Windows Vista Windows Vista 64 Bit Processor Freeze

[Leo21]

Hello all.

I'm using right now a 64 bit processor, Quad Core 2.2 GHz, 6 GB RAM. My OS is Vista Home Premium Edition (x86 64-Bit).

What's happening is that at certain times, when I'm using a program, I randomly lose mouse functionality, keyboard functionality, and my monitor freezes. It does not resolve itself either and I am forced to do a manual shutdown. It's a two month old computer and on a weekly basis this happens three times every seven or so days.

Two questions:

Might anyone know what the issue is? Hardware, software? There always seems to be a trigger. Whenever I check my event viewer there is normally a compatibility problem that causes a freeze. I can tell because an "unexpected shutdown" takes place next on the list 30 seconds after said problem (30 seconds being how much I usually wait for the computer to un-freeze until I manually shut it down. Once I waited 4 or so minutes, perhaps more.) I feel it MAY be a compatibility problem, but I just don't know.

My second question is if these frequent manual shutdowns are harming my computer or data. It's brand new and I am quite fearful I'm screwing it up because of it freezing.

Thanks,
Leo

 

[kemical]

Hi Leo and welcome to the forum.

Whilst not desireable these 'hard' shutdowns, as long aren't done on a continual basis, shouldn't mess with your system too much. Running something like chkdsk with the repair bad sectors box checked should repair any damage if there is any.
There could be numerous reasons for your problem so we'll have to go through things step by step.
Firstly, are all your drivers up to date? That means everything including motherboard/chipset, graphics, sound card and so on.. Also check that your motherboard bios is the latest version
Then check your RAM. Just because the pc is relatively new doesn't mean you can't have a bad stick of RAM.
Using Memtest86+ Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool test each stick individually .

See how you go with the above and post back if you need more help or just to tell us things are now ok...

 

[Leo21]

Thanks kemical.

Ok, so I ran the memtest and no errors came up on the first pass. I'm not familiar with this program and I'm not quite sure if I ran the test on each individual stick. I booted into the DVD and it just started automatically. I could not find anywhere the option to do each individually. Did I test it wrong?

Also I wanted to ask how I can use chkdsk; I tried to run it and it's not working for me. A DOS window comes up for a split seconds and exits out.

 

[kemical]

Hi Leo,

to run memtest on each stick you have physically take the others out. It takes longer but errors can be missed if they are tested together..

The easiest way I find to run chkdsk is to right-click on your HDD and choose properties. Then click the Tools tab along the top and then hit error checking. Make sure you check the box for recovering bad sectors and then hit start. You'll then see a message saying chkdsk cannot run whilst windows is running and asks for if you want schedule a chkdsk for the next time you reboot.. Hit yes, reboot and you should be good to go. (it does take a while to run through)

Try the above concerning the RAM and please let me know how you got on...