What causes a PC to freeze?

[BBCMember]

This system is freezing quite often, sometimes 3 times per day (it's on all day). And it happens randomly. Sometimes it freezes when it is first booted up.

I have already tested the hard drive with the manuf. diagnostic test, and have run Disk Defragmenter.

Just so you know, they have not installed any new software.

So, what should I check next?

1. Video card? - try new video card or reinstall drivers
2. RAM? - run memcheck

 

[wpshooter]

Please list your computers components, especially power supply & also your component temperatures.

Thanks.

 

[BBCMember]

I'll have to get back to you on that. It is not in front of me. One thing I should mention is that I bought a new power supply for it recently because it would not turn on. But I'm not sure how long after I replaced it that it started freezing. It's a pretty strong power supply, but I don't know how many watts. Can a power supply unit cause freezing?

 

[BBCMember]

Actually, I just found out that it was freezing and not turning on before I replaced the PSU. And replacing the PSU did not cure the problem. What would cause a pc to not boot up at times, and also to freeze up at times?

 

[BBCMember]

Could it be overheating? Could it be that dust is on the PSU heatsink and is causing it to overheat? Would the CPU overheating account for the freezing and it not turning on at times?

 

[wpshooter]

When you say it freezes when it first boots up, does it get into Windows or does it freeze/stall before Windows loads ?

 

[ZoomStop]

Originally posted by: BBCMember
This system is freezing quite often, sometimes 3 times per day (it's on all day). And it happens randomly. Sometimes it freezes when it is first booted up.

[smartass] thinking that turning up the heat would solve your problems! [/smartass]

but serious, this is either a system getting:
Way to hot: make sure all your fans are spinng, are more or less free of dust, and your intakes are not dust clogged. Monitor temps with Motherboard Monitor if you can. Upper safe limit for CPU temps is 60 and case temps is 50.
or
Faulty RAM: download and make a Memtest86 floppy, boot up, and start the test.

 

[BBCMember]

OK. Thanks. Will give it a try.