Computer crashes...no idea why.

[Nickmare]

Hey. My girlfriends computer crashes.

I just reformatted it and installed Windows XP, and it still crashes. It happens when the computer is inactive for a period of time (three to four hours it seems)...not sure if it is just when the computer is inactive though, as my girlfriend was using it for an extended period of time today and it crashed as well.

By crash I mean the computer halts completely - no user input taken, no blue screen, just a screen showing the last thing done on the computer.

If I turn the computer off after one of these crashes, and haven't waited a few seconds before turning it on it doesn't boot up, just reaches a black screen where it stays to be turned off and back on once again.

Tried quite a few things, but I don't even know where to start looking. I figured it might of been a BIOS setting originally, but I can't seem to find one that would make a difference.

So, what kind of things do you look at it on a fresh format/install if it is crashing? Is this a overheating issue?

 

[technoman2]

could be a few problems, if you have reinstalled then i can not be anything to do with WinXP or Spy-ware.

Could be a HDD problem, how old is your HDD? can you please post some specs?

Also when it crashes does the computer make some sort of a sound like a click or something like that when is crashes.

 

[Tommy Boy]

yeah some more info on your system would be nice, could be ram, could be a processor problem, could be the vid card...etc

 

[technoman2]

there can be so many courses of a crash its unbelievable

CPU
RAM
HDD
SOFTWARE
POWER (MAYBE)
MOTHERBOARD
etc

 

[Nickmare]

Well...it is store bought, 3 years ago or so. A Cicero of some sort. I assume everything in it is the same age, including the HDD. Here's the specs I could find from AIDA32:

HDD: Maxtor 4D040H2 40GB 5400RPM
CPU: Pentium 4 CPU 1500MHz
Display Adapter: NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8IDML/8IDML-C(H)
RAM: Xerox (256 MB PC133 SDRAM)

P.S. No noise when the computer crashes.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

It's still hard to say. The screen pretty much freezes, that's what you're saying? Try booting into safe mode so it won't use the nvidia driver and see what happens first. Press F8 after computer reboots. If that solves the problem, you may need to update your drivers at the Nvidia website. Remove the old one you have first and then install the new one. (Add/Remove Programs, uninstall "Display Driver or Adapter").

But it also sounds like your computers having a hard time drawing power. Hmmm, maybe use a meter to test the power supply leads.

 

[Nickmare]

Thanx for some ideas.

Yep, the screen freezes. Tried safe mode and no crash seemed to occur (after 3 hours of inactivity). Just finished installing latest Nvidia drivers from their website.

Gonna hit the hay, and hopefully when I wake up I can move the mouse. If not, doh! Guess I'll look more into the power.

See you all tomorrow.

 

[technoman2]

it most be your driver then, hope the new one works

 

[wozelbeak]

i had a similiar problem with my pc.
i re formated it and tested everything possible without discovering what the cause was. i got a lot of help from the guys on here. in the end i concluded that it was either my power supply, or my mobo. my mobo wasen't up to the standard i would have liked anyway, so i opted to fit new mobo. hey presto its fine now and running like a dream. i am not saying that this is deffinately your mobo, but i had the exact same problem and cured it this way.
wozelbeak

 

[Nickmare]

i fixed it

Well I fixed it a while ago, but I have another question.

It ended up not being the video card. So then I went through each device 1 by 1 in the device manager and tried updating automatically. Some of the stuff that updated included the processor, PCI Bridge, and some USB devices.

Is there a way to scan every single device for updates automatically instead of going through each one?