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Why does my computer freeze / lock up?

Why does my computer freeze / lock up?

Why does my computer freeze /lock up?

When a computer freezes up you don’t have many options you can press CTRL + ALT + DEL and End Task the program or you can press the power button on the computer and attempt to restart the computer.

There are many ways reasons why your computer could be locking up which is why diagnosing it is tough to do. If it is just a freeze, not much you can do but troubleshoot it, if it freezes then goes a blue screen then it can diagnose it better.

I don’t recommend that everyone try these steps, some of them can cause more problems then fix things but to show you the complexity involved and if you wish contact me and I can come out to you and diagnose your problem.

Hardware

I’ve seen cases where people assume their computer is froze but the wireless keyboard and/or mouse may just need the batteries replaced.

Some options to try

  1. Have you added anything to the computer? Try unplugging it.
  2. Some computers have a diagnostic option when starting up, try running that.
  3. Make sure there are no conflicts in Device Manager.
  4. Remove any hardware you can such as network, sound card or other
  5. Test your memory / Ram
  6. Run a check disk / download run Crystal disk info and see if the hard drive is healthy.

Software

It is possible Windows itself is seriously corrupt.  You can try running sfc /scannow in a command prompt which looks for corrupt files in Windows and repairs them. As a last case option you can backup your data and reinstall Windows.

Is the computer locking up when you open a certain program?

  1. Try reinstalling the program.
  2. Check for malware, adware and rootkits.
  3. Check and install updates

Drivers

Have you installed new drivers or an updated drivers, sometimes updates can cause more problems then they fix. Try uninstalling that driver and trying an older one or vise versa try an updated driver.

Overheating

I’ve seen many cases where locks up where caused by overheating processors, or video card. In these cases make sure the computer has good air flow, maybe put a fan on it. Use can air and blow out the vents and heatsinks. For laptops use a cooling pad.

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It is possible after reinstalling Windows, that the computer still freezes or turns off  or restarts by itself then you most likely have faulty hardware, RAM / Memory, CPU, Motherboard or Power Supply.