Help..computer stops

a few weeks ago our computer froze and when we tried to turn it on it didnt even do anything a red light just turned on where the green light should be...after several tries and many hours our computer will finally start but it keeps freezing and the problem is back once again...being computer challenged i dont have any clue what could be wrong...if you have an idea please help...

 

give us more Spec and Computer Error message if You get.
lights here that you mean they are of HDD and power

 

im not sure what any of that you said just ment...i'm pretty computer illiterate...umm all i can say is that my computer doesnt get any error messages it just freezes and i turn it off and then when i try to start it up it appears to start up in like sleep mode (i think) and i just get an orange/red light and nothing really starts up...just lights not the fans or anything...im sorry if this is not specific enough...i dont really know much about computers...

 

welcome to the forum First read this

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/announcement.php?f=22

As a.son said we cannot help you without the specs of your computer,this is the first "hurdle",you will have to download everest from the download section or sandra and post the system summary as an attachement this has all the info,click manage attachements at the bottom of the page find the file and upload it,dont cut and paste if you can help it they are really long.

next you need to decribe the problem in as much detail as possible,I'll start it off for you my comp has been working fine for---,just before this problem started I was---,installing,playing on.ect.,I pressed the power button on the comp one day and--- describe everything the computer does,what comes on the screen,how far into loading windows,what happens onscreen just before it shutsdown,resets,blank screen ect



I

 

I HOPE THIS IS RIGHT


I've had my computer for about two and a half years it had been working fine until about three weeks ago. The problem started when i was online one day and my computer just froze up on me. I couldnt get it to fix it just stuck. I tried to Crtl + Alt + Del but nothing happened so i turned off the computer from the base. I tried to turn it on immediately afterwards but a red light turned on and nothing started. When i turn it on it doesnt even start to boot its like there is no power to it but i know there is because there is a light so obviously it is plugged in. Nothing appears on the moniter except for a message that tells me to check my plugs and see if my moniter is connected to the CPU, which is typical of a monitor to do when the computer is off and the moniter is left on. After a few hours of this eventually i can get my computer to work. But short after my computer starts to freeze up and i begin this vicious cycle once again. I hope this is more specific. Is this a problem that i should just wait out and deal with?

 

does the problem happen roughly the same length of time from when you first turn on your computer,does the length of time from when you cant get it working again change,or can it lock up five minutes after turning it on and restarting it works first time?Your problem may be heat related,i.e one of the fans has died,what forms of antivirus or firewall do you use and when was the last time you updated windows,if ever?

 

The lengths tend to vary. But now that you mention the heat and the fans i think that may be right, because we have noticed the fans going out or spinning out of control. we are running Norton anti virus. and i dont remember when the last time we updated windows was. we have but i dont remember when.

 

sorry to repost but i just got my computer working because it did this again and i was not wondering if anyone knows how to fix it...just if anyone is going through the same thing and if they have any tricks to just get it to come on in only a few minutes rather than hours...

 

sorry I have taken so long getting back to,I have no idea why no one else has helped you ,If it is a heat related problem one solution is to remove the side of the case,your computer will probably not have any fans built into the case for airflow so it will help to let it breath.

Next you will have to clean the components inside,for this you will need a can of compressed air DONT USE A HOVER you can pick one up from most computer shops,basically what you need to look for are any fans,-underneath will be heatsinks peices of metal with fines on,dust gets trapped in these fins over time reducing airflow causing your comp to run hotter,you can just blow it out with your breath,blow as hard as you can,just try not to spit everywhere .

to remove the side of the case you will have to remove 3-4 screws from the front or the back,then slide it forwards or backward to unhook it,cases vary alot you will just have to study it and work out how it comes off,the side you want to remove is the left side as you look at the front,if you are unsure post a pic of the back,or the entire case and I'll try to help you as best I can.

If you arnt confident blowing out the components,remove the side and place a room fan blowing air inside use your computer and see if it reduces the lockups

 

thank you very much ... im sorry i havent replied for awhile i am just now able to get on the computer...i will try everything and i will let you know how everything works out..

 

well i appreciate the advice but it doesnt seem to work...i think it may be something like a virus but im not sure what could cause the virus...all i know is that i've tried almost everything that i can do with cooling the cpu and i have double checked every connection...the only thing is my virus scans dont pick anything up when i run them...is it possible for a computer to have a virus and not recognize it??

 

Is this a dell, or gateway by chance????

Sometimes you can't immediately restart after a cold turn off!! you're supposed to wait atleast 60 secs!! If that doesn't do it...try this when it happens agian...see if there is a power switch on the back of the tower..if so, turn it off...usually the - means off, and the O means on...then unplug the power cord from the back of the tower...then repeatedly, as fast as you can...keep pushing the power button on the front (you don't have to do it as fast as a jack hammer , If you know what I mean) for about 15 to 20 times...then put everything back the way it was...and see if it will then let you turn it on without waiting for hours!!

When you took the side off the case...was you able to start it up and look to see if any of the fans were running (which they should be as soon as you power up)?? When you do try to power it back up...do you see the light on the tower, and the different drives (cdrom, floppy) light up for a brief moment??

There is a possibility (since you have to wait hours to restart) that it is still a overheat problem!! When the insides of the tower get hot enough...everything expands (just like running a jar under hot water to open it) and when all those parts expand...something is no longer seated tight enough to make good contact in its connector!! And if your fans aren't working...then it is getting hot enough to cause it to crash, no matter what the problem is!!

Was there a lot of dust caked inside...did you try running it with the case open and a household fan blowing in it to see if that eliminated a possible overheat problem??

As far as a virus...have you updated your norton, right before you scan!!?? However a virus wouldn't keep the computer from turning back on!! So I would almost bet the bank that it is a hardware/overheat issue!!! When you do have the case open...try giving all the internal peripherals a nice little snug push to make sure they are seated properly...but don't over exert!! it isn't going to brake just by looking at it wrong, but don't lay your whole body into it!!

I apologize for the rambling...let me know if I confused you on something!!

Roger

 

well...as for the updating of the virus scan right before i check..no i have not done that but i am in the process as of this moment so i will let you know...and for the fans...im sure you are right about the over heating problem...but i have tried the house hold fan and that doesnt seem to be working...and sometimes when i start it up it reads the cd rom drive but most of the time it makes no noise and the fans dont start up and i just get a amber/orange light in the display...and it is i think the brand is a Micron PC. so i dont know if that means anything but lets hope...ok well i hope this helps...

 

The fans don't start up? That suggests a problem with the PSU. There are only two reasons for a fan to fail to spin: no power, or a frozen bearing. If a fan spins sometimes and not others -- and moves freely if you rotate the blades gently with a pencil or something -- the bearings are OK. They get power as soon as you turn the system is turned on -- if the PSU is OK.

But what is the orange light you mention? A pilot light that tells you the power is on? The hard drive access light? Something else? What "display" are you referring to?

 

the orange light i am talking about is where typically when i start the computer (and it is working) it lights up green and when i try to turn it on but the fans dont start where the green light should be there is an orange light...i guess it is to let me know that there is power to the system so maybe some hardware is failing...im not too sure...i dont know if this is specific enough..but hopefully it is...sorry i cant elaberate if i would if i knew exactly what i was talking about...

 

That's not a feature that all computers have, so I'm not about to make any assumptions about what those colours of the light mean in your case.

Would you please tell us what the manual says about that indicator light and what is indicated by the green and orange colours?

 

alright well it says that the LEDs...are indication lights...
RIGHT:Green-System Power on
Orange/Amber-Standby Mode
Left: Red-Hard disk drive

 

Ahh -- that's better. Now we have something to go on.

If I've understood you correctly, you're telling us that when you power up the system, the orange "Standby Mode" indicator comes on, as well as the red "Hard Drive Access" indicator -- but nothing further happens. Particularly, nothing visible on the monitor.

If this is happening when the machine has been switched off for more than an hour (i.e., has had time to cool to room temperature), I doubt very much that this is a heat-related issue. I also don't think it's a virus problem -- the system doesn't run long enough before it hangs for a virus to take control. Even a buggy boot-sector virus would allow the system to run long enough to display the POST (Power-On Self Test) screen.

My suspicion is that you have a problem with your power supply unit or your motherboard. Your system shouldn't be going into Standby Mode until commanded to do so by Windows or the system's BIOS.

A second possibility is that one of your hard drives has failed in a way that causes the POST to hang before it can display the POST screen. One way to test this possibility would be to disconnect the power and data cables from both drives and attempt to boot from a floppy or CD-ROM. If you can do that, reconnect the hard drives one at a time, boot from the floppy or CD-ROM, and see if the problem re-appears. The drive you last re-connected is likely to be the one that has failed.

 

thank you very much i will try to do these things and let you know how it works out...