Resorected Win7 PC

12harry

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I though I would be visiting my local Dealer trying to fix my PC which appeared to die after a 5hr Rendering a DVD (overnight session, - I was asleep).
The PC stopped working almost at the end of the Render, leaving just 5mins to completion ( Rather ODD I thought ). On firing it up, it continued the Render and then I burnt the DVD-disc in about 7 minutes. Oddly when It says: "Do you want to burn another?" the Mouse wouldn't respond. Being Windows, if there is a "box" that needs an answer there is no way I know to bypass this, to continue other work, for example. It just waits for that Answer, ignoring all else.

This Mouse failure wasn't due to the mouse itself.... the internal battery still powered the blue LED and I checked the USB-receiver thingy.... by plugging it in again.

On removing the Mains supply..... when I switched-on it reminded me it hadn't been shut-down correctly . . . but foolishly I didn't go via "Safe-Mode" and then Restart.
However, the mouse pointer was still frozen . . . Arrow keys...etc...Nothing would move it....

So I was forced to switch off the mains. ( Again!)..... on restarting..... nothing . . . the MBO splash-screen wasn't there - the BIOS-beeps were absent . . . in effect it was a dead PC.

I had to go out later, so I shut it down . . . thinking that maybe the MBO was dead. . . or perhaps a wire was off ( most unlikely, but possible ). I wondered if the Reset button ( Front-panel) was faulty, meaning I have to take the case apart.... since I'd been pressing it a few times to try an get the PC into a Working-Mode.

Anyway 12 hrs later I switched on . . . exactly as in earlier times . . . and it fired-up, \BIOS Beeps and then the MBO . . . and then Win7 . . . . advised be to run in Safe Mode . . .which I did this time... then shut-down and Restarted. . . .

Well, it appears to be running OK . . . I'm sending this Msg using it and the Mouse is well-behaved.

Any ideas as to what happened?
I have left the PC running before overnight ( for long film Renders ) and it doesn't normally shut itself down . . . . It was a cool room and we don't suffer power surges. Also I know there was no supply interruption, since my 24-hr Radio would lose its program settings.

I would like to do "Something" - as a trip to the Dealer, however friendly . . . is usually costly.
 
Windows has full keyboard support, so for the first dialogue box you'd have pressed alt+tab to make sure it was in focus, cycled through the buttons using Tab and then hit space bar/return/enter to select one.

To shut windows down without a mouse you can use alt+F4 which will shut down programs and the computer if nothing's open. Alternatively hit the windows key to bring up the start menu and navigate through it using the arrow keys and tab.

Shut downs can be caused by a variety of things, from safety shut downs to prevent overheating to a malfunctioning power supply.
 
Whats the specifications on the PC, 5 hours for a DVD is a long time though they are variables that could explain that.

I have a mid-range Core i5 6500 and it took only 4 minutes to turn a 60 minute H.264 video into a DVD.
 
EW - That long text I sent..... ( =Post No 1).... unfortunately it froze before I could complete a minor EDIT.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Situation "now" is it's back from the Shop and nothing's been replaced . . . although they sold me a new PSU ( Still in its box - as a rescue, if it freezes again...). The shop tested the MBO with another PSU and no fault found . . . on returning to "my" PSU the freezing couldn't be replicated.... - the sort of "Fault" that's difficult to find, I guess.... which was why I took it to them, having greater experience, techniques, etc.
I included my wireless mouse ( with fresh battery), and they did initially get the "Freezing" - that was when they tried a replacement PSU.....

I suspect I have a PSU with a "dodgy capacitor somewhere" - that sometimes falls-over . . . but it could be a semiconductor chip. The PSU Fan is running and the Shop checked Chip-temperatures.... about 40 deg C. which is generally low, esp. as the side-panel has a 200 Dia ( 8") slow-rev fan.... now in position - but so it was prior.

Next 010... thanks for that info.
- I use DVD Architect Studio to create a Pre-Burn folder on my HDD - it's not noted for being fast, as it provides an interactive Index ( Menu) so folks can select which short-film to view. ( It has to down-scale every frame. I understand.)
. . . . . . . . FWIW I was creating about 82% of the available DVD-space. . . . .

However, the actual DVD-burn is then about 7minutes, including the lead-in / lead-out writing. In the past I've had issues with this software "Update" which appeared to give blank / unusable discs . . . whilst these aren't expensive, using the "HDD - feature" means I can burn-again quickly, any disc should they become damaged.
All renders on internal HDD - not to the C-drive

Whilst these Renders may seem slow, the resulting DVD's play perfectly on separate "Players" - so, I just accept* the overnight- delay . . . it's not a huge issue and saves me having to replace the PC - - - with the added agro of re-installing old programs.

* My own Movies are shown in HD-mode, by using USB-sticks . . . these take almost no-time to create ( maybe a minute or two ), since it's just a straight COPY-process, from a previous Render.
My Movie-renders are about 10x the "running time" - with all the effects, and Key-Framing - that's the penalty. A faster PC, more RAM and better Graphics card would make a difference - but performing Renders while I'm doing other chores means it's really not a big-deal . . . IF it was 10x faster, then I'd probably be watching it (in silence), as it processed the frames..... whereas I CAN do other non-PC things.
BTW All other programs are closed - as this is a 2-core PC with just 4Gb RAM and a 32-bit OS. I don't think the "freezing" is a digital fault - the PC just take more time as it wishes. It only occurred last few days . . . and the PC is about 6-years old.


The shop "thinks" the Freezing was-maybe PSU-related; but I'm still using that PSU ( one Spare in the Cupboard, Just-in-case.).... as they couldn't (later) replicate the Freezing....

I'll post "now" - just in case it freezes again, without warning.

Cheers
 
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2-days later - UPDATE -
PC hasn't frozen so far....but it has switched OFF.
+ However, pressing the Power button restores the PC without going through the usual "boot-sequence"
I checked in Control-Panel / Power only to discover I must have set PC-Sleep in 5-Hrs . . . curiously it gives a long list of suitable delays . . . but not a box to enter whatever suits the owner.
I would prefer this to be somewhat longer than 5-hours*, so I'm forced to choose "Never" -
#The "Freezing" - I suspect it was a faulty plug-connection, possibly one of those wretched Molex connectors, which IMHO are cheap and nasty, having floating inserts for both sides. I hope to find a "better" mating pair, but suspect just replacing some of them may help.....


* - the reason being that Renders can take a long time.... so putting the PC in Sleep-mode would stop the program ( Indeed this happened with one Render, which was at the start of the "Freezing" - maybe I got confused ( v. easy ), and the freezing appeared to be causing the "Sleep" ( as I have described, above.).

You would think that whenever the PC boots, there would be a Msg box warning the User of the current settings . . . so that 1), they would be reasonably aware....
and 2), they could change the settings to suit new demands....

EDIT: Subject title is a play on "Sore", as in this makes my head . . .
( Esp. as the Repair Shop didn't exactly understand why it wasn't working..... BTW after 1wk it's still working...so I'm guessing those pesky connectors were giving grief. )
. Cheers.
 
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