Computer Freezing

[Kathie Thomas]

Over the past week my computer has begun freezing if left unattended for a
couple of hours. It seems to go into shutdown mode - the computer is on,
but the screen black and moving the mouse does not wake anything up.

I am running WindowsXP SP2 and receive all the automatic updates. It's an
HP Pavilion a1240a with 512MB SDRAM and Intel Pent 4.

The power settings are set to 'Never' and all was ok until several days ago
when it started doing this. I have not installed any new software prior to
this happening - the only thing I can think of is if any updates on any of
the software I'm using (MS Office 2003, TrendMicro Antivirus for example)
might be causing something to happen.

The computer is fine whilst I'm using it - it's just if I go away to a
meeting or something and return that I find it's stopped operating.

Does anyone have any ideas please?

Kathie

[Ted Zieglar]

1. Look for clues in Event Viewer.
2. Spyware and viruses are always a suspect.

---
Ted Zieglar
"Backup is a computer user's best friend."

Kathie Thomas wrote:
> Over the past week my computer has begun freezing if left unattended for a
> couple of hours. It seems to go into shutdown mode - the computer is on,
> but the screen black and moving the mouse does not wake anything up.
>
> I am running WindowsXP SP2 and receive all the automatic updates. It's an
> HP Pavilion a1240a with 512MB SDRAM and Intel Pent 4.
>
> The power settings are set to 'Never' and all was ok until several days ago
> when it started doing this. I have not installed any new software prior to
> this happening - the only thing I can think of is if any updates on any of
> the software I'm using (MS Office 2003, TrendMicro Antivirus for example)
> might be causing something to happen.
>
> The computer is fine whilst I'm using it - it's just if I go away to a
> meeting or something and return that I find it's stopped operating.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas please?
>
> Kathie
>
>

[[email protected]]

Kathie Thomas wrote:
> Over the past week my computer has begun freezing if left unattended for a
> couple of hours. It seems to go into shutdown mode - the computer is on,
> but the screen black and moving the mouse does not wake anything up.
>
> I am running WindowsXP SP2 and receive all the automatic updates. It's an
> HP Pavilion a1240a with 512MB SDRAM and Intel Pent 4.
>
> The power settings are set to 'Never' and all was ok until several days ago
> when it started doing this. I have not installed any new software prior to
> this happening - the only thing I can think of is if any updates on any of
> the software I'm using (MS Office 2003, TrendMicro Antivirus for example)
> might be causing something to happen.
>
> The computer is fine whilst I'm using it - it's just if I go away to a
> meeting or something and return that I find it's stopped operating.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas please?
>
> Kathie


Open up the case, blow out all the dust, and look at the capacitors. If
any are bulging or leaking, your computer is hosed. Or at any rate, you
need a replacement MB.

[Kathie Thomas]

Thanks - I believe it is software related. I ended up doing a System
Restore back to the beginning of the month and it's now not hanging up so
I'll have to watch which software updates show up over the next few days to
see if I can find out the culprit - I don't believe it's virus or spyware
related.

Kathie


"Ted Zieglar" > wrote in message
...
> 1. Look for clues in Event Viewer.
> 2. Spyware and viruses are always a suspect.
>
> ---
> Ted Zieglar
> "Backup is a computer user's best friend."
>
> Kathie Thomas wrote:
>> Over the past week my computer has begun freezing if left unattended for
>> a couple of hours. It seems to go into shutdown mode - the computer is
>> on, but the screen black and moving the mouse does not wake anything up.
>>
>> I am running WindowsXP SP2 and receive all the automatic updates. It's
>> an HP Pavilion a1240a with 512MB SDRAM and Intel Pent 4.
>>
>> The power settings are set to 'Never' and all was ok until several days
>> ago when it started doing this. I have not installed any new software
>> prior to this happening - the only thing I can think of is if any updates
>> on any of the software I'm using (MS Office 2003, TrendMicro Antivirus
>> for example) might be causing something to happen.
>>
>> The computer is fine whilst I'm using it - it's just if I go away to a
>> meeting or something and return that I find it's stopped operating.
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas please?
>>
>> Kathie

[Ted Zieglar]

Good luck to you.

---
Ted Zieglar
"Backup is a computer user's best friend."

Kathie Thomas wrote:
> Thanks - I believe it is software related. I ended up doing a System
> Restore back to the beginning of the month and it's now not hanging up so
> I'll have to watch which software updates show up over the next few days to
> see if I can find out the culprit - I don't believe it's virus or spyware
> related.
>
> Kathie
>
>
> "Ted Zieglar" > wrote in message
> ...
>> 1. Look for clues in Event Viewer.
>> 2. Spyware and viruses are always a suspect.
>>
>> ---
>> Ted Zieglar
>> "Backup is a computer user's best friend."
>>
>> Kathie Thomas wrote:
>>> Over the past week my computer has begun freezing if left unattended for
>>> a couple of hours. It seems to go into shutdown mode - the computer is
>>> on, but the screen black and moving the mouse does not wake anything up.
>>>
>>> I am running WindowsXP SP2 and receive all the automatic updates. It's
>>> an HP Pavilion a1240a with 512MB SDRAM and Intel Pent 4.
>>>
>>> The power settings are set to 'Never' and all was ok until several days
>>> ago when it started doing this. I have not installed any new software
>>> prior to this happening - the only thing I can think of is if any updates
>>> on any of the software I'm using (MS Office 2003, TrendMicro Antivirus
>>> for example) might be causing something to happen.
>>>
>>> The computer is fine whilst I'm using it - it's just if I go away to a
>>> meeting or something and return that I find it's stopped operating.
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any ideas please?
>>>
>>> Kathie
>
>