My computer freezes, then won't start up

[JTG51]

Maybe once or twice a day while I'm in the middle of doing whatever I'm doing my computer completely freezes up so I have to hold in the power button to turn it off. Then when I try to turn it back on, a lot of the time it sounds like one of the fans is going much faster than normal, but it won't start up. There's power, but nothing happens. Sometimes I have to turn it off and back on several times before it works.

This is a fairly new problem. As far as I know, I didn't make any hardware or software changes before it started. I hasve noticed that Zone Alarm sometimes takes quite a while to start when the computer starts up and the system is super sluggish until ZA does start. Is there any chance that's causing a problem?

Any idea what's going on or how I can fix it?

Thanks.

[skoal2k4]

i had a problem similar to that. It ended up being my video card. The fan on the card had stopped working causing my video card to overheat. Once it got too hot, my pc would just lock up on me and I'd have to restart, but it would just overheat again and lock up. So check and make sure that all your fans are working correctly and that you've cleaned (I just spray with compressed air) the fans and air intakes/exhausts. If the fans are good and everything is free of dust, you might have a bad card... video, sound, etc. I really don't believe this to be software related since you haven't made any changes

Hope this helps!

[JTG51]

I thought it might be heat also, but all of the fans are working. Also, it sometimes freezes up a minute after I turn it on, and sometimes it runs fine for hours. So I doubt that's it.

[MrTrik]

A few years ago I had this sort of problem. It turned out my power supply was failing intermittantly. Replaced it and all was better.

[krimson]

Download Motherboard Monitor (freeware), you can monitor the temps of you cpu and chipset, plus check the voltages being supplied by your power supply to make sure nothing is undervolting. You will need to know what kind of motherboard you have during installation.

If hardware-wise everything looks okay, then it's probably just time to reformat.

[JTG51]

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Sniper]

You might want to run diagnostics on your hard drive.

Also, it might be a good time to make sure you have a good backup of your data.

[JTG51]

Sorry for the bump of an old post, but I'm looking for a little more feedback.

I downloaded Motherboard Monitor and think I've discovered the problem.

The +12V sensor is around 16V most of the time. Is it safe to assume that a new power supply will fix my problem?

[skoal2k4]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry for the bump of an old post, but I'm looking for a little more feedback.

I downloaded Motherboard Monitor and think I've discovered the problem.

The +12V sensor is around 16V most of the time. Is it safe to assume that a new power supply will fix my problem?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would replace the power supply pretty much asap... continuing to run at 16v will probably cause more damage to your system over time (i'm talking a few months of constant use, not years) If it isn't the problem, you're only out around $30, if even that.