computer troubles

okay for some reason my computer keeps randomly freezing (requiring forced shutdown) or it flickers with blue screen for a mili second then crashes and i have no idea why, i have tried defraging, antvirus and others to no avail and reason i say random is because sometimes it runs for hours fine and others when you start up it runsss very very slow and even the smallest things like opening control panel take 5 mins for it to do. any techies have any idea what could cause this?

 

Random shutdowns and lockups : Overheating Hardware (Possibly)


First, unplug PC from mains supply !

Take your PC apart (well case cover anyway) so you can see the internal workings
Look at vents around the Power supply and make sure they are not blocked up with fluff (Paint brush works to brush it off if it is)
DON'T Poke around INSIDE YOUR POWER SUPPLY ! Even if it's OFF and unplugged IT STILL HAS POWER !! Just clean vents !

Clean all the fans including your heatsinks with a small paintbrush and a can of compressed air to blow dust away.
You will usually need to remove the CPU fan from heatsink to clear the hamster nest that builds there!
Clean fans and make sure they are working normally. Easy way to clean fans is to attack them with paintbrush !

Remember Graphics card usually has a fan too, use CANNED compressed air to clean it. Not the one used to pump to car tyres !!
If Graphics Card is overheating it will weird your PC out! slow downs and graphics errors on screen not good !

My partners PC overheats quite a lot, and needs to be cleaned out at least every 6 months (Dusty area!)

Also, if you have on-board graphics support on your motherboard, try removing your Graphics card and booting on the on-board hardware. See if it crashes still. If so, maybe GC is on way out...

Hope this helps you
and please BE CAREFUL !

ZX81v2