I need pc help--please don't shoot me, hear me out

stroszekstroszek
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I am at my parents house, i have been setting up their new dsl and email accounts for them. They use a pc. I know that this isn't a pc message board, but i know some of you use pcs. please don't tell me i should just get a mac because i have one and they aren't going to be buying a new computer anytime soon. okay? okay.



Sometimes the pc freezes up and then restarts. I'm pretty sure that this isn't normal. At first I thought it was a problem with the power supply or something, but that wouldn't explain why it freezes up for 30-60 seconds. I'm not doing anything hard core when it does it either. Just using IE and AIM. sometimes only IE, sometimes only AIM.



Does anyone have any ideas what might be wrong? Any help would be appreciated.



BTW, I can't wait until I get home to my mac

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    patchoulipatchouli Posts: 402member
    You must list what their specs are and what OS they are running.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    personally i'd do a massive round of OS updates then see what happens. otherwise make sure something like realplayer startcenter isn't running, that causes all sorts of shit fits.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    cerberocerbero Posts: 10member
    If you've ruled out software problems.. If they've had the computer for a long time, you might wanna look at the fans. They can clog with dust and prevent air-flow if the computer is on the floor or in a cramped envoironment, which naturally causes the processor to overheat and freeze/reboot.

    Check it out, worth a shot
  • Reply 4 of 9
    xionjaxionja Posts: 504member
    Win 98 has problems with DSL, and Cable, really it can't deal with anything but a 56k modem, at least not mine You could upgrade them to xp, thats what i did. Other wise just do the winupdate get everything refreshed.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    stroszekstroszek Posts: 801member
    [quote]Originally posted by xionja:

    <strong>Win 98 has problems with DSL, and Cable, really it can't deal with anything but a 56k modem, at least not mine You could upgrade them to xp, thats what i did. Other wise just do the winupdate get everything refreshed.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Sorry for asking a stupid question, but wht the hell is winupdate? Using their computer when I am visiting is the only time I ever use PCs. Please excuse my ignorance.
  • Reply 6 of 9
    xionjaxionja Posts: 504member
    Windows Update is a program that connects to the internet(might be a problem with your dsl)and automaticly downloads and installs, new drivers, patches, security updates, ect. . .
  • Reply 7 of 9
    stroszekstroszek Posts: 801member
    [quote]Originally posted by Cerbero:

    <strong>If you've ruled out software problems.. If they've had the computer for a long time, you might wanna look at the fans. They can clog with dust and prevent air-flow if the computer is on the floor or in a cramped envoironment, which naturally causes the processor to overheat and freeze/reboot.

    Check it out, worth a shot </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I tried to take a look at that, and I opened the bitch on up, and for the life of me, I cannot find a fan in there. I can feel a little bit of air blowing out of the back of the power supply, but that's it. Is this normal? It's some sort of Gateway machine runningn Win98, looks like it has 64MB of RAM, and that's about all I can tell. According to by brother, it has been doing this for a while, so I don't think it's the DSL per se. The had Roadrunner before this until they moved. THanks for all the advice so far, i appreciate it. But i would apreciate it more if the damn thing would work (and if this keyboard reacted like mine does )
  • Reply 8 of 9
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    That actually sounds like a problem one of my teachers had, and they fixed it by updating the computer's BIOS. It's tricky and every manufacture has a different procedure. Make sure you have the right BIOS for your computer and read the instructions! You can damage your computer and it will never work again. I know.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    I used pcs for 10 years (and never again)



    With mine win 98 could not support pcmcia.

    win millennium did not read the stupid winmodem (internal one in the laptop..) and that still gives me headache cos i took away windows and use the pc now with redhat linux 7.3 ... the only thing that's so far dead is modem.



    My suggestion :



    format it.

    then install windows millennium and pray it works.



    if doesn't.. format again and again... it's windows!!



    then maybe with the dsl modem it could work with linux... at least it's more stabile ...



    PS. if u want to be more specific with the problem i could find some reasons???

    (u'll find the formmail to me in my site..)



    good luck with the pc...
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