Top 8 Reasons for Windows System Crashes

Why Windows Computer Crashes: Top 8 Reasons

1. Hard drive failure -- A hard drive failure is a leading cause of boot issues. If your computer mysteriously loses its ability to find the boot drive, but BIOS is properly configured, a hard drive issue is the culprit. Hard drive issues are also often behind crashes that occur only when opening a specific file.

2. Software -- Windows could crash if the software on your computer is installed improperly. Often the problem can be cured by uninstalling the software and then reinstalling it. Use Norton Uninstall or Uninstall Shield to remove an application from your system properly. This will also remove references to the program in the System Registry and leaves the way clear for a completely fresh copy.

3. Hardware conflicts -- Windows can sometimes crash if it is receiving conflicting information from different pieces of hardware. This is a hardware conflict. It's not always harmful, but it's a common source of freezes and BSODs.

You can see if there's a hardware conflict by opening the Device Manager. If a conflict exists it will be visible in this utility with a yellow and black exclamation icon. Take a look at the hardware that is conflicting and view its properties through the right-click menu to find more information.

4. Viruses attack -- A virus or Trojan can cause serious harm to a PC. It might corrupt or remove drivers, delete important system files or change administrative settings. All of these can cause unexpected crashes, freezes or leave you locked out of programs. Usually, the Windows system crash caused by virus could be resolved if you uninstall the program or delete the file that is virus attacked. If this doesn't work, maybe you could have software like Windows Boot Genius to help.

5. Overheating -- Overheating could cause permanent damage to your computer's components. As a result hardware will shut itself down before the temperature reaches that point, resulting in a crash error.

When you hear a beep or series of beeps from the computer at the time it crashes, that means your processor has been overheated. You could check the case ventilation, fan which might cause your computer overheating. Also you'd better place your laptop to a cooling place to avoid overheating.

6. Power -- Problems with the power in your home or apartment could also be the problem. An overloaded circuit, poor wiring or a faulty power strip could be the culprit. You can diagnose this by moving the PC to another room to see if the crashes suddenly stop.

7. Bad memory or motherboard -- Many crashes, especially those that result in a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), occur because of a memory or motherboard issue. This can result in a Fatal Exception Error, which often means data that should be stored in memory could not be retrieved.

8. BIOS settings -- Every motherboard has a range of chipset settings that are decided in the factory. You can access and change BIOS settings by pressing the F2 or delete button during the first few seconds of a boot-up. Once inside the BIOS, great care should be taken. It is a good idea to write down on a piece of paper all the settings that appear on the screen. That way, if you change something and the computer becomes more unstable, you will know what settings to revert to.

Sometimes the Windows crash could be by more than one thing and you should check carefully for possible reasons before you can find a way to get your Windows back to normal. Also we've covered a post on How to Fix Windows Crash, check for details.