My computer crashes with no error message anywhere

giratinavn · 19 Oct 2017

I had this computer for quite awhile, and it was working fine until recently. It crashes occasionally, and when I check event viewer or reliability monitor, nothing shows up.

mrjimphelps · 19 Oct 2017

Have you checked the temperature? Download and run Speedfan (speedfan.net) to see what the internal temperatures are. If any component is overheating, that will likely be the cause of the crashes.

giratinavn · 19 Oct 2017

My CPU runs at about 40-50 degrees C with a maximum at about 70+. My GPU runs at around 50 and has a maximum at about 80.

mrjimphelps · 19 Oct 2017

Those maximums are high; 50 is not super high. But the fact that the GPU runs between 50 and 80 concerns me. You may have a bad video card. Or the inside of your laptop may have a lot of dust. 40 to 70 on the CPU, coupled with 50 to 80 on the GPU, likely means that there is a lot of dust.

If you had a desktop computer, I would say to get a cheap video card and swap it out with your current video card, to see if that solves the problem. But that isn't possible with a laptop.

The first thing I would do is to take the laptop apart, blow out all the dust, unplug and reconnect everything (to make sure that it has a good connection), reseat the CPU's heat sink with good-quality thermal compound, and replace the CMOS battery (the time to do that is when you have the laptop apart). But tiny, fragile parts are easily broken when you do that, so if you aren't absolutely sure you are up to the task, don't take your laptop apart.

Things you can do without having to take the laptop apart:

To see if the laptop is properly ventilating, put your hand near the exhaust vent. Hot air should be coming out. If no air is coming out, then either your fan is defective, or the vent is clogged with dust. If cool air is coming out after the laptop has been running for a while, then there is dust inside which is hindering the flow of air.
Look into the vent; if you see a lot of dust, the vent is at least partially clogged, which means that the laptop can't properly ventilate.
Touch the bottom of the laptop; if it is too hot to touch, then your laptop is overheating, probably because it can't ventilate properly.

Always use your laptop on a hard, flat surface, so that it can properly ventilate on the bottom.

giratinavn · 20 Oct 2017

I noticed that my computer usually crashes when I play a game or sometimes watch a video, so i recorded the temps right before it crashed.

General Erton · 22 Oct 2017

The cause could be bad graphic driver so I'm in same with mrjimphelps because I had this problem so before I should disable my graphic drivers to work propertly but now since I run a full windows update that thing updated my graphics so now I'm fully ok.So the problem could be outdated graphic driver.First run windows update and install updates and then notice me...

giratinavn · 22 Oct 2017

I've updated all my drivers, but it still crashes.

RoasterMen · 22 Oct 2017

mrjimphelps said:

Those maximums are high; 50 is not super high. But the fact that the GPU runs between 50 and 80 concerns me. You may have a bad video card. Or the inside of your laptop may have a lot of dust. 40 to 70 on the CPU, coupled with 50 to 80 on the GPU, likely means that there is a lot of dust.

If you had a desktop computer, I would say to get a cheap video card and swap it out with your current video card, to see if that solves the problem. But that isn't possible with a laptop.

The first thing I would do is to take the laptop apart, blow out all the dust, unplug and reconnect everything (to make sure that it has a good connection), reseat the CPU's heat sink with good-quality thermal compound, and replace the CMOS battery (the time to do that is when you have the laptop apart). But tiny, fragile parts are easily broken when you do that, so if you aren't absolutely sure you are up to the task, don't take your laptop apart.

Things you can do without having to take the laptop apart:

To see if the laptop is properly ventilating, put your hand near the exhaust vent. Hot air should be coming out. If no air is coming out, then either your fan is defective, or the vent is clogged with dust. If cool air is coming out after the laptop has been running for a while, then there is dust inside which is hindering the flow of air.
Look into the vent; if you see a lot of dust, the vent is at least partially clogged, which means that the laptop can't properly ventilate.
Touch the bottom of the laptop; if it is too hot to touch, then your laptop is overheating, probably because it can't ventilate properly.

Always use your laptop on a hard, flat surface, so that it can properly ventilate on the bottom.

50-80 GPU temp is perfectly fine. That is, if it's under load.

giratinavn · 22 Oct 2017

I checked the temperature logs for when my laptop crashes, and it is always about 70 C (when I'm playing a game). Then, is overheating the problem?

TechnoMage2016 · 24 Oct 2017

All that, and we still don't know the most basic information about the computer in question.
Make? Model? Age? Configuration? All that stuff.

On every forum I've ever worked, it's recommended, suggested and even insisted on that a person with a problem give all the pertinent information about the computer that they are having a problem with.

Without that info, we're all just guessing and that usually doesn't fix anything.

When Windows shuts down the PC, a log file will usually be created. The one shutdown that logs NO info, is a power supply shut down. I'd certainly look at that first.

If this is a desktop PC, I'd even take out the main PSU and open it up, to see if there are any Bulging Capacitors. In any case, I'd probably just replace it, with one of higher wattage.

More info please!!!