[Tar]

hi, recently my old but working xp pc started completely freezing randomly. I have not downloaded any new programs, i have not installed any new hardware. the majority of the times it freezes when watching youtube, but i have had it freeze right after i put in my password on the start screen.

when it freezes it freezes, the clock does not change time, the mouse pointer does not move and i could press every key on the keyboard and nothing would happen. the only way would be to press the on/off button on the case.

sometimes after i attempt to restart it using the button the power/busy light would not turn on and the system will not load, but i could hear the power unit fan & cooling fan work. I would have to repeat this several times and then it would finally run again.

any ideas on what could be bad? Honestly I have a feeling it may be the HD but i am not very computer literate...

[Advertisements]

Test your memory and hard drive.

Download Memtest86+ (you want the 2nd one Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)). Unzip it then create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do this easily.

DO NOT burn the .iso file directly to CD. It must be used as input to a program that knows what to do with it, like the one I mentioned above.

You can do this on any computer that has a working CD Burner.

Boot the CD and run for at least 3 complete passes unless it shows errors sooner than that. An overnight run is even better.


Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics

[Ztruker]

Test your memory and hard drive.

Download Memtest86+ (you want the 2nd one Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)). Unzip it then create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do this easily.

DO NOT burn the .iso file directly to CD. It must be used as input to a program that knows what to do with it, like the one I mentioned above.

You can do this on any computer that has a working CD Burner.

Boot the CD and run for at least 3 complete passes unless it shows errors sooner than that. An overnight run is even better.


Check the hard drive with the manufacturer's diagnostic tools.
Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.
Bootable Hard Drive Diagnostics