PC crashes randomly with 6 month history of freezing with PDFs and File Explorer

[vertigo220]

36 minutes ago, Bleda412 said:

Agreed

No, I used the one you boot into.

 

Working like this is challenging. I have a tech savvy friend, but he is hard to reach, and this might be difficult for him too. Any of the alternatives you suggest sound like a better alternative to how we've been operating so far.

Then if it passed, while still possible, it's unlikely the RAM has issues. I'm not sure, but I think it also clears the involved parts of the motherboard and CPU, e.g. the slots and the controller.

 

You need to figure out how you want to do it. Discord is probably easiest but then you have to install it, which defeats the purpose. Though if we can get the backups stuff figured out, then you can just reinstall Windows and do it again without installing Discord. Or could use the built-in Windows Remote Desktop since it's already there, just a little trickier to  communicate but not by much, just have to do so by typing in notepad. Of course, you should always be wary of allowing anyone you don't know and trust to remote into your computer, and that includes me. The risk is minimal since you don't have any data on it (unplug drives that contain any private data first so I or anyone else can't access it), but there's always some risk involved in doing it. Or if you prefer, you can use Discord on your phone and stream your PC screen with your phone's camera. Doesn't really matter, just figure out how you want to do it based on what you can handle and what you feel ok with and let me or MK know. I'd be better for figuring out Veeam since it's what I have experience with, he may be better for Macrium since I think he uses that (assuming, of course, he's ok with doing it and is available).

[Mark Kaine]

8 minutes ago, vertigo220 said:

Then if it passed, while still possible, it's unlikely the RAM has issues. I'm not sure, but I think it also clears the involved parts of the motherboard and CPU, e.g. the slots and the controller.

 

You need to figure out how you want to do it. Discord is probably easiest but then you have to install it, which defeats the purpose. Though if we can get the backups stuff figured out, then you can just reinstall Windows and do it again without installing Discord. Or could use the built-in Windows Remote Desktop since it's already there, just a little trickier to  communicate but not by much, just have to do so by typing in notepad. Of course, you should always be wary of allowing anyone you don't know and trust to remote into your computer, and that includes me. The risk is minimal since you don't have any data on it (unplug drives that contain any private data first so I or anyone else can't access it), but there's always some risk involved in doing it. Or if you prefer, you can use Discord on your phone and stream your PC screen with your phone's camera. Doesn't really matter, just figure out how you want to do it based on what you can handle and what you feel ok with and let me or MK know. I'd be better for figuring out Veeam since it's what I have experience with, he may be better for Macrium since I think he uses that (assuming, of course, he's ok with doing it and is available).

i still don't understand why we need a backup *now* shouldn't we first try fixing the pc, ie. simple windows reinstall? 

 

And if its fixed after that (again???) *then* do a backup before installing any programs so op could always go back to that if something goes wrong again? 

 

they could always do an additional backup once more programs are installed-- as long there aren't any issues obviously. 

[vertigo220]

Just now, Mark Kaine said:

i still don't understand why we need a backup *now* shouldn't we first try fixing the pc, ie. simple windows reinstall? 

 

And if its fixed after that (again???) *then* do a backup before installing any programs so op could always go back to that if something goes wrong again? 

 

they could always do an additional backup once more programs are installed-- as long there aren't any issues obviously. 

I'm not saying do it now. Now that there's an issue and the install is damaged, he absolutely should do a reinstall and try doing a backup again. I'm just saying he should do one before anything else after reinstalling.

[Mark Kaine]

Just now, vertigo220 said:

I'm not saying do it now. Now that there's an issue and the install is damaged, he absolutely should do a reinstall and try doing a backup again. I'm just saying he should do one before anything else after reinstalling.

ah ok, well thats basically the same i was saying... must have misunderstood you there.

 

 

[Bleda412]

@vertigo220 We could use Discord without a phone and without installing the program. It's been several years since I used the browser version, but I remember being able to share screen with that version. I can't do any troubleshooting right now because I found religion, to use a colloquial term, and I am uploading my files to the cloud. I had to do something to preserve my data. It will be a while, according to Proton Drive, because I'm uploading so much at once, but I am more than half way there.

 

@Mark Kaine I already determined about a week ago that I could install Google Chrome, Logitech G-HUB, AMD Adrenalin, Spotify, some benchmarking software, and some keyboards (probably) without the mouse lag. There was one time when I was having internet issues (phone had them too), tested the speed, and got a lot of mouse lag, but I suspect that's something else, although I could be wrong. The mouse lag is intermittent on a time scale of seconds, minutes, and maybe hours. I gradually added the aforementioned programs over a series of days, so I'm fairly confident that they are not the cause of the lag. I am not dead set on using Windows 11. I just thought it was a good idea to upgrade now when I'm starting fresh. Plus, I was able to configure it the way I want with Rufus.

[vertigo220]

13 minutes ago, Bleda412 said:

@vertigo220 We could use Discord without a phone and without installing the program. It's been several years since I used the browser version, but I remember being able to share screen with that version. I can't do any troubleshooting right now because I found religion, to use a colloquial term, and I am uploading my files to the cloud. I had to do something to preserve my data. It will be a while, according to Proton Drive, because I'm uploading so much at once, but I am more than half way there.

 

@Mark Kaine I already determined about a week ago that I could install Google Chrome, Logitech G-HUB, AMD Adrenalin, Spotify, some benchmarking software, and some keyboards (probably) without the mouse lag. There was one time when I was having internet issues (phone had them too), tested the speed, and got a lot of mouse lag, but I suspect that's something else, although I could be wrong. The mouse lag is intermittent on a time scale of seconds, minutes, and maybe hours. I gradually added the aforementioned programs over a series of days, so I'm fairly confident that they are not the cause of the lag. I am not dead set on using Windows 11. I just thought it was a good idea to upgrade now when I'm starting fresh. Plus, I was able to configure it the way I want with Rufus.

That's fine, just keep in mind when you need help it's better to work around others' schedules than your own. I should be pretty widely available to help for a while, but obviously no guarantees. And be careful what you put in the cloud and how. If I ever decide to do cloud backups, I intend to use Cryptomator or something similar.

 

Just because you don't have issues for a few days after installing something doesn't mean it's not the cause when the issues crop up. It could take some time for it to start acting up, or it could be that the issue is neither program A (e.g. Spotify) nor program B (Discord) but rather a conflict between the two. That's why it's helpful to be able to quickly restore to a backup, so if you install A and have no issues then install B and have issues, you can try installing B first to see if you get issues right away with it or only after installing A.

 

As for W11, if you really like it and want to use it, then yeah, probably better to just go ahead and switch to it. I think it's not quite ready yet to warrant switching unless it has features you really want, but then it will never really be ready IMO, because MS refuses to fix issues. But W10, with as many problems as it has, is at least better than W7 IMO, and has been for quite a while, though I gave it a few years to mature before I dared switch over. And personally, I hate what they're doing with W11, so not only do I not want to switch, but I have no reason to since W10 is still supported for a couple more years, at which point I'll hopefully be able to get rid of Windows for good.

 

46 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

ah ok, well thats basically the same i was saying... must have misunderstood you there.

Yup. No worries.

[Bleda412]

5 minutes ago, vertigo220 said:

That's fine, just keep in mind when you need help it's better to work around others' schedules than your own. I should be pretty widely available to help for a while, but obviously no guarantees.

I'm sorry to inconvenience you. That might or might not sound genuine over text, but I do mean it. I started the upload over five hours ago and didn't think it would take this long or that I would even get an offer of live assistance.

[vertigo220]

15 minutes ago, Bleda412 said:

I'm sorry to inconvenience you. That might or might not sound genuine over text, but I do mean it. I started the upload over five hours ago and didn't think it would take this long or that I would even get an offer of live assistance.

Not an inconvenience, I always have stuff to do, it's not like I was planning on helping you and now I don't know what to do. I'm just saying that when you're done and you have time, we might not. I'm not trying to be mean about it, and as I said I probably will have the time; I'm just telling you as a general rule and just in case I get busy and don't have time later.

[Bleda412]

@vertigo220 The upload has finished. I am available at any time this week, except for an appointment I have on Wednesday afternoon (CST).

[vertigo220]

I'll probably be around most of today, so just let me know how you want to proceed and when. You should have Windows reinstalled and ready to go. You could also install Windows in a VM, either VirtualBox which would require installing it first or Hyper-V which is included with Windows. That would allow you to snapshot it then try the backup programs and just restore the snapshot as needed.

[Bleda412]

1 hour ago, vertigo220 said:

I'll probably be around most of today, so just let me know how you want to proceed and when. You should have Windows reinstalled and ready to go. You could also install Windows in a VM, either VirtualBox which would require installing it first or Hyper-V which is included with Windows. That would allow you to snapshot it then try the backup programs and just restore the snapshot as needed.

Windows 11 is installed and completely ready to go. I have not installed a VM. I've been a bit confused by VMs in the past, so it might be best for you to talk me through that if that's how you want me to proceed. I'm perfectly fine working through Discord via Chrome or another device, through this forum, or some other platform. It's up to you and your comfort level; I know that some people don't like chatting with strangers.

[vertigo220]

17 minutes ago, Bleda412 said:

Windows 11 is installed and completely ready to go. I have not installed a VM. I've been a bit confused by VMs in the past, so it might be best for you to talk me through that if that's how you want me to proceed. I'm perfectly fine working through Discord via Chrome or another device, through this forum, or some other platform. It's up to you and your comfort level; I know that some people don't like chatting with strangers.

PM me your Discord name/tag. Maybe @Mark Kaine can even join in for a group chat to offer additional help if he's around and willing (no pressure, though  ).

[Bleda412]

I've marked this one solved.

 

@vertigo220 and I did some troubleshooting. It's a long and complicated story, but basically, we realized that the GPU was likely the issue. I swapped it out for an old one I had around, and my problems went away. I'm in the process of getting an RMA done with ASUS, which wasn't as fun as getting one done with Samsung. I have an update on that, by the way. They said there was a problem with the partition table, which they fixed. It will work fine going forward, but I am to test it once it arrives, which I would do anyway.

 

Thanks for the help, everyone. I feel at peace now.