Comp trouble. locks up without warning

[sarahgop]

here is the problem. sometimes when i boot up the comp it will lock up while loading. i have to hit the button to turn it off and back on. sometimes it will lock up after working several hours. it will lock up and restart itself. the cursur wont move and you cant hit alt/ctrl/del.

i have received 2 different ideas whats wrong. one tech says its a virus and they can get rid of it, but another person said its most likely a part going bad.

one thing i was told to do is boot up the comp and do this:

hit start
run
type cmd in run
hit ok
then a black screen comes up
type chkdsk_/r and hit enter

it will then ask if i want to do a disk check at the next start up. i should say yes, then restart the comp. that might fix the problem.

any ideas?

 

[PeteEU]

It could be a virus, but some how doubt it. Viruses are usually far more consistent in what they do so you would get the same list of faults over and over again and not be allowed to run your pc for hours before something happens.

It smells more like a hardware problem. Freezing and rebooting comes in several flavours, but the most common are the following.

1) Not enough power. Your insides are dusty as hell and the fans that cool the CPU cant cool it enough. The CPU has a "WTF I AM HOT" system in it, so when it gets too hot, then the computer shuts down/reboots. Or the graphics card.. that too could have a fan that has a half a ton of sand in the fan...... been there done that!

Solution: Open up the machine and do some cleaning (without water!). A can of compressed air or very nimble vacuming can get rid of a lot of dust.

2) Hardware failure. This is a tricky one, because which hardware is it. The best way is to do an exclusion method.

Start with your harddisk... do what you wrote. If there are errors then it will tell you. If there are errors at the start of the scan, then your harddisk is dying at the core and need replacing. But to be honest, the description you have given smells a lot like a bad harddisk.

It could also be ram issue, but I some how doubt that. There are different ram scanning programs out there, all freeware.

It could also be your graphics card. This is more tricky to check, and frankly requires you have a spare to switch out to see if that fixes it. But a bad graphics card could cause your issues as well.

Hope that helps.

 

[sarahgop]

thanks, last night i went in and unistalled several programs and ended some processes and so far its doing better and running faster.

 

[strollingbones]

sounds like a trojan....been on porn sites lately...that is the most likely place to pick them up...

i use spyhunter ....i have used it for a couple of years without any real problems

 

[sarahgop]

spyhunter.com?

 

[waltky]

Here's what intrigued me...

... ... you can't hit alt/ctrl/del.

... that's usually a tell-tale sign of malware...

... first try dumping all cookies...

... if that doesn't work run a good anti-virus program...

... then a good anti-spyware program...

... if that doesn't find the problem...

... you may have to fdisk and re-install your OS...

... save all your important data, personal, pics, music & movie files first.

 

[sarahgop]

im thinking of doing that
i can hit alt/ctrl/del if the comp isnt locked.

 

[ScienceRocks]

im thinking of doing that
i can hit alt/ctrl/del if the comp isnt locked.

Or you could pull the power cord?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I agree with PeteEu...sounds like a hardware issue. Even though you removed some programs and it is better - doesn't mean that was the problem - in fact - I highly doubt it.
His advise to open it up and get rid of the dust is a good probable cause and an easy and quick item to check off the list of things that could be wrong.
Overheating or the hard drive sounds most likely.

 

[sarahgop]

i did a temp check and its 47c. i also cleaned out the dust but no help. im going to start a thread about the drivers.