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Odd computer behaviour

weltweit

weltweit

Well-Known Member
So last night when I was in U75 and Twitter my computer suddenly beeped, the screen went dark (into standby) and I couldn't shut it down with the power switch it seemed frozen.

I unplugged it to make it stop and then on restart my background image had changed.

It restarted ok but then after restoring my edge previous webpages it crashed again.

I found that someone was using a new high power oven downstairs and wondered if the oven was causing spikes in the supply which might have caused my computer to malfunction.

Then I also wondered if my PC had simply over heated, when I am running Twitter the fan comes on and the computer seems to be labouring. I think every time it has crashed (probably 6 times now) I have been on twitter.

Once on restart it briefly displayed an "automatic repair" message but that was only for a moment.

Crashed again once this morning and again I was on Twitter.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
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What do your logs say? You don't say what version of windows you are using but Im gonna guess 10. Check here. How to use Event Viewer on Windows 10

Look for system events that occured about the time of the crash.
Probsbly something like "Microsoft edge has consumed all possible memory resources because of the background telematry data of literally everything you are doing is being sent to Bill Gates spank bank"
 
Thanks Boris Sprinkler that is a new thing for me.

It says that I had a Kernel power event a few times yesterday and this morning, Event ID 41 task category 63 - I am now browsing Microsoft to see if they will tell me what it means..
 
Another slightly more user friendly tool is Reliability Monitor which can be good for finding things like this. It's built into Windows.

If your concerned about temps you can install core temp which will sit in the sys tray and show you how warm you CPU is. It seems unlikely that Twitter is causing it to over heat though.
 
UnderOpenSky said:
Another slightly more user friendly tool is Reliability Monitor which can be good for finding things like this. It's built into Windows.

If your concerned about temps you can install core temp which will sit in the sys tray and show you how warm you CPU is. It seems unlikely that Twitter is causing it to over heat though.
Click to expand...
Thanks UAOS I will have a look at this this afternoon.

The CPU fan seems to come on when I am on Twitter, seems strange but just seems like it is working harder. Quite an old PC.
 
I think the power kernel failure multiple times suggests it could be electrical spikes from the new oven.
 
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UnderOpenSky said:
Another slightly more user friendly tool is Reliability Monitor which can be good for finding things like this. It's built into Windows.
Click to expand...
I just had another crash, was in Twitter and reliability monitor said Edge stopped working and then when I had pulled the plug it said that windows was not properly shut down.

Perhaps it is Edge that has issues with Twitter.
I deleted cookies and history in the hope that might un-muddle things.
 
It just crashed while downloading an update, it doesn't like that :(

I am running a full AV scan, it has 3 hours to go. Edit now it has 4 hours to go wtf

Found out why I can't update to Win 11, not enough RAM (3 gig) and processor isn't compatible.
This PC is 12 years old. Has served me well for that time. But ..
 
weltweit said:
I just had another crash, was in Twitter and reliability monitor said Edge stopped working and then when I had pulled the plug it said that windows was not properly shut down.

Perhaps it is Edge that has issues with Twitter.
I deleted cookies and history in the hope that might un-muddle things.
Click to expand...

It's really nuclear and maybe a bit old skool, but at this point I'd wipe windows and have a fresh enviroment. It might be hardware failure or might some weird thing going on you windows. but a wipe will eliminate one of them.

If it feels like a lot of work, it is, but I think that if you can't wipe your PC and have it back up and running in less then hour, then you need to look at your backups and recovery. I also need to get mine better.
 
weltweit said:
It just crashed while downloading an update, it doesn't like that :(

I am running a full AV scan, it has 3 hours to go.

Found out why I can't update to Win 11, not enough RAM (3 gig) and processor isn't compatible.
This PC is 12 years old. Has served me well for that time. But ..
Click to expand...

Ah. Maybe time for a new one for you sanity? There's some amazing deals to be had on eBay for 4 year old machines that would be way better then what I guess your running?
 
UnderOpenSky said:
It's really nuclear and maybe a bit old skool, but at this point I'd wipe windows and have a fresh enviroment. It might be hardware failure or might some weird thing going on you windows. but a wipe will eliminate one of them.

If it feels like a lot of work, it is, but I think that if you can't wipe your PC and have it back up and running in less then hour, then you need to look at your backups and recovery. I also need to get mine better.
Click to expand...
I haven't ever done a wipe and reinstall.

What does it involve?
 
FFS now the scan time has increased to 5 hours ..

I think I might scrap that - leave it for later to run overnight - just do a quick scan now ..
 
More oddness.

I just did a quick scan, tried and failed to install an update that seems to be corrupted, shut the computer down and restarted and the startup image has reverted to the one I always used to have. I mentioned above thread that this image had changed after the first of my problems. Seems odd.
 
weltweit said:
I haven't ever done a wipe and reinstall.

What does it involve?
Click to expand...

The more you post the more I think a clean install of windows would be great to islote problems. If they persist then it's something else, but on am old PC it will have other benefits.

Make sure your backups are in order and hit windows key and type wipe. Let it erase everything and set your environment up again. It will reinstall windows.
 
I am not sure I want to a reinstall UnderOpenSky.

It sounds very significant and I would probably have to start from scratch with all the updates.

I just solved my current updates problem with some code in command prompt and the large .net update that had crashed is now properly installed. Everything seems to be working now - I just have to see if Twitter can crash my Edge browser again. If not then I think it is fixed.

:) :(
 
Yep, I think I have fixed it .. I now have BBC News TV running in one tab, Urban in another and Twitter running in a third and there is no sign at the moment of edge running out of memory.

Fingers crossed .. :)
 
weltweit said:
More oddness.

I just did a quick scan, tried and failed to install an update that seems to be corrupted, shut the computer down and restarted and the startup image has reverted to the one I always used to have. I mentioned above thread that this image had changed after the first of my problems. Seems odd.
Click to expand...
Did you have mushrooms on toast for lunch? ;)
 
weltweit said:
I am not sure I want to a reinstall UnderOpenSky.

It sounds very significant and I would probably have to start from scratch with all the updates.

I just solved my current updates problem with some code in command prompt and the large .net update that had crashed is now properly installed. Everything seems to be working now - I just have to see if Twitter can crash my Edge browser again. If not then I think it is fixed.

:) :(
Click to expand...

Glad it's working for you. Assuming you're talking about windows updates, then when you go to wipe the PC you'll get an option to do it locally or for it to redownload Windows, so that would take care of most updates.
 
UnderOpenSky said:
Glad it's working for you. Assuming you're talking about windows updates, then when you go to wipe the PC you'll get an option to do it locally or for it to redownload Windows, so that would take care of most updates.
Click to expand...
It isn't completely fixed, it crashed again this morning when that oven that I am suspicious of would have been on.

Failed in a slightly different way though, screen went neutral and fan came on louder than I have ever heard it before and puter wouldn't respond to the power switch again so I had to unplug to get it to go off.

And yes I was talking about windows updates, it seemed I was owed a few. Just had another defender update now and am doing a quick scan now.

Tried to do a full scan overnight and woke at 3am to find it frozen but not failed in the way it had been failing which is interesting.
 
UnderOpenSky said:
Glad it's working for you. Assuming you're talking about windows updates, then when you go to wipe the PC you'll get an option to do it locally or for it to redownload Windows, so that would take care of most updates.
Click to expand...
If it crashes again I could be up for a wipe and reinstall. But I could do with some advice from you as to how I go about it because I am a bit nervous it being my first time and all .. :)
 
weltweit said:
Actually reading back I see you mention backups, at the moment I am not properly backed up.
Click to expand...

There's nothing like impending doom to make you focus the mind, but of course a hard drive can fail at anytime. Obviously everyone knows they should be backed up, not that many home users do it well. How much data do you have?

For my really important stuff like photos and documents I've got them on a couple of hard drives and on Google Drive. I think cloud storage is amazing as you just don't have to think about it if it's set up properly. Stuff like films and tv shows I'm working on, but if I lost them it wouldn't be the end of the world and I'm not paying the amount it would cost to keep in the cloud.

weltweit said:
If it crashes again I could be up for a wipe and reinstall. But I could do with some advice from you as to how I go about it because I am a bit nervous it being my first time and all .. :)
Click to expand...

Not a problem, it's super easy. Here's a short guide, but any questions just shout.

Give your PC a Fresh Start - Microsoft Support

Fresh Start in Windows 10 lets you perform a clean reinstallation and update of Windows while keeping your personal data and most Windows settings intact.
support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com

I'd go for the cloud restore. I'd also remove everything if you can be bothered. It's more ball ache, but you can software back slowly and see there is a rouge programme causing problems.
 
UnderOpenSky I have a 1tb disk which is 55% full - mainly of photos, but my broadband connection isn't fast enough to do online backups, upload is very slow.

I do have a DVD drive but I don't at the moment have any disks to backup to.

I also have an external drive which I can backup to - it was a gift - but it is quite small.

So not adequately backed up and in the short term won't be either.
 
weltweit said:
UnderOpenSky I have a 1tb disk which is 55% full - mainly of photos, but my broadband connection isn't fast enough to do online backups, upload is very slow.

I do have a DVD drive but I don't at the moment have any disks to backup to.

I also have an external drive which I can backup to - it was a gift - but it is quite small.

So not adequately backed up and in the short term won't be either.
Click to expand...

I shudder at the thought of trying to do backups using optical media. Most blank disks are pretty shit and fail after a few years anyway, although so do hard disks.

For stuff like photos I'd want them in as many places as possible, but something is better then nothing.

I might be able to help, let me drop you a PM.
 
I think I probably need to buy a 1tb external drive, back everything up to it and then wipe and reinstall.

I expect I can get one, off to search.
 
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