PC freezes after about a day, and freezes / turns off on boot

rocknroll714 · 06-07-2008, 04:40 PM

Well.. this started happening only recently. In about the last month or so.. my computer has been randomly freezing. My speakers will make popping noises for about 10 seconds, I'll hear what I think are my fans dying and restarting, and then the computer will completely freeze (but stays on) and I'll have to restart it. Then when I restart it, even if it's been off for like a day, it'll just turn off. I have to retry turning it on anywhere from 2-6 times before it finally boots. Also when I put a Linux CD in my CD-ROM drive to boot from it dies much more frequently / pretty much every single time within about 2 seconds of turning on the computer. Oh, and I have to hold the power button to drain all the remaining power and then press the button again before it'll turn on. If I don't do this, when I simply press the button nothing happens. Also, sometimes after it fails, it says my CPU fan failed.

Specs: Gateway model PC from 2002, Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz processor, Nvidia Geforce 5500 graphics card, built-in audio card, 40 gb hard drive, a total of 3 fans, one for the CPU, one in the back of the computer, and one in the front of the computer, 1.25 gb of RAM, 1 CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, and 1 CD-ROM drive, standard ethernet network card, standard dial-up network card.

Sometime within I think the last year I migrated my Gateway PC to a new box. With the migration came an extra gig of RAM (making the grand total 1.25 gb), and a new power supply that was built into the box. There were never any issues before the last month or so however.

So.. basically what I think this is, is a power supply issue? Computer needs more power than the power supply is able to give, speakers pop and die, fans die and try to restart and die (aka fail), then computer freezes entirely. Then I get that CPU fan failure message from the fans dying. And the CD-ROM boot failure issue is because CD-ROM drives are high intensity on power. Am I completely right here? Am I missing anything? What I'm particularly curious about is why this is happening now after my power supply and new box have been working fine for like a year.

Please help!

dai · 06-07-2008, 09:12 PM

first suspect would be the psu
psu that come with boxes are usually low quality and we recommend buy case and psu as seperate items
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%2b550w

06-07-2008, 04:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
rocknroll714 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Windows XP Professional SP3	PC freezes after about a day, and freezes / turns off on boot Well.. this started happening only recently. In about the last month or so.. my computer has been randomly freezing. My speakers will make popping noises for about 10 seconds, I'll hear what I think are my fans dying and restarting, and then the computer will completely freeze (but stays on) and I'll have to restart it. Then when I restart it, even if it's been off for like a day, it'll just turn off. I have to retry turning it on anywhere from 2-6 times before it finally boots. Also when I put a Linux CD in my CD-ROM drive to boot from it dies much more frequently / pretty much every single time within about 2 seconds of turning on the computer. Oh, and I have to hold the power button to drain all the remaining power and then press the button again before it'll turn on. If I don't do this, when I simply press the button nothing happens. Also, sometimes after it fails, it says my CPU fan failed. Specs: Gateway model PC from 2002, Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz processor, Nvidia Geforce 5500 graphics card, built-in audio card, 40 gb hard drive, a total of 3 fans, one for the CPU, one in the back of the computer, and one in the front of the computer, 1.25 gb of RAM, 1 CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, and 1 CD-ROM drive, standard ethernet network card, standard dial-up network card. Sometime within I think the last year I migrated my Gateway PC to a new box. With the migration came an extra gig of RAM (making the grand total 1.25 gb), and a new power supply that was built into the box. There were never any issues before the last month or so however. So.. basically what I think this is, is a power supply issue? Computer needs more power than the power supply is able to give, speakers pop and die, fans die and try to restart and die (aka fail), then computer freezes entirely. Then I get that CPU fan failure message from the fans dying. And the CD-ROM boot failure issue is because CD-ROM drives are high intensity on power. Am I completely right here? Am I missing anything? What I'm particularly curious about is why this is happening now after my power supply and new box have been working fine for like a year. Please help! Last edited by rocknroll714 : 06-07-2008 at 04:43 PM.

06-07-2008, 09:12 PM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 42,106 OS: vista 32x ultimate retail	Re: PC freezes after about a day, and freezes / turns off on boot first suspect would be the psu psu that come with boxes are usually low quality and we recommend buy case and psu as seperate items http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%2b550w __________________