I bought a desktop package form PC world in january this year, and every other time i turn it on the pc crashes within the first 15-20 minutes regardless of what i am doing. i could be on the net, a game, word document etc, and the computer is guaranteed to crash within the first 15-20 minutes.
I then restart the computer and its fine the rest of the time, this could be an hour or all day!
its just every other time i restart it! :confused::confused:
its a good specification, and has plenty of memory so i havent got a clue!
ive spoke to pc world and they informed me to download an diagnostics cd from their support website and do a hardware scan, and still no luck! ive done a packard bell and windows reboot and still no luck!
if anyone has any advice or knows what the problem may be, it would be greatly appreciated.

kind regards

I think it could be a RAM problem. Sounds familiar to something that used to happen on my old pc.

Hope you sort it!

Yeah, I would say look at your memory in the first instance. It's difficult to say what the problem might be without seeing what the pc is doing. If possible, try replacing the memory with some of the same spec from a friend & see if the problem still exists. Other than that, I'd be looking at a driver related problem, maybe graphics driver. If you only got it in January this year, I'd have it back to them & let them sort it (numpties that they are) - surely it's still under warrenty?

Hope this helps.

I had a very simular problem with my old machine last year. Turned out to be the Hard Drive, just swap around some parts see if makes any difference :)

Will help you isolate the problem.

hi thanks for your suggestions i will keep on at the technical support people!

anyone got any more suggestions,as to what the problem may be?

Sounds like its faulty RAM (memory) - download memtest86+ from http://www.memtest.org/ - burn to a CD and boot using that, leave it running for about an hour (or until you see red) which ever is sooner.. if you see red, you have faulty RAM, if not, its something else.

Had the same problem with a unit from PC world. Eventually after loaaaaaaaaaaaaaads of phone calls and a total format of the HD the HD failed. two months of pain!!!!!!!!

Got my money back but grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! Not PC worlds fault I supose but it sours the relationships. They would not give me my money back until I had done a 30mile round trip to get the backup disk I had made!!!!

It doesn't matter what it is. If it's unmodified and less than a year old the shop needs to sort it out for you, and stop messing you about getting you to run diagnostic CDs.

hi all thanks for youre replys.
Ghozer ive been told to do that aswell on another forum so i will do that, thanks.
Alky- could you tell me more about youre situation? like how you approached pc world? ive been told that under the sales of goods act im still entitled to a full refund, anyone know if this is true?
Mrmist- they keep trying to fob me off, i reckon they will try and do this until the warranty runs out

Mrmist- they keep trying to fob me off, i reckon they will try and do this until the warranty runs out

Absolutely they will if you let them. Probably best (if appropriate) to take the whole PC with you to a PC world and not leave until it's sorted one way or another.

Its nice to see a thread full of guessers.
Heres the process.
iliminate software put the computer back to factory.There will be a back up system to do it.all data will be lost so backup any important files.
If the problem is still there then it will be a hardware item failing,but thats the job of the warranty.
Anyone at Pc world with any nouse will tell you the same process.
This is the quickest fix and likley the only one.
Trying to find a software issue can take for ever and more often than not you wont find it.
Bear in mind why should pc world sort a problem that could well be of your doing.They will want to illiminate software first.

Absolutely they will if you let them. Probably best (if appropriate) to take the whole PC with you to a PC world and not leave until it's sorted one way or another.

And if it turns out to be some software that you installed then you should be charged for the work that you have caused?Or do we think Pc world is responsible for the op's errors?

Hiya there

I agree, make a backup of your HD if possible, disconnect you puter from the internet, then restore your computer to as it was when you purchased it, that should always be the first thing you do when you get problems.

Run the computer as you normally do, put it under a little stress, like playing music, playing safe (shop purchased CD's) and the like , if its still fails then your resposibility is over, take it back to PC World, tell them what you have done, from that point on its their responsibility to find and correct the fault, not yours.

If it does work okay , then add the programs you were using one by one maybe a day apart then see if one particular program crashes your computer, as always be aware not to add dodgey programs, downloaders etc from the net., install a good AV and firewall (Kaspersky, ESET, or the like)

PC work unfortunately arnt always too forecoming with their responsabilities, if they still refuse, go directly to a advice center (yellow pages, thompson) and get some further advice.

Zoo

And if it turns out to be some software that you installed then you should be charged for the work that you have caused?Or do we think Pc world is responsible for the op's errors?

I think that it's an easy cop-out for the store to fob non-techies off with excuse after excuse as to why they won't sort out a PC. Also if it's crashing every 15 minutes my experience suggests that it's more likely a hardware issue than software.

I agree

It's far more likely to be hardware possibly memory or motherboard. However, its good to pre-empt any excuse PC World may come up with as to why they dont want to do it.

zoo

I think that it's an easy cop-out for the store to fob non-techies off with excuse after excuse as to why they won't sort out a PC. Also if it's crashing every 15 minutes my experience suggests that it's more likely a hardware issue than software.

Do you take you ford back and demand they repaint the car when you scrape it on the gate post,of course not.Pc world will want to iliminate software first and there is only one way to do that.
Im not sure what EXPERience you have but i know its cobblers and i also know if you have or do it for a living then give them my phone number cos they will need me when youve guessed wrong.

Do you take you ford back and demand they repaint the car when you scrape it on the gate post,of course not.Pc world will want to iliminate software first and there is only one way to do that.
Im not sure what EXPERience you have but i know its cobblers and i also know if you have or do it for a living then give them my phone number cos they will need me when youve guessed wrong.


Oh whatever. Did you read the bit where he says he's done a packard bell reboot? I would guess that that means he's reset the computer back to default settings using the recovery disk.

Also there is not "only one way" to eliminate software. PC World could actually take the PC back in to the shop and look at it, which would generate a much quicker and simpler resolution than trying to get a non-techy person to diagnose the fault for them, or - to use your own car analogy - if your new Ford is stone dead in the morning would you expect to have to try to fix it yourself first before getting the repair crew out?

Still, if you're that sure that you're right, you could always take your own skills, which must be fantastic I'm sure, and go fix it for him, for free.

Basic reasons for a PC crashing in this manner: (all process of elimination)

Get hold of a live linux cd, boot from it, see if the problem persists whilst using it. Anyone will do but Puppy linux is probably the smallest.

Software, save all your stuff, reformat and reload.

Memory, try swapping for another stick

Heat, check the processor fan, power supply, download and install speedfan to monitor your PC temperature, all (most!) new PCs have a internal temp sensor. Make sure the PC is well ventilated.

Other than the above, the only thing left is the motherboard or processor......................... replace motherboard or processor.

:edit: speedfan http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

hi all thanks for your ideas and suggestions! theyre appreciated! zooburner-you mentioned about a good antivirus, do you think Norton 360 is good? as i got a years subscription of this free with the pc.

Xircon, im a newbie when it comes to pc's, where can i get a "live linux cd" from? and how do i "check the processor fan?" and if i switch the motherboard inside my years warranty, will it void my warranty?

regards

Personally scott i dont use Norton products anymore, some people swear by it, others curse by it.

Software is choosen by user preference and in MY (and only my opinion) Kaspersky and ESET rule the roost at the moment in the area of paid for AV, this of course may change as at one time Norton (before symantec screwed with it) and Mcafee ruled the world..lol

Zoo

Sorry to be late replying Scott94.

I can not really add anything to the comments already here. I know it is a pain but I agree that short of taking it back and leaving it with them, if I wanted to try and fix myself I would backup any data and restore the PC to factory settings.

If it still fails you will have to take it back anyway. It is a real pain I know - you are not alone out there m8. A lot of us have been through this type of experience. With me it was the first time a hard drive had ever failed (two months from new!). It gave similar problems before catastrophic fail.

Good luck m8.:thumbsup:

Oh whatever. Did you read the bit where he says he's done a packard bell reboot? I would guess that that means he's reset the computer back to default settings using the recovery disk.

Also there is not "only one way" to eliminate software. PC World could actually take the PC back in to the shop and look at it, which would generate a much quicker and simpler resolution than trying to get a non-techy person to diagnose the fault for them, or - to use your own car analogy - if your new Ford is stone dead in the morning would you expect to have to try to fix it yourself first before getting the repair crew out?

Still, if you're that sure that you're right, you could always take your own skills, which must be fantastic I'm sure, and go fix it for him, for free.If the computer was 'stone dead' then it would be hardware,But thats not the case and anyone who knows what they are doing will 100% rule this out before moving on to hardware diagnosis.
Your car anology doesnt fit at all.You have obviously no proper experience of computer repairs.

If the computer was 'stone dead' then it would be hardware,But thats not the case and anyone who knows what they are doing will 100% rule this out before moving on to hardware diagnosis.
Your car anology doesnt fit at all.You have obviously no proper experience of computer repairs.

Sorry newvanandman but you're talking out the back of your transit. You wouldn't 100 % rule out software errors before hardware diagnosis, in fact you might well simply start checking that all connectors, including those to the power supply are properly seated! The problem described here points to an intermittant hardware fault. As others have pointed out it could be any of the following and a couple more that I can add:-

> overheating CPU (faulty fan or choked with crap)
> faulty memory
> faulty power supply
> faulty graphics card and overheating
> motherboard faults. Northbridge and southbridge chips overheating sometimes rely on fans to keep them cool
> Hard drive (can go on for sometime before developing a terminal fault. Listen for clicking noises that sound distinctly different to the noise you get when the hard drive is being accessed)

Again as others have said I'd back up your hard drive. There are a number of ways to do this. The simplest would probably be using windows native backup but depends on what medium (DVD / CD / Mass storage) you are able to back up to. That said with a PC that unpredictably turns itself off you are at it's mercy. Ideally you need access to another PC and a spare hard drive of at least the same capacity to create an exact image / copy of the one in your PC.

BTW Scott you haven't mentioned what version of Windows your PC is running. Windows XP and Vista have an Event Viewer Application which can be found in Administrative tools and which logs "events" (these are for information, warning and importantly errors. Obviously you'll need to look for any that occur immediately before your PC crashes.

If you're not up to any of this, I'd advocate taking it into PC World asking for it to be repaired. Over the phone help isn't going to work here and whether they like it or not they are obliged to confirm that as far as hardware goes everything is fine.

Finally I would never ever buy Packard Bell

Sorry newvanandman but you're talking out the back of your transit. You wouldn't 100 % rule out software errors before hardware diagnosis, in fact you might well simply start checking that all connectors, including those to the power supply are properly seated! The problem described here points to an intermittant hardware fault. As others have pointed out it could be any of the following and a couple more that I can add:-

> overheating CPU (faulty fan or choked with crap)
> faulty memory
> faulty power supply
> faulty graphics card and overheating
> motherboard faults. Northbridge and southbridge chips overheating sometimes rely on fans to keep them cool
> Hard drive (can go on for sometime before developing a terminal fault. Listen for clicking noises that sound distinctly different to the noise you get when the hard drive is being accessed)

Again as others have said I'd back up your hard drive. There are a number of ways to do this. The simplest would probably be using windows native backup but depends on what medium (DVD / CD / Mass storage) you are able to back up to. That said with a PC that unpredictably turns itself off you are at it's mercy. Ideally you need access to another PC and a spare hard drive of at least the same capacity to create an exact image / copy of the one in your PC.

BTW Scott you haven't mentioned what version of Windows your PC is running. Windows XP and Vista have an Event Viewer Application which can be found in Administrative tools and which logs "events" (these are for information, warning and importantly errors. Obviously you'll need to look for any that occur immediately before your PC crashes.

If you're not up to any of this, I'd advocate taking it into PC World asking for it to be repaired. Over the phone help isn't going to work here and whether they like it or not they are obliged to confirm that as far as hardware goes everything is fine.

Finally I would never ever buy Packard Bell

hi there thanks for youre advice its much appreciated! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
ive got windows vista home premium and ive done the event viewer thing and it comes up with the following errors:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940828
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326564
so not sure about these! ive just sent an email to packard bell yesterday to see if they can shed any light on the matter, just waiting for their reply

Scott as one of these knowledge base items points to a symptom found in windows 2000 and the other relates to passing information to Microsoft Customer Feedback Experience I doubt they're going to lead to answering the problems you're having. They look like errors that are just being reported because your PC hasn't shutdown gracefully.

Scott as one of these knowledge base items points to a symptom found in windows 2000 and the other relates to passing information to Microsoft Customer Feedback Experience I doubt they're going to lead to answering the problems you're having. They look like errors that are just being reported because your PC hasn't shutdown gracefully.

aaah ok thanks starfraction i dint have a clue.
ive sent emails to packard bell and they told me to:
With the issue you have reported I would ask that you follow the steps I shall layout below. Once you have done this instead of restarting a blue screen should appear on your computer that has what is know as a stop error on it, if you could send us that error we will be able to take a step closer to resolving the problem. The stop error will look like this

Stop: 0x000000? Please reply with this error.

1. Click Start

2. Right click on My Computer

3. Click Properties

4. Click Advanced

5. To the right of "Start-up And Recovery" click Settings

6. Remove the tick from the line "Automatic Restart"

7.Click Ok

From here use your computer as normal until either the stop screen appears or your computer restarts again, when either happens reply advising us

i did all this and no stop screen appears :rant::rant::rant: aaaghhh!

Open case, on the motherboard is a fan, when the machine is on is the fan spinning?

Linux live CD : http://www.puppylinux.com/cd-puppy.htm

Program to use to burn:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

i phoned up the tech guys for one last ditch attempt!
and i spoke to second line support, and the guy was helpful, and he has ordered me some more memory, and a new motherboard.
the motherboard he ordered for me wasnt in stock, and would take 7-10 days to come, and he said when it came in they would phone me to get an engineer to fit it!
he also found out a new bios update was available for my desktop, and he pointed me in the direction to download it!
since ive downloaded it, my pc has been fine, and ive had no problems with it crashing!
so it seems the situation is resolved! hurrray!
so now i'd like to thank the people whove posted on the thread with advice.
regards.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

i phoned up the tech guys for one last ditch attempt!
and i spoke to second line support, and the guy was helpful, and he has ordered me some more memory, and a new motherboard.
the motherboard he ordered for me wasnt in stock, and would take 7-10 days to come, and he said when it came in they would phone me to get an engineer to fit it!
he also found out a new bios update was available for my desktop, and he pointed me in the direction to download it!
since ive downloaded it, my pc has been fine, and ive had no problems with it crashing!
so it seems the situation is resolved! hurrray!
so now i'd like to thank the people whove posted on the thread with advice.
regards.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

So was it software or were the parts fitted?

So was it software or were the parts fitted?

im not sure because, i removed all software and restored it back to factory settings a while ago, and the pc still crashed, but now with the bios update, it doesnt crash?! :confused: im not really sure to be honest

If a bios update fixed it, it could have been any number of things...

Memory address issues (caused by bios)
IDE or SATA controller problems (caused by bios)
any other motherboard voltages or settings etc (caused by bios)

im not sure because, i removed all software and restored it back to factory settings a while ago, and the pc still crashed, but now with the bios update, it doesnt crash?! :confused: im not really sure to be honest
No parts fitted=software.

And thats why pc world and every other engineer worth his salt will rule out software first because in most cases that IS the cause.
I find it quite commical others who have no clue to who i am or what i do, decided to not only go against logic,but to insult me too.
Had i been employed to sort this,in half an hour i would have ruled out software,in another half hour i would have pinpointed the hardware fault if thats what it turned out to be.if the machine wasnt warrented from me you would have been charged 1 hour plus any parts.Listening to some 'experts' on here,They would STILL be guessing/looking for the hardware (that wasnt faulty) ,who knows what their cost would have rose to,and of course pc world could quite well have charged you for their services after being wrongly diagnosed for which they are NOT responsible for.
Glad its been sorted.

No parts fitted = firmware :hihi: