Well, here's a quick guide to help you investigate the issue and possibly resolve the problem:
1. Do you recall any changes on your computer (software or Windows OS related), between the time it was running smoothly , right until the time you started experiencing these freezes?
If you do, try undoing whatever changes you have made, to see if your computer starts working normally again.
Don't remember the changes you've made? No problem. Try using the Windows System Restore utility to restore your computer to a point in time, when you didn't experience these problems.
2. Did you start experiencing this problem after you added or upgraded some hardware component(s) in your computer?
If YES, try removing the hardware, undoing the changes, restart your computer and check to see if your computer is functioning normally again.
3. Check for overheating (high temperatures) of hardware components like the CPU or video card
Use a temperature monitoring utility program (Suggestions: HWMonitor, SpeedFan, RealTemp) to determine the temperatures throughout the system, so you can take necessary action.
How to lower temperatures:
- Clean out excessive dust from your computer and hardware components (use compressed air cans)
- Improve the cooling setup within your PC case (better ventilation for the case, additional cooling fans, better HSF for CPU and GPU)
4. High CPU or Memory consumption by a program or service in Windows
Press the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keys in quick succession to bring up the Task Manager, select the Processes tab, look for known and unknown programs indicating max. CPU & Memory usage when it freezes. Unknown programs can be immediately shutdown, by selecting the process from the list and clicking on End Process.
With the Task Manager window open, you can also browser through the other tabs to take a look at other real-time statistics and understand what's currently happening on your computer.
5. Check for Warnings or Errors that occur during the freezes:
Click on Start > Run or Type in > eventvwr.msc > ENTER key
This should bring up the Event Viewer. Now use this utility to look for events that might have occurred and note down the details of the errors and its sources.
Never used the Event Viewer before? No problem! Here are some guides for reference:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427
http://unlockforus.blogspot.com/2010/02/event-viewer-in-windows-7-and-vista.html
http://www.rawcomputing.co.uk/windows7/win7tips66.html
Once you have made a note of the events and corresponding errors, it's time to use Google to look up explanations and solutions for it.
If you have followed all the above steps carefully, chances are you have already resolved the problem or close to success!
Good luck!
Reggie
