Computer freezes randomly with low activity

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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
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10,510
Hello, I have been struggling for nearly a year with random computer freezes. I have not the most tech savy person. So I'll try my best to provide the most information I can. I replaced a faulty hard drive a year ago, and after I install it, I have had random computer freezes. The only pattern I have noticed was that it freezes more frequently when it is running on battery (high performance has still lead to freezing) The freezes are very random, sometimes it will occur daily or even more, sometimes it won't occur for weeks. I assumed for a very long time it was a temperature problem. It took me a while to get the guts to open my laptop and do a cleaning. After cleaning it, I had no improvements. I assumed my fan was faulty. So I waited to buy a new one(never bought it). After finally getting fed up with it, I decided to dig deeper and realized that the core temperature my computer runs is completely acceptable. I decided to try again and clean it yesterday. The computer fan runs well, and still no improvement. I thought it was a software error, so I install windows 8 about three months, no improvement. Ran a memtest 86 (5 passes, I had to use it, did not realize it took so darn long), and it showed no errors what so ever.

Components:
Toshiba Satellite P755-s5381
I run on Windows 8 64-bit

HDD: Seagate 500 GB
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processors
RAM 6 GB

As you can tell, I am not too experienced, I actually don't really know what information to provide. I have CPU-Z, but I don't know what information to give you and what is 'useless" information. Here is some extra things I have tried: I have updated the BIOS, i have updated my drivers, I have disabled many start up programs, I ran numerous anti virus scans, I have defrag countless times, I have checked for registry erros, and it is not a overheating problem. I am fed up with this problem, and I just cannot figure it out. Sorry if I have provided very vague information. I will be more than pleased to provide more if asked. Thank you.

 
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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
9
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10,510
Whoops, I forgot to mention that it freezes with very little activity. I could be typing on word and it will freeze, or I can be watching videos on youtube and it will freeze. The strange thing is that sometimes I will be doing some intense stuff like video games and it will not freeze.
 
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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
9
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10,510
Thank you for the quick response, on overview these were the top programs:
Chrome.exe
perfmon. exe (CPU-Z)
svchost.exe (localsystemnetworkrestricted)
system

if you prefer screenshots, just ask. Thank you again.
 
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polke45

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Feb 22, 2008
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those programs doesn't take much resources so no need for screenshot. Did you install all the necessary drivers including your chipset, video card, and audio card?

When it freezes, can you move your mouse cursor? If not, then it is most likely not software problem, but hardware issue. Try installing and updating all your drivers.
 
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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
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10,510
Yes, it will completely freeze. I need to do a hard reboot every time it freezes. I believe that I have already updated everything I can, but I will double check every time. Is there any test you recommend to check my hardware?
 
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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
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10,510
I have done memtest (albeit I only did it for 5 passes because I did not know it took so long and I needed to use it). I will try out the Prime95 test. Is there any way to test the hard drive?

Update: I just ran the primetest95, my computer crashed. I had to do a hard reset again. I am going to try to run the test in safe mode to see if it makes a difference.

Update 2: crashed during safe mode as well.
 
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polke45

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Feb 22, 2008
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18,710
if primetest95 continues to cause your computer to crash, it is most likely your cpu or mobo is bad. What message do you get in the BSOD?

You could try stresslinux, http://www.stresslinux.org/sl/, to check your computer in non-window environment to see if your hardware is bad

For hard drive,
1) Crystaldiskinfo - http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-...
2) HD Tune - http://www.hdtune.com/
 
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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
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I got no blue screen of death. It just freezes completely, mouse and everything. When I do a hard reset, it powers on like if nothing ever happened. It was the same thing when I did it in safe mode.
 
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chantodo

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Nov 24, 2013
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10,510
i was recently (as in yesterday) having a lot of trouble with my computer freezing up exactly like you have mentioned. i thought it was perhaps my motherboard but after posting on here another user directed me more towards a memory problem, i ran memtest and *VERY* shortly into it found out that i had a bad stick of RAM in my build, if you have multiple sticks of RAM try running memtest on them separately.
 
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chantodo

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Nov 24, 2013
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10,510


i'm not entirely sure there is a recommended amount, if it is in fact your memory that is causing the problem you should see some errors very fast. when i was running all my sticks for the first time it looked like this:
CA8Kw7N.jpg

so you should know pretty quickly if that is the problem.
 
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pepocho

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Nov 22, 2013
9
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10,510
Run the memtest with 7 passes on the first stick of ram and 8 for the second one. I had no errors. So I guess my ram is okay. Hmph, this is turning out to be much more difficult than I thought to figure out.
 
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