why does my computer hardware crash?

[paulmars]

Im not sure crash is the proper term.

while using computer screen goes dark. Power light says lit. After several minutes I press-hold power button and after 5 seconds it powers down. I restart. It takes a very long time to boot up, then all is ok for months.

This has occurred a total of 3 times in the past 6 months.

I dont have any new apps or drivers installed that i know of.

I dont remember exactly what I was doing. It was either in my email app or reading something on the net or watching a video. I dont remember if it was triggered by an action on my part like a click or keystroke.

I didnt know if this is just an issue with monitor or with the actual computer.

So then I memorized keystrokes to power down the computer. I've been using those every time i turn off my computer since that 2nd occurrence above.

Months later while watching a video, it happened a 3rd time. I was 10 feet away and this long video is almost complete. The screen goes blank and this time the audio changes to a buzz-hum and does not stop. After a minute of no video and that constant buzz-hum I tried my shutdown keystrokes and that didnt work. After another minute i tried again. Nope, i cant shut down the computer. So, it's not just a monitor issue.

The next boot up took a long time. (maybe because of improper shutdown?)

That was several weeks ago and I'm still using the keystrokes to shut down my computer.

Ideas?

HP 24-e025t all in one.
Win 10

Thanks, paul

 

[strollin]

I would suspect your laptop is overheating. Check the cooling vents to ensure that they are free of dust and lint.

 

[paulmars]

not laptop. cleaned out a few times, and last time was right after 2nd failure listed.

 

[root]

Hey @paulmars - welcome to CF.

As @strollin has pointed out it does sound like a component might be getting hot somewhere - potentially a chipset that doesn’t have active cooling perhaps, or even a power supply issue.

It might be worth checking for driver updates in case it’s s software related issue, or alternatively back everything up and reinstall Windows to rule software out as the cause but my money would be on it being a hardware problem and unfortunately all in ones can be pretty tricky to fix save for swapping the motherboard.

Most off the shelf PCs these days have built in diagnostics - it might be worth running these. Here’s a video from HP:

 

[paulmars]

HP quick test passed
ran speccy
I cant tell if the cpu fan is running. Looking inside the case, it looks like it mostly recirculates the same inside case air. 3 sites say that speedfan lets me know if the fan is spinning, but it dont.

 

[paulmars]

open hardware monitor also says it shows fan speed, but not for me.

 

[paulmars]

5x°C

 

[root]

Speedfan can be a bit hit or miss. Tends to work more on traditional desktops, all in ones tend to be built upon laptop components with proprietary coolers.

If it's passing diags then it's likely an intermittent hardware fault but potentially not a cooling issue.

I'd advise next steps might be a full backup and reset of Windows, or at least a Restore. Might be worth trying a BIOS update first - occasionally this can resolve weird issues like this one.

 

[paulmars]

bios date is 2019

My hdd was running hot & it's been 2 years since i last reinstalled win10.

Attachment shows my new hdd mount. Then I reinstalled win10.

I started a new thread titled "win10 installation issues.

 

[markanderson]

Hardware crashes are a common occurrence on computers. They can be caused by many different issues, such as overheating, viruses, and hardware failure. If your computer is constantly crashing, it may be time to consider replacing the hard drive or repairing the motherboard. If you want to replace the hard drive, you can search online.