Computer freezes up

dcampagna · Aug 24, 2009

I have an HP Compaq desktop computer with Pentium 4 processor running Windows XP Home Edition. The computer randomly freezes up - can't move the mouse, can't "control-alt-delete", even the clock stops. I have to press and hold the power button to restart the computer. It's been doing that for two years and I cannot figure out any common cause. There isn't any one thing that I've noticed that causes it to freeze. It has even frozen up on the stupid screen saver! Any ideas??

DavidGP · Aug 24, 2009

Hi

What service pack on XP are you upto? (SP3 is latest)

Random freezes can be very difficult to diagnose, but things to check are what security applications are you running (please name all) as too many of the same ilk can cause very slow and random issues.

If you boot into Safe Mode and use the PC does it experience the same issues (I know safe mode is horrid to look at but best way to see if a driver or service from an application is causing this)?

Malware is a great cause of this type of random behaviour, and I note that you have a thread in malware forum on a laptop, so is this desktop PC free from malware, and at soem point for our malware experts to assist you you would need to run this guide, mentioned in the registration email, so if you run that guide and it finds some malware then start a new thread in malware forum and attach the logs requested there.

dcampagna · Aug 24, 2009

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm running SP3. I should have been more specific in my first post too. I purchased the PC as a refurbished computer. The one I have now is the third computer because the other two were doing the same thing. I brought the other two back when they started freezing up. The store ran diagnostics on them, but could not find any problems. They kept telling me it was a software issue. The first computer I got was an IBM, the second and third were both HP's. The software I am using now is the same software I had on the old Compaq computer that died (which forced me to purchase the refurbished computer two years ago). I never had this problem on my old Compaq. This morning, I was moving the mouse, and I watched the cursor just stop moving and the computer froze up. The only thing I notice when it freezes up is the computer starts making a louder "whirring" noise, the the drive is spinning faster. Other than that, there is no single program or event that I can point to that triggers the freezing. If you have any ideas, I would be thankful !!

Log in or Sign up

Computer freezes up

dcampagna Private E-2

DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

dcampagna Private E-2