Frightening PC Problem, Not Sure What Caused it

**Trajan** · December 09, 2006, 08:08 PM

Yesterday, as I was downloading a file, the screen froze completely and the hard drive LED light was on, never going away, as if it was doing something but the hard drive sounded like it was idle. I couldn't move the mouse pointer, shut down or restart the computer, nothing. Another thing I noticed is that the Ethernet LED indicator on my DSL modem went off as if the computer was turned off. My only choice was to switch off the computer. After waiting a few seconds, I turned the computer back on and the same problem happened when it was booting up. Now, I was really worried.

After letting the computer rest for an hour, I turned the computer back on and everything went well. I did a disk check, disk cleanup, defragged my computer, scanned for viruses, and a few other little things. The computer ran well so I turned it off after awhile. Do you know what was causing it? Is it my hard drive?

**freekyjason** · December 09, 2006, 08:52 PM

sounds like an overheating problem, unless maybe you have a short in the case somewhere, and believe me thats some scary ****

i had to take mine in to get fixed when i had a similar issue, but mine just would not boot at all, every time in the boot process when my harddrive engaged it shorted, freezing everything.

cost me a packet for them to identify it, and the replacement costs. but only had it once. dust = baaaaad.

but your issue sounds closer to an overheating problem. maybe the harddrive is getting too hot, there are some tools to check hd temps, and give you recommended temps around. dont know how reliable they are, but there are some good ones.

**Spiff** · December 09, 2006, 09:09 PM

How old is your PC, or harddrive for that matter? First thing to check i suppose is if all power connections are securely fitted. have you changed any other hardware recently?

**imthefrgt10** · December 09, 2006, 09:11 PM

its more than likely an overeating problem, i suggest cleaning the dust outta your computer, lol

**Spiff** · December 09, 2006, 09:17 PM

I dont think an overheating problem is likely to manifest itself on boot up if its caused by simple dust, it would need to be like a CPU fan which has died or something like that - but then if that was the case it wouldn't then run fine later on. It could be overheating, but to me it sounds like a hard-drive or PSU type problem.

**Vanquisher** · December 09, 2006, 09:17 PM

Sounds like a processor overheat to me.

**Incinerate_IV** · December 10, 2006, 12:30 AM

Might just be an overheating problem. You should try to get a can of compressed air and blow all the dust off of your motherboard/CPU heatsink.

Or your hard drive might just be failing, but since you said it boots up normal now that's a little unlikely. But do back up some important files just in case.

**Aristocrat** · December 10, 2006, 04:06 PM

If it happens again when you are just booting up it isn't a heating problem, but more likely a dying motherboard or PSU.

However, considering it only happened on boot immediately after it initially happened, then I'd say you have a heat issue.

**imthefrgt10** · December 10, 2006, 04:09 PM

thank you aristicat!!! finally some1 who is reading his post too! ide actually take everhthing out of your computer except the motherboard and use an air can to get it all out and to make sure nothing gets caught anywhere in the case

**Trajan** · December 11, 2006, 05:13 PM

Thanks guys for all your help. So far, everything is back to normal. The last time I experienced this problem was 2 days ago when I playing M2TW and ever since then, the computer has been running great. For now, I have my case open for better ventilation and I'm occasionally blowing out dust with an air can. Hopefully everything continues to go well.