Windows crashing - system restore doesn't help - should I do a recovery from disc??

Natacha

Hey. I'm having a new problem with my pc since Monday. It keeps crashing, just hanging on a page in explorer or in media center or whatever. Everything hangs. Nothing can work - just have to hold down on button. Have tried 3/4 system restores going back further points each time but to no avail. Usually hangs 10 - 15 mins into being turned on and used. I think it happened after windows problem solving and solutions asked me if I wanted to try to solve some problems and since then, its been shutting down. (Hadn't seen this problem solving thingy before). Interestingly, it happens a lot when I leave the pc for a few mins, come back and it has frozen. Also, media center will be playing music and it will stop in the middle of a song and everything has frozen.

So, should I do a system recovery from disc, and if so, do I need to copy files to D drive. My head is wrecked. Seem to have had so many problems with this pc (Aldi) since I got it in August. I think a lot I've caused myself by putting software on pc that isn't compatible with Vista. I had my Dell for 3 years and never had a problem with it, even downloading different software to it but it had XP. Is Vista that temperamental or is it me? I know all you computer heads out there are probably thinking typical woman, messing up the pc, but I'm not that clueless:rolleyes:. There's worse out there than me!!

Any help would be much appreciated, as ever.

Natacha

Shiny

Do a system restore and if the problem is still there then there
may be a problem with the memory.

If there is a problem after restore, make use of your 3 year
warranty and get it replaced.

Natacha

Have done several system restores. No joy. Would you recommend a system recovery using the disc it came with?

N

Shiny

If the restore disc returns it to the original state as when you
purchased it, then yes, by all means restore it.

Reinstalling vista is also much much faster than XP.

It should only take you maybe 20 minutes.

BUT

If there is a problem with the memory then you could get
errors when you are trying to reinstall it.

How many sticks of ram are in the case? 1 or 2 ?

ewj1978

maybe she'd be better off testing the memory first? goto http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp and run the test.

Shiny

yeah, I was getting to that. If there was 2 sticks of ram i was going
to suggest booting up with each one and see if there is any difference.

k123456

The first thing you should do is backup your data to an USB stick.

It come be mem related, could be a virus - update your virus defiinitions, see the virus form for lots of info. If you restore from the cd's you got with the computer (or from the recovery partition), it will prob fix the issue (assuming its not hardware) but it will formatt your hard drive and you will need to reinstall any apps you use as well as back up your data.

No harm either to reinstall the latest service pack

ewj1978

+1.sry used up all my thumbs icons.

Natacha

Pc keeps crashing so on my Da's pc now. Hubbie tells me it has 3 sticks of RAM. Is that right?

Had updated AVG virus protection just before all of this happened. Related?

Will try the memory test when I get home. Might need to know more about booting up with individual memory sticks though.

N

ewj1978

its easy enough just remove two and leave one inside. then boot machine and run a couple of programs... if nothing happens, shut down machine remove "working RAM" replace with one of the other sticks and go again until you've found a faulty memory stick.. This is a bit tedious but you'll get there in the end.

Natacha

right so. Keep this bat channel open.

Overheal

leave the task manager running and leave it alone for 20 minutes again. Is it possible something is soaking up 100% of the system resources?

Natacha

Well, not much to update I'm afraid. Downloaded the memory diagnostic, put on a disc but it didn't boot up from it (dvd+rw was all I had). Got my other half to download the MS resource took kit but it said it had problems putting on pc, it checked online for solutions but found none, so after that, after doing a search for cdburn to make the cd a bootable one, i found it and opened it. It just flashed on the screen and disappeared. Is it not vista compatible? Pc hasn't shut down in two days tho so that must be good. But things like autoplay don't work and maybe worth doing recovery and start from scratch. If I had known that trying to put software onto it that wasn't vista compatible would be such a problem, I'd have taken more care.

Arghh.

N

MunsterCycling

Sounds like it could have been a loose module of memory, have you removed the dimms and reseated them all again? Good that it hasn't reooted on you in two days but still hope to figure out why it started in the first place. What was the software you installed that was non-compatible?

MC

Thewanderer_ie

I seem to be having a similar problem, although I have not installed any new software recently. It did seem to happen the day after the latest update from MS, though.
Basically just using the computer, doing very basic tasks, and it would freeze completely, the cursor would not move, the keyboard would not accept input (i.e. pressing Caps did not turn on Caps light). Only solution was to turn off with power button and reboot. It seemed to recurr faster and faster, to the point where it was freezing almost as soon as it was booted. I left it for 15 minutes and came back, and I got about 10 minutes use before antoher freeze. I thought maybe overheating, but the case is still off from a hard drive switch weeks ago, and the fans seem to be working.
I unistalled the last update patch, and then got about 20 minutes use before it froze again. It was too late at night to go on.
I don't know where to start-- all my error/virus scans show nothing wrong, heat shouldn't be an issue (I will check later today), no new software, and the CPU is not being taxed at all.
Should I try the memory module thing as well? (2 sticks of RAM) Any other ideas?
Help please!

Natacha

MC, thanks for replying with advice. I haven't even turned on pc till last night - busy with kids and wrecked - so thought I was out of woods but it froze on me today. Could you explain a bit more to me what you mean. I don't understand I'm afraid. All I have done based on teh advice given was to download the memory checker but was unable to run as I wasn't able to make it a bootable cd and I haven't done anything else. What should I do next so?

Wanderer, I feel your pain. I suspect windows update hasn't helped my situation. I feel it was after that that the first problems occurred, autoplay stopping working was the start. Same as you, freezing all the time.

N

Anti

Sounds liek a overheating issue to me.