Computer keeps crashing

A

AriesWoman

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Hi

Does anyone know why a computer would keep shutting itself down. I have a computer at home which crashes about once every week or 10 days (I will be doing something on it and it will switch itself off for no apparent reason). I suspect it may be old age - I got it 2nd hand about 4 or 5 years ago. Also I sometimes have problems connecting to the internet - would due this be the age of computer as well or the settings? The 2 problems started about the same time.

If I do need to replace the computer I am thinking of getting a laptop. Whats the best one to get? I mostly use the computer for the internet but would use a small amount of word, excel and windows media player (about once or twice a month). I am looking for something fairly basic that won't break the bank.
 
I had a similar problem with an old PC which had been multiply upgraded. I finally realised that I had never upgraded the power supply, so it was cutting out.

You may want to get a new more powerful power supply (it is easy to change) and see if that fixes your problem.
 
Before spending any money on buying hardware for your computer, you should probably take it to a shop to get it checked out. There is no point in buying hardware that your not sure you need. it might be a software issue.


Normally as a rule of thumb, you have to eliminate all possibilities.
1st - always note exactly what applications are opened up when the problem happens.
2nd - always note what application you are working on at the time of the crash
3rd - reinstall the applications that might be affecting the issue.
4th if the above fails - do a harddisk scan or a trojan virus scan
if all the above fails- then take it to a shop !


Hope this helps
 
It always happens when I'm on the net. And its not any particular website either its happened with several different websites.
 
Are you using Mozilla or Internet Explorer ?
Have you tried using the other to eliminate it being either application.
Have you got pop up blocker enabled ?
Also, have you got any firewall on your machine as something might be on your machine that might be attempting to connect to the internet but it cant- and it causes the machine to crash.....This application might not be something that you installed intentionally....

I dont think you need a new machine, especially if you are only using it for the internet alongside some office applications.

Also- are you able to get into an application called msconfig > it is from Start > run > type in msconfig ?
 
Maybe try booting it off a live bootable CD image (e.g. Ubuntu or something similar) and if it works OK like that then the problem is your existing (Windows?) installation.
 
I am not so sure this is a power problem.

If it was a power problem she would not be getting a few days out of it , for it then to crash ???

I would think that once you have a power issue- then the machine will only boot up and stay up for so long and then die....it does not seem logical that it would keep going for a few days.....

I am no genius and have been playing around with fixing computers for quite some time, but that does not mean that I am correct in what I am saying, I could very well be wrong.

The only way to tell is to get someone to take a look at it, although that costs money, the only other option is to buy the power supply as was suggested or get a new machine.

Either way - all options, you have to spend money !

The cheapest option is to get someone to look at it, you probably do not know how to replace the power supply? it is not that hard to do, but if you have never opened a computer before, you can end up getting yourself burnt !
 
Dont need to give to someone just yet. Try to restore to before the machine was crashing.

Ive been "fixing" pcs for years and in my experience, most cases of random crashes were as a result of software that was installed. Restoring back to last known good date seemed to resolve.

Also, give it a good clean with "crap cleaner" and malware + anti virus cleaners, see key posts for links.

Also follow above advice of surfing using a different browser, main 3 are IE, Firefox and opera.
 
alexandra12 said:
I am not so sure this is a power problem.

If it was a power problem she would not be getting a few days out of it , for it then to crash ???
Click to expand...

I don't know if the OP's problem is to do with power or not, but I can tell you why I was also getting crashes every few days due to the power supply.

I had made upgrades and additions to my machine over time; new graphics card, a couple or rewritable DVD drives, etc. The power supply coped, but clearly it was borderline. An increase in the power requirement (such as starting the DVD drive) would sometimes cause it to cut out, depending on what else was running.

In theory, looking at the rating of it, it should have coped. In reality, it was borderline. Borderline power means intermittent cut outs.

The reason I suggested that it may be a hardware issue is that with software you get a crash, blue screen of death, apps freezing, whatever. You are unlikely to have the machine switch off power completely.

I think the advice to take it to the repair shop is probably the way to go if the OP does not want to mess around with opening the case.
 
AriesWoman said:
I suspect it may be old age - I got it 2nd hand about 4 or 5 years ago. Also I sometimes have problems connecting to the internet - would due this be the age of computer as well or the settings? The 2 problems started about the same time..
Click to expand...

It quite possibly is just old technology that's not up to running even fairly undemanding applications. Had similar problems on a 7 year old laptop. Wasn't worth getting it repaired (good money after bad..)

AriesWoman said:
If I do need to replace the computer I am thinking of getting a laptop. Whats the best one to get? I mostly use the computer for the internet but would use a small amount of word, excel and windows media player (about once or twice a month). I am looking for something fairly basic that won't break the bank.
Click to expand...

You should be able to buy a laptop that meets your requirements for around €500-€600.
 
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