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[Popo]

Hey, folks.

Ever since September my computer has been crashing--blue screens, crash dumps, all that. (Screenshot) I didn't think it was a big deal at first because it happened so rarely, maybe once in September and once in October. When November rolled around however, I started to notice this happening with more frequency, until it became a daily occurrence. Because I've been away at school all this time and need my computer to study, the best I could do was contact the university computer support group for help; they suggested reloading the OS during winter vacation, as the crashes are probably being caused by a registry error. Fair enough.

The thing is, the crashes aren't happening at random, which I would imagine should be the case. They occur almost twelve hours after I turn my computer on, give or take a few minutes. (If I turn it on at 7:15AM, it'll crash around 7:15PM. 9AM to 9PM, etc. If I turn it off in the middle of the day, the cycle restarts.) Also, I recently discovered that my computer cannot complete disk checks when I try to run one. It gets to something like 58% and freezes up. I'm wondering if all these things are adding up to a hardware problem and not just a Windows problem.

What I'd like to know is if this is unusual or not, and if it's possibly a sign of an issue beyond just a bad file in the registry. I'm concerned that I'm going to wipe my computer clean, reload everything, and still find myself with the same problems.

Sorry for sounding like a newbie. I usually don’t have issues like this with computers.

[tybalt]

Sounds like an issue I've had about two years ago with my computer. After it was on for so long, that exact screen error would come up. Initially, It would happen once a month, then twice a month, and so on and so fourth, until I couldn't have it on for no more then an hour.

I would highly suggest finding some backup harddrive, portable or not, and dump everything off of your Operating system installed harddrive unto that backup.

I would also pay close attention to any weird sounds your harddrive is making. If you hear sounds, I can almost bet you that your OS installed harddrive is nearing the end of it's life.

That's at least what I think.

Now a word from one of our real computer professionals.

[Popo]

Sounds like an issue I've had about two years ago with my computer. After it was on for so long, that exact screen error would come up. Initially, It would happen once a month, then twice a month, and so on and so fourth, until I couldn't have it on for no more then an hour.

I would highly suggest finding some backup harddrive, portable or not, and dump everything off of your Operating system installed harddrive unto that backup.

I would also pay close attention to any weird sounds your harddrive is making. If you hear sounds, I can almost bet you that your OS installed harddrive is nearing the end of it's life.

That's at least what I think.

Now a word from one of our real computer professionals.

I've been looking for the obvious signs that something is wrong, but it seems like there aren't any. The computer runs just as smoothly and quietly as the day I first turned it on, is running just fine when it isn't crashing,  doesn’t over-heat or anything like that… The CD drive is a little noisy, but it works just fine and doesn’t cause me any problems when I use it… It's just all very mysterious to me. 

And I've been keeping everything backed-up, thankfully. I made the mistake of not doing that long ago and have since learned.

[Superbus]

Desktop or laptop?

[Popo]

It's an HP laptop. :3

[Superbus]

First off, if a diskcheck always fails at 58%, that's a problem I'd look into. Check the hard disk.

Also, how hot does that thing run?

[Popo]

I can't tell you exactly how hot it gets, but in my opinion, it doesn't get too warm after prolonged usage. My old computer used to overheat and crash, so... I can definitely tell when hot becomes too hot.

Regarding the hard disk... how would I go about checking it exactly? Obviously my computer is incapable of doing it on its own, so I'm not really sure what else I could/should do. Should I just get it replaced? I know it's expensive, but if that's the best option, that's what I'll do.

[Cardboard Box]

Hard disks are generally cheap. Can't hurt to replace it if the disk is barfing.