pc keeps crashing

Hey all

My PC keeps crashing and i cant find a solution, i have run every anti-virus & spyware scanner i have heard of and several i have never heard of (recommended in forums), can someone please help.

Symptoms:
- Printers and Faxes almost never opens and when it does it hangs
- Printing form any application will cause the app to hang 99% of the time
- Photoshop crashes either on startup or within minutes of being opened
- Every time i reboot/shutdown there are several apps that need to be ended (includes explorer.exe and Canon iR1510 status monitor).

System
AMD Athlon Dual Core 3800+
2GB RAM
Virtual Memory set at 3072-4096 MB
HD (65GB free)

Thanks

 

Sounds like your Printer/Copier might be causing some of the problems. You might try uninstalling and reinstalling the Canon iR1510 and software. Be sure to check for any software (driver) updates for it also.

See if it solves anything.

Steve

 

i've removed the old and installed the latest drivers from the Canon site, no joy unfortunately.

Anything else i can try ?

Thanks

 

Unhook any peripherals connected to the computer, printers, etc. and see if you can shutdown ok.

ALSO

1. What version of Photoshop and when does it crash? Does the splash screen appear and load the components?

2. What are you printing when this happens? Is it everything or just pictures?

Steve

 

Sorry forgot to mention its a Network attached printer.
Shutdown is ok if i boot then shutdown straight away, however if i use the machine for a while and then shutdown i need to end explorer and status monitor 80-90% of the time.

Photoshop CS3. What i generally find is that after a reboot CS3 will load ok and allow me to work for a short while but will then randomly crash. Once it has crashed once (and i kill the process) it will then get stuck on the splash screen if i try and reload it (everything goes white).

Anything really (pics, word docs, spreadsheets even notepad) and to more than one printer (all network attached)

Thanks

 

Boy, I don't know. When did this start? Any error messages?

Maybe it's the Printer/Copier program (Canon iR1510 status monitor). It is certainly responsible for one of the shutdown conflicts.

I would try and think of any new programs or addins maybe installed before the problems started. Office plugins you have added maybe.

You might run Detect and Repair for Office and see if that does anything.

Steve

 

It Started about around the first week of July but i was away most of the month so never really had chance to look at it.

I dont remember getting any error messages other than the end task window.

The only things i have installed recently are Nokia software updater & Lots of Spy/Malware scanners, no office plugins/addins

I have office 2007 so no Detect and Repair but i have run Office Diagnostics - no errors.

 

I just keep thinking it's a software issue but I could be wrong.

Which happened first? The printing problem and you thought it might be spyware and installed all these programs OR you thought you had spyware, installed these spyware programs and the printing problem started?

Temporarily disable all of your "security" software, "especially the firewall" and see if that solves anything.

Also, check the connections in the back of the computer and make sure all are secure.

Steve

 

Yes

By this do you mean Anti-virus/spyware real time protection also ?

All secure

 

The anti-virus/firewall configuration is the main one, especially the firewall.

I thought of one other thing you might try that can affect the Printers and Faxes feature.

Click on Start > Run > then type net start spooler

Steve

 

I have disabled them and will let you know how it goes.

I've done as you suggested but for your info - the other day i tried to print from word (which crashed) so i killed the process and tried to restart the print spooler from Computer Management > Services that crashed also first time and then timed out second attempt.

 

Have you been disabling any services lately?

Steve

 

no i haven't disabled anything

 

OK. Do you have any NetSupport products installed (Remote Control Software) http://www.netsupport-inc.com/? If so, make sure they are fully updated.

It sounds more and more like a bad printer driver to me. I would either "rollback" or reinstall the driver again if none of the other stuff applies or works.

Steve

 

Morning,

Update
Disabling the security software doesn't seem to have made any difference.

also i have given the PC a good clean out, it was very dusty inside but still experiencing problems

will test the RAM later today.

no NetSupport products that i know of

 

i have tested the RAM and its ok, i have however come across a new symptom

-no matter how you remove the device each USB port can only be used once before a reboot.

 

I don't know how you would test for it, but I've had power supplies do something very similar. Recently I've had a case very similar, I got lucky and the sucker died, which simplifies things a lot. If all else fails, you may have to try replacing it.

 

I have had a look around and i dont have an old PS that i could use to test - any other ideas plz ?