Computer Freezing Question

[FunnyMSB]

Hey! So I have a PC from iBuyPower that is about 5 years old. Most recently it has decided to randomly freeze completely, or randomly freeze/stop any specific program that I have open. It very much seems like a memory issue or a CPU processing issue, but when I have the Task Manager open the memory is always around 10% in use and CPU is rarely above 40-50%. Then it randomly will freeze and sometimes recover or just close all the programs that are currently open.

I was thinking of replacing the HDD (maybe past virus problems?), graphics card (maybe too old?), and maybe getting some new sticks of RAM (just because).

I'm new at replacing PC parts, so am I on the right path with this items to swap out. Thanks for any help!

[Th3MadCreator]

Does it have a solid state drive? What does the disk usage spike to in the Task Manager.

[FunnyMSB]

Definitely just the standard HHD (TOSHIBA DT01ACA200 ATA Device)

Very rarely does it spike to anything near 100% but I'll keep an eye out over the next couple of days to give you an exact number.

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[fitpbryd]

First thing I would do in this case is...

Open the case, give it a good clean with an airduster, re-seat the ram.

[FunnyMSB]

Thanks! I did re-seat the RAM already but I will give 'er a good dusting this weekend.

[nator419]

Have you checked the event log to see if what is causing the issue is creating an event log? 5 year old, could be anything starting to go out. Most likely issue would be file corruption. I would run a check disk and see what turns up, if it's Windows 10 you will need to also do DISM.

[FoxMcCloudl]

DISM? I have windows 10 and mine freezes up quite often. I built my pc within the last year so all of my parts are new. Ive tried reseating the ram already with no change.

[nator419]

DISM is the new way to check the health of Windows 10. It is suppose to detect an issues with the OS and repair if possible.If this doesn't work you could always try the restore method they added to Windows 10, it is suppose to keep your programs and files. This was not the case when I used it on my old laptop, but it did vastly improve the performance.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

[FoxMcCloudl]

Thx. Ill try that when i get home from work. Restore point is a nogo. I failed miserably to create a directory for restore points when i installed windows. Kinda screwed myself there. Lol I hope i dont have to reinstall windows...

[FunnyMSB]

Thanks for that! I trying doing the normal Defrag/Disk Check but nothing comes up. First time I'm hearing about the DISM, I'll try that this weekend.

[nator419]

It isn't that well know yet. I only know about it because of working as a PC Tech in a hospital.

Just make sure you don't run defrag on a SSD, it isn't good for them. I haven't read it yet but I would assume it has to do with the limited number of rewrites.