PC keeps crashing/freezing

Question

Basically my PC started doing this a while back. Broke it down into parts to easily refer to.

Part 1. Usually around the log on screen, the PC would freeze completely. So I would restart, sometimes it would power up and then just not display anything, having to restart it several times until it does display something.

Part 2. The next time, it will normally be within 5 mins of checking my email or something where it does it again. It will repeat the same as Part 1. When I finally get back onto doing something, it sometimes does it again within 15-20 mins of using my PC.

Part 3. Also, also well as freezing, it will sometimes goto a corrupt screen (see picture) for about 2 seconds and then restart itself.

Pic

Part 4.

After about 30 mins of this turning off/on again, the PC will run smoothly for hours on end!

Answer 1

It's possible your video card is overheating but where you're only booting up or doing other simple things it seems more plausible that the card (on-board or an actual video card) could be going bad and needs replaced. Very small chance that it could be a driver issue. I'd check for the latest drivers for the video card, install them. If it still happens I'd be buying a new video card myself or motherboard depending on if the video card port is on-board or an actual video card.

Answer 2

You need to troubleshoot the computer, try to figure out when this issue has first occurred. Follow these steps.

1: Check for recently installed software or hardware devices. If the lockups started to happen after you installed a new piece of software program, hardware device, or new drivers, uninstall it and see if the problem can be solved.

2:Try to use a different VGI cable if that doesn’t work try to check your VGA output and see if there any pins missing our damaged.

3: Scan your computer for viruses and spyware. First make sure that your virus definition is up to date. Then run the antivirus program to identify and eliminate the possible viruses in your computer. If your computer has not been infected by viruses, it may still have some harmful malware or spyware. Use a spyware removal tool to scan and clean the spyware on your system.

4: Check for free hard drive space Check your drive C and save at least twenty percent of unused disk space

5: Check for overheating. Overheating is another known cause of lockups, especially for notebooks. Make sure that your computer fans are working. Too much dirt can also hinder the computers' cooling system.

6. Check the hard disk. Corrupted hard disk can cause computer lockup as well. To check the disk for errors, right-click on the disk C: icon in "My Computer", select the "Tools" tab, check all check boxes in the "Check disk options" field, and press the "Check now" button. It should ask whether you want to schedule the check next time you restart your computer - answer "Yes" and restart your PC. The check will be performed automatically after startup; it can take a while, so be patient. The program will attempt to fix some problems automatically - however, if the hard disk is failing physically, it will need to be replaced. It is also a good idea to run Disk Defragmenter (located in Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools) to optimize data placement on the hard disk for increased performance and reliability.

   7. Check the RAM (Random Access Memory). Sometimes random lockups can be attributed to the computer memory (RAM) starting to fail. You can test the memory by running Windows Memory Diagnostic that can be downloaded from =>>http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp. If problems are found, you can plug and unplug your RAM to see if the problem goes away. If not, you might need to replace your RAM entirely the soonest possible time.

original source of information=> winaso