Windows Xp Freezes

[thedi]

1.5 years ago, I bought an Intel-PC for my daughter here in Khon Kaen. It came with Windows XP preinstalled.

After about 6 month there were problems with the power supply and my dealer replaced the power supply as part of his garantee. He also reinstalled the system then.

The kids have been playing with their 'com' and enjoyed it a lot. But now - all of a sudden - the system frezzes after a view minutes. Mouse and keybord do not respond anymore. If I kill the system and restart it, it freezes again after a view minutes. I can not even run 'chkdsk'

I am an old Unix/Linux Mac OSX user. Always thought: 'Microsoft? Yest say NO!' But here in TH the reality is Windows which leaves me rather helpless at times.

What would you Windows freaks suggest?

• Is this a sympton from an illegal XP version? Some kind of revenge of MS for using an illegal copied system, which I may have bought or which may have been installed when they reinstalled the sytem?
  
• Is the system corrupted from games (some downloaded form internet)
  
• Or is it rather a hardware problem? I remarked that the fan runs constantly. Is this normal for a Windows desktop?
  

My daughter and her friends do not use an Admin account, but a simple user account. Is it possible to corrupt a XP as a simple user? The Admin password is known only to me. But also Admin can not work any more, because the system freezes.

Any suggestins would be welcome

Regards

Thedi

[astral]

It may not be XP at all, just the hardware.

I suggest removing all the boards, including memory and reseating them.

Check the fans are working and clean.

If you are not happy about doing any of this then your local shop will assist for a small sum.

[opalhort]

This sounds very much like a heat problem.

I recently had a stuck case fan which resulted in too much power being drawn from the power supply(PS). The PS overheated and shut down the 12V line resulting in a WIN XP freeze as mentioned in the OP.

Removed the fan and now all is OK, albeit a bit on the warm side. Still waiting for a new fan to arrive.

opalhort

[Kyosuken]

I second the 2 posts above, most likely a hardware problem, maybe overheating (check if the CPU fan/heatsink is working properly) maybe the bios is fubared (then it's tricky to repair).

Just in case, start the computer in Safe mode, if the computer still freezes it's 100% hardware if not... could be driver related, or some nasty programs your kids put in the puter (not that they would do it on purpose i mean).

Question though, why didn't you install for them a linux distro, with the knowledge you got it would be simple enough to give them a "look pretty the same as windows", they could still play most of their games (Wine FTW), and in a very secured virus/malware less environnment.

Edit : Assumed the kids were girls so, changed to something more general.

Edited May 15, 2007 by Kyosuken

[cdnvic]

I think Astral is right. Also, if you have a disk it's probably time for a re-install, or at least a good defragging and cleanup.

[thedi]

Thanks for your help.

The computer surely is hot, maybe it needs more air. They were playing video games a whole day. I will try this first.

About Linux: I am here only 60% of the time, for the rest I still have to go to Switzerland to work. When I am not here, I guess that Linux would not be very much known here. All schools use XP and it was preinstalled with all drivers running. So I went the way with most little resistance . I use a Mac Laptop with OSX for myself and would touch the Windows XP only with cloves .

Regards

Thedi

[dolvetius]

After having enjoyed the stability of Mac OSX and Linux, welcome to Bill Gates land! At these times of great difficulty for you, and on behalf of all the users of this forum, I would just like to express my deepest sympathy to you.

Only reminds me what we all have heard before: "PCs are like air conditioners: they stop working when you open Windows."

[thedi]

After having enjoyed the stability of Mac OSX and Linux, welcome to Bill Gates land! At these times of great difficulty for you, and on behalf of all the users of this forum, I would just like to express my deepest sympathy to you.

Only reminds me what we all have heard before: "PCs are like air conditioners: they stop working when you open Windows."

:D

Thanks for the encouragement.

BTW: it was realy just the heat. Since it cooled down, it works as before (whatever you may interpret into that ).

So for once it was not Bill Gates fault - I hate to admit it, but it is true

Regards and thanks again for the help

Thedi

[astral]

Glad to assist.