Baffling compter problem

[Magellan]

hate to ask for free tech support but my Windows 7 computer has recently started freezing for several seconds at a time but never crashes it works quickly when it does work but then hangs' starts working' and hangs again I don't think it is a virus or software issue because virus scan turned up nothing and same problem occurs when in safe mode. i think its a hardware issue but what could cause this? should I just chalk it up to the motherboard and junk it?

 

[gturner]

Probably not the motherboard.

Check this and several other fixes first.

 

[feek61]

Sounds like it might be a video card issue.

 

[Magellan]

Probably not the motherboard.

Check this and several other fixes first.

Thanks! I tried the hotfix but when I install it it says it is not for my system.

feek61 -
Thanks! I had considered this but had just changed from a 4650 to a 5550 and didnt think it could be the GPU. On your advice took out the 5550 and used the integrated graphics and the problem seemed to stop. I guess now Im off to play around with drivers, or get used to watching 360p youtube

 

[Jonas Grumby]

My Windows 7 system does this occasionally. My leading theory at this point is that it's because I'm running with only 1 gigabyte of memory and I like to multi-task (especially since Task Manager shows 90%-plus memory usage whenever it happens).

YMMV.

 

[USS Triumphant]

feek61 -
Thanks! I had considered this but had just changed from a 4650 to a 5550 and didnt think it could be the GPU. On your advice took out the 5550 and used the integrated graphics and the problem seemed to stop. I guess now Im off to play around with drivers, or get used to watching 360p youtube

It might just be a defective card right out of the box - I've seen that PLENTY of times - so it might be worth taking it back where you got it from for a swap if possible.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

have you tried to look what programme is using so much CPU?
click ctrl+alt+del to open the task manager and then select the second table (I am not quite sure what it's labelled in an English Win7 version - possibly something like "Processes" - I use a different language).
There you get a list of all programmes that currently are running and how many % of your CPU they currently use. That should show you the culprit.

If it doesn't, go to the next table which will display a more detailled list where you can see all subroutines and sub-programmes that are atm running. It's a very long list, I'm afraid. It only lists programmes as active or closed. Have a look at the active ones and see which of them sound suspiciousely unfamiliar. Note the names down and go online to check if these are official programmes and supposed to run or not.

 

[Australis]

What Rhuba said. The Processes tab can be sorted by CPU or Mem Usage

And check your version of Java, that's been a thing lately, well, at least here.

 

[Brolan]

Defrag your hard drive lately? Also download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and let it scan your machine. Yup, I know you have anti-virus but it may not be working.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

good points.
I really should defrag my own harddrives as well. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[kNkg]

^Remember that's only relevant if you don't have a SSD (defragging that is).