A man who fixes computers says the screen keeps freezing due to a fault in one of the peripherals (monitor/printer/keyboard etc.) but he can't seem to pinpoint the problem or fix it. I only thought that this happened if there was a problem with the hard drive (e.g. virus). What are the main reasons for a computer freezing? Is this man a waste of time?
2007-02-06 22:03:35 · 5 answers · asked by smudge 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
I'd say it was more to do with your graphics card other than anything else.
2007-02-06 22:15:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if the man knew what he was doing, he would first take out all the extra pci cards and such, this would eliminate a hardware problem. the harddrive can but usally isn't what is wrong with a system. a system can freeze after time for any number or reasons, such as mentioned above being a hardware problem. onboard video can do this if it is going bad or not enough system memory, it can be corrupted files, a trojan, spyware or even a virus in the system. peripherals very very very seldom cause this problem since your printer isn't alway turned on during use unless you're printing. a mouse can stop working but you still have control with the keyboard, or if you think the keyboard isn't working, hit the caps and number lock and see if the lights come on. if the computer is froze, these 2 things should still work. anymore it is a good idea to buy a top of the line viral program. you get what you pay for on these things. do research before buying, shop around. the first things i would do if i was working on your computer is run a viral scan, check the system out. you can get a free trial scan called prevx it is a full scaner and does work 100% even though it is a trial. if no problem their, pull out all the pci cards. a bad ethernet card can freeze your system. first signs of this are internet gets slower and then system will freeze. after you pull all the add-in cards out, boot the system up. does it still do this, if yes, run a systems file checker located in the systems tool menu. this will find and repair any file that are corrupt and replace it. are you only getting the system froze during certain applications or just on the net. if all this is still not fixed, then usally the last and unexpected item is the power supply. they can be working fine but are not putting out enough volts to your drives and even the motherboard it self. those things should have covered the whole system. lately i have had ethernet cards freeze the system, power supplies not putting out enough power and a bad video card. all the systems did not have onboard video. an indication of not enough memory, you would get the virtual memory error up or say that the system is too low on memory to run this application. it is a good idea to have atlease 512 ram in the system.
if your guy didn't do the above things, then he isn't very good at what he does, or he knows what is wrong and wants to charge extra for more time waisted on your system and actually doesn't do anything to it.
2007-02-07 06:30:56 · answer #2 · answered by gas_indycar 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is possible, though not very commonly heard of. My dad actually had a problem a few months back where his desktop PC would always boot up, begin loading startup software, and then begin the shutdown process (not just do a cold power down, but actually use the Windows shutdown process during startup). He took it into a repair shop, they said it was probably viruses or spyware (and they did indeed remove some from his system), but when he got it back home it did the same exact thing. So he took it down to a barebones system, with just the monitor/keyboard/mouse and began connecting each accessory one piece at a time. It turned out that his external dial-up modem had died and whenever the computer tried to mount the device, it'd choke and initiate the shutdown procedure (I still don't understand how it resulted in that, but I witnessed it happening in person).
Your best bet is to basically do the same thing. Unplug all unnecessary peripherals (technically all you really need to have attached to function is a monitor and either a mouse or a keyboard, as either the Character Map or the Windows and Tab keys will allow you to work around the absence of the other device). If it still has problems, try switching the mouse and keyboard and see if it's still an issue. If it is, the monitor or something internal is probably your culprit (if you have a spare monitor, try swapping them, or see if you can briefly borrow one from a friend). If it's not, whichever device (mouse or keyboard) you just removed is at fault. If you had no problems with the first two devices that you connected, just start hooking things up one at a time until you do (and remember not to ever plug a PS/2 keyboard or mouse directly into their respective ports on the computer while it's turned on as it can fry internal components).
2007-02-07 06:38:50 · answer #3 · answered by the_amazing_purple_dave 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The main reasons for a PC freezing up will be the RAM, video card, or wireless keyboard/mouse.
If he's having trouble finding the problem when does it occur? When it's a graphics intensive program or site? How about if the PC is using a lot of memory like DVDs and CDs?
If that's the case the memory is the issue. He should run a memory check and then run a check on the video card if possible.
2007-02-07 06:12:29 · answer #4 · answered by David W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is possible for the computer to freeze,mostly because of hardware problems,I had such an experience about RAM to fail or about Hard drive Bus(it has problem).
You can listen to the man that you mentioned,but if he wants to change a part of your computer be sure that part is out of use.
first of all inspect your ram,then mother board and then other hardware paritcles.
2007-02-07 06:21:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋