Computer Keeps Crashing

by Chris
(Canada)

My computer crashes all the time. It frequently blue screens or just restarts at random. Is it fixable or should I just buy a new computer? The computer was put together at a local computer store, it isn't a brand name computer.

It has a Gigabyte motherboard, Crucial RAM. The CPU is an AMD 9750 black edition, and it has a 500 GB hard drive. I think the hard drive is a western digital but am not sure.

Answer

Crashing is usually caused by a couple of things, it can be faulty hardware or a component is not set correctly, or overheating.

You have a black edition chip but failed to mention if you're overclocking. If you are try reducing the clock speeds to factory speeds and see if that helps.

Check the easiest first. Are all your fans working? Are they clean? Check the video card fan as well. After you have that all cleaned up run the computer again to see if the problem persists.

Check your BIOS settings, if you're not sure how to do this, click on the How To Build A Computer link on your left. Specifically check the CPU, and RAM. Go to both manufacturers websites and check your settings, and see if they match.

If that all checks out, remove a stick of RAM, and try to run the computer and see if it crashes. If it does, replace that stick with the other and try again. If it crashes again, your RAM is probably good.

Next item to try a replacement of would be the video card. Often you can get a temp card for testing purposes from a local computer store for a couple of dollars if you don't have a spare.

If that doesn't do the trick, replace the power supply. By this step you should have it fixed.

Most of this work is patience. Have fun and hope you get it going. Let us know how it works out.