phase52001 Posted August 10, 2005 Posted August 10, 2005 My friends PC crashes on a regular basis. Three, four times a day. He seems to just accept it. It drives me crazy when I'm working on a project with him. Can anyone advise a good hardware disgnostic program/disk to run on his PC. Its running Windows XP. I think the issue may be bad memory. Any advise most welcome. (I don't have a PC).
phase52001 Posted August 12, 2005 Author Posted August 12, 2005 My friends PC crashes on a regular basis. Three, four times a day. He seems to just accept it. It drives me crazy when I'm working on a project with him. Can anyone advise a good hardware disgnostic program/disk to run on his PC. Its running Windows XP. I think the issue may be bad memory. Any advise most welcome. (I don't have a PC). <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No-One? Any-one?
mtv Posted August 12, 2005 Posted August 12, 2005 Norton Utilities / Systemworks. Also, have you done a full system scan viruses? Assuming your friend does have an up to date antivirus virus program.
daft009 Posted August 12, 2005 Posted August 12, 2005 i wouldnt suggest norton. if you think its memory, get a free bootable program called 'memtest86' (www.memtest.org). run that for a few good hours to diagnose memory faults. if you get any errors, make sure the CPU is not overclocked (f it is, go back to stock speeds and run memtest again). if it isnt then change the ram
mtv Posted August 12, 2005 Posted August 12, 2005 Norton Utilites has worked for me many times. Also, I have seen faulty/overloaded power supplies cause unexplained crashes.
DavoNogo Posted August 12, 2005 Posted August 12, 2005 Any Norton product is a bloated piece of a system resources hog, no technical minded user would be caught dead using a Norton product. The memtest tool is a great suggestion, especially if you think it's bad memory. Though most problems can be solved with a good, clean format, and if problems persist, it's definately a hardware issue
rosco99 Posted August 12, 2005 Posted August 12, 2005 No-One? Any-one? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Check the CPU cooling. I was getting crashes and CPU overloading. When I checked main board I discovered the fins on the CPU cooler were clogged up with dust and fluff. I cleaned it out and this has fixed the problem.
phase52001 Posted August 13, 2005 Author Posted August 13, 2005 Thanks everybody. Your resposnes are all most welcome. I'll pass them along to my friend. Anyone else with thoughts, please post. Its the only way.
mello yello Posted August 22, 2005 Posted August 22, 2005 If by the off chance its a Dell....then it will probably have an onboard diagnostics utility which I have found actually works with some memory related problems. If it is then you can just press f12 on boot-up and enter the diags. By the sounds of the problem you might want to open the cover and have a look for "bloated" capacitors on the main board if everything else seems to check ok. A healthy cap should have a flat top surface (like a coke can)...a crook one will look like a coke can, shaken and ready to pop out from the top. You can pick up a new P4 mbo for as low as $75 these days.
Recommended Posts