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roofman

roofman

Jedi Knight
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I have: 5 year old HP computer running windows XP and I use Internet explorer.
Problem: evry once in a while ( once a month or so the computer will freeze up. if I restart it is fine. But over the past few days it freezes up in wierd ways. All of a sudden the screen freezes with a blurry image of the screen vibrating, or the screen shot dissapears and I get what looks like wrapping paper design on the full sreen. It has a <span style="text-decoration: underline">different pattern each time </span>it does this. It did it 4-5 times yesterday and again this morning.
I run webroot spyware and anti-virus every night, and have also run a webroot window washer program to no avail. I also have a slight buzzing noise coming out of the main computer box on occasion, but not always.
Any ideas of why this is happening?
 
Might be heat building up. Easy to blow it out with DRY air.
 
sounds like a graphics card/processor may be getting hot. cause could be a fan dying...the buzzing sound you are hearing. open it up and make sure you fans are clean and operating properly. Use a can of air and blow them off. Last time i was in radio shack, they had a fairly good selection of replacement fans, both chassis and processor.

mark
 
I agree that it may be heat. Blow out everything with compressed air, and lots of it. Blow the dust off all the boards, heat sinks, fans, and power supply. Also, ensure the fans are spinning at full speed. This maintenance should be done on all computers at least once per year.
 
Just to add on to the good info above ...

After blowing off any internal dust and checking the motherboard fan(s), be sure the case "vents" aren't blocked with dust/hair. And remember the graphics card most likely has its own built-in fan.

My neighbor's golden retriever loved sleeping next to the warm and whirring computer. As the fans sucked air from outside the case and blew it over the m/board, a good amount of retriever ended up clogging the vents as well as the internal fans.

And of course, the graphics card could be showing its age at 5 years ....

Just my 2¢.

Tom
 
Thanks everyone, will check into this tonite.
 
Holy carumba, took it apart and got a whole heard of dust bunnies out of there. 5 years of continual running can sure suck a bunch of lint. Time will tell if that was the cause , but it sure needed cleaning. Both fans are running smooth and not making the buzzing sound. In fact nothing that I touched felt like it was buzzing and I could not tell where the intermittent noise is coming from yet.
If you haven't cleaned in your computer box, better look, amazing amount of crap in there.
 
Drat's, still doing it. The fans seem fine,I had the one replaced with the power supply about 6-8 months ago, and the smaller internal fan spins free and seems ok. If it is the graphics card, can I replace it with any new card without it affecting anything or is that more involved than that?
 
Is the current video connection a separate card? Or is it integrated on the mother board? A new card should be pretty cheap as it will be the old non PCI connection...let me see what I have laying around.

If you can, try a different monitor first (it's easier than swapping video cards). The failure sounds like a monitor dying.

For the record...loose Internet Explorer (any version). It is full of holes. Firefox is free and much better.....go here and download it......

Firefox
 
The buzzing is coming from the power supply, could that be it? I had it replaced once ( the only problem I have ever had) but the buzzing is definatly coming from there. It's like a grinding sound that comes on for a while then goes away, then comes back and so on. Grinding sound is more acurate than buzzing sound.
I don't know how to tell if the video card is separate from the board. The only plug in board is for the modem, so it may be a built in.
I will try firefox for a while to see if that helps. Sometimes I get on and can work/browse for hours, and sometimes not for long. Right after my last post it did it again.
Another clue is that it does this freeze up when I change pages, not just at random. I am editing this post, when I did the original post a few minutes ago I was going to ebay to see what a power supply costs, and bam it did it again.
When it freezes I have no mouse, so could that still mean monitor?
 
Well, lets solve one thing at a time....leave the Firefox thing alone for now.

If the mouse is freezing then this has nothing to do with the video card, display or Internet Explorer (IE). If the screen scrambles slightly and the mouse freezes up, it could very well be a power supply. How hot is the power supply box?

BTW...I replaced the power supply on my sisters HP three times before I ditched the whole HP thing and bought a Dell Vostro 200 for her..... I love HP for many things, but their older PC's were aweful.
 
Power supply not hot, but making grinding noise. I'll pick one up and try that.
 
If your power supply isn't that old, it may still be under warranty. There should only be one moving part in it, the fan. Might be a failed bearing or simply something hitting the blades. If it is the bearing, you might be able to replace the fan, though power supplies aren't expensive enough usually to go to the trouble.
 
If you aren't getting enough power to the system then yes, it will freeze up and do strange things. Have the power supply tested and replace if bad.
 
For what it's worth, if the box is five years old ... might seriously want to consider investing in a new 'puter. I don't think the HP warranty runs *that* long.

Tom
 
Ironic. I replaced a faulty power supply in a client's five year old HP just yesterday. If ya have a CompUSA/TigerDirect near-by they sell 'em for about what we pay wholesale.

I'd agree with Randy that the monitor may be goin' away, too. I'd substitute one and see if that helps. Sounds like multiple issues piled on tho.

...on the issue of "FOD" and blowing out the case... environment is key. We've blown what appeared to be WHOLE FERRETS out of the things. Some of my clients have workstations in shops so dirty the things need cleaning on a montly basis, replacement after a year to eighteen months. If you have pets, a piece of ScotchGuard on the inside of the case at the air intake area can hold down the big pieces. But ya *must* remove and wash it regularly.

Before you get a new power supply, have a look at the capacitors on the mamaboard. If any of them appear to have "dome" tops you may be experiencing the warning signs of mainboard overheating/failure.

Just my 2P.
 
roofman said:
Power supply not hot, but making grinding noise. I'll pick one up and try that.
Click to expand...

Grinding? Not sure a power supply can do that. My father-in-law went and bought a new computer because his hard drive was "grinding" every time he started the computer. "It would sound awful" he said "until it warmed up".

I took the old computer home and replaced the front cooling fan. Seems the bearing in there was shot and would rattle until it warmed up....just like a LBC! Except this cost only $9.

My point is, make sure that grinding isn't just a fan somewhere. I usually just stick my finger in them while they are running to see if the noise stops when the fan does.....a smarter person might use a pencil :wink:

In dependent of that, I still think it is the power supply....but not for the noise symptom you described.
 
I tried the old screwdriver ear test on the 2 other fans, as well as visual look at them running and am confident they are ok. The screwdriver ear test on the power unit came back with the grinding noise. My moniter is a fairly new ( 1 year) old lcd type.
So today I swapped out the power unit, no more grinding noise, and have had the computer on for about 2 hours with no bad occurances. So I will just have to wait and see if it does it again. I should spring for a new unit but, but I like my current setup and don't want to go new as of yet, unless I have too. Besides I need to transfer all my stuff to any new one so need this to run long enough to get to that point. The old power unit when I blow air through the fan rumbles a little and I think that fan bearing is bad.
<span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">Thanks for your responses</span></span>, will respond again if it still acts crazy.
 
I must have jinxed myself, cause it did it again not long after my last post.
I now have a clean case and new power supply. I have no more grinding sound.
The old power supply was a 360 watt single fan, and the new is 480 watt with dual fans. Guy at the computer store said was ok to go up.
When it freezes, most of the time the screen shot is still there but instantly gets blurry and mouse freezes. The other times I lose the screen shot and have gotten pure white screen w/no mouse, or multi color screens that look like wrapping paper designs with no mouse. Each of these screens is a different colored pattern with various stripe designs never the same.Most of the time I get the blurry screenshot.
I don't have a 2nd moniter to try, but could borrow one. What do you all think?
 
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