System crashes constantly

bobberbear · Jan 6, 2014

I have an Acer AM 5811, Windows 7 Pro, 6 gigs RAM 1TB HD that has basically been a problem since day 1. It started crashing, (shutting down and re-booting), 2 or 3 times a day. Staples told me I would have to send it back to Acer for repairs and I did not want to do that. Instead I tolerated it and it progressively got worse. It now crashes right from startup.. Sometimes it doesn't get all the way through the crash & re-boot before it crashes again. It is totally useless at this time.
I was advised some time ago that it was probably a hardware problem and now I'm wondering, could it be a defective motherboard? It's only a couple of years old so I don't want to send it to the scrap heap if it's an easy fix. Should I start with replacing the motherboard or could it be something else? How do I isolate the problem so that I'm not replacing good parts? Thanks for your help!

clutchc · Jan 6, 2014

Is it still full of all the bloatware and ad-ware that came with it? It may need some 'cleaning'. Uninstall as much crap as you can, and then run CCleaner. Have it do the Clean and Registry both. You may have to run it more than one time if the system is badly messed up. Run it until it returns no errors. See if that helps any.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

bobberbear · Jan 6, 2014

clutchc :

bobberbear · Jan 6, 2014

clutchc :

There should have been nothing like that in the system. I became so frustrated with the crashes and it was suggested by Acer that the software may not have been properly installed at the mfg. point. so I erased the hard drive and loaded a new copy of Windows 7 Pro OEM. For reasons not quite clear to me, I lost my ethernet connection. So I reloaded the original backup discs and got internet but lost sound. It was nuts. I erased and replaced so many times I lost count and you know how long it takes to reload everything after dumping the HD.
So you know, I use ccleaner regularly, pretty much at the end of every day.

clutchc · Jan 6, 2014

Was the crashing gone after the clean Win7 install? If the only issue was the loss of internet connection, it was probably because you needed to load the LAN driver is all. Restoring it to factory condition with the backup disks from Acer probably put the troublesome bloatware back on the machine again. I'd suggest doing another clean Win7 install and then install the network driver for your network card.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

clutchc :

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

I changed back & forth several times between the new 7 disc and the backup discs but the problem now is that the system won't stay up long enough to load the windows 7 pro disc or any disc for that matter. It crashes now before it completes startup.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

clutchc :

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

I don't know if I sent that last answer so I'll send again. I can't load the new 7 disc because the system crashes now before it completes startup. Can't get a disc into the drive before it shuts down.

Avidgamer69 · Jan 7, 2014

I had the same issue on a new build PC that I assembled at home, first started out with BSOD's and then replaced the memory. Following that the issue was still persistent, but found the problem was that the S.M.A.R.T. status was bad for the HDD. So it could most probably be the HDD based on the constant crashing. Try installing windows using an alternative HDD.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

Avidgamer69 :

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

Thanks - I'll try that!

clutchc · Jan 7, 2014

Another thing you might want to try is to download memtest and use the .ISO file to burn a bootable CD. Then boot to that CD and let memtest run for at least one full pass on each stick of memory individually in the 1st DIMM slot. If any errors show up at all, the memory stick needs to be replaced.
http://www.memtest.org/

(Of course if youcan't get the PC to run w/o crashing, you'll have to download the memtest file from another machine)

Try to eliminate as much other stuff as possible before replacing the MB. If you have an OEM copy of Windows, its license is tied to that MB.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

clutchc :

Another thing you might want to try is to download memtest and use the .ISO file to burn a bootable CD. Then boot to that CD and let memtest run for at least one full pass on each stick of memory individually in the 1st DIMM slot. If any errors show up at all, the memory stick needs to be replaced.
http://www.memtest.org/

(Of course if youcan't get the PC to run w/o crashing, you'll have to download the memtest file from another machine)

Try to eliminate as much other stuff as possible before replacing the MB. If you have an OEM copy of Windows, its license is tied to that MB.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

Yes, I wondered about that knowing how touchy MS is about using their software in two different places. I was thinking that they also would have a record of all the problems I've been having since, with each download of the OEM disc I had to put in the product code. I don't know if they'd waive it if I told them I had to replace the MB. But you're right! I don't really want to test that unless I'm forced.

clutchc · Jan 7, 2014

bobberbear :

Chances are, you will be given a free license renewal if it comes to that. If you swap out MBs, you will probably have to re-install Windows unless the new MB is extremely close in hardware to the old one. If you can boot to Windows with the new board in place, Win7 will attempt to find drivers for the new hardware the MB contains. Then (after a re-boot and all is working well) you'd want to run something like CCleaner to clean up the registry errors that will be abundant.

With the new MB working with Win7, you will be eventually prompted to Activate again. Same as if you clean installed Win7 with the new MB. Just go ahead and follow the instructions and see if it accepts the replaced MB. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, it will direct you to an automated phone number that will ask how many PCs this copy has been installed on. Answer one, and it probably will direct you to entering a new license code. Then you're home free.

If not and you are directed to a live agent, simply explain to the person that your old MB failed and you needed to replace it. They almost always grant you an new license at least the first time.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

clutchc :

bobberbear :

Chances are, you will be given a free license renewal if it comes to that. If you swap out MBs, you will probably have to re-install Windows unless the new MB is extremely close in hardware to the old one. If you can boot to Windows with the new board in place, Win7 will attempt to find drivers for the new hardware the MB contains. Then (after a re-boot and all is working well) you'd want to run something like CCleaner to clean up the registry errors that will be abundant.

With the new MB working with Win7, you will be eventually prompted to Activate again. Same as if you clean installed Win7 with the new MB. Just go ahead and follow the instructions and see if it accepts the replaced MB. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, it will direct you to an automated phone number that will ask how many PCs this copy has been installed on. Answer one, and it probably will direct you to entering a new license code. Then you're home free.

If not and you are directed to a live agent, simply explain to the person that your old MB failed and you needed to replace it. They almost always grant you an new license at least the first time.

bobberbear · Jan 7, 2014

clutchc :

bobberbear :

Chances are, you will be given a free license renewal if it comes to that. If you swap out MBs, you will probably have to re-install Windows unless the new MB is extremely close in hardware to the old one. If you can boot to Windows with the new board in place, Win7 will attempt to find drivers for the new hardware the MB contains. Then (after a re-boot and all is working well) you'd want to run something like CCleaner to clean up the registry errors that will be abundant.

With the new MB working with Win7, you will be eventually prompted to Activate again. Same as if you clean installed Win7 with the new MB. Just go ahead and follow the instructions and see if it accepts the replaced MB. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, it will direct you to an automated phone number that will ask how many PCs this copy has been installed on. Answer one, and it probably will direct you to entering a new license code. Then you're home free.

If not and you are directed to a live agent, simply explain to the person that your old MB failed and you needed to replace it. They almost always grant you an new license at least the first time.

Thanks for all the info Clutchc. I have had a chat with the sutomated phone # once and it worked out alright. I'll try everything else before replacing the MB and let you know how things worked out.

System crashes constantly

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