computer freezing too much now!!

tonyheaney

Windows 7 computer bought in 2010. It has been freezing a lot more so then before. When opening google chrome it goes Not Responding to many times. I have restarted my computer 6 times not im in fact surprise i am able to type here. The computer has recently had a total system restore for the umpteen time. I am about to put my fist through the bloody screen. I put a secondary HDD inside to try and free up space on the Main HDD but its not making any difference.

Help!!!

MiskyBoyy

Could possibly be the main HDD is starting to fail. Download a program called crystal disk info to check the health of your current drive.

tonyheaney

MiskyBoyy wrote: »

Could possibly be the main HDD is starting to fail. Download a program called crystal disk info to check the health of your current drive.

Hi MiskyBoyy ill do that now, thanks. Also i just turned on the computer went to facebook and opened two pages and the whole chrome froze.. again. Is explorer related to hdd failure>

there are a lot of links on the page which one should i download?

MiskyBoyy

tonyheaney wrote: »

Hi MiskyBoyy ill do that now, thanks. Also i just turned on the computer went to facebook and opened two pages and the whole chrome froze.. again. Is explorer related to hdd failure>

there are a lot of links on the page which one should i download?

Sorry, just download the Standard edition 3.7mb. You can delete it after you're finished with it if you want.

http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

beauf

First thing I would do is backup all the important data to somewhere off the computer.

I would also suspect the drive might be failing. Even if its ok its been going a long time.

I would re-install windows on the new drive, and stop using the old one for anything important.

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

First thing I would do is backup all the important data to somewhere off the computer.

I would also suspect the drive might be failing. Even if its ok its been going a long time.

I would re-install windows on the new drive, and stop using the old one for anything important.

---

I bought the computer about June 2015 and it came installed with windows 7 home premium. On the computer (see pic) I have 453 GB HDD and 12.2 GB Factory Image



I had an External HDD and the power chipboard failed (see pic) so after one year it stopped working taking all my movies in it, 400gbs of them...




I had lost 3 hrd drive and was becomming fed up at this point and was about to give up and chuck them in the bin and i wondered if i could some how connect the inner ext inner hard drive to my computer by temperately disconnecting my main HDD and hooking the external up.

Once inside the machine i noticed an extra space for a second HDD and with a little jigging i got the external to sit beside the original one, i disconnected the wires going to the optical drive connected them to the External drive and low and behold i had TWO functioning hard drives, I have double the computer storage and saved my old ex HDd files. I have never ever attempted anything like this before so for me this was a major achievement.

you mentioned I would re-install windows on the new drive, and stop using the old one for anything important.

How would i be able to do that? once i press F11 for the complete factory reset i don't think it has ever asked me were i want to install the windows 7,

beauf

Unless you have the factory disks you probably can't. You could probably image the existing drive to the second one. But I doubt you have space free to do it.

Your problem is not the disks failing. But that you never had a backup of the data. Once you have a backup. A disk failing is a minor glitch.

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

Unless you have the factory disks you probably can't. You could probably image the existing drive to the second one. But I doubt you have space free to do it.

Your problem is not the disks failing. But that you never had a backup of the data. Once you have a backup. A disk failing is a minor glitch.

Firstly When i did a factory reset, after a week the computer asked me if i wanted to make disks, would these be the factory disks you speak of?

Secondly if i do another factory reset, what will happen to the new HDD? will the files be erased from that too? hepatically speaking will i see this: http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/choose-disk.png

beauf

Seriously just do a backup to somewhere else first.

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

Seriously just do a backup to somewhere else first.

back what up???? what ever i have on my computer is on my other drives outside the computer offsite.

I have already factory reset the computer (quite a few times)

MiskyBoyy

Did you check your hard drives health with that program after?

tonyheaney

MiskyBoyy wrote: »

Did you check your hard drives health with that program after?

it said everything was hunky dory,, but i still get a few crashes of chrome not as many now but still slow enough. OR is it my brain is getting faster as i approach 40?? :D

NegativeOne

When you do a factory reset is there any antivirus software preinstalled?

beauf

NegativeOne wrote: »

When you do a factory reset is there any antivirus software preinstalled?

Usually a trial probably expired by now.

beauf

tonyheaney wrote: »

back what up???? what ever i have on my computer is on my other drives outside the computer offsite.

I have already factory reset the computer (quite a few times)

I couldn't quite follow the saga with the disks.

Factory reset didn't help with speed?

NegativeOne

beauf wrote: »

Usually a trial probably expired by now.

The op should remove it completly and see if the issues go away. If they do you have found your problem.

beauf

I think he should image the drive to a ssd. Then do a factory reset. Remove all the software that gets preinstalled.

I've an old disk in my test PC and it crawls but only when using the disk. Once everything is loaded is quick enough.

What's the spec of this machine does it ha 4gb of ram?

Did you run crystal mark that someone suggested earlier.

tonyheaney

NegativeOne wrote: »

When you do a factory reset is there any antivirus software preinstalled?

It asks me if i want norton in the few reinstall i have accepted it or not and deleted the rest later

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

I couldn't quite follow the saga with the disks.

Factory reset didn't help with speed?

No not really, the chrome will still lag.

tonyheaney

I decided to let the computer update its self and with Microsoft update and now its become worst then before, chrome is struggling to open, facebook looks like this as an example

TerrorFirmer

If the machine is from 2010, it may just have 2GB of ram? Using Chrome on 2GB of Ram is painful, can only have one or two tabs open before it just essentially locks up periodically.

PropJoe10

tonyheaney wrote: »

I decided to let the computer update its self and with Microsoft update and now its become worst then before, chrome is struggling to open, facebook looks like this as an example

Have you got Adblock in lockdown mode or something? Try disabling Adblock from your browser and see if it looks any better.

tonyheaney

i went to bed at three this morning and i was 97% sure the computer was off, came down at 9am to find the machine was updating from Microsoft update that was odd as im alone in the house. Add block is a god send with ut it the adverts really bog down the machine.

regarding RAM if i bought 2x8 gbs of ram and installed them would it make a difference?

MiskyBoyy

tonyheaney wrote: »

i went to bed at three this morning and i was 97% sure the computer was off, came down at 9am to find the machine was updating from Microsoft update that was odd as im alone in the house. Add block is a god send with ut it the adverts really bog down the machine.

regarding RAM if i bought 2x8 gbs of ram and installed them would it make a difference?

No it wouldn't be 2 x 8gb you'd be looking at. That's probably desktop ram. Laptop ram is a different size.

Go to this site, and download the crucial system scanner to see what laptop ram you have in your machine: http://www.crucial.com/

then buy 1 4gb stick or 2 x 4gb sticks from here if you want: https://www.memoryc.ie

TerrorFirmer

I get the impression it is a desktop.

You don't need any more than 4GB for casual use but it is important you check if you even have that to begin with. If you only have 2GB that would explain a lot.

beauf

I've one laptop that's about 7yrs old with 2gb of ram and it works ok for browsing. I find a slow hard drive a bigger issue.

If I see images not loading it's usually a problem with my net connection.

Bayberry

tonyheaney wrote: »

I had an External HDD and the power chipboard failed (see pic) so after one year it stopped working taking all my movies in it, 400gbs of them...

Computers can get flakey for any number of reasons, from software to hardware. But when you've already had issues like this, I'd definitely consider that the power supply in your house isn't very smooth, and that the power supply in your PC may be damaged, or just not able to deal with the variations on the line.

Other hardware problems that can cause the symptoms that you've described are a very dusty environment, so that crud build up on the fan and heatsink, so that the CPU overheats (you've already had the case open to stick in the 2nd HDD - did you notice a lot of dust?).

Besides HDD issues, you can also have issues with RAM that only kick in when there's a bunch of stuff loading and a lot of things are being moved in and out of RAM quickly.

Unfortunately, pinning these things down can be tricky. You can get free s/w for testing both the HDD and the RAM, and you can get tools that will report on the temperature of the CPU and motherboard, if the motherboard supports that. But there really isn't any free way to test a dodgey power supply. Besides the external HDD, have you had other electronic devices in the house break, or seem to be slightly less reliable for you than they are for your friends?

If you've done factory installs more than once, and the problem persists, it's probably not a software issue, (and likely not a HDD issue).

beauf

You're over thinking it. A PC is a machine. Its simple to fix. You test things one by one.

Hes not done that so its impossible to eliminate anything as the culprit. The HD is the easiest one to test. Disconnect the primary hard drive and use the other one, or a live CD.

Personally I never use a factory install, as they are usually full of bloat, all potentially problematic. Remove all the bloat before testing.

tonyheaney

Ok just took me 20 minuets to actually sign in to boards fgs, chrome just takes so long (and others too) constant freezing

Beauf what would happen if i disconnected the main HDD with windows 7 and let the computer turn on with the second hdd installed where it is with nothing but movies???

Bayberry last year i opened the computer up for the first time because the fan was going man, running normal and the going in to over drive for 5 seconds and then normal doing this every not and again. there was a lot of dust which i carefully cleared out. i cleaned the machine inside top to bottom. the computer returned to normal and the fan never gave me trouble since.

however in the pat 6 months its become slow, today simple executions such as opening the windows tab is painful, trying to get browser to open and not freeze 9 or 10 times,

when i turned it off today (1 of 15 times) when the computer came back on and i could see windows and a loading circular the windows music didn't come on right away but 10 minuets after it had turned on.

I now wish the blue screen f death would visit the dam machine and be done with it once and for all.

tonyheaney

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I get the impression it is a desktop.

You don't need any more than 4GB for casual use but it is important you check if you even have that to begin with. If you only have 2GB that would explain a lot.

Yes its a PC (took me 2 mins to white this as compute froze again)

Total physical memory (RAM) is 2.75GBs RAM
Installed physical memory (RAM) is 3.00GBs RAM

tonyheaney

MiskyBoyy wrote: »

No it wouldn't be 2 x 8gb you'd be looking at. That's probably desktop ram. Laptop ram is a different size.

Go to this site, and download the crucial system scanner to see what laptop ram you have in your machine: http://www.crucial.com/

then buy 1 4gb stick or 2 x 4gb sticks from here if you want: https://www.memoryc.ie

Its a desktop x-64 based PC bought in 2010 June not a laptop.

HP Pavilion and has served me well for the past few years.

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

I think he should image the drive to a ssd. Then do a factory reset. Remove all the software that gets preinstalled.

I've an old disk in my test PC and it crawls but only when using the disk. Once everything is loaded is quick enough.

What's the spec of this machine does it ha 4gb of ram?

Did you run crystal mark that someone suggested earlier.

How? Putting in the second hdd was trial and error and was all but about giving up on the machine.

tonyheaney

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

If the machine is from 2010, it may just have 2GB of ram? Using Chrome on 2GB of Ram is painful, can only have one or two tabs open before it just essentially locks up periodically.

Since i bought the computer i have had no issue with slowness or chrome. There was I believe 3 gbs of Ram from day one. I understand software updates its self and eventually becomes bloated such as chrome that has about 10 processes running in back ground. would buying 2 sticks of 8GB RAM make any difference?

even right clicking is becoming a pain in the ass

beauf

tonyheaney wrote: »

...Beauf what would happen if i disconnected the main HDD with windows 7 and let the computer turn on with the second hdd installed where it is with nothing but movies???....

Re-install Windows (even the 90 day demo) on the new drive. If this works ok then the problem is with the HD. If it doesn't then the old drive is fine and you need to look at something else.

To be honest I think its all beyond you technically. I would bring it to someone/where and get them to look at it.

2, 3 or 8GB of RAM isn't the cause of the problem you are having.

tonyheaney

yes im surprised i managed to install the second hdd, i was going to throw that one out (only have it less then a year when it died.) so i at least have all my movies recovered and accessible not. And i mean classic stuff not the crap they are spouting out today.

Regarding Re-install Windows (even the 90 day demo)? and To be honest I think its all beyond you technically.

I am a fast learner once i have the instructions in front of me but when i reinstall i am never given an option where to reinstall. i did a full reset last week AGAIN

as for the 90 day install i never seen that

beauf

Forget about the movie drive its old news.
Forget about the re-install as it will have no effect if its hardware issue, and you've not made any changes to the hardware between resets. So its pointless doing resets.

Download a live CD. Create a live CD. Then boot from it. See if you can browse the web with no crashes using the live CD. Don't install the live CD, you don't need to do that.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Bayberry

tonyheaney wrote: »

I am a fast learner once i have the instructions in front of me but when i reinstall i am never given an option where to reinstall. i did a full reset last week AGAIN

as for the 90 day install i never seen that

What he is suggesting is that you move everything that's on the 2nd hard drive off it and install an Evaluation version of Windows (You can't get a Windows 7 eval any more, only 8.1 and 10 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ )

Beauf seems to think that if everything work after you do this, it'll prove that the problem was with the original hard drive itself. (I don't agree, there are far easier ways to test a hard drive).

If you open Task Manager before you fire up chrome, and select the Performance tab, what does the CPU graph and the memory usage graph look like once you fire up Chrome?

beauf

What I'm suggesting is not testing the hard drive. Rather the opposite. Its testing the rest of the hardware with a different OS.

Its like splitting a deck of cards. You're testing 50% then the other 50%. its quicker than testing each component individually.

beauf

Bayberry wrote: »

....If you open Task Manager before you fire up chrome, and select the Performance tab, what does the CPU graph and the memory usage graph look like once you fire up Chrome?

I'm curious what you're expecting here. On my machine with 3.25GB of RAM if I open up Chrome and a 3 tabs, boards, the verge, RTE it goes from 20% to 38%. Must try the same on my 2GB machine.

Bayberry

beauf wrote: »

I'm curious what you're expecting here. On my machine with 3.25GB of RAM if I open up Chrome and a 3 tabs, boards, the verge, RTE it goes from 20% to 38%. Must try the same on my 2GB machine.

Your machine isn't the one having problems.

beauf

Yes but what are you looking for?

A live CD won't have any bloat or browser plugins, or extra utilities thats are slowing the machine down.

Tony, what have you installed since you reset windows?

Bayberry

beauf wrote: »

Yes but what are you looking for?

To see if his system is CPU bound, or disk bound, or memory bound.

You know, the basic information that you need to figure out where the underlying problem might be.

A live CD won't have any bloat or browser plugins, or extra utilities thats are slowing the machine down.

And it won't tell him whether there's a problem with his hard drive either. So unless you're suggesting that he just keep using the LiveCD, and give up on Windows altogether, it's not clear what purpose it serve.

beauf

If you don't get the purpose of Live CD. Nothing I say will explain it.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/31804/the-10-cleverest-ways-to-use-linux-to-fix-your-windows-pc/

There’s a number of ways that you can use Ubuntu to diagnose hardware problems, but the first is really obvious once you think about it—just boot off the Live CD, and start running some applications and test out all the hardware from a working Linux environment. If the system works fine in Linux, the problem is probably a Windows, virus, or driver issue.

(or the HD)

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

What I'm suggesting is not testing the hard drive. Rather the opposite. Its testing the rest of the hardware with a different OS.

Its like splitting a deck of cards. You're testing 50% then the other 50%. its quicker than testing each component individually.

I actually put windows 10 on the system which is why I required the new reformat. The graphics were all wrong. No matter how i did it, change it, did what ever i could to it the screen looked stretched, everything was either too small or too large. the screen seemed to oddly to hurt my eyes, Does that part make sense? changing the screen to suit me on 7 i could do in my sleep so 10 wasn't to hard to figure out, but i went back to 7. I did like the look of 10 but nothing felt right.

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

Yes but what are you looking for?

A live CD won't have any bloat or browser plugins, or extra utilities thats are slowing the machine down.

Tony, what have you installed since you reset windows?

since reset

the old reliables such as:

• utorrent,
• AC3Filter 2.6.0b
• AVG 2015 free version 30 day trial
• Dropbox
• Gom Player

New to 2015 June onwards:

• Bluestacks
• Kibi but haven't used it on 7 yet as the system was slow on 10

tonyheaney

I am really thankful for all your advice and help so far guys, this is the system information if it help at all:

tonyheaney

my current app status:

tonyheaney

beauf

You can make Windows 8 or 10 look like 7 using a tool like Classic Shell. Some might argue you should learn Win10 interface instead. I'm on the fence. I use Classic shell on one machine, but not on another.

Was the machine slow before you installed them. I stopped using AVG because I felt it slowed down my older machine machines too much even disabling the link scanner and things like that.

I think Windows 8 and 10 use the hard drive a lot more than Win 7 and earlier. One of my machines has a slow HD and windows 8 and 10 really crawl on it. Theres a ton of possibilities for this,

https://www.google.ie/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=windows%2010%20disk%20usage%20100

On my main machine (9yrs old) I just put in a SSD and now it works fine. Even with 3GB of RAM.

beauf

You're installing a lot of software there. Much of which has the potential to cause issues. I would install anything you don't use. Checking you don't need any of it for features of the laptop. Then go through all the services and and startup apps and see which ones can be turned off until you need them.

tonyheaney

beauf wrote: »

You can make Windows 8 or 10 look like 7 using a tool like Classic Shell. Some might argue you should learn Win10 interface instead. I'm on the fence. I use Classic shell on one machine, but not on another.

Was the machine slow before you installed them. I stopped using AVG because I felt it slowed down my older machine machines too much even disabling the link scanner and things like that.

I think Windows 8 and 10 use the hard drive a lot more than Win 7 and earlier. One of my machines has a slow HD and windows 8 and 10 really crawl on it. Theres a ton of possibilities for this,

https://www.google.ie/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=windows%2010%20disk%20usage%20100

On my main machine (9yrs old) I just put in a SSD and now it works fine. Even with 3GB of RAM.

What antivirus software do you use now? The machine only started to get slow i think in and around Jan/Feb this year.