Computer Freezes Randomly for a Minute or Two

TheSkies

Honorable
Sep 7, 2013
7
0
10,510
I've seen other similar issues, and it has been either a hard drive problem or a memory stick issue. Anyway, my computer runs great, though I do think it's been much slower lately when booting up and opening programs. However, it'll be running fine and all of a sudden when browsing on Chrome new tabs won't load, windows won't refresh, it acts as if it's thinking without an internet connection. However, I'll then pull up a program like Word, Skype, or Steam and have them completely freeze on me also. This lasts for about a minute, sometimes two, and then everything will snap out of it and load again. I've never had this issue while playing a game, but it happens all the time while doing random work on the computer such as browsing the internet and communicating on Skype.

Is this a hard drive issue? It's very old. Instead of buying a new hard drive when I built the current PC it's on, i'm using the hard drive from an older computer. Maybe 5 years old now.

I would also like to mention that my processor seems to be working a lot harder than normal. I've been hearing the fans a lot more than normal lately. Normal processor temps have been at about 40C, with them getting upwards of 60C when playing games. They don't come close to reach 60C when doing random things.

I appreciate any help you can offer! Thank you!
 
Solution
Your hard drive, being old, may have reached the end of its useful life. During hangs, is the hard drive light on? There could be a bad area in the Windows swap file.
Short term, temporarily delete the Windows swap file (some applications won't like that), then defrag your hard drive, then re-create the Windows swap file.
Before it fails complete, taking your data with it, I'd get another hard drive and then use something like Acronis True Image (has worked well for me) to clone the old drive onto the new. Remove the old drive and store it as a backup, and set the new drive as your boot drive.
G

Guest

Guest
Its usually a hard drive issue. I had similar issues as you, and it was my HD about to die.

Get a hard drive testing utility (your HD manufacturer will have one if you google) and run the full test to verify your HD is still good.
 
Your hard drive, being old, may have reached the end of its useful life. During hangs, is the hard drive light on? There could be a bad area in the Windows swap file.
Short term, temporarily delete the Windows swap file (some applications won't like that), then defrag your hard drive, then re-create the Windows swap file.
Before it fails complete, taking your data with it, I'd get another hard drive and then use something like Acronis True Image (has worked well for me) to clone the old drive onto the new. Remove the old drive and store it as a backup, and set the new drive as your boot drive.
 
Solution