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Author Topic: what is happening to my computer  (Read 1309 times)

shadow_archmagi

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what is happening to my computer
« on: August 28, 2009, 09:01:15 pm »

It keeps freezing. Like, really, really freezing. I mean, like, normally, when things "freeze" it means "Shut down" or "Goes to bluescreen"

Mine just stops. Like, it could've happened while I was typing this sentence and then I'd look up and see that my sente

and then I'd go to move the mouse and I'd move it but the pointer would stay where it was and if I'm listening to anything the sound just loops endlessly (Ie: if I'm on voice chat and someone is talking they'll be like "NEED A TELEPORTER HERE ERE ERE ERE ERE ERE).

Nothing I do elicits any sort of response or change from the computer; the only option is cutting the power. While it is frozen, the little lights on the tower continue to flash on and off and it'll make whirring noises intermittently just like if it was running normally.

So yeah. I cut the power, and it boots up normally with no recollection of ever dying.



EDIT:

Dell Dimension 8250 is the model number, except I doubled the RAM and added a new video card, but it should otherwise resemble the store model. Running Windows XP.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2009, 09:03:45 pm by shadow_archmagi »
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Eidalac

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2009, 09:26:57 pm »

Some program is hard locking.

Best advice I can think of off the top of my head to be to try and figure out if there are any common programs that are running each time this happens.  After that it's a process of elimination to find the culprit.

Hrm.

Could be bad memory, might see if you can find a testing utility for that as well, just in case.
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SolarShado

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2009, 01:18:43 am »

This sounds exactly like a proplem I've had with a computer of mine. I haven't found the time to try to fix it, but I'm 99% certain that it's RAM on mine.

You could try looking in the BIOS for a "Quick-boot" option to disable, but a RAM-testing program would definately be the safer bet if you're not comfortable tinkering with BIOS settings.
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shadow_archmagi

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2009, 10:21:18 am »

This sounds exactly like a proplem I've had with a computer of mine. I haven't found the time to try to fix it, but I'm 99% certain that it's RAM on mine.

You could try looking in the BIOS for a "Quick-boot" option to disable, but a RAM-testing program would definately be the safer bet if you're not comfortable tinkering with BIOS settings.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

It would be the RAM. It would be. Because, you know, I've been told that my computer, being an older model, uses an obscenely strange and rare kind of RAM that tends to be extremely expensive.
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Muz

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2009, 07:22:33 pm »

I had that problem with my computer once. I tried to solve it. The computer store guys tried to solve it. The generally agreed upon solution was to restart the computer many times, then it stops freezing.

I suspect that the problem was in the 6-year-old hard drive. It started rotting after not being used for half a year. Irony was that I put a password on the computer to keep my siblings from destroying it. After a few boot-ups the computer ran again.
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Uber dwarf2.0

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2009, 10:57:01 pm »

It depends when its happening.You play TF2 right? Well if you join a server,this could be because of the MOTD.The fix for that is on the steam fourms.If its in the middle of a game it could be Overheating,drivers,Card defects(I had this problem too),Ram,Cpu problems(TF2 uses CPU more than a GPU!)
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blah28722

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2009, 01:39:46 am »

I also get something similar to this problem. It's been changing a bit though, but I'll let you know what I know.

A while back, my computer would have the same issues, but go into blue screen shortly after. As it only happened during graphics intensive parts, I thought it was a GPU problem.

Now, after getting a new GPU, the problem came back in another form. The screen would freeze, the sound would repeat, and after a few seconds, the screen goes out. The monitor would say that it is not receiving any information from the computer. The sound would continue repeating until I force-shutdown.

Since the chance of getting three faulty GPUs in a row (the ones even farther before had problems as well) was so low, I'm inclined to say that the problem lies within something else.

Over the span of the problem, I've replaced my GPU, CPU, and sound card. I've added two extra sticks of RAM.

Therefore, I'm assuming that the problem lies within:
1) The original two sticks of RAM
2) Hard Drive
3) Motherboard

Hopefully, someone here can shed light on which piece it is.
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Eidalac

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2009, 05:42:25 am »

Try removing all the old RAM and just booting with the new sticks.
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jaked122

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2009, 11:13:27 am »

This sounds exactly like a proplem I've had with a computer of mine. I haven't found the time to try to fix it, but I'm 99% certain that it's RAM on mine.

You could try looking in the BIOS for a "Quick-boot" option to disable, but a RAM-testing program would definately be the safer bet if you're not comfortable tinkering with BIOS settings.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

It would be the RAM. It would be. Because, you know, I've been told that my computer, being an older model, uses an obscenely strange and rare kind of RAM that tends to be extremely expensive.
its known a SRAM static ram, opposed to the DRAM, Dynamic Ram that modern computers use today.

Ampersand

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2009, 02:32:23 pm »

The solution to when I had this issue was reinstalling windows.
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Uber dwarf2.0

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2009, 07:55:04 pm »

The solution to when I had this issue was reinstalling windows.

I've done this a few times but all it does it delay the problem by a few days, when you freeze does the screen blink? or do somekind of strange graphical thing
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blah28722

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Re: what is happening to my computer
« Reply #11 on: September 13, 2009, 08:07:14 pm »

I've just pinpointed the problem with my computer.

Originally, I thought it was a compatibility issue between my sound card and video card (Google "STOP 0x00000124" if you want).

After replacing the sound card and installing XP instead of Vista, I've found out that neither Vista nor my sound card was the cause.

Long story short, it was a faulty video card.

It had a faulty VRAM. If the faulty segments were used, the computer would crash/bluescreen/create artifacts (the dots, not fey moods). It doesn't usually appear because it's only a small fragment of the VRAM, so going into the graphics-heavy section is what causes it.
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