PC going bad?

Comments

• laxie Member RarePosts: 1,118

  December 2017

  I reinstall Windows every two years or so. Have you done that recently?
  
  It collects a lot of clutter. Looking at task manager, you can see the total number of programs running in the background. This can be well over a hundred in my case (compared to like 40-50 after a fresh install) - from odd drivers, to keyboard utilities and various supportive things left by games I don't play. When the PC starts slowing down, a fresh install usually fixes most issues.
  
  The other easy thing you can do is check temperatures. The CPU could be overheating, although in that case you'd be experiencing issues mainly when playing games. I like this thing to measure temps: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
  
  Could also be a power supply issue if its restarting and disconnecting stuff. I know little about diagnosing that personally.
  
  If you're running Windows 10, you can download the installer online, no need for an optical drive.
  
• Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000

  December 2017

  Check connections and make sure none have worked themselves slightly loose over time.  

  "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey
• Janders Member UncommonPosts: 87

  December 2017 edited December 2017

  laxie said:

  I reinstall Windows every two years or so. Have you done that recently?
  
  It collects a lot of clutter. Looking at task manager, you can see the total number of programs running in the background. This can be well over a hundred in my case (compared to like 40-50 after a fresh install) - from odd drivers, to keyboard utilities and various supportive things left by games I don't play. When the PC starts slowing down, a fresh install usually fixes most issues.
  
  The other easy thing you can do is check temperatures. The CPU could be overheating, although in that case you'd be experiencing issues mainly when playing games. I like this thing to measure temps: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
  
  Could also be a power supply issue if its restarting and disconnecting stuff. I know little about diagnosing that personally.
  
  If you're running Windows 10, you can download the installer online, no need for an optical drive.
  

  I can't reinstall Windows, I've downloaded the thing from Microsoft to do it, but it errors saying something is missing I think, can't remember. Also PSU was replaced recently, old one started to fail, wouldn't shut down all the way.
  
  Thank you for the suggestions though. 
• Ridelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383

  December 2017

  Here's what I would start with:
  
  Take the entire computer apart. Clean it out really good. Put it back together.
  
  That attempts to solve a few issues.
  
  It could just be some wires have worked loose (they do that because they heat up/cool down, and that expansion/contraction can eventually wiggle them loose).
  
  It could be a build up of dust/dirt, and a good deep cleaning can't hurt anything.
  
  It could be a screw or something is lodged in there somewhere causing problems (don't brush this off, I've seen it more than once, usually rolled up underneath the motherboard).
  
  If you still have problems past that, then the clean windows installation isn't a bad idea (I know it's a PITA and can take some time if you aren't all set up with backups, but it doesn't cost any money).
  
  Past that, your looking for hardware issues. Usually best way to find those is to remove everything that isn't absolutely needed to start up (PSU, CPU, motherboard with IGP video, 1 stick of RAM, keyboard/mouse), see if that even works, then add things back in one at a time until you find the culprit. If it doesn't work even with that bare bones setup, then your looking at the difficult problems.

  
• Renoaku Member EpicPosts: 3,157

  December 2017

  Janders said:

  laxie said:

  I reinstall Windows every two years or so. Have you done that recently?
  
  It collects a lot of clutter. Looking at task manager, you can see the total number of programs running in the background. This can be well over a hundred in my case (compared to like 40-50 after a fresh install) - from odd drivers, to keyboard utilities and various supportive things left by games I don't play. When the PC starts slowing down, a fresh install usually fixes most issues.
  
  The other easy thing you can do is check temperatures. The CPU could be overheating, although in that case you'd be experiencing issues mainly when playing games. I like this thing to measure temps: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
  
  Could also be a power supply issue if its restarting and disconnecting stuff. I know little about diagnosing that personally.
  
  If you're running Windows 10, you can download the installer online, no need for an optical drive.
  

  I can't reinstall Windows, I've downloaded the thing from Microsoft to do it, but it errors saying something is missing I think, can't remember. Also PSU was replaced recently, old one started to fail, wouldn't shut down all the way.
  
  Thank you for the suggestions though. 

  CMD SFC/scannow
  
  Download Crystal Disk Info, check the drives for failure?
  
  Reinstalling windows? Well this is something I rarely have to do but then I don't get corruption on my PC often because I keep everything cleaned, and know every task running in the background, obviously if your one of those people who just install programs like Bonzi Buddy and gets all these adware things yeah there is likely a problem there, but that said (Sure try a reinstall if you like) or better yet it's 100x easier just swap the drive for another clean OS before wiping what you got and see how it works if it works fine for awhile, then wipe your main drive put it back in
  
  System Restore, could be an option if it starts giving errors hit this up before waiting too long?
  
  Windows 10 right?
  
  https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image
  
  Could be the hardware but always check OS Corruption first, if you're like me then when you first install all the basic software required for your PC and drivers you should have a swappable drive bay shouldn't take any more than 60 seconds to get the pc back up in the event of a main drive failure all data should be on other drives, only main OS and required files on the primary drive.
  
  
  
• Janders Member UncommonPosts: 87

  December 2017

  Ridelynn said:

  Here's what I would start with:
  
  Take the entire computer apart. Clean it out really good. Put it back together.
  
  That attempts to solve a few issues.
  
  It could just be some wires have worked loose (they do that because they heat up/cool down, and that expansion/contraction can eventually wiggle them loose).
  
  It could be a build up of dust/dirt, and a good deep cleaning can't hurt anything.
  
  It could be a screw or something is lodged in there somewhere causing problems (don't brush this off, I've seen it more than once, usually rolled up underneath the motherboard).
  
  If you still have problems past that, then the clean windows installation isn't a bad idea (I know it's a PITA and can take some time if you aren't all set up with backups, but it doesn't cost any money).
  
  Past that, your looking for hardware issues. Usually best way to find those is to remove everything that isn't absolutely needed to start up (PSU, CPU, motherboard with IGP video, 1 stick of RAM, keyboard/mouse), see if that even works, then add things back in one at a time until you find the culprit. If it doesn't work even with that bare bones setup, then your looking at the difficult problems.

  Thank you, I'm going to take it apart tomorrow. Hopefully that does it!
• Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000

  December 2017 edited December 2017

  Renoaku said:

  Janders said:

  laxie said:

  I reinstall Windows every two years or so. Have you done that recently?
  
  It collects a lot of clutter. Looking at task manager, you can see the total number of programs running in the background. This can be well over a hundred in my case (compared to like 40-50 after a fresh install) - from odd drivers, to keyboard utilities and various supportive things left by games I don't play. When the PC starts slowing down, a fresh install usually fixes most issues.
  
  The other easy thing you can do is check temperatures. The CPU could be overheating, although in that case you'd be experiencing issues mainly when playing games. I like this thing to measure temps: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
  
  Could also be a power supply issue if its restarting and disconnecting stuff. I know little about diagnosing that personally.
  
  If you're running Windows 10, you can download the installer online, no need for an optical drive.
  

  I can't reinstall Windows, I've downloaded the thing from Microsoft to do it, but it errors saying something is missing I think, can't remember. Also PSU was replaced recently, old one started to fail, wouldn't shut down all the way.
  
  Thank you for the suggestions though. 

  CMD SFC/scannow
  
  Download Crystal Disk Info, check the drives for failure?
  
  Reinstalling windows? Well this is something I rarely have to do but then I don't get corruption on my PC often because I keep everything cleaned, and know every task running in the background, obviously if your one of those people who just install programs like Bonzi Buddy and gets all these adware things yeah there is likely a problem there, but that said (Sure try a reinstall if you like) or better yet it's 100x easier just swap the drive for another clean OS before wiping what you got and see how it works if it works fine for awhile, then wipe your main drive put it back in
  
  System Restore, could be an option if it starts giving errors hit this up before waiting too long?
  
  Windows 10 right?
  
  https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image
  
  Could be the hardware but always check OS Corruption first, if you're like me then when you first install all the basic software required for your PC and drivers you should have a swappable drive bay shouldn't take any more than 60 seconds to get the pc back up in the event of a main drive failure all data should be on other drives, only main OS and required files on the primary drive.
  
  
  

  I learned a long time ago that reinstalling windows seldom fixes the problem.  If it is a hardware problem it will still be there.  If it's compatibility problem then system restore is usually worth a try.  Just running in safe mode can let you know if it's a driver issue or even malware problem.

  "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey
• Renoaku Member EpicPosts: 3,157

  December 2017 edited December 2017

  Octagon7711 said:

  I learned a long time ago that reinstalling windows seldom fixes the problem.  If it is a hardware problem it will still be there.  If it's compatibility problem then system restore is usually worth a try.  Just running in safe mode can let you know if it's a driver issue or even malware problem.

  Yeah, I've had some windows updates cause problems I just do a system restore reinstall and it's fixed not sure why but yeah.
  
  And it's hard to believe some people don't take care of their pc I mean owning a Obsidian 940D myself 14 case fans, I clean and check the whole system every 6 months at least, keyboard & Mouse gets cleaned every year at least like taken apart and cleaned properly I take off every key and clean the whole thing.
  
  Most problems I run into are usually always software related, bad game design, or of course the issue with the windows 10 scroll being slow in some online games unless using Logitech free spin no one seems to have an answer for that like I checked mouse settings, not that seems to be another issue.
• Janders Member UncommonPosts: 87

  December 2017

  Thanks for the help! I just finished taking it apart and cleaning it. Seems to be working as it should. If it goes crazy again, I'll be trying a fresh windows install next.