Computer frequently crashes/randomly restarts.

EdTittel · 17 May 2020

Indeed @hbenthow, @margrave55 is not out of line to recommend switching over to something newer. That said, my oldest PC here at Chez Tittel is vintage 2011 (a home-built mini-ITC PC with a mobile Ivy Bridge processor in a Jetway mobo). It still runs Windows 10 1909 current build without serious issues (it is kinda slow, but my wife -- "La Jefa" aka "The Boss" -- uses it only for e-mail, web surfing, managing photos, and collecting and printing recipes (LOTS of recipes). It still works OK, though I'm getting ready to switch her over to a 2019 Gen8 (Kaby Lake) laptop, probably when 2004 goes public later this month.

Why am I doing this? Because, at 9 years old, her machine is positively ANCIENT, in computer terms. But when you start thinking about a replacement, if your budget is tight, I'd recommend looking at refurbished PCs or laptops from the big makers, or from a reputable online vendor like Newegg (check out this search, which lists refurbished i7 laptops, cheapest first: an amazing number of older i7 laptops to be had for under US$500).

HTH,
--Ed--

hbenthow · 17 May 2020

zbook said:

The software tests for the drives using HD Tune had displayed some yellow rows but testing with Crystal Disk, and HD Sentinel were fine.

For checking for any malware run:a) ESET: Free Virus Scan | Online Virus Scan from ESET | ESETb) SUERANTISPYWARE: Remove Malware & Spyware with Anti-Malware Software | SuperantispywareFor stability / instability place the computer into clean boot and report any change in performance:Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software ConflictsFor additional testing of stability / instability if there is no change using clean boot there are several hardware and one software test remaining.

I'm currently running an ESET online scan, which is taking a very long time.

I've started thinking about a possible reason for the restarts.

About a month ago, I opened my computer case to dust it out. After I closed it back up, my fan seemed noisier than before, and stayed this way for about two weeks. But in the two or three weeks since then, the opposite has been the case: the fan is extremely quiet. My computer also seems to be running more sluggishly than before.

I'm starting to wonder if the fan is malfunctioning somehow, and whether this could be the cause of my problems. I checked Speccy, but it doesn't show any information about my fan. Is there any way that I can test to find out whether there's something wrong with my fan?

margrave55 said:

I think it's time for a new computer.I generally replace a five- or six- or seven-year-old WORKING computer for something better, and faster.So I surely wouldn't tear my hair out trying to fix an eight-year-old failing computer.Treat yourself to a new one!

As I mentioned in post #28, I already have bought a new computer (a Dell 9020 with an Intel i7-4790 quad-core processor). I plan to start using it very soon, and retire my current computer.

However, I intend to transfer some files and hard drives over from my old one to my new one, and want to make sure that I'm not transferring whatever is causing my forced restarts onto my new computer.

Since I've done multiple hard drive tests, and they all show my OS drive is pristine, and my file storage drive is seemingly working within acceptable limits, my main concern now is making sure that there's no malware that I could transfer over. I would like to know exactly what is causing the forced restarts for peace of mind, but the important thing that I need to know is that I won't be introducing any problems onto my new computer.

zbook · 17 May 2020

Temperatures are indirect methods to evaluate fans.
Speed fan may display more data.

Software to stress test the hardware is another indirect method to test fans.

ESET can be ran overnight.

Read these links on Windows driver verifier:

Enable and Disable Driver Verifier in Windows 10
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-c48669e4c983

a) learn how to use the Windows Recovery Environment (RE) commands: reset and bootmode to turn off the tool

b) do not use the tool until it is communicated in the thread

hbenthow · 17 May 2020

zbook said:

Temperatures are indirect methods to evaluate fans.
Speed fan may display more data.

I've now installed and checked Speedfan. It doesn't show any direct information on the fan either.

ESET can be ran overnight.

I'm going to let it run overnight (assuming that I don't get a random restart). So far, I've run it for about 8 hours, and it looks like it will probably take at least twice that long to finish.

Read these links on Windows driver verifier:
Enable and Disable Driver Verifier in Windows 10
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-c48669e4c983

Since I won't be using this computer much longer and will be migrating to a new one, would it be better to focus on just testing those parts of this computer which could affect the new one (primarily any viruses in files at this point, as the hard drives seem to have passed the tests), and skip anything that won't be carried over to the new computer (operating system, drivers, hardware other than hard drives, etc)?

zbook · 18 May 2020

If cause and effect is to be evaluated (crashes / random restarts) then windows driver verifier can find software and hardware misbehaving drivers. For example third party software drivers.

This is not necessary if cause and effect does not need to be worked up.

hbenthow · 18 May 2020

zbook said:

If cause and effect is to be evaluated (crashes / random restarts) then windows driver verifier can find software and hardware misbehaving drivers. For example third party software drivers.
This is not necessary if cause and effect does not need to be worked up.

I wound up having to cancel the ESET scan. I had run it for about 24 hours, and it wasn't even half done yet when I needed to reboot in order to finish installing a Windows update.

I'm considering running Windows driver verifier tonight. It seems as if it would be the quickest way to find any hardware or driver issues. Would this be a good idea?

zbook · 18 May 2020

For Windows driver verifier if there are BSOD the dump files need to be collected and debugged.
If there are no BSOD then you can continue using the computer as you normally do.
Plan to troubleshoot for 48 hours modifying the customized tests up to the 19 displayed in the Microsoft link.
Once there are no longer any BSOD plan to run the tool 36 hours after the last BSOD.
If there are no longer any BSOD this will complete the use of the tool.

When available please post results from running Superantispyware.

hbenthow · 18 May 2020

SUPERAntispyware has finally finished scanning.
Here is the log file:
SUPERAntiSpyware Scan Log - 05-18-2020 - 22-09-23.log
And here is a screenshot:

Computer frequently crashes/randomly restarts.-capture.jpg

It found a large number of what it called "adware tracking cookies", which the program (as can be seen in the screenshot) described as "not harmful", meaning that they are merely a privacy concern, not actual viruses. Interestingly, these cookies were found in the folders of my rarely-used browsers (probably because I have ad-blockers in my main browsers).

zbook · 18 May 2020

This is an alternative to ESET:
Bitdefender Antivirus Free - Download Free Antivirus Software

After using the software run the uninstall tool:
How to uninstall Bitdefender from your Windows device

ESET can be tried again while in safe mode.
Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10

hbenthow · 18 May 2020

zbook said:

ESET can be tried again while in safe mode.
Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10

ESET seemed to be working correctly. It merely was taking a long time (possibly due to thoroughness). SUPERAntispyware was much faster.