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Could "critical updates" be causing my issues?

  • 01-09-2014 08:29AM
    #1
    elfy4eva
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭


    Been having problems for the last week on a PC, it's a custom PC my brother put together for me a few years ago.

    Sometimes when I start up my PC windows becomes completely unresponsive after about 10 minutes. I might be browsing a website or watching a video and the display will freeze (no blue screen just completely frozen). Forcing me to manually shut the power off to restart.

    Other times when I use it, it works no problem. (had it on for hours last night, but froze after 10 minutes this morning)

    I noticed windows was applying a number of "critical updates" over the last few weeks but as I'm not particularly savvy I can't tell whether this could be causing the issue or whether some of the hardware is just on the way out.


Comments

  • #2
    PropJoe10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,473 ✭✭✭PropJoe10


    It could be a number of things but the most likely cause of freezing is a hard drive problem. You should back up any important data you have on the PC straight away.


  • #3
    elfy4eva
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭elfy4eva


    PropJoe10 wrote: »
    It could be a number of things but the most likely cause of freezing is a hard drive problem. You should back up any important data you have on the PC straight away.

    Ah cool I did that as soon as I had trouble, thanks for the info. Will keep an eye on it.


  • #4
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,762 ✭✭✭my3cents


    If you eliminate the HDD as a problem then next thing I'd take a look at is the PSU. Some motherboards are very fussy about the voltage levels and a slight dip in voltage can lead to some just locking up and of course some PSU's aren't as good as the specs written on them.


  • #5
    PropJoe10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,473 ✭✭✭PropJoe10


    my3cents wrote: »
    If you eliminate the HDD as a problem then next thing I'd take a look at is the PSU. Some motherboards are very fussy about the voltage levels and a slight dip in voltage can lead to some just locking up and of course some PSU's aren't as good as the specs written on them.

    That was going to be my next suggestion :) to the OP, do you find that it happens when the PC is under stress or is it just totally random?


  • #6
    elfy4eva
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭elfy4eva


    PropJoe10 wrote: »
    That was going to be my next suggestion :) to the OP, do you find that it happens when the PC is under stress or is it just totally random?

    The only pattern I can see is that when it chooses to freeze it freezes after roughly 10 mins on logging in. Other than that the occurrence seems pretty random. I don't really put it under stress.


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  • #7
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,762 ✭✭✭my3cents


    I use prime95 to test in cases like this. Its an old program that can really stress the system to see what drops off. If nothing else it can show up an intermittent fault more often making trouble shooting a bit easier. Use it with another program to monitor the internal voltages temperatures and fan settings to get an idea of whats going on, for that I use an old program that just called Hardware Monitor but there are plenty of programs that will do the same thing.


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