Topic: Frozen screens

[andyhx]

Hi
Son's custom build pc has started freezing after 10-20 minutes operation, requiring re-boot. Have taken the ATI Radeon X700 video card out and dusted it then re-seated but no change. Any suggestions for what to try next??
Advice appreciated.
Andy

[Sandra]

How old is it and when you say custom built was that by yourselves or by a shop ?

If its around two years or more then it may be worth taking taking the heatsink/fan off the CPU and cleaning the heat conducting compound off and reapplying some new paste.

[andyhx]

thanks for the advice. the heatsink paste will shortly be acquired. my dad had the idea that the RAM wasnt clearing itself efficiently and was getting full of information, but if you dont think thats the problem then fine.
if the re-application of the paste doesnt rectify the problem what else would you recommend?
is it a case of i need a new GFX card or a whole new computer?
thanks, Harry

[Sandra]

If it was as your dad suspected then I think you would have got a warning message saying that it was running out of memory rather than it freezing.

Have you had a look in the event viewer to see if there is anything showing in either the system or application log at around the time the screen freezes ?

If there isnt anything showing or varying errors then that would tend to confirm it being an overheating problem.

You could also see if there is a thermal cutout setting in the bios and try increasing it by 10 or 15 degrees, if it is set low, then seeing if it ran a little longer before freezing.

[andyhx]

Hi, Dad again!
Had a look at event viewer and there seem to be a couple of recurring themes:

    The Remote Desktop Help Session Manager service entered the stopped state.

    The server {DC0C2640-1415-4644-875C-6F4D769839BA} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

    The WMI Performance Adapter service entered the stopped state.

Any clues from these??

Andy

[Sandra]

Not really Andy, I dont think that any of those would have caused a lock up so I would still go for an overheating problem.

Have you checked the bios to see if you can increase the cut out temperature a little ?

[andyhx]

Hi,
Temp settings are new territory for me but will have a look this eve.
Cheers

[andyhx]

Hi
Can't find any temperature settings in the BIOS. On boot noticed that CPU temp was 44 deg C. Is that ok??

Also set the BIOS to enable fan alarm but fan seems fine anyway.

Andy

[andyhx]

Bit more info:
after 2o mins mouse stopped controlling input although cursor moved;
Alt tab worked at first but then stopped although it did bring the change window screen option up and allowed scrolling through but nothing happened when a diff screen was selected.
Reset and went to chk temp - system 42 deg C and CPU 54 deg C.
Any further thoughts (glue on order!)
Andy

[andyhx]

More Info 2.
Happened again after 20 mins or so.
This time I pressed the offbutton and it started to shut things down; it did however seem to bring the mouse back into play as it let me click on "End Now" as it ran through shutting them down.

Cheers

[Simon]

When it starts to grind to a halt, have you checked Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) to see if something is hogging all the CPU resources?  It's possible you may have a malfunctioning program, or spyware, that is causing the problem.

[Sandra]

I wouldnt have though that was particularly high for the CPU temperature, definately not high enough to shut it down