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My computer is freezing
I posted a question in the keyboard/mouse section because at first the problem seemed to be mouse related. Now I don't think so. For the past week, every so often, (more at first than now) my screen will just freeze. When this happens, I have to manually turn off the computer with the off button. Absolutely nothing will work. I can never pin point what I'm doing when it happens. It appears to happen more when I have more than one window open, but not always. I happens sometimes when I'm not doing anything at all, just reading something on-line (which is where I am most of the time).
I have a Dell Dimension L866r with Windows ME. It is a little over 4 years old and I have had Windows reinstalled twice since I have had it. 1st time was because I got a virus, and the 2nd time was when I tried to install a new version of Norton antivirus , downloading it off the internet. It messed everything up so bad I had to uninstall it and reinstall windows. I have MacAfee now.
When this first started, I ran a virus scan, and have run several since (also ran one from the symantec site as well) There were no viruses detected. I defragged, ran scan disc (thorough version) which found no errors. At someones suggestion, I also opened up my tower and cleaned all the dust out.
I called Dell yesterday and they tried to run a diagnostic several times and it wouldn't run. They tried by starting the computer and me hitting F12 over and over. Nothing happened, it just loaded as normal. Then he had me put in the resource CD and try it from there. It wouldn't go to the right screen no matter how many times we tried it. The tech said he thinks it is a hardware problem but can't tell without the diagnostic.
Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks........Jo
- Can you use your computer at all?
My experience with freezes is that the fault can be really hard to trace. A freeze can be caused by software or hardware or, worse, both. A typical hardware freeze can memory failure. A software freeze can be caused by an OS malfunction, a virus and one that is hard to find, or other.
If you were able to do a full software recovery (full HD format, etc) and you are still getting freezes, then, in my opinion, the fault *has* to be hardware.
A thought.
More info about the troubleshooting effort you have done so far and the results would help. - By "complete software recovery" I refer to the act of formatting your HD then installing your OS. In doing this you assure yourself that there is no malfunction where the software is concerned. A formatted HD is a HD with nothing on it, not even a virus.
If you are still getting freezes after doing a major spring clean on your computer, the fault must be HW. I'm sorry but I don't know how you would do a HD format using the tools Dell has given you. I'm still learning about the restore facility.
libracats
13 Posts
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Posted April 29th, 2005 20:00