PC problems

Captain

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So my PC (HP Tower) is being weird. I was thinking its a heat issue because it seems to work for awhile and then freezes. Now it's progressed. I'll turn it on and often times at the login screen it'll freeze there. Mouse wont move, keyboard unresponsive.

I've just re-installed Windows Vista thinking wonky software might be the issue. No luck. Still has same symptoms.

I did open the case and the fans are all turning, but doesn't seem like there's much airflow. I don't know what 'normal' is. I got a can of air and a vacum and blew / sucked all the dust out of the case.

Any ideas of things I can check before I pay to take it to a geek?
 
Power off. Remove cover. Pull memory, vacuum or blow dust off, wipe contacts gently with pink pencil eraser, re-install. Do the same with any cards installed. If the problem persists, let me know -- I'll point you toward a bootable Linux CD image with a memory test so you can let it run that for a few hours.

Could be a bad DIMM, could be some other random motherboard problem... if it's memory, it's easy and cheap to fix. For motherboard problems... depends on the system. If it'll take a normal motherboard you're in luck, they're fairly cheap. If it's running Vista it's old enough that nearly anything you buy will probably be faster.

It could also be some sort of virus or Trojan, in which case I usually use a bootable Linux CD with F-Prot. That may be more involved than you want to get. Oh, I see you already re-installed Vista... which is kind of like putting the flat tire back on the car... but it should get rid of most virii. Not all, though -- I think some will survive a re-install.
 
Thanks Dale. I appreciate it. While sitting here I got more and more desperate. I have to hit the road soon and I'd really like to get it working before then, so I just dropped it off at the computer shop.
 
HPs have a lot of power supply problems, too. Blow dust from all fan areas and heat sinks. Blow though power supply while it is on. Blowing with canned air is better than vacuuming, as vacuum hoses generate/create a lot of static.
If you can boot into diags (or even cmos/setup), and it still freezes, you know it's not software (Windows, drivers, virus).
Microsoft has a good, free, memory diagnostic, that will create a bootable CD easily. INFO HERE
 
CT4ME said:
HPs have a lot of power supply problems, too.
Click to expand...
Now that I think about it... I've also had to replace all the electrolytic capacitors on my HP motherboard. Mine would reboot at random. Turns out a bunch of the caps were bulged & leaking. I just replaced them with better quality caps rated for higher temperatures, it's been running ever since. I think we've nursed this thing along for over 10 years now. Sheesh. I think it's also the first and only factory built PC I have ever bought, if you don't count notebooks. Wait, no -- there was a POS Compaq we sent to college with 2 or 3 of the kids.
 
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