Computer Freezes from time to time

[zynder]

Hi everyone!

I have my nephew's PC that i need to repair. It freezes from time to time. It will boot and load Windows 7, after couple of hours or minutes it will freeze so i need to restart Windows.

I already reformated it and reinstall Windows 7. So the application side is ruled out. I also cleaned the dust from the mobo and RAM. Fans from CPU and chasis are running smooth. I'm thinking more on the hardware. Where do you think is the problem?

SPECS:
CPU: Intel Dual Core
RAM : 2 GIG DDR2
OS: Windows 7

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[moti barski]

anything other than win 7 installed ? what sites were on the browser if any ?
hardware ways maybe something wrong with the ram sticks. any beeps ?

[stanav]

Run a RAM test. Does it pass?

[mbutler755]

Sounds like a hard drive issue to me. You can replace it for less than $100.

[Lord Orwell]

it could be the hard drive, but it is more likely to be the power supply. The ram would cause issues often if that was the problem, but a power supply getting weak can quit functioning properly after warming up.

Is it hard to reboot after it locks up?

[Greyskull]

Could be overheating as well, you done some Overclocking on RAM / CPU / GPU at all? If so, do you have a decent cooling system?
Any more information really as how the system is set-up will be handy here...

[moti barski]

Could be overheating as well, you done some Overclocking on RAM / CPU / GPU at all? If so, do you have a decent cooling system?
Any more information really as how the system is set-up will be handy here...

in that case add a little thermo cream on the cpu and below it's fan
it costs 2$

[Greyskull]

in that case add a little thermo cream on the cpu and below it's fan
it costs 2$

If it was due to overheating, you'd want to add more things to it than just cream, say like if upgrading the cooling system by say replacing the cpu fan to a water cooling..or changing the case, tidying cables up, all adds up

Or the absolute cheaper option of reverting back to defaults..

[Lord Orwell]

If it was due to overheating, you'd want to add more things to it than just cream, say like if upgrading the cooling system by say replacing the cpu fan to a water cooling..or changing the case, tidying cables up, all adds up

Or the absolute cheaper option of reverting back to defaults..

airflow is a major concern. ribbon cables can block airflow, hard drives too close to each other, etc.

For that matter, it could even be a bad cable connection to the boot drive. The system will hang while trying to access it.

More info is needed. Does the computer ever lock up just sitting there? What is the user doing when it locks up? This can tell us which parts of the system, if any, are under stress at that time.