Windows freezes randomly?

jdjv · Apr 24, 2013

About a month ago my laptop could have a game open on one screen and a dvd playing on a second screen with iTunes/internetexplorer/variouspointless stuff open in the background and everything went along nicely. Then one day everything froze and I had to hold the power button down until it turned off.
I tried to turn my laptop back off after and I got 'a disk read error occurred press ctrl + alt + del' (or something similar to that).
After a few days of searching the web for a solution, I decided my need for a laptop was more important than the replacable files so I went for a clean install.
Ide previously had windows 8 32bit installed and decided to go for 64bit to make use of the excess ram (that I didn't realize I couldn't use because of the 32bit) so I installed windows 8.
During the install I couldn't format the system partition, so I had to create another or something like that, but finally the install went through correctly.
Originally I thought everything had gone well but then windows started freezing. I oened task manager and the cpu graph showed random 100% spikes whilst disk usage remained at 100% for as long as it took for the computer to unfreeze.
I tried a second install but nothing changed.
Ive now updated all drivers, ran a host of programs, I even installed a 32bit version of windows that had horrific results(it froze whenever I opened a program) and ive spent about a week in various forums looking for a solution to which ive obviously had no luck.
I do apoligize for going on, but ive no idea what to do and you may have guessed my knowledge of this subject is pretty limited.
If anybody has any idea of what the cause is/possible solutions/if I should take the laptop for some sort of physical inspection I would vastly apprieciate your help
Jack
(small note, it didn't freeze at all whilst I was typing this, if that's of any help, thought it was odd...)

dodger46 · Apr 25, 2013

'a disk read error occurred press ctrl + alt + del' might provide a clue, possibly a hardware problem... memory or HDD being favourite culprits. Check your memory by removing one stick at a time to see if it will run without freezing. As for the HDD, I would normally recommend running chkdsk, but I suspect it will freeze before completion...can but try.
Open an elevated cmd prompt. Winkey plus X, choose Command prompt(Admin) and type chkdsk /f /r then Enter
Note spaces preceding the switch /
You won't be able to run chkdsk with Windows running, so type Y then Enter
Restart your computer to run the test.
This takes a while, worth an occasional glance to see if any errors are found, but you can view the results on completion in the Event log.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/96938-check-disk-chkdsk-read-event-viewer-log.html
Meanwhile, if it freezes too often to run chkdsk, consider running a disk check from bootable media, disk/USB flash etc.
Preferably find your disk manufacturer from Device Manager, and download software from their website, but I find Seatools for DOS works on most disks
http://www.seagate.com/support/internal-hard-drives/consumer-electronics/ld25-series/seatools-dos-master/
There is a Windows version if you think it will run long enough
http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/

jdjv · Apr 27, 2013

I ran chkdsk and whenever I booted windows it for to 27% it froze. After numerous reboots and the same problem occurring each time, including one attempt that involved leaving it for the best part of a day, I gave up and have since sent ot back to the manufacture. If you know of a common reason for it stopping at 27% I'de love to jear our of curisosity, if not thank you very much for your advice.

dodger46 · Apr 28, 2013

jdjv :

Hmm. Hope it wasn't a bad block of memory that chkdsk reached whilst up to 27%... that's where the HDD diagnostic comes in! Also you can get a bootable version of Memtest 86, might come in useful if your HDD wasn't faulty
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

sudo17 · Apr 28, 2013

We need specs to be able to help you (laptop brand/model, amount of RAM, free and maximum hard drive space, etc.) . But I still have a few ideas.

Maybe, just maybe, a virus has attacked your computer. Or you might be part of a botnet, your computer being only one zombie controlled by the zombie master's control (that person probably attacked millions of computers). If this is happening to you, disconnect from the internet completely, so the possibility that you are in a botnet can be eliminated. Get a antivirus, too, and go to an antivirus website. If you go to a website like that, and if some popup comes up something like "Access denied. Error code x0x193ih2(<--Random<--)", then you know you have a virus. It would be very obvious, for obvious reasons, that the botnet master or the virus doesn't want you to get off their control.

If that's not true, you might need to open your laptop and take a look in there. TURN YOUR COMPUTER OFF FIRST Oh, and try not to touch anything unless you have to.

Ok, so locate your CPU/processor. Is there a fan near it? On top of it? Adjacent to it? If so, watch if that fan is running, as you turn on your computer. If it is, turn your computer off, and that's good; one check of the list.

Take all of your RAM out, it's the sticks that look like this.
Now, put one stick of RAM at a time and turn your computer on. See if it freezes. If not for a while, then add another stick of RAM. Keep doing it until your computer freezes, and then the one you just placed in is the one that is corrupted, or broken.

Also check if your HDD is faulty, make it so it will start it the next time you restart your computer.

Hope it works, and tell me what happens!

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Windows freezes randomly?

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