Old computer freezes, have no idea why -- please share your 1337 advice

[Hyper_Psycho]

Hi everyone,

I have been on my aunt's computer for about an hour and did every possible thing to get the computer to work, but have failed.

She has an old Amd based Win XP computer. It freezes randomly, and won't let me install an anti-virus program.

I scanned the system with ad-aware, and found nothing malicious.

I did a check disk on both of the drives, and found no errors. It has two hard drives. One for the OS and the other with personal data. The personal data hard disk is about 12 years old, noisy, but still works.

She has had two people try to fix her computer. Doing so one uninstalled Avast, and tried to isntall the pay version. The other, screwed up the video driver and now it cannot run in the native rez.

All in all, the computer works fine, but just randomly freezes, even in Safe Mode. What would be the best way to diagnose the issue or find what's wrong. I looked at the event log and there were no error/warnings.

If you have any pro tips, I would love to hear them as I am stumped!

Thanks



UPDATE:

Looks like the 12 year old disk is dying. This has been the cause of all of the programs. The SMART program that I installed stopped reporting on the hard drive in 15 mins. Also, I would get a SMART error during bootup.

As for the video driver, the GPU is too old and does not support 1440x900.

I guess I'm just gonna have my Aunt move all the files to the primary drive, and then remove the old 3GB drive.

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[evilsofa]

won't let me install an anti-virus program.

I scanned the system with ad-aware, and found nothing malicious.

That's always suspicious behavior, and whatever old version of ad-aware is on there is probably not up to whatever is on this system.

This thread talks about a nasty rootkit that's making the rounds. If you are unable to run any .exe files, you may also wish to use the UnHookExec.inf tool to deal with that.

For more info, see the malware removal sticky in the Networking & Security forum.

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

That's always suspicious behavior, and whatever old version of ad-aware is on there is probably not up to whatever is on this system.

This thread talks about a nasty rootkit that's making the rounds. If you are unable to run any .exe files, you may also wish to use the UnHookExec.inf tool to deal with that.

For more info, see the malware removal sticky in the Networking & Security forum.

Hmm, I'll take a look into that.

She was able to install FireFox earlier this week. Her IE is surprisingly freshlooking without any signs of malware/bars/stupid stuff. I finally got avast installed and am waiting on the damn activation code.

I did manage to freeze the computer twice when I was Shift+Del a folder on the desktop. Still, it is working fine now.

 

[gimp]

but just randomly freezes, even in Safe Mode. What would be the best way to diagnose the issue or find what's wrong. I looked at the event log and there were no error/warnings.

freezing in safe mode very well point to hardware issues, or a completely hosed OS.

I'd try running memtest on it.

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

freezing in safe mode very well point to hardware issues, or a completely hosed OS.

I'd try running memtest on it.

Well I think that the old hard drive might be the cause. After yet another freeze during bootup, a SMART error went off saying primary slave is the problem. Is there any utility that I can use within windows to see the smart status of a hard drive? I cannot physically get to see the interior of the computer as the desktop is hooked up and hidden within a closet.

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

Somewhat related to the fix up, I cannot get the video card/processor to recognize 1440 x 900 monitor resolution. I updated the drivers from the manufacturer's site w/o a problem.

Is it possible that the outdated IGP cannot display such an resolution?

 

[evilsofa]

I cannot physically get to see the interior of the computer as the desktop is hooked up and hidden within a closet.

Has it been hidden untouched in a closet for 12 years? Now I have to wonder what kind of airflow the thing has, and whether it's drowning in dust or god knows what else. You may need to physically get to it and clean out the inside even if it's inconvenient.

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

Has it been hidden untouched in a closet for 12 years? Now I have to wonder what kind of airflow the thing has, and whether it's drowning in dust or god knows what else. You may need to physically get to it and clean out the inside even if it's inconvenient.

Oh no, the computer has been put in there about three years ago or so. All of the cables are attached to it and the cables are wrapped up so there is no cluster of cables. In order to remove the computer, you have to disconnect all the cables and then pull out the pc. Its a pain in the ass process.

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

Ok cool. Problem found and sorta fixed. Thanks on all of your help!

 

[Ritorix]

This thread is classic. Granny's computer is in the closet.

I cannot get the video card/processor to recognize 1440 x 900 monitor resolution

In windows, go to the "list all modes' in the adaptor tab of advanced display props. See if 1440x900 shows up. That list comes from your display adaptor + monitor, I believe, so with a plug and play monitor if it doesnt show up, either your vidcard cant do it (doubtful) or the monitor cant.

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

This thread is classic. Granny's computer is in the closet.



In windows, go to the "list all modes' in the adaptor tab of advanced display props. See if 1440x900 shows up. That list comes from your display adaptor + monitor, I believe, so with a plug and play monitor if it doesnt show up, either your vidcard cant do it (doubtful) or the monitor cant.

I tried that. It listed 1600x1200 as the highest one. The monitor spat out an error when I tried it. 1440x900 was not listed unfortunately.

 

[GushpinBob]

Somewhat related to the fix up, I cannot get the video card/processor to recognize 1440 x 900 monitor resolution. I updated the drivers from the manufacturer's site w/o a problem.

Is it possible that the outdated IGP cannot display such an resolution?

Probably not. Though, you might be able to force the resolution with a third party program like Powerstrip, but the best solution would be to pick up a cheap AGP card and disable the IGP in the BIOS (most likely you're stuck with choosing among PCI graphics cards but it's better than dealing with old IGPs).

 

[Hyper_Psycho]

Probably not. Though, you might be able to force the resolution with a third party program like Powerstrip, but the best solution would be to pick up a cheap AGP card and disable the IGP in the BIOS (most likely you're stuck with choosing among PCI graphics cards but it's better than dealing with old IGPs).

Yeah, I was thinking that, but that would involve trying to find a AGP card, shipping, waiting, etc. She likes the 1024 resolution, and she said she wouldn't want the icons to get any tiny-er.