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sloth1234
Jan 2004

Senior Member

Whack - A -...Computer?!

My computer is behaving incredibly strange!
It seems to freeze but I still get full function of the mouse and can move it around click on things etc. and nothing will happen. UNTIL! i give the case a little tap....(sometimes slightly harder than a tap) and everything that i clicked on whilst being "froze" happens, like its just trying to catch up with itself.

I've updated and scanned with everything I have; AVG free, ad-aware, spybot S&D, and CCleaner. In that regard my pc has a clean bill of health.

I took the entire thing apart and blew out all the dust with compressed air and then put it all back together....just to have it work normally for about 45mins then go back to its strange habits.

the only thing I can think of is a faulty piece of RAM that is somehow intermittently working...??

does anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this problem???

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11-06-2007 12:59 AM

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vanzans
Oct 2007

Banned

Are you sure its not the hard drive thats faulty? When you tap on the case it may be that thats responding...

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11-06-2007 01:41 AM

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Jay Are
Jun 2007

Banned

first off, please stop tapping your case. vibrations while the PC is in use can cause odd hardware issues that'll never get resolved.

secondly, does the device manager open? if you can open the DM, find out how many processes are running. that'll give you some idea of whether or not this is a software or hardware issue.

third, try to find the pattern. when a PC freezes, it is always due to a pattern of use (whether or not we realize it) and by localizing the pattern, we can determine the underlaying issue.

fourth, does this happen in safe mode? hardware failure can often be traced by starting in safe mode and trying to make it crash.

if it is a matter of time that causes the crash (45mins later it happened again), then we need to analyze the data collected by the event viewer. typically, a system-wide failure is documented by the EV and this information can prove to be priceless.

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11-06-2007 03:37 AM

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doctor zoidy
Jun 2003

mod? no! asshole? yes!

close, but you'll be looking at the task manager, not device manager for processes... and you should also go into v iew, select columns, and check the boxes for PID and CPU time, look for processes that are running longer than expected.

safe mode will cut out a lot of hardware and software... best way to check is to create another profile (or if you already have one, load another profile) and boot regularly... make sure your profile isn't donked. a lot of software issues are user specific.

i'd say its probably related to DPC's (deferred procedure calls) which is generally related to either hardware overheating or driver issues. it could be as simple as a badly seated video card or a loose cmos battery to an automatic update of a driver that you didnt even know about.

i'd start inside the case, make sure everything is bolted down, no shorts, then work into software fixes.

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Thats alot of words for someone that sells DVDs out of the back of a truck

quote:
Originally posted by Avenue_1 v3.0b
Read zoidys comment for clarification.

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11-06-2007 05:34 AM

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Jay Are
Jun 2007

Banned

quote:
Originally posted by doctor zoidy
close, but you'll be looking at the task manager, not device manager for processes... and you should also go into v iew, select columns, and check the boxes for PID and CPU time, look for processes that are running longer than expected.

safe mode will cut out a lot of hardware and software... best way to check is to create another profile (or if you already have one, load another profile) and boot regularly... make sure your profile isn't donked. a lot of software issues are user specific.

i'd say its probably related to DPC's (deferred procedure calls) which is generally related to either hardware overheating or driver issues. it could be as simple as a badly seated video card or a loose cmos battery to an automatic update of a driver that you didnt even know about.

i'd start inside the case, make sure everything is bolted down, no shorts, then work into software fixes.

good call... it is task manager. really fat fingered that one. anyways, what he's talking about is called "chip creep" and can most def cause issues like this one. if the time it takes to crash is the pattern, then it would most likely be overheating. check your bios for a setting that shuts down the PC at a certain temp. if it's even getting close to that temp, install a new fan (or just turn up the AC) and run it as hard as humanly possible. i gotta stop commenting while im at work... focus daniel-san focus!

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11-06-2007 08:01 AM

LOLobo
Jan 2003

Canis rufus atheist

Posting after J.R.!!!

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11-06-2007 08:42 AM

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sloth1234
Jan 2004

Senior Member

I booted in Safe Mode last night, set the time on my PC and let it sit til this morning. I set the time at 11pm and 8.5hrs later it says its only 1am.

I did that Task manager thing and looked at the PID and CPU time and nothing is running more than expected.

What do you mean it could be a driver issue? and how do i go about checking that?

I'll try creating another profile today after work and see what booting with that does.

Thank you Everyone for the input.

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11-06-2007 01:26 PM

Jay Are
Jun 2007

Banned

quote:
Originally posted by sloth1234
I booted in Safe Mode last night, set the time on my PC and let it sit til this morning. I set the time at 11pm and 8.5hrs later it says its only 1am.

I did that Task manager thing and looked at the PID and CPU time and nothing is running more than expected.

What do you mean it could be a driver issue? and how do i go about checking that?

I'll try creating another profile today after work and see what booting with that does.

Thank you Everyone for the input.

ok, for the time issue, i would say to check your timezone. if you set the time at 11pm, but the timezone is incorrect, that'll throw off the actual time when it syncs up with it's NTP.

for the freezing, i would also check your heat sink. after leaving the power on for a while (even if the OS is frozen), power everything down, pop the heat sink off and touch the side that makes contact with your CPU. if that side is hot, the heat sink isn't doing it's job and prolly needs to be replaced.

the only other solution i can think of would be a ground. if the motherboard is coming into contact with a section of the case (especially when you start taping on it), it will ground the mobo and cause a short. this can damage the mobo permanently, but most new mobos have resisters specifically installed to counteract this type of issue. if the heat sink checks out, try tightening all the screws that hold your mobo to your case.

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11-07-2007 02:26 AM

Jay Are
Jun 2007

Banned

quote:
Originally posted by LOLobo
Posting after J.R.!!!

i love you too lolobo

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11-07-2007 03:00 AM

sloth1234
Jan 2004

Senior Member

FIXED

FIXED IT!!

I thank everyone who gave me information on some possibillities....

quote:
it could be as simple as a badly seated video card

DING DING we have a winner!

Specifically to doctor zoidy but also jay are who mentioned the chip creeping; thank you.

once again, thanks to everyone who put their ideas out there.

Last edited by sloth1234 on 11-09-2007 at 05:44 AM

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11-09-2007 05:41 AM

Jay Are
Jun 2007

Banned

Re: FIXED

quote:
Originally posted by sloth1234
FIXED IT!!

I thank everyone who gave me information on some possibillities....

DING DING we have a winner!

Specifically to doctor zoidy but also jay are who mentioned the chip creeping; thank you.

once again, thanks to everyone who put their ideas out there.