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Desktops: Five year old Dell Dimension 8300 - Freezing
Five year old Dell Dimension 8300 - Freezing
by lloydg - 10/17/09 6:31 AMI own what has been a relatively trouble free Dell Dimension 8300 with an Intel 3.4Ghz processor and Intel 2Gb memory. Am running Windows XP Prof.
Lately, just about once or twice a day, when I leave the workstation idle, it freezes. Sometimes with a black screen and other times with programs open. The only way to get it going again is to hold the power button until it shuts down and then restart.
Any idea what might be causing this after 5 years of ownership. Purchased it in Feb of 2004 and use it almost daily for many hours. I've done routine maintenance of disk defrag at least every month. I also use a fine tune application that has checked for registry problems and shortcuts to nowhere, etc. Generally I run that every month as well. Sometimes it finds quite a few issues and other times very little, most of which are tracking cookies and the like. Ocassional registry issues if I've uninstalled programs. And, I've not installed anything new in quite some time with the exception of a new printer from Kodak. Problem existed before that though.
Thanks.
Same as my own system
by MarkFlax
- 10/17/09 6:36 AM
In reply to: Five year old Dell Dimension 8300 - Freezing by lloydg
I am on a Vista setup now, but my trusty Dell Dimension 8300 with XP Pro still works. 
When was the last time you did some housekeeping, inside the case?
Dust build up can be a real problem for circuit boards and electrical systems. This video will step you through that;
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11319_7-6240575-1.html
Of course, after 5 years, components may begin to fail, so it is good tobe prepared for that, and make sure all of your important fies are backed up.
Mark
Has been about 6 months since I've cleaned it
by lloydg - 10/17/09 7:00 AM In reply to: Same as my own system by MarkFlax
About 6 months ago the BIOS battery died. When I replaced it I did a thorough cleaning to get all the dust out of there. Could not doing this cause freezing?
Hmm, I wouldn't have thought so.
by MarkFlax - 10/18/09 3:17 AM
In reply to: Has been about 6 months since I've cleaned it by lloydg
But it won't do any harm to have a look inside, see if all the fans are working, and also look for any "Bad Caps", blown or bulging capacitors;
http://attachments.techguy.org/attachments/146303d1234489295/badcaps-tayeh-4.jpg - Bad or blown capacitor.
http://attachments.techguy.org/attachments/146302d1234489282/badcaps-choyo.jpg - leaking capacitor.
The next time this happens, have a look at the Event Viewer, (Start > Run, type in eventvwr.msc and click OK) for both Application and System errors for around that time. It might hold some clues for faulting applications or system files.
The other thing is, what do you mean by leaving it idle? Does the PC go into Standby or Hibernate mode, or does a screen-saver kick in? If Standby or Hibernate, try disabling those. If screen-saver, try a different one, or none. If you have an LCD monitor, not using a screen-saver doesn't matter, compared to a CRT monitor.
Any other clues you can give, eg does this only happen when the machine is idle? Or does it happen at other times as well? How long is it left idle for?
Mark
Define Idle
by lloydg - 10/18/09 7:37 AM In reply to: Hmm, I wouldn't have thought so. by MarkFlax
The workstation does not go into standby or hibernate. However, the power management is set to turn off hard drives after 1 hour but to leave the monitor on and no standby or hibernate. Perhaps I should set the turn off hard drives to never?
When I say "idle", it's that I've not touched / used the computer for a period of time...inactivity. It does not freeze while being used. Sometimes it seems like it can happen after only a short time of inactivity and other times it can be a relatively long interval (hours).
That's me stumped.
by MarkFlax - 10/18/09 11:13 AM
In reply to: Define Idle by lloydg
Getting too technical for me.
If the hard drives fail to power back up, then that sounds like a hardware or electrical problem, but then again, it could be software, the OS or disk controller(s) not calling the disk(s) back up again. I don't know, so it would be dangerous for me to carry on guessing.
I have never used the 'turn off' hard drives option, and neither the Standby nor Hibernate options. If I intend to leave the computer for any length of time, an hour or more, I will shut it down completely, otherwise I just let it sit there quietly humming away to me.
It doesn't hum to me! That's just an expression.
See if there are any relevant entries in the Event Viewer, and because of its age, I would, perhaps, start thinking about backup, and even further, a possible replacement. You never know, but it is good to be prepared.
Mark
About the clue.
by R. Proffitt - 10/18/09 11:39 AM
In reply to: Five year old Dell Dimension 8300 - Freezing by lloydg
The clue might be that idle. When I see a machine like this I consider heading to the power control panel and setting everything to "never."
Same for any screen saver.
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