Mell,

 

I cannot promise that this will cure your problems, but it might help. I think that it was Plastic Nev that has at least hinted that you may have a nasty in the works. He has more experience than myself on that subject, but give this a try anyway.

 

You've told me that your recommended page file size is 2302mb. Go to that same window again using the same path as I outlined before.

 

Check (tick) Custom size

 

In Initial size (MB): type 2302

 

In Maximum size (MB): type 2302

 

Now click Set

 

Click OK

 

You may get a window that says something like "The changes that you have made require you to restart your computer"

 

If you do, then click all the Apply and OK boxes that you need to, and then reboot.

 

Hope this helps you out...

i have done this and its still freezing.i have updated some sound drivers this has not worked either.it does seem to happen most when media of some sort is in use.i have scanned for nasties with avg 9 trial version.should be getting the full package in the next few days.i have no infections.i am really stumped

[mell001]

i have done this and its still freezing.i have updated some sound drivers this has not worked either.it does seem to happen most when media of some sort is in use.i have scanned for nasties with avg 9 trial version.should be getting the full package in the next few days.i have no infections.i am really stumped

 

i checked my system temp and it is 36 degrees/96f my cpu temp is 52 degees/125f is this ok?

[PseFrank]

Hi again Mell,

 

Thankyou for posting back. I don't think you have a problem with temperature. I am now thinking that we should give the ever helpful Plastic Nev a nudge again. I personally stopped using AVG on any of my machines a couple of years back. Now my resident AV is Avast Free addition. But we should not rely on just one program for our protection against the nasties.

 

I'll now hand you back to Nev and the other guys to advise on a way forward..as I said before viruses, etc, are not my strong area....

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Mell, I have been a little busy elsewhere but Frank has done some good groundwork so thanks for that.

Odd freezes can be difficult to pin down, especially when as in this case you are not getting any messages coming up, either when it freezes or later when re-started.

However, we can perhaps do some basic stuff and see if there is anything comes up as far as anything virus, or other malware is concerned.

First download and install Malwarebytes from here, click on the blue "download free version" button on the left.-

Malwarebytes.org

Once installed, find the "Update" box and update it, then run a quick scan with it. Once it is finished it will produce a log of all it finds. Please copy and paste it here.

If there is anything looking strange, I will ask Starbuck to have a look.

Nev