PC Freezing

[fdsa]

Some sophisticated user-tracking javascript exploit does not work well in your browser. Try switching to a more tracking-friendly browser like Google Chrome.

[Susco]

1 minute ago, fdsa said:

Some sophisticated user-tracking javascript exploit does not work well in your browser. Try switching to a more tracking-friendly browser like Google Chrome.

 

I think I have mentioned in the past. I use Firefox as default, and in the earlier stages of my issues, the freezes would happen by just opening Chrome as a second browser.

 

Would not even need to open a webpage. Simply opening Chrome, in addition to Firefox, would either freeze the screen or shut down the PC

[Susco]

I have been without problems for almost a month, in the past 7 days again frequent lockups.

 

I had it happen 3 times today

 

When it happens screen is completely frozen, mouse or keyboard don't respond anymore, and even the time in the task bar doesn't move anymore.

 

I just now had freeze, where on forced reboot, I would get to the login screen, enter my login details, then PC would turn itself off.

 

Second reboot, login and PC remains on, but only black screen.

 

Third forced reboot and I'm in again.

 

Between first and second reboot I took a picture of the bios, and can't see anything abnormal. Do you?

 

[Susco]

Here is another update.

 

After my previous post I got several more freezes. I started to think it was Firefox related, so I decided to download Brave.

 

Downloaded and installed. Closed FF, as soon as I opened Brave everything froze.

 

Forced restart, after boot Brave was not there any more. A shortcut on the home screen that didn't lead anywhere.

 

So reinstalled brave, when installed opened, and instant freeze.

 

Forced reboot let me login to Windows, but black screen only after login. Tried 4 times with same result.

 

With safe mode with networking, I could login and get screen.

 

First I removed Chrome, but brave was not listed in the programs and features, though it was on my home screen and in program files, but when I opened the browser i would get instant freeze.

 

Rebooted a few times in safe mode, and every time same, no Brave listed in programs and features, but when I opened the brave browser instant freeze as soon as the browser opened.

 

I then ran the installation again, and then it was listed in the programs, so could uninstall using Iobit uninstaller.

 

Rebooted PC again in normal mode, and opened FF. Lot of things had changed, including fonts and PC home screen layout.

 

After a few pages everything froze up again.

 

I then restarted again in safe mode and decided to uninstall AMD Catalyst manager.

 

After reboot in normal mode, my fonts and screen resolution were back to normal again.

 

I had to activate my Windows theme again, and re-enable several FF addons.

 

So far everything working normal again, where in the previous hour it had become impossible to use the PC for more than 10 minutes before it locked up.

 

So now I get the feeling that the AMD Catalyst manager was the cause of the problems.

 

You think that is a possibility?

 

AMD Catalyst control center is still installed, but no Catalyst manager any more

 

 

[Susco]

I have a AMD Radeon, forgot the model number

[Susco]

First lockup of the day already happened, getting really desperate now to know what is causing this.

 

It seems to be browser related, because it happens when opening an additional tab, or an extra browser, so it not browser specific.

 

Also a mystery to me why I was unable to install Brave browser

 

 

[fdsa]

try booting any LiveCD os and using any browser for a while. If PC will freeze with Live system then it's 100% hardware issue.

 

like this: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#2-requirements

 

or this: https://neon.kde.org/download

[Susco]

2 hours ago, fdsa said:

try booting any LiveCD os and using any browser for a while. If PC will freeze with Live system then it's 100% hardware issue.

 

like this: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#2-requirements

 

or this: https://neon.kde.org/download

 

 

It may be a hardware issue, the point is to find which hardware.

 

If you look at the voltage in my PC health bios, do you notice anything strange.

 

Like the 5V showing only 4.52V, is that within the tolerance?

 

Fact is also that it only happens in a browser, it never happened when using an application like a mediaplayer, which I assume use quite a bit more memory than a browser.

 

It happens mainly when I opening an extra tab, or when opening a second browser, but may also happen with the browser sitting idle for some time.

 

I have tried to reinstall Brave browser another 3 times today. I downloaded the EXE twice again.

 

As soon as the installation finish, and Brave browser opens automatically, PC freezes up.

 

I then do a forced reboot and Brave browser will not show in programs and features, do it will have the icon on the home screen.

 

I run the installation then once again, and it will show in programs and features, but PC will freeze from the second I open the browser.

 

Any idea what that causes.

 

My OS is Windows 7 ultimate X64, and I download the 64 bit version of the browser

[Excel]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:14 PM, Bruno123 said:

 

Sorry, but you are just babbling. Why not spend the time checking out the program instead of throwing cr@p everywhere.

 

Please don't write about naivety here when you did not even do ten seconds of research before replying.

 

So do so and come back with an intelligent discussion before I label you as someone who simply is not capable of an intelligent and rational discussion and make use of the Ignore function.

 

So, start again. Check out the program and then come back with intelligence, not mudslinging in the hope of hitting a target.

That's why he is on my ignore list, fed up with constant babbling.  However back to the subject matter. In my own case it started around last November. I must have have done just about every recommendation I could find on the internet. It got to the point where nothing would start on Windows. The window opens then stopped. Safe mode was inaccessible mostly but could randomly. The self test diagnosis froze, you name it it froze. Anyway got fed up so decided that I might replace the SSD with  a larger one. So opened the back of my laptop last week. Removed the battery, removed the ssd to take a photo and put it all back. As I said that was last week and since then, touch wood, no problems working perfectly. Not saying that is a fix by any means, just for me it appears to have done the trick. Why ? no idea but I would welcome an intelligent feedback as to what was really causing the problem in my case and why did removing the battery and hard drive apparently fix it as not one piece of advice I could find on the internet suggest that ?

[Susco]

I have no problem at all with safe mode, though even is safe mode it freezes instantly when opening Brave browser.

 

My problem is also only when using a browser, regardless which one

 

I ran a Windows diagnostic when this problem started more than a month ago, which told me hardware problems were detected, but it doesn't say which hardware.

 

A few days later, there was no freezing anymore for 1 month, after which it started again

[KannikaP]

27 minutes ago, Susco said:

My OS is Windows 7 ultimate X64

That could be the problem, a 12 year old OS.

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, Susco said:

I have no problem at all with safe mode, though even is safe mode it freezes instantly when opening Brave browser.

 

My problem is also only when using a browser, regardless which one

 

I ran a Windows diagnostic when this problem started more than a month ago, which told me hardware problems were detected, but it doesn't say which hardware.

 

A few days later, there was no freezing anymore for 1 month, after which it started again

I have only just come across this thread of yours, and what caught my eye was the fact that you were running Malwarebytes along with Panda AV.

 

The reason being was that I had exactly the same happening to my laptop and I tried everything from cleaners, to different browsers......... and the list goes on. Sometimes it would work okay for a couple of days and then for no reason whatsoever, freeze.

 

Everything stayed on screen and the mouse wouldn't move and the keyboard wouldn't work, so it was a forced shut down every time.

 

I eventually removed the Panda AV and Malwarebytes and everything went well with no freezes whatsoever, so I decided to reinstall Malwarebytes (because it's a program I quite like) and I've not had any problems since, so by deduction I can only think it was the Panda AV – – then doing a bit more online research, I came across quite a few mentions about it being unreliable and causing these sorts of problems, so although I paid for the pro version, it no longer occupies a place on my laptop.

 

I hope you find the cause, and I hope that this may help.

[Susco]

30 minutes ago, josthomz said:

Your PC is too damn old anyway. Those BIOS I haven't seen them in ages haha, modern BIOS are not much less than a OS themselves... 

 

Anyway I am 99.999% sure it is a hardware issue. So you have to troubleshoot. 

 

Main suspect, GPU. 

 

Does your CPU have an integrate GPU? If so remove the graphics card and try again. Or try to find a known good GPU to try with it. 

 

Second suspect, RAM.

 

Do you have dual channel or single channel? Try unplugging some of your memory sticks, or try with some known good ones. 

 

Third suspect, HDD/SSD.

 

In fact highly possible, specially if a mechanic HDD. Not much more to say here. Except to maybe take a look at the health of the HDD using a S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics software.

 

Fourth suspect, CPU.

 

Extremely unlikely.

 

Fifth suspect, motherboard.

 

Highly unlikely.

 

Another big suspect

 

Your OS, corrupt, full of virus. You could try reinstalling Windows. 

 

 

If I had to gamble. I'd bet 60% on the GPU and 40% on the HDD. 

 

 

The Ram are 4 x 2Gb strips and are less than 2 years old.

 

I ran a memory diagnostic, and it didn't indicate any problems.

 

It is a 500 GB Crucial SSD bought from InvadeIT, also less than 2 years ago.

 

The CPU is an I5 750 running at 2.66 Ghz. I know quite aged, but should do the job.

 

I have ran various virus scans, and they don't find anything. The OS is genuine and activated, newly installed also less than 2 years ago.

 

About an hour ago I removed the GPU, cleaned the contacts with acetone an inserted again.

 

I also changed the SATA cable from the SSD and plugged into a different SATA port, also used a different power connection.

 

So far no problems yet

 

14 minutes ago, xylophone said:

I have only just come across this thread of yours, and what caught my eye was the fact that you were running Malwarebytes along with Panda AV.

 

That is how it started, and what I suspected. When I removed both, the issue stopped for about a month. I haven't reinstalled them, but the issue started again 1 month later

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, Susco said:

That is how it started, and what I suspected. When I removed both, the issue stopped for about a month. I haven't reinstalled them, but the issue started again 1 month later

Something I just remembered, which may be of help to you, is that although I have IObit uninstaller and used this to uninstall Panda AV, it wasn't completely uninstalled and I kept searching and finding bits of it in my system, and as I recall, I used a couple of other programs to try and winkle it out, which I eventually managed.

 

Maybe worth looking through some files to see if there's any remnants of it left. Whatever you do, good luck.

[Susco]

17 hours ago, Susco said:

About an hour ago I removed the GPU, cleaned the contacts with acetone an inserted again.

 

I also changed the SATA cable from the SSD and plugged into a different SATA port, also used a different power connection.

 

So far no problems yet

 

After performing the above actions, now 18 hours ago, I haven't had any freeze again.

 

Last night I really tried to, with up to 10 tabs open, but no freeze.

 

Few minutes ago I also installed Brave browser again, which on previous attempts I would not get beyond the opening page, and it is working fine now.

 

So now the question of course is, was it the change of SATA cable, the SATA slot, or the GPU contact cleaning that sorted it lol

[robblok]

On 5/13/2021 at 12:04 PM, Susco said:

 

After performing the above actions, now 18 hours ago, I haven't had any freeze again.

 

Last night I really tried to, with up to 10 tabs open, but no freeze.

 

Few minutes ago I also installed Brave browser again, which on previous attempts I would not get beyond the opening page, and it is working fine now.

 

So now the question of course is, was it the change of SATA cable, the SATA slot, or the GPU contact cleaning that sorted it lol

The fun part of diagnosing "partly"  broken computer parts. I hate this kind of trouble shooting as you never know if you really fixed it or not. Now with your multiple changes you will never know. Though that would not really matter that much besides wanting to know.

 

I always hated it when i had to fix computers that were half broken, meaning sometimes working sometimes not. Really broken is far easier to fix.