odd computer prblem

Birdseye

Birdseye

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F-I-L has long been suffering from a puter that regularly locks up to the point where you cant do anything but switch off at the mains - even ctrl/alt/del wont work. To be honest I thought that it was him but I owe him an apology - even after a re-format and a clean installation of XP it still does it. Always when on dial up and when downloading something after its been on a while.

AV is up to date and the puter is as clean as I know how to make iut. In my mind its either a hardware issue or settings, but the latter have been left at the XP default values. Lots of memory, reasonable speed celeron processor 256mb ram, creative dial up 56k modem. No software on the machine except op system, IE OE and AGV

Any ideas?
 
It may be overheating. Can often be caused be the fan(s) getting clogged with dust. Open case up and give the inside a good squirt with air canister.
 
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It may be overheating. Can often be caused be the fan(s) getting clogged with dust. Open case up and give the inside a good squirt with air canister.

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Would that not make the PC shut itself down? At least mine does when overheating.
 
Buy a new one!

Sounds like a hardware problem of some kind but at that spec it is unlikely that you will be able to fix it cost effectively.

It's worth checking for BIOS updates from the M/B Manufacturer - who may also have info on whether the M/B is compatible with XP
 
My old PC had the freezing problem when a fan needed replacing and it overheated. It was very dusty inside. It was repaired but failed completely soon after. Make back up files while you still can!
 
Mine froze and I tracked it down to overheating. The culprit was the small fan that sits on top of the processor chip - the bearings had seized. Replacement was simple and not expensive - though with these fans the cost varies from cheap and cheerful to expensive hi-tech items. I believe AMD processors run hotter, and need better cooling, than Intel.

Malcolm
 
buying a new computer when you can fix it with an air blast is crazy.

I sorted one recently, laptop tho not one of mine, just by blowing into the air outlet. Clouds of dust and me coughing. This simple test showed after a little while running, that it had sorted problem, so took apart and cleaned properly.

If the problem has been ongoing for sometime, then there may be thermal damage, but a cheap fix of £5 air canister which can be used many times often fixes.


Back in the summer (06) when ambient temperatures were very high, I noticed that even my computers here were running fans often instead of seldom. DIY'ers can look at websites that contain info on how to add extra fans and even just heat sinks and thermal pastes to sort some of the main issues with heat problems.

A decent sized air conditioner sorted most of my problems, and I'm not running a server farm, just home computers.
 
I very much doubt if the air blast will fix it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Given that you can buy a better spec machine off eBay for about £50 - and that trying to run XP in 256MB is a painful experience at best - it seems a false economy
 
I too experienced similar symtoms that where made less severe by cleaning out the dust to improve the performance of the cooling fan. However, having done that, I was left with the inescapable conclusion that the machine spec was no longer up to the job.
 
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...after a re-format and a clean installation of XP it still does it. Always when on dial up and when downloading something after its been on a while.

[/ QUOTE ]

It should be the modem drivers. What kind of modem/drivers are you using?
 
why do you doubt, when it has worked so many times in practical experience?

Agree, memory in this case is a bit low, but it will work, albeit sluggishly
 
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