computers farkeedd

[VL_5SPEED]

ok so ive got a custom computer what was built a few years ago, asus mobo, pentium 4, 3.2ghz windows 7 blah blah blah. About a year ago my computer started randomly restarting after a few hours of being on, othertimes it would just freeze. It got to the point it started freezing and restarting after 30 seconds of being on and then eventually nothing comes on the monitor when you go to turn it on just a black screen

So my mates dad fixed it i think he raplaced the mother board... 2 months ago it started doing the same thing and now all i get is a black screen of death.... Is it the mother board again? why does this keep happening?

[dijm8]

do u have a graphics card or on board video ?

[VL_5SPEED]

yeh its got a nvidia g force or x force or something like that

[dijm8]

well i would say, either get the latest updates for that card, or if you got on board graphics switch it to that and see if it happens... im kinda leaning towards to card which might be causing your problems

[acarmody]

I'm really interested in knowing how the hell you are running Windows 7 on a Pentium 4????

Next time the computer turns on, keep your hand on the heatsink. If it gets really hot (I mean like 100 degrees, and obviously don't keep hand on it) then it may need some more heatsink goo. Windows 7 must be running that CPU at basically 100% nearly all the time.

Have you looked at an upgrade. A very good computer would only cost about $500-$600 these days.

[dijm8]

windows 7 would be hardly touching the cpu m8... if it was vista different story, another thing to add, how much RAM you got? if say u got 4gb? (can even do it with 2gb, which leaves 1Gb but should still perform etc) when it freezes again, take out 1 stick of RAM turn it on etc do what u do if it then freezes again, switch RAM sticks try out the other 1 if the same again happens well we can rule out the RAM

[Astranomical]

Although its unlikely, another thing I'd probably look at is your power supply, if thats buggered it could cause all sorts of things to happen including causing the machine to reboot at random intervals.

[acarmody]

dijm8, what do you mean that Vista would be a different story? Windows 7 needs a more powerful system than Vista.

To OP. I still think check the temperature. Lots of people forget to apply more heatsink paste when they replace motherboard/CPU. Very critical.

[stocky]

Windows 7 needs a more powerful system than Vista.

Hardly. Vista is a crap operating system and Windows 7 can be run on a lot of XP capable machine. Windows 7 runs better than XP used to on my laptop

[Astranomical]

Last year when I was testing the release candidate I tried loading it up on a P4/2 Ghz with a gig of RAM for shits and giggles. It wasn't as fast as XP, but it was still surprisingly usable, if it had more RAM and a decent graphics card it would've probably been quite a nice experience.

[DanVN]

My Celeron D 2.2ghz runs Windows 7, its quite usable.

As for the problem at hand, sounds like a CPU overheat to me, my old P4 used to do this alot when i had it overclocked.

[Kurtp]

This can also be caused by the fan not working on the graphics card, i would suggest downloading speedfan, and watching your computers temperatures. If one goes ridiculous high like 90C +, you know there is a issue there. If you can't find a heat issue, your PSU is probably on its way out.

Download SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

Please avoid placing your hand on the interior of the computer like suggested, the last thing you want to do is kill the mobo via static electricity.

A sign of a dead mobo can usually be identified with boot issues, not spontaneous reboots.

[VL_5SPEED]

It used to have xp. My dads mate put the cracked version of windowns 7 beta on it when reformating. My pc has a thermometer on the front of it.... it runs around 19 degrees today and around 40-45 degrees on a hot summer day.... The computer doesnt respond to the monitor at all anymore (just a black screen) so i cant update graphics card.... It is only 1gb of ram (i guess that was big around 5 years ago?)

It ran sweet with win7... not as fast as xp but still fast enough


Come to think of it i cannot remember if the power suply or mother board was replaced last time it did this.

[Kurtp]

Do ye-old fan test on the graphics card, grab a small piece of paper, touch the fan on the graphics card lightly. Have you tried the onboard?

[VL_5SPEED]

Yeh the fan spins on the nvidia. How do i see if it works with the onboard graphics card? would it even have one?

[Kurtp]

On the rear of the computer you should see two plugs that are the same, usually blue in colour. These are VGA connections, there will most likely be on your graphics card and one up higher on the motherboard, this is the onboard graphics connection. If you cannot find two same plugs, your graphics card may have DVI connections instead, which are slightly longer and usually white in colour, if this occurs you will need to use a VGA cable not a DVI cable (usually only LCD screens use the dvi cable)

[dijm8]

dijm8, what do you mean that Vista would be a different story? Windows 7 needs a more powerful system than Vista.

To OP. I still think check the temperature. Lots of people forget to apply more heatsink paste when they replace motherboard/CPU. Very critical.

well vista is a diff story because its crap as said by stocky, yeh windows 7 is way better but dosent need the power to run it, thats what makes it soo good, i can see the microsoft boys have worked hard as it has paid off very nice, im running 7 pro 64 bit,

[acarmody]

OK I admit defeat, Windows 7 may be less resource heavy than Vista.

Check video card as suggested above.

Also 1GB of RAM could definitely be upgraded for Windows 7.

[FstStig]

Hey Mate,

Your not far from me, so if you want to drop into my place I can have a look at it

[VL_5SPEED]

im coming out nordsy tomoz night aswell for my mates 21st.. nahhh ill take it to my mates dad again thanks anyways mate.

[FstStig]

No worries mate, are you taking your VL?

[VL_5SPEED]

Nah mate cops cancelled my rego.. should have it registered next week