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18 January 2007

Ask Mecha Computer Help My old computer at home crashes & dies a little more every day. Lately, it shuts itself off whenever you ask it to do something that requires thought; I sympathize, for I also do this, yet I need it to work. Help! →[More:]
Lately it won't stay on even long enough to try to fix. If I leave it off for 24 hours I can power it up and then it might be fine for as long as an hour or two IF I am only asking it to surf the web. For example, I can read mecha, but if I try some mindless flash game it crashes. I can download & look at pictures off the camera but if I go to tweak them in PSP it crashes. It has been crashing with increasing frequency over the last month or so but now it's doing it all the time. So I downloaded a free trial of jv16 powertools on the recommendation of a geekly friend. It took me five or six reboots to get it installed. Then I tried to run the registry cleaner and so far, no luck. I can get it half way there but then it crashes again. Do I need a new power supply? New something else? Help, help. I miss my old friend - this is a computer my ex boyfriend built 3 1/2 years ago & it has always been great.

My son is using the new computer to play Burning Crusade and I'm tired of arguing with him just so I can put pictures of troll dolls up on flickr. I want to remain a 2 computer household as long as possible!

post by: mygothlaundry at: 10:37 | 15 comments

your computer might be running hot and overheating.

try running the computer with a fan blowing on it and see how long it lasts.

i have a computer that overheats to the point where i can't play games on it unless i have a fan blasting on it.

posted by stynxno 18 January | 10:44

Sounds like it's overheating.
Open it up and try and use it then. Does it last longer?
Double check all fans are running.
Also, give it a quick hoover out.

posted by seanyboy 18 January | 10:47

Yup, I had a similar thing happen with me. I tried all sorts of things, but finally found out it was a bad power source. I don't know if it was ACTUALLY overheating, but it was causing it to shut down and kicking the hard drive thermometer way up.

posted by tr33hggr 18 January | 10:59

Yeah, it used to overheat in the summers so I took the side of the case off months ago - it's always open now. It's only about 55 degrees fahrenheit where it is and the fans are all working - do you think it's still overheating? It is dusty, this is true.

posted by mygothlaundry 18 January | 11:00

1. Vacuum out the dust (unplug first).
2. Reseat all cards. Just give them a firm shove toward the motherboard.
3. Unplug and reseat all memory.
4. If you have an extra power supply cord somewhere, switch.
5. How long can you run it in safe mode? Can the powertools run in safe mode? If it doesn't crash in safe mode it could be bad RAM or a corrupted device driver.
6. If you can, observe the registry cleaning. Does it crash around the same point every time? That would indicate either bad RAM (i.e. loaded in same place) or potentially a bad sector on the hard drive.

posted by stilicho 18 January | 11:25

yeah, what stilicho said.

i'm curious - how is the system crashing? does the program you're working with give you one of those "__________ has performed an illegal operation, and has to close" dialog boxes? does everything lock up/freeze?

posted by syntax 18 January | 11:57

It does one of two things: either a total freeze and I have to hard boot it or, more commonly, the screen just goes black - no message, nothing - and then it reboots itself and wants to check the disc. Sometimes I let it, at which point it starts complaining and wants to send error messages to Bill Gate, and I let it do that and then it boots up normally - and crashes again almost immediately. Sometimes I cancel the scan disk and then it boots up normally - and crashes again almost immediately. It seems to need about 4 hours between boot attempts for it to be able to work at all. If it's less, it will start rebooting itself over and over and over.

posted by mygothlaundry 18 January | 12:12

also, thanks stilicho! When I get home tonight I will try all these steps. How do I get it to boot into safe mode, though? As I said above, it's booting itself straight into Windows like normal - and then it gets all pitiful and can't quite do anything else.

posted by mygothlaundry 18 January | 12:16

mgl - for safe mode, you usually have to hold down a key during boot-up. On my computer, the key is F8, but it might be different for you. Just hold that key down the whole way, until a prompt screen comes up. Then chose safe mode.

posted by muddgirl 18 January | 12:30

F8 is the standard Windows key to get the startup menu. Almost every manufacturer has a different key to get the boot configuration menu, but that isn't needed here.

One more thing to check, are you plugged into the wall or a surge protector? Can you switch to a different surge protector? It's possible yours got fried and is now itself a cause of unstable power.

I have to say, though, that your description above really sounds like it's your power supply or a partly fried motherboard. It's worth trying to make sure if it's Windows, though, and being able to stay running in safe mode will help suss that out.

More on that: when you boot into safe mode, you'll be asked if you want to restore the system from a previous save point. Say no, for now, because you just want to use the computer. The resolution will be 640x480 and everything will be extra "big". If you choose Safe Mode with Networking, you should be able to (sort of) use the internet.

posted by stilicho 18 January | 12:47

the reason i asked is because several years ago my computer started freezing up - sometimes during boot-up! - and the culprit was a bad power supply. however, stilcho's bad RAM assessment sounds likely as well.

replacing both couldn't hurt...

posted by syntax 18 January | 13:02

Removing the case does not always help cool the computer. The closed case is sometimes needed to cause the fan to pull a draft over the processor. If you remove the case do point a fan at the motherboard.

posted by StickyCarpet 18 January | 13:13

I had similar behavior and it was a dying hard drive. Heres wishing you luck.

posted by arse_hat 18 January | 13:24

Suggestion: back up everything you don't want to lose now. It's usually worth it to prepare for a worst-case scenario, meaning you won't be able to get the computer started at all, as all the crashing has damaged your boot files/hard disk, and you'll have to reinstall the operating system.

posted by Zack_Replica 18 January | 13:25

Can I piggy back?

"__________ has performed an illegal operation, and has to close"

I have that happen to me when using PSP 7 and nothing else. I think it's certain fonts that cause it to do it. But if it is that, why? Might it be something else? How do I make it stop?

posted by deborah 18 January | 13:50

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